A taxpayer-funded guidebook instructing schoolchildren to identify the Conservative Party with bigots was approved by then-Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen’s office, Access To Information records show. The guide also called the Red Ensign a hate symbol and provided tips on how to confront classmates with incorrect thinking: "Hype up the initiative."
Bank of Canada analysts yesterday disputed cabinet claims immigration is an immediate net benefit to the country. Immigrants typically drive up rents, are slow to get a job and contribute “to inflationary pressures in some sectors,” said the Bank: "Housing supply has not kept up."
Cash grants to Ukrainian war refugees have cost taxpayers more than $753 million to date, records show. The Department of Immigration earlier acknowledged a “perception of unfairness regarding the treatment of the Ukrainian population.”
MPs yesterday voted to investigate the purchase of a luxury condominium in Manhattan for Tom Clark, former CTV announcer appointed last year as Canada’s $205,000-a year Consul General in New York. Members of the Commons government operations committee expressed outrage at the $9 million expense for a high-rise penthouse with four bathrooms: "I hope Mr. Clark enjoys it until the day after the next election."
Liberal appointee Annette Verschuren breached the Conflict Of Interest Act in voting a $217,661 grant to her own company, the Ethics Commissioner ruled yesterday. Verschuren, a Liberal donor, was chair of now-disbanded Sustainable Development Technology Canada at the time: "She was required to recuse herself from those matters and failed to do so."
Federal regulators should be wary of meeting privately in barrooms with lobbyists, says the Federal Court of Appeal. The reprimand to the CRTC followed a 2019 beer summit between then-CEO Ian Scott and Bell Canada’s chief executive that was photographed by a passerby: "Why were the two together? What was discussed?"
Liberal caucus members yesterday sat quietly for nearly an hour as Conservative MP Larry Brock (Brantford-Brant, Ont.) repeatedly described Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a habitual liar. Speaking at the Commons government operations committee, MP Brock said Trudeau was a “very good liar” with a “penchant for lying.” No Liberal MP objected: "What’s the relevance?"
Fraud charges against a federal contractor accused of stealing $250,000 are only the beginning, a Department of Public Works manager said yesterday. The theft of millions is suspected, MPs were told: "Is it not true at this very minute there are middle men just soaking Canadian taxpayers?"
U.S. protests over the Government of Canada’s poor record on protecting copyright owners is merely a “political tool,” says a staff briefing note to Trade Minister Mary Ng. The United States placed Canada on its 2024 “watch list” over concerns on copyright thievery: “Canada does not recognize the validity of the report.”
Solar panels pose a “significant pollution risk,” the Department of Public Works said yesterday. Landfilling of used panels too costly to recycle will see toxic chemicals leach into groundwater, it warned: "The volume of end of life solar panels will grow which will result in significant pollution risks."
New Democrats are now election-ready, Jagmeet Singh said yesterday. “We are getting close,” Singh told reporters while touring Northern Ontario where the Party stands to lose a veteran incumbent due to resignation and redistricting: "We are getting close to an election."
Indian Residential School “denialism” is undermining reconciliation with First Nations, says a federal memo. The Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations did not define the term: "We must not deny what happened."
There are “going to be some issues” with a federal IT project to digitize border collections of Customs duties, says a federal memo. Cost of the program under development since 2016 is more than $526 million: "There are no doubt going to be some issues."
Canadian National Railways has agreed to pay $8 million for breach of the Fisheries Act, the Department of Environment said yesterday. The fine follows crude oil spills from two Northern Ontario derailments in the winter of 2015: "It was minus 30 degrees at the time."
Canadians’ Charter right to a speedy trial applies in traffic court, a Justice of the Peace has ruled. A charge of red light running against an Oakville, Ont. driver was dismissed after prosecutors waited too long to bring the case to court: "It is not a complex matter."
