Cabinet must regulate the internet in Canada to curb Russian disinformation, says Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. A federal ban on Kremlin-funded TV is not enough, said Joly: "My mandate as foreign minister is really to counter propaganda online."
The self-described “national voice of Canadian journalists” breached its own ethics code in reporting on a pipeline protest, records show. The Canadian Association of Journalists said it would not correct misleading statements that accused police of illegal conduct: "Accuracy is the moral imperative of journalists."
Freedom Convoy truckers posed a threat to “social cohesion,” a Department of Public Safety manager testified at the Commons transport committee. Ryan Schwartz, acting director general in the department’s cybersecurity branch, said protesters’ use of the internet was disruptive: 'It can cascade across social media platforms and be used to incite certain responses.'
Quarantine hotel rooms for cross-border travelers cost taxpayers up to $139 a night, according to records. The Public Health Agency as late as February was contracting for thousands of hotel rooms every month: "This is not a success story."
Authorities must prioritize benefits claims by the neediest veterans, says Veterans Ombudsman Colonel (Ret’d) Nishika Jardine. Tens of thousands of former soldiers, sailors and air crew remain on waiting lists for disability benefits: ‘They walked out the door with their little baggie of three months’ worth of medications.’
Taxpayers are collecting no interest on sweetheart export loans to China that run to 2045, documents disclose. Loans deemed in the “national interest” were approved by successive cabinets dating back decades: "I was taught that being a Canadian meant our nation stood for something."
Repeated cabinet claims that most Canadians see net gains paying a carbon tax are untrue, a Parliamentary Budget Office report said yesterday. The finding came as Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault again claimed all but “the richest among us” are better off paying carbon taxes: "Most households will see a net loss."
Proposed reforms drawn from We Charity investigations yesterday survived a vote in the Commons ethics committee. Liberal MPs lost a bid to bury a report recommending tougher conflict of interest laws: "Ensure Canadians have a chance to see this."
Authorities yesterday contradicted a Toronto Star story claiming Ottawa police recovered loaded shotguns from Freedom Convoy truckers. No charges have been filed regarding loaded shotguns, said the police chief: "Were loaded firearms found, yes or no?” "No, not relating to any charges to this point."
A parliamentary review of cabinet actions against the Freedom Convoy must not delve into cover-ups or concealment of evidence, legislators were told last night. New Democrat MP Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, Ont.), who supported use of the Emergencies Act against protesters, said the review must be wide-ranging and above board: "The cynicism, the lack of trust, the erosion of faith in our democratic institutions is still very much a topic at hand."
No manager was fired or reassigned for crude bigotry at the Department of Immigration, MPs were told yesterday. Immigration Minister Sean Fraser called racism “a sickness” in his department, explaining Black employees may now attend trauma counselling: "We do know that within the public service and as well within our department these problems do exist."
Only a quarter of Afghan nationals who aided Canadian forces and pleaded to enter Canada have been admitted by the Department of Immigration to date, records show. MPs on the Commons immigration committee yesterday expressed anger over the slow pace of rescues: "We know the Taliban has ramped up their brutal regime."
There is limited scientific justification for universal vaccine mandates, two medical experts yesterday told the Commons health committee. The Prime Minister’s dismissal of unvaccinated Canadians as a racist fringe group was uniquely unhelpful, said the president of one medical association: "It was politically driven. It did not help anyone in the health care industry."
Informants flooded the Canada Revenue Agency with tips on suspected cheaters who falsely claimed pandemic relief cheques, records show. The volume of tips to the Agency doubled to more than 60,000 last year: "The leads program saw a significant increase."
More than a third of government-assisted refugees remain on welfare a decade after landing in Canada, analysts with Statistics Canada said yesterday. Higher welfare rates followed landmark 2001 changes to immigration law: "It marked a major policy shift."
