MPs have defeated a bill to change the appointment of a chief statistician, and restore the method of collecting census data. The Commons voted 147 to 126 to reject the private Liberal bill amid claims that cabinet has compromised statistics gathering: "Science does matter".
It’s the most pernicious religious conflict of our lifetime. I refer of course to the Irish troubles. Violence between Catholics and Protestants lasted 38 years and left 3,300 dead. I knew Canadian Catholics whose families were generous donors to Sinn Féin, political arm of the Irish Republican Army. Today they’d call it “terrorist financing”.
In Canada, still 43 percent Catholic, nobody asked: do Catholics have a predilection for violence? Nobody devoted call-in radio shows to Catholic customs — how we treat women, or claim to drink Christ’s blood every Sunday. Our understanding of Catholicism and the Irish was more nuanced than that.
Are we incapable of any fresh, subtle discourse on religion and conflict? Professor Phil Ryan tries.
Health Canada plans an undercover sting of retail sales of electronic cigarettes to minors. The department said surveillance is for “information purposes only”, though it’s similar to enforcement techniques used to regulate nicotine marketing under the Tobacco Act: "Field personnel are to pose as typical customers and do nothing to betray the true nature of their work".
CBC management is obsessed with “ratings, ratings, ratings” despite claims of a cultural mandate, a Senate hearing has been told. Two senators quoted CBC insiders as indicating the Crown broadcaster is “nuts” for audience data amid declining revenues: "I know what's going on".
Broadcast regulators have fined a Québec firm $260,000 for distributing the National Do Not Call List, a compilation of millions of names and addresses of Canadians who applied to be freed from unsolicited telemarketing: "I'd hope this is a deterrent".
The Canadian Wheat Board sold its head office for $9.7 million, says its CEO. And draft plans will be compiled “within six months” to privatize all operations ahead of an August 1, 2016 deadline to go to cabinet: "We've moved on".
The Supreme Court will rule if a federal spy agency can stretch the truth in monitoring citizens’ activities outside the country. Justices agreed to hear an appeal in which the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was accused of misleading a judge to obtain warrants. Court records censor essential details of the case: "If CSIS is not being truthful, that would be a problem".
Cabinet should be “more aggressive” in supporting milk quotas and supply management, says the Dairy Farmers of Canada. The appeal comes amid ongoing trade talks to open Canadian markets to foreign exporters: "It has to make economic sense".
Cabinet will introduce a bill mandating balanced budgets as promised two years ago, says the Department of Finance. An official said the legislation is being prepared, but provided few details: "They wouldn't know a balanced budget if it slapped them in the face".
Senators are disputing CBC figures that the Crown corporation is one of the world’s most cash-starved public broadcasters. Data commissioned by the CBC estimated per capita funding is the equivalent of $33, one-third the rate in the U.K. and half the subsidy paid in France: "I am disappointed".
A federal bill capping $1 billion corporate liability in case of oil spills or nuclear accidents falls short of actual costs incurred in eco-catastrophes, critics warn. The legislation is the first update of its kind in liability limits since 1986: 'If a company won't pay, that comes back to the taxpayers'.
Railways have been “hung out to dry” for dysfunction in grain shipping with blame rightly resting with regulators and grain companies, says a former Canadian Wheat Board director. Delegates to an Ottawa policy conference were told grain companies pocketed $3.1 billion amid 2014 shipping delays: 'The ones hurt the worst were powerless'.
The Canadian Wheat Board has sold its landmark head office in Winnipeg in anticipation of full privatization. A board official confirmed the sale but would not disclose the price. The property is valued at $15.6 million by city tax assessors: 'We're finalizing our privatization plan'.
CBC journalists took VIP rides aboard government-chartered aircraft as guests of a Conservative minister for stories lauding cabinet’s environmental leadership. The junkets were arranged by Parks Canada at public expense. Journalists who took the trips declined interviews: “We get the ride of a lifetime”.
A federal anti-spam program is running under-budget. Accounts obtained through Access To Information indicate costs are $11.4 million a year, nine percent less than forecast when cabinet passed its anti-spam bill four years ago: 'Spam is still the main vehicle for online threats'.
