Cabinet yesterday said it’s starting over on equipping a new submarine fleet after spending $3 billion on second-hand vessels that spent more time undergoing repairs than at sea. No budget was detailed: "It should have been evident."
The Commons ethics committee will meet in special session to question Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s business partners over the identity of a mysterious executive named "Randy." It follows company texts involving “Randy” that Boissonnault insisted must be someone else: "I do not know who the other Randy was."
Defence Minister Bill Blair inflated numbers on military spending, says a Budget Office report. It follows Department of National Defence in-house polling that found half of Canadians believe the military is underfunded: "Do you feel Canada’s military is underfunded, overfunded or receives about the right amount?"
An “angry, cranky” Green MP Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) yesterday vowed to lead her Party into another election to show voters how they “f—ked this planet.” May, 70, in rambling remarks to reporters said she felt lucky to be alive and didn’t understand why Canadians have sharp opinions of Justin Trudeau: "This is not right."
The RCMP yesterday appealed for tips from Chinese Canadians after confirming an investigation into election interference by Communist Party agents. The Mounties targeted suspected criminals victimizing Québec residents of Chinese ancestry: "Let's fight interference together."
Recommendations on job training and retirement planning from an all-labour committee are due by year’s end, says a Department of Employment briefing note. The committee was appointed last December for ideas to help workers “transition to retirement with dignity.”
Almost 14,000 ventilators bought under a $700 million Covid program were immediately warehoused as surplus including devices promptly sold for scrap, according to auditors. The figures were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing, Ont.): 'This is destruction of value for taxpayers.'
Climate Change Ambassador Catherine Stewart billed taxpayers $428 per night to stay at a hotel in downtown Paris to “inform” the French about Canada’s carbon tax, Access To Information records show. The hotel near the Eiffel Tower charged $22 for croissants and coffee: "Outreach was required to have candid conversations to help inform the development of a strategy."
The Canada Revenue Agency polled Canadians on whether they resent tax avoidance by the rich. In-house records show the Agency hired researchers at $174,047 to poll public resentment about the tax habits of wealthy Canadians: "There was specific interest in gauging how respondents view the Agency’s treatment of ‘rich’ people without defining ‘rich.'"
Cabinet should decriminalize heroin nationwide, says a Black Justice Strategy report. One MP of Kenyan descent yesterday called the Department of Justice document “appalling.”
Elections Canada in a report to the China inquiry now says it knew of at least 149 complaints of foreign interference in the last two general elections. The agency two years ago assured MPs it was unaware of any claims foreign agents were at work: "I have no reason to believe the election was not a free and fair election."
Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change billed more than $254,000 in travel expenses in less than two years on the job, accounts show. Catherine Stewart charged for stays at luxury hotels ranging up to $623 a night, according to Access To Information records: "Climate change will bring unprecedented challenges."
Talk of a home equity tax is merely a “rumor” though the Prime Minister met privately for an hour with equity tax lobbyists, says Liberal MP Karina Gould (Burlington, Ont.). Political aides in Gould's office in a note to homeowners dismissed the meeting as routine and unimportant: "I can assure you."
The Canada Revenue Agency demanded Saskatchewan pay $42.4 million worth of carbon taxes within 14 days or else, according to Federal Court records. Saskatchewan Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre called the unprecedented order an obvious threat at political direction: "They started with the threats."
Canadians will live in townhouses and walk-up apartments under a Housing Design Catalogue for builders and buyers. No designs for detached single family homes are welcome: "I want to solve the housing crisis."
