Canadians are wary of a federal proposal to build the biggest electronic database of personal information in the nation’s history. In-house Canada Revenue Agency research shows fewer than half of tax filers surveyed trust the Agency to keep the data secure: "Negatives that came to mind most often for participants had to do with data security."
Attorney General Arif Virani says he is studying "international best practices" in censoring legal content on the internet. Virani gave no examples to follow when questioned by reporters: "We are looking at international best practices."
A federal backlog of air passenger complaints is now over 60,000, a new record, despite millions in extra funding for the Canadian Transportation Agency. Wait times were “unacceptable,” said the Agency assigned to help passengers whose travels were disrupted by poor service: "It is taking steps to eliminate the backlog."
A federal program to plant two billion trees must be “nimble,” says Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s department. The plan unveiled in the 2019 election has planted 110 million trees to date at an undisclosed cost: "Ensure the program meets its goals."
A federal aid program for homeless veterans provided shelter for 277 people in four years, a fraction of the need, records show. The Department of Veterans Affairs insisted the program prioritizes ex-soldiers, sailors and air crew: "There are more than 2,600 veterans who experience homelessness annually."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “Politicians are not cats. They do not eat kibbles from a bowl, do not catch flies on the window glass, do not sharpen their claws on furniture…”
When 167 members of the Canadian Staff Band of the Salvation Army perished at sea in the 1914 sinking of the Empress Of Ireland, mass public observances were held. A prominent memorial was built in Toronto. The Royal family donated $132,000 to a victims’ fund. Canadian newspapers for 40 years afterward marked the anniversary date with annual features.
When 329 people, mostly Canadians, perished at sea in the 1985 Air India bombing, there was no fund, no mass public mourning. The only memorial was in County Cork, Ireland, near the spot where Flight 182 took whole families to their death. Few Canadians recall the year this mass murder occurred.
The victims were modest people of ordinary means and little public profile. Would it have been different if 329 bankers died, or 329 tennis players? Of course. Would it have been different if 329 white Christians died? Remembering Air India answers this last, jarring question.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will not release federal research justifying cabinet claims a GST holiday for builders will lower rents. Freeland called it confidential: "The Department of Finance doesn’t have very much respect for elected officials."
Senators yesterday rejected a proposal to bill taxpayers up to $54,000 a year for sponsored Twitter and LinkedIn posts. A committee balked not at the expense but a condition banning partisan posts: "You may have to change how you use social media if you take the money."
Cabinet is happy to help the CBC defend itself from the Conservative Party, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said yesterday. “It is something I hold very dear,” St-Onge testified at the Commons heritage committee: "I am really looking forward to talking more to Canadians about the future of the CBC."
Thirty-three political aides, appointees and cabinet ministers traveled with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a September 19 climate change conference in New York, records show. It followed a budget promise to cut spending on travel this year: "A better tomorrow requires effort."
The Commons yesterday joined in all-party jeering of a Canadian Human Rights Commission report calling Christmas a racist observance “grounded in Canada’s history of colonialism.” The House unanimously condemned the report: "It is still incredible we have to remind people Christmas is not discriminatory."
A Commons committee yesterday acknowledged the Chinese Communist Party operated “police service stations” in Canada. Critics had ridiculed the suggestion “so-called Chinese police stations” were spying on local communities in three cities: 'Witnesses emphasized they harass and intimidate individuals who are critical of China.'
MPs yesterday condemned a Canadian Human Rights Commission report calling Christmas “an obvious example” of intolerance and colonialism. People must be free to celebrate Jesus’ birth without hectoring, the Commons was told: "I wonder if good old Santa Claus is racist. I wonder if snow has become racist."
MPs have called in federal auditors to determine how and why $8 million was spent on a solar-powered warehouse at Rideau Hall. Members of the Commons public accounts committee called the expense extraordinary: "It is literally just one big racket, the racket at Rideau."
