More than 150,000 Canadians are eligible to cast ballots today in two federal byelections including a Manitoba riding where the prison vote once influenced the outcome. Cabinet earlier blamed “hard times” for the loss of a safe Liberal seat in a June byelection in Toronto: "Do you think the Liberals need a radical change in strategy?"
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “We regret to inform you that your son has died this morning when securing a road south of Kandahar. The Improvised Explosive Device gave him no chance…”
If aliens invaded, a prime minister’s first duty would be to get premiers on the phone. Airspace is clearly federalized under the Aeronautics Act. But what if invaders land on islands and travel by ferry to terrorize the populace? If it’s a British Columbia ferry, that is provincial jurisdiction. Newfoundland and Labrador ferry, federal.
The space enemy may use laser beams to make trees explode or boil mountain lakes. That is clearly provincial jurisdiction. But let one errant death ray touch a single rivet on a railway trestle and you are dealing with the Government of Canada, my friend.
This is “the incredible fragmentation we have in this country among federal, provincial and municipal governments,” as then-Senator Howard Wetston (Ont.), a former federal judge, once put it. Wetston was referring to regulation of light bulbs.
Opposition MPs yesterday told New York Consul Tom Clark to “keep your bags packed” after the next election. Testifying at the Commons government operations committee, Clark denied any role in the federal purchase of his $8.8 million Manhattan penthouse despite documents to the contrary: "Why don’t we just stop the lying?"
New Democrats yesterday said they will fight any federal interference in an Air Canada strike or lockout. Failed contract talks with some 5,400 members of the Air Line Pilots Association would ground planes nationwide as early as next week: "If you want to make it a confidence vote, make it one."
Almost a tenth of Canadians surveyed in federal focus groups say they now worry about running out of food. In-house research also identified people who said they were “hungry but did not eat.”
Attorney General Arif Virani faces a direct challenge over cabinet’s signature bill to censor speech on the internet. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill) yesterday said an alternative Opposition bill will target online crimes without “putting a chill on Charter-protected speech.”
Operating costs at federal prisons last year were the equivalent of $428 per inmate per day, according to Statistics Canada figures. The Correctional Service cautions actual expenses are much higher when including equipment, prison guards’ pensions and other costs: 'Canada's is among the highest resourced correctional systems in the world.'
A majority of voters outside Québec do not trust the Government of Canada and rate it secretive and incompetent, says in-house Privy Council research. The pre-election findings follow Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement that “Canadians’ need to have faith in their government’s honesty.”
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday said he will compel the Commons to vote no confidence in cabinet as soon as possible and send voters into a fall election. It is “put up or shut up time for the NDP,” Poilievre told reporters: "Which will it be?"
The China inquiry yesterday confirmed it is recalling a Liberal Party executive for questioning. Azam Ishmael, national director of the Party’s 2021 campaign, has repeatedly testified he was unaware of any foreign interference: "We have a lot of trust."
Parks Canada blames former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps for ordering staff to put a smile on the agency’s beaver mascot. Managers resisted but were instructed to do as they were told, say Access To Information records: "The next election resulted in a change of government and the smile was removed."
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly yesterday granted Canadian jewelers a partial waiver from wartime sanctions on Russian diamond imports. Joly earlier pledged to “do more” to counter Russian war financing: "Russia’s war on Ukraine is a war on freedom."
There is not much “left of the leadership of Mr. Trudeau,” Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet yesterday told reporters. Blanchet said his caucus will press cabinet for passage of favoured bills but had no interest in keeping Liberals in office any longer than necessary: "Let there be no ambiguity here."
Internal emails show Parks Canada executives feared “public and political perception” in managing fire hazards at Jasper, Alta. Access To Information records yesterday released by Conservative MP Dan Mazier (Dauphin-Swan River, Man.) are dated only months before wildfire destroyed a third of the town: "Very disturbing."
