Vancouver activist Avi Lewis is the odds-on favourite to win the New Democrat’s March 29 leadership race, according to wagering on the gaming site Polymarket. More than $45,000 in bets were placed to date, a heavy volume by Canadian standards: "The campaign exposed a growing operational, political and cultural distance between the Party and working people."
The Parliamentary Budget Office yesterday suspended all new scrutiny of federal spending after cabinet failed to nominate an appointee to lead investigations. The vacancy follows a seven-month standoff with Opposition MPs over the appointment of a “neutral, unbiased and impartial” Budget Officer: "As soon as we publish a report that sets the record straight there are accusations we have not understood the problem or have a bone to pick."
Most Canadians questioned in federal focus groups predict the country will fall into recession. The Privy Council had researchers poll the public on fears of rising unemployment and whether Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government was “headed in the right direction.”
Liberal MP Randeep Sarai (Surrey Centre, B.C.) has been cited for breach of the Conflict Of Interest Act. He is the 10th current and former member of the government caucus to be found in violation: 'The current regime is naming and shaming.'
Cabinet’s proposed regional high speed rail venture faces its first organized opposition since Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced a construction date. Thousands of opponents signed a Commons petition asking that Parliament “cease further advancement of the Alto high speed rail project.”
Diversity and equity criteria for federal appointees became so onerous the Privy Council required customized software for “applicant tracking,” according to Access To Information documents. Federal executives withheld the fact for 11 months: "Information collected in a tracking system database is used for screening applicants."
The Department of Employment yesterday said it is hiring a consultant to teach employees how to write. Federal employees typically email each other up to 100 times a day, by official estimate: "They send and receive too many emails."
Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault declined to register an Alberta sovereignty party after staff carefully scrutinized membership rolls for technical disqualification, Access To Information records show. Elections Canada admitted registering other parties that failed to meet the letter of the Elections Act: "I definitely feel they were giving us a hard time."
Defence Minister David McGuinty fell billions short of promised spending on military preparedness equivalent to 2 percent of GDP in 2025, new figures confirm. Cabinet has promised to try again this year: 'We are making reliable contributions to our allies.'
The Department of Employment in Access To Information research compiled a first-ever demographic profile of debtors under the Canada Student Loan Program. Tradespeople and engineers were most likely to meet their payments, said a report: "Borrowers who studied humanities or social sciences were generally most likely to report using repayment assistance."
Wage disparity between union and non-union workers in Canada is down to about 10 percent, says a Commons committee report. MPs credited a “union threat effect” that prompted private sector employers to pay competitive rates: "The mere threat of unionization will drive employers to improve working conditions."
Parliament would honour home bakers and “promote national pride” every April 19 under a Commons petition sponsored by Conservative MP Adam Chambers (Simcoe North, Ont.). The date marks the passing of an Ontario homemaker credited with inventing the butter tart: 'Support our domestic bakers and promote national pride.'
It was one of Ottawa’s greatest architectural losses, the original Customs House. It stood 62 years and even launched the career of a national leader, Mackenzie Bowell, whose primary achievement was growing the finest beard of any prime minister.
In 1955 a round-trip flight from Toronto to Rome was a staggering $677, the modern equivalent of $6,100. It was the cost of a full order of household appliances or a good used car – not that it mattered. Most Canadians went their entire working lives without ever stepping on an airplane for a holiday. Not till 1944 did any province even mandate two weeks’ annual holiday pay for wage earners. A simple vacation was luxury, let alone travel abroad.
“Don’t you get tired of just reading about things?” the frustrated traveler George Bailey is asked in It’s A Wonderful Life. Bailey, like the film audience, accepted he could never get away. So, they dreamed. The phenomenon inspires this compelling book documenting the aspirations of the “middlebrow,” a pejorative first coined in 1924.
Cabinet’s nominee to manage a registry of foreign agents yesterday promised quick results. Anton Boegman, former Chief Electoral Officer for British Columbia, told the House affairs committee he saw no excuse for further delays: "It is essential to start enforcing the rules promptly."
