An 80 percent increase in immigration rulings is clogging the docket in Federal Courts, records show. Administrators said “rising caseloads particularly in immigration matters” have slowed hearings for other plaintiffs seeking justice: "Ensuring Canadians have access to modern, safe and accessible Court facilities is integral to democracy."
A majority of Canadians say illegal immigrants and refugee claimants receive too many federal benefits, according to internal research by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The findings followed in-house polling at the Department of Immigration that documented a collapse in support for high immigration quotas: "More research is needed to understand the roots of this trend."
A deputy managing director of the Bank of Canada, Lori Rennison, yesterday had no comment after spending more than a quarter million on travel including business class flights from Brasilia to Marrakech. Rennison booked dozens of trips at the same time cabinet claimed to cut unnecessary travel: 'It's really important to be a fiscally responsible government.'
A Conservative cabinet would cut foreign aid, chop federal spending on consultants and reduce the federal payroll to finance a $14 billion break for all taxpayers, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said yesterday. He proposed lowering the federal basic income tax bracket from 15 to 12.75 percent, the lowest rate in a generation: "Modest income people will save the most."
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday said he has “over-complied” with ethics requirements but again refused to disclose his investments. Carney confirmed he held stock in two multinational corporations headquartered abroad but would not sell his holdings: 'Why not just sell your shares?'
The number of homeless in shelters nationwide jumped 12 percent in a year, according to figures detailed in a Department of Infrastructure briefing note. No reason was given. Cabinet budgeted more than a half billion a year to aid the homeless: "Homeless people rarely have a fixed address, therefore are difficult to count."
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday called a tax-time election on a promise of savings for every federal taxpayer in the nation. The measure, estimated to cost $6 billion, follows a Liberal leadership rival's appeal that the Party "be honest with Canadians" over deficit spending: "It’s easy to say we’ll give you this and we’ll give you that, but let’s be clear: We do have a deficit."
Cabinet must resort to a little-used law to run the prisons, pay the Army and keep passenger trains running during the election campaign. All budgeted funds voted by Parliament expire a week from today at midnight: "A minister must report an expenditure is urgently required."
Liberals won as few as one or two votes at numerous polls in the last federal byelection, newly released records show. Elections Canada on Friday certified poll boxes from a December 16 byelection in what had been a Liberal-held riding in suburban British Columbia, Cloverdale-Langley City: "It has not been an easy day."
Taxpayers have no appetite for large increases in CBC funding as proposed by the Department of Canadian Heritage, says a Liberal Senate appointee. Senator Andrew Cardozo (Ont.), a longtime CBC supporter, recommended in a report that the Crown broadcaster be considered an essential service but without additional millions: "There does not appear to be a public appetite as such for a significant increase."
Cabinet in its last act of office Saturday enacted new regulations to slow or effectively freeze cash transfers to Russia. Bank and wire transfers are now subject to meticulous background checks regardless of the amount, said the Department of Finance: 'Treat every transaction, regardless of the amount, as high risk.'
Poet W.N. Branson writes: “Lo! A bureaucrat alights upon the scene, the power to redact and enact with countenance so serene…”
Canadians like to think of our judiciary as a meritocracy, in the same manner we have a naïve faith that oncoming motorists will stay on their side of the white line. Of course, car wrecks happen all the time.
Professor Dale Brawn examines who’s behind the wheel in Canadian courts. The result is a beautifully-researched and entertaining study of 80 years of judicial appointments in a single province, Manitoba, from 1870 to 1950. Brawn chooses his subject well. Manitoba was for years the lone outpost of the judiciary on the Prairie frontier.
Judges were by degrees brilliant and mediocre, studious and alcoholic, a grab bag of “pretty fair lawyers” and political fixers. One appointee was rated as having “but a small amount of brains and knows absolutely no law.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday said he needs a “strong and clear mandate” from voters. Carney is expected to call a snap vote this weekend rather than face Parliament Monday: "You can see the action."
Canadians should expect weaker growth, higher costs and more uncertainty due to Trump tariffs, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said yesterday. His remarks coincided with new Canadian Federation of Independent Business data indicating 19 percent of small business owners plan summer layoffs: "We now face a new economic crisis."
