Taxpayers are owed updated figures from Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on the cost of subsidies for electric auto battery factories, says the Budget Office. Champagne had defended billions in subsidies as a “game changer for the nation” prior to industry slowdowns, "a pretty good deal for Canadians."
Blacklock's Reporter pauses today for the 131st observance of Labour Day in tribute to Canadian workers nationwide. We will be back tomorrow -- The Editor
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “When I was three, our neighbour Sarah asked my friend Amos and me to help her find the key she’d lost in the yard…”
Freelancer Justin Ling, a Toronto Star contributor, has written a lively campaign memoir. His account puts heavy emphasis on Conservative Party media relations. This is thin ice, but Ling skates on.
The campaign was the first in which a majority of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery faced unemployment if the Liberal Party lost re-election. Millions in media subsidies were at stake. Pierre Poilievre “vowed to defund the CBC and criticized the entire Parliamentary Press Gallery for being bought and paid for as ‘Trudeau’s media allies,’” says The 51st State Votes. Ling could apply for a grant, but complains he couldn’t get an interview with the Conservative Party leader.
Here was the Press Gallery conundrum in a nutshell: The government gives us money and story ideas, the opposition doesn’t even recognize our genius. How can we settle that score? Ling could not know everything that occurred in the campaign. There are many anecdotes. Here’s one.
The trade department in an introductory report to newly-appointed Minister Maninder Sidhu said Canada is “focused on diversifying away from China” as a risky market. The stark analysis comes five years after cabinet polled support for a free trade agreement with the People’s Republic: "Trade Commissioner Services have focused on diversifying away from China."
The Department of Canadian Heritage yesterday said it would not release until after the next federal budget a memo to Minister Steven Guilbeault on “a renewed approach” to CBC funding. Cabinet had promised the Crown broadcaster a multi-million dollar boost to its $1.4 billion annual subsidy if Liberals were re-elected: "It's now or never."
The Canadian audience for conventional TV is now aged over 50, the CRTC said yesterday. Television network revenues fell 8.6 percent last year to $1.3 billion, it said: "On average all Canadians read more online news than they watch."
Federal payroll costs total a record $71.1 billion annually and are headed for more than $76 billion based on current trends, the Budget Office said yesterday. It follows cabinet’s Throne Speech announcement that it would be “capping the public service.”
Attorney General Sean Fraser is asking a federal judge to quash his own government’s release of a secret report deemed “injurious to national defence.” The Department of Justice seeks to block the scheduled release of the Access To Information document next Tuesday: 'The risks are significant.'
A Liberal Senate appointee who denounced Conservative critics as “cold-blooded” on climate change jetted home each weekend to Winnipeg for no official reason, accounts show. Senator Charles Adler (Man.) yesterday had no comment: "No matter how much I read, I never feel I understand enough about the issue of our time, climate change."
Clean Fuel Regulations that will add 17¢ to a litre of gasoline by 2030 should be repealed, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said yesterday. In-house research by the Department of Natural Resources found most Canadians were unaware of the impact of the regulations: "Have you been able to afford the energy bills for your household's daily needs?"
Energy workers typically take years to recover from mass layoffs, Statistics Canada said yesterday. New data on lost earnings follow a 2022 federal memo that acknowledged climate policies would result in “significant labour market disruptions.”
Tax Court has faulted the Canada Revenue Agency for ignoring the difference between rush hour and evening traffic in Toronto. Every driver in the region knew the two were “dramatically different,” wrote a judge: 'Workers in Toronto battle traffic each day.'
Write-offs under the most popular pandemic relief program are near $34 million, according to Access To Information figures. Data show the equivalent of nearly half the national workforce claimed $2,000 monthly cheques under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act: "This includes potential cases of intentional misrepresentation."
Details of federal aid to Ukraine are being censored by the Department of Finance. The department in an Access To Information memo concealed budget line items listing Canada’s $22 billion in aid but predicted Ukraine's postwar recovery will take 10 years and more than a half trillion: "See table below for a full breakdown."
