The Freedom Convoy made Ottawa “virtually ungovernable,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said yesterday. Mendicino told reporters the protest had a significant and harmful impact on the government, a claim contradicted by internal memos from Mendicino’s own department: "We had to take the decision."
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson in a private phone call with the Prime Minister called Freedom Convoy protesters nasty and un-Canadian, like “the Republican Party down south,” he said. Watson yesterday in testimony at a convoy inquiry denied politicizing the treatment of protesters: "Reminds me of the Republican Party down south. Can’t reason with them. So vulgar."
Canadians in federal focus groups oppose decriminalization of narcotics, according to a Privy Council Office report. The research paper followed cabinet’s decision to decriminalize personal possession of cocaine in British Columbia effective January 31: "Many were concerned about drug users taking advantage of this initiative."
Rising interest rates and falling home prices pose a threat not seen in decades, the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said yesterday. “Financial institutions need to ensure they are prepared,” Peter Routledge wrote in an Information Sheet for lenders: "This type of situation has not been observed in Canada for decades."
Cabinet next spring will begin enforcement of a federal law mandating prompt payment to subcontractors on public works. Parliament passed the measure in 2019: "It is difficult for those working in virtually any other industry to fathom not getting paid for completed work."
A longtime Liberal Party donor “won the lottery” with federal contracts near a Québec border crossing, the Commons ethics committee was told yesterday. Federal agencies spent $136.6 million accommodating illegal immigrants including millions paid for contracts and leases to Party donor Pierre Guay, a local businessman: "He names his price and the government pays it."
Freedom Convoy organizers were complying with a city agreement to move trucks the very day cabinet declared a national emergency, a public inquiry was told yesterday. Ottawa City Manager Steve Kanellakos testified he had no warning cabinet would invoke the Emergencies Act: "Were there incidents? There always are. Was there any extreme violence or anybody seriously injured? No."
Most Canadians consider a federal freeze on handgun sales to be pointless and ineffective, says in-house Privy Council Office research. People questioned how the freeze would counter contraband guns: "Several felt such a law would have little to no effect on the prevalence of firearms-related crimes."
Black market drug dealers are flourishing despite Parliament’s legalization of cannabis on a promise of market regulation, says a federal report. It warned banks to be on the lookout for suspicious cash transfers involving proceeds of cannabis crime: "There still exists a flourishing and illegal cannabis market in Canada."
A federal report contradicts Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault’s claim of major threats at 2021 Covid election polls. Only a tiny fraction of poll workers reported trouble with voters who declined to follow public health orders: "The level of satisfaction with the way the federal election went was unchanged from 2019."
Internal records on the flight of Canada’s last ambassador to Afghanistan will not be disclosed to the public, says the Department of Foreign Affairs. Staff cited the “sensitive nature” of evidence detailing why Ambassador Reid Sirrs fled Kabul aboard a half empty plane, leaving behind thousands of Canadian citizens and Afghan allies: "We were the first embassy to depart."
A witness at the Freedom Convoy inquiry testified she heard Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly tell a business group he was scared of the truckers. Sloly later compared the protest outside Parliament to the violent 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol that injured 138 police: "There was a sense that maybe our leaders were a little shaken."
An Ottawa New Democrat councillor who petitioned cabinet to take steps against the Freedom Convoy testified she was terrified of truckers but acknowledged seeing no acts of violence. “I wrote to the Prime Minister begging for resources,” said Catherine McKenney, a mayoralty candidate: "I didn’t personally witness any acts of violence. I was told about them.'
Bootleg tobacco now accounts for a third of the Canadian market, says one of the nation’s largest cigarette makers. Imperial Tobacco Canada Inc. in a submission to the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee put tax losses in the billions: 'It's arguably the most lucrative criminal enterprise in Canada today.'
A new labour department mandate requiring federally regulated private employers to provide workers with free sanitary napkins would cost about $11.6 million a year, by official estimate. Cabinet called it a basic right for Canadian women: "Government intervention is necessary."
