The Trudeau Foundation has passed a 15-month federal audit but cut all ties with the Trudeau family. Alexandre Trudeau, the former prime minister’s brother, was replaced as executive director after endorsing a six-figure donation from friends of the Chinese Communist Party: "These changes mark a significant step forward."
New York Consul Tom Clark charged taxpayers his liquor bill while drinking with former media colleagues purportedly on official business, records show. Billing bar tabs is forbidden without specific authority, said the Treasury Board: "Luncheon with the journalist was aimed to assess the political climate."
The Department of Veterans Affairs says it is planning a suitable national tribute for the last Canadian survivor of the Second World War. Ranks of veterans that once numbered more than a million have dwindled to fewer than 1,600: "Many splendid deeds were done."
Cabinet in a rare but not unprecedented move confirmed Saturday it spent $40.3 billion, about eight percent of its annual budget, by special warrant. The alternative would have seen federal functions cease at the start of a new budget year including payment of Old Age Security and salaries for police and prison guards: 'It is urgently required for the public good.'
New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh urged electors to “know their vote does matter” after reporters dismissed his campaign as a lost cause. Party support has averaged in the three million vote range for the past decade: "Have you learned any lessons from stumbling out of the gate?'
Poet W.N. Branson writes: “Freedom isn’t the same as liberty. But liberty treads the path to enlightenment. Both are imposters…”
John Diefenbaker was a folk hero whose very commonness was heroic. Historian Bob Plamondon captures this beautifully. Diefenbaker first held public office as a town councillor in Wakaw, Sask. His favourite pastime was fishing. Making small talk with Pope John XXIII, Diefenbaker asked: “How does it feel to be Pope anyhow?”
“He held the highest office in the land yet he instinctively mistrusted authority, the rich, the powerful, and even some members of his cabinet,” writes Plamondon. As Prime Minister he insisted on sending rent cheques to the treasury, $5,000 a year, for the privilege of living at 24 Sussex Drive.
Diefenbaker was a man of the Prairies, the most egalitarian society on Earth. There was no aristocracy in Wakaw or Oyen or Crystal City. He ranked 7th of 39 candidates for the 1919 Saskatchewan bar exam. “He had no blue chip clients in his roster,” notes Plamondon.
Liberals if re-elected will make a third attempt at regulating the internet, Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested last evening. Carney made the remark after being heckled at a rally in Hamilton, Ont.: 'Pollution that’s online washes over our virtual borders from the United States.'
New York Consul Tom Clark billed taxpayers thousands for a winter junket to Marilyn Monroe’s favourite Beverly Hills hotel, Access To Information records show. The Department of Foreign Affairs approved the California holiday despite cabinet’s pledge to cut spending on unnecessary travel: "The exercise is extremely important."
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday said Canadians “can’t believe everything you read” about his contacts with friends of China. Carney denied meeting members of a pro-People’s Republic business group despite photographic evidence: "I certainly never had a set-up meeting."
Parliament must regulate municipal fees blamed for slowing construction of new homes, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said yesterday. Any future Conservative cabinet would take up to $50,000 off purchase prices by rolling back development charges, he said: "For the first time in our history an entire generation of young people can’t imagine buying their own house."
People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier yesterday proposed a first-ever national moratorium on immigration until Parliament solves the housing crisis. “The Canadian government should work for us Canadians, not foreigners,” he told reporters: "We were called racists."
The Department of Employment says it tripled spending on consultants in a single year to $311 million because “no employee was available,” according to an internal report. The department has more than 34,000 employees: "What is the rationale?"
Canadians face more than a quarter billion a year in higher costs for heating and cooling after Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s department yesterday adopted California efficiency standards for essential home appliances. Costs will be “passed on to consumers.”
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday questioned why a public registry of foreign agents approved by Parliament 10 months ago is still not in operation. The Department of Public Safety did not comment: "Find out who is a bad actor."
