An advocate who challenged bylaw enforcement against the homeless by the City of Victoria has lost her case in court. Municipal lawyers called it an “extraordinary” test of authority to clear parks of tent cities: "It could impact the City’s ability to enforce certain bylaws."
Cabinet is demanding MPs take an oath of secrecy as a condition of seeing terms of its $5 billion contracts with vaccine manufacturers. Members of the Commons public accounts committee called it a dangerous precedent to limit scrutiny of federal spending: "It makes you ask, what’s next?"
A last legal challenge of cabinet’s use of emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy goes to Federal Court April 3. Lawyers for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms said they will press their claim that use of the Emergencies Act was unconstitutional: "That is the job of the courts."
Canada “had a better pandemic” than other Western countries, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Speaking to reporters, Trudeau selectively quoted statistics in crediting his cabinet with strong Covid management: 'We had greater social cohesion than many other places.'
Parliamentarians’ freedom of speech should be monitored to prevent anti-Muslim sentiment, the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council says in a Senate submission. The group claimed MPs and senators have used their protection from libel suits to “spread hate.”
Banks, currency dealers, realtors and others face a yearly toll to finance enforcement of anti-terror regulations. The Department of Finance in a notice Saturday said the multi-million dollar cost of enforcement should be carried by business, not taxpayers; 'The scheme is predictable and simple to administer.'
“It’s hardly surprising that government health measures would cause some form of protest in response given their impact on people’s lives. What was surprising was the size and scale of these protests and the way in which they proliferated across the country…”
A looming recession “is not going to feel like what people think of when you say the word recession,” Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said yesterday. Macklem added, “We don’t have a crystal ball.”
Investigators in random checks uncovered problems with almost two-thirds of claims under the $100.6 billion Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, says Auditor General Karen Hogan. The rate was so high it “requires you to really look more,” said Hogan: "We want to hope every Canadian is going to be Canadian and be honest, but to maintain the integrity of the tax system there are checks and balances that are needed."
Service Canada workers yesterday protested Social Development Minister Karina Gould’s haphazard lifting of the last federal mask mandate. Gould let the news slip at a committee hearing Tuesday ahead of a “consultation” meeting with the Canada Employment and Immigration Union: "You lack total respect for us. We are left with the only option, to respond in kind."
The Department of Canadian Heritage yesterday refused to disclose its full audit of taxpayer-subsidized Hockey Canada. An auditors’ summary concluded public funds were not used to finance out-of-court settlements of sex crime allegations: "There is something truly revolting here."
A bill to reform bankruptcy law to benefit pensioners yesterday passed the Senate banking committee, a key hurdle. Bankruptcy trustees made a last bid to amend the private bill: "Everybody loses money in a bankruptcy."
Few Canadians are outright racists but many hold stereotypically bigoted views of Chinese people, says Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.). The Liberal appointee complained Chinese Canadians are expected to renounce the motherland or be “seen as suspicious.”
The backlog of air complaints at the Canadian Transportation Agency is up to 38,000, a new record, the Senate transport committee was told last night. The Agency has calculated it takes a year to process 15,000 complaints: "There is a lot of frustration."
Julie Payette cost taxpayers nearly $3 million in VIP travel expenses as Governor General before pandemic lockdowns put a halt to her travels, new records show. Payette had publicly appealed to Canadians for self-sacrifice to reduce poverty and “help improve the lives of people.”
