A Court precedent on password sharing is a “license for piracy,” warns a former assistant deputy trade minister. Hugh Stephens, now vice chair of the Canadian Committee on Pacific Economic Cooperation, called the May 31 ruling on property rights under the Copyright Act “controversial.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must revoke broadcaster Charles Adler’s appointment to the Senate over "vile" and "racist" remarks about fellow Manitobans, leading Indigenous groups said yesterday. Adler in radio commentaries disparaged First Nations as corrupt, lazy, uncivilized complainers: "We demand this appointment be rescinded immediately."
Commons scrutiny of the purchase of a luxury Manhattan penthouse for New York Consul Tom Clark follows audits showing Department of Foreign Affairs’ real estate holdings jumped 25 percent since 2017. Auditors faulted the department for poor management: "Property infrastructure is subject to public scrutiny."
The Department of National Defence for the first time acknowledges above-average suicide rates in the armed forces, typically involving women volunteers. New data show it was unrelated to service in combat: "There weren’t many who had a history of deployment."
Service Canada, the federal agency that manages Employment Insurance, yesterday said it is hiring consultants to guide employees in “how to manage emotions” and “develop empathy and listening skills.” No budget was disclosed: "Recognize your triggers."
Canadian real estate continues to attract dirty money, says a federal agency. The group in an Operational Alert urged caution over suspicious dealings like flipping titles to unbuilt condominiums: "Some realtors look the other way."
Liberal Senate appointee Charles Adler in a radio broadcast called Indigenous people uncivilized “boneheads” who should “get a job.” Adler’s remarks on Radio CJOB Winnipeg were so vulgar they prompted a formal complaint by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, records show: "No shit, Sherlock."
A disgraced Canadian diplomat has abruptly resigned while under investigation, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed. The executive faced firing for lewd misconduct at the office: "Our ultimate goal is to foster a culture of zero tolerance for bad behaviour of any kind."
Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks’ office in a briefing note it is “inaccurate to claim” its decriminalization of cocaine and opioids is to blame for an increase in overdose deaths in British Columbia. Coroners’ data show deaths increased 16.5 percent in the period of decriminalization: "It is inaccurate to claim this exemption is the cause."
Cabinet is expanding a multi-million dollar fund to document claims thousands of children died in Indian Residential Schools. It acknowledged First Nations complaints a $500,000 limit per grant application was insufficient: 'We are committed to finding the children."
A federal program to have young Canadians “give more back to their communities” has cost $204 million to date, records show. Cabinet launched the Canada Service Corps six years ago “to support a vision of Canada.”
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “Could have put this banana peel in the Green Bin, let it go to the city plant where it decomposes in four weeks…”
Poverty makes people work hard just as being chased by a bear makes people run fast, but only a sadist would recommend either as a character-building exercise. A million Canadians work two jobs and sixty-hour weeks, by official estimate. The late Senator Hugh Segal recounted this drudgery in his own childhood memories of Mother and Father pulling night shifts to pay the rent in a cramped world lit by 40-watt bulbs.
“Being on the cheery edge of poverty is not, as some bootstraps proponents assert, about building character and ambition,” wrote Segal. “It is about understanding that the financial insecurity at the centre of your existence, once installed in your memory bank, never leaves.”
The Segals were working poor, cabbies and garment salesmen and drugstore clerks. They ate meat and Hugh had his own bedroom in their Montréal walk-up. Segal recalled a prized bottle of Crown Royal saved for extraordinary occasions. No one took a vacation. The bailiff repossessed their car.
A new luxury Manhattan penthouse for New York Consul Tom Clark cost taxpayers four times the expense of renovating the apartment used by his predecessors, records show. Clark is testify next week at the Commons government operations committee over the multi-million dollar purchase that outraged MPs: "How did that purchase come to pass?”
Almost a quarter of Canadians are so hard up they expect to eat at the food bank this fall, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The rate was higher than reported during the pandemic: 'This is the first time in 40 years we have seen unemployment so low and food bank usage so high.'
