A federal inventory of vacant Crown-owned property lists fewer than 400 nationwide including many unsuitable for housing like cattle barns and boat sheds, records show. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday repeated his claim that unused federal property will create thousands of new homes: "Anyone who says we don’t need to put everything on the table right now is not listening." READ MORE
New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh yesterday said he did not want a 2024 election though the Prime Minister reneged on terms of his Supply And Confidence Agreement. A quarter of Singh’s caucus is not seeking re-election: "I want to hear from Justin Trudeau." READ MORE
Canadian shippers yesterday cheered another delay in what one called the “big bang” launch of a new digital Customs collection scheme criticized as onerous and costly. The Canada Border Services Agency program mandated to launch May 13 has been postponed until October: 'Every single stakeholder has said it won’t work.' READ MORE
More than a tenth of pensioners in their 60s remain in the workforce by necessity, Statistics Canada said yesterday. New data follow a recommendation that cabinet rewrite Income Tax Act credits to recognize hundreds of thousands of Canadians who work past 65: "Those working by necessity represented 351,000 individuals." READ MORE
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan yesterday said he will introduce a bill by year’s end to detect and block imports of slave-made goods into Canada. Cabinet has long promised legislation to ban the trade: "This year we will introduce legislation." READ MORE
Federal managers paid out more than $500,000 in settlements to employees suspended under vax mandates, records show. The payments were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Ted Falk (Provencher, Man.) who opposed mandatory vaccination as a breach of Charter rights: "That is what happened." READ MORE
The Canada Revenue Agency should tighten ethics training, say auditors. The recommendation comes after Revenue Commissioner Bob Hamilton misled MPs over the fact 232 employees were fired for defrauding pandemic relief programs: "I don’t have the numbers right in front of me; not very many, obviously." READ MORE
We have a broadcast model of democracy. I’m a politician, listen to this 30-second negative clip where I attack my opponent on an issue that as a young person you could care less about, and then you go vote for me and then I’m going to broadcast to you for four years or less. Then we get to do it all over again. You vote, I rule. When people started talking about computers being used by everyone, it was a personal threat to many government leaders. It was out of their control and the old paradigm was, “We need to control things.”
