The Commons yesterday by a vote of 173 to 149 ordered a detailed audit of the ArriveCan app. The $54 million program intended to check cross-border travelers’ vaccine status was suspiciously expensive, MPs were told: "There is obviously something fishy going on."
Blacklock’s shareholders yesterday issued the following statement regarding threats of punitive sanctions by subsidized competitors on the Parliamentary Press Gallery executive: “We will fight these people. We are retaining counsel. We will vigorously enforce our lawful rights and the Gallery’s obligations under the Canada Corporations Act. We will seek costs and damages. We will hold directors personally liable for their misconduct. We will compel disclosure of confidential Gallery correspondence and cross-examine executive members under oath. We will name names.”
The Department of Canadian Heritage bought maple leaf flag pins from China even as the Commons voted to condemn the People’s Republic for crimes against humanity, records show. Federal contracts for patriotic paraphernalia were worth hundreds of thousands: "This is our national symbol. This is our country."
A junket to Dubai by Governor General Mary Simon and 45 invitees cost taxpayers $1.3 million, according to accounts disclosed yesterday by the Commons government operations committee. Federal agencies have yet to surrender actual menus from the trip that were equivalent to $218 per plate for breakfast, lunch and supper: "Oh my God, this is an astronomically high price."
The price of spaghetti is up 26 percent nationwide on average, Statistics Canada reported yesterday. New grocery inflation figures came ahead of a Fall Economic Statement that will provide some inflation relief, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: "Yes there continue to be pressures."
The state of Canadian journalism is terrible, a former CBC executive has testified at the Commons heritage committee. Legacy media are “memories of what they used to be” despite federal subsidies, MPs were told: "You need to give me money forever because nobody is buying my buggy whips."
A winter recession will not be severe, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem last night told the Senate banking committee. Macklem acknowledged his earlier forecasts were wrong: "“It’s not like we got everything right."
Parliamentary Press Gallery president Guillaume St-Pierre is threatening to “terminate” Blacklock’s ten-year membership on complaints of disrespectful treatment of subsidized competitors. St-Pierre of the Journal de Montréal yesterday would not release a mediator’s report in the case: “Membership in the Gallery could be suspended or terminated.”
Chinese Communist agents are targeting MPs, senators and political aides, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service yesterday told the House affairs committee. “We are very concerned about targeting,” testified Michelle Tessier, deputy director: "Did the Chinese Communist regime interfere in the last federal election?"
The Freedom Convoy was “calm, festive and family oriented” the day cabinet invoked emergency powers, according to an internal memo by Ontario Provincial Police. Protesters and their children were playing hockey, quoting the Bible and “wishing everyone a happy Valentine’s” at the moment cabinet claimed the streets were lawless, said the memo: "Speakers were again telling people to walk away from agitators and thanked the police."
Most federal employees continue to work at home, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said yesterday. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce petitioned cabinet to suspend the practice introduced in 2020 as a pandemic precaution: "Some public servants are back in the workplace at least two days a week."
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser yesterday proposed to let nearly 1.5 million immigrants into Canada within three years despite fears of a recession. Cabinet’s latest immigration plan follows in-house research showing Canadians are skeptical of federal claims immigrants create jobs: "Go to a machine shop and see if they get talent on the shop floor to fill the orders."
Media and political leaders falsely characterized the Freedom Convoy as an extremist movement, according to confidential emails between Ontario Provincial Police commanders. There was no evidence convoy members were anything but political protesters, said one commander: "It is not an ‘extremist’ movement."
Cabinet and political aides schemed on ways to perpetuate media coverage depicting Freedom Convoy members as “crazies,” the Public Order Emergency Commission was told yesterday. A lawyer for the truckers read out text messages in which Liberal aides contemplated a media campaign to depict protesters as violent, adding: “We need something to back this up.”
Hate thought leads to hate crime, Senator David Arnot (Sask.), a former Saskatchewan human rights commissioner, said yesterday. Arnot’s remarks came amid testimony at the Senate human rights committee that claimed the Freedom Convoy was rooted in hatred of Muslims: "Hate thought, hate speech, begets hate crime. We know that."
