Governor General Mary Simon budgeted millions to install an open-air skating pavilion at Rideau Hall complete with artificial ice and decorative roof to “protect it from climate change,” according to Access To Information documents. Staff did not disclose the actual cost: "It would be a fully integrated permanent structure with pipes enclosed in concrete."
MPs have taken another step to compel Prime Minister Mark Carney to sell millions in stock holdings. The Commons ethics committee on Friday asked that Parliament rewrite the Conflict Of Interest Act to eliminate what Conservatives have dubbed a “Carney loophole.”
Housing Minister Gregor Robertson’s department spent more than $97,000 to send managers to a two-day conference on homelessness for “inspiration,” Access To Information records show. Charges included $33,600 for hotels and $8,857 on restaurant meals: 'It arms policymakers with inspiration.'
The Canadian Labour Congress president in a Commons petition accuses Labour Minister Patty Hajdu of misusing cabinet powers to “end a strike by simply sending an email.” The Congress seeks repeal of a federal law used by cabinet to quash eight legal strikes in the past 15 months: 'It gives sweeping, undemocratic powers to the Minister.'
An innocuous Senate bill to celebrate the history of immigration is actually intended to counter “xenophobic rhetoric,” say Liberal-appointed senators. Even the proposed timing of the bill was designed for lobbying purposes, the Senate social affairs committee was told: “Clearly the government is not doing it."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “Canadian politicians love the train. They either take Business Class for added room and comfort, or publicly denounce VIA executives…”
In 1895 when the Queen knighted Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell, once a printer’s apprentice, newspapermen composed a ditty: “When I was a boy I served my term as a junior imp in a printing firm; I washed the windows and scrubbed the floor and daubed the ink on the office door. I did the work so well, d’ye see
that now I’m premier and a KCMG.” Bowell quit school from Grade Four to scrub the floors at the Belleville Intelligencer and wound up owning the company. He was a drudge whose only escape was immersion in drudgery, clocking fifteen-hour days. Years later, when Bowell achieved fortune and fame, he kept a parrot trained to croak, “Wake-up.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney last night avoided questions amid the quick collapse of a much-touted plan to expand Alberta oil exports. Carney’s Québec lieutenant Steven Guilbeault abruptly quit cabinet as critics denounced the proposal as both reckless and ineffectual: "Stop wasting everyone’s time with this political posturing."
A federal dental care plan has gone 50 percent over budget. The Department of Health acknowledged it underestimated the volume of claims now expected to top $4 billion this year: "All this is new."
Canada Post seeks another line of credit from cabinet to cover ongoing losses, Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer (Swift Current-Grasslands, Sask.) yesterday told the Commons government operations committee. “Keep your eyes open,” said Patzer, who did not disclose the source of his information.
Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali yesterday said he could not publicly detail federal job cuts to spare employees’ feelings. Cabinet has said it will cut a tenth of the payroll: "This is a real issue that impacts those public service employees and not only on them, their families."
MPs are demanding the Department of Veterans Affairs account for millions in unpaid benefits for Métis veterans of the Second World War. A $30 million fund approved by Parliament paid only a fraction to old soldiers, sailors and air crew: 'Detail the number of veterans who have received a payment.'
Commons Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia yesterday banned MPs from Question Period enquiries concerning alleged corruption in the provincial Liberal Party in Québec. MPs questioned whether a former federal cabinet minister’s campaign paid $100 for Party votes: "I did not allow the question."
Federally regulated transport employers must conduct business in French as well as English under threat of $25,000 fines, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said yesterday. Penalties will be initially enforced on three corporations and major airports nationwide: "French and English, anywhere, anytime."
The Federal Court in a landmark judgment has ordered Canadian National Railway to pay a customer more than $24 million in damages including lost profits due to poor service. The order followed 11 years of litigation and four trials stemming from the near-collapse of grain deliveries in the winter of 2014: "There is little precedent to guide this Court about how to assess damages."
