Canada’s new Chief Public Health Officer yesterday called the pandemic “a very difficult time for everyone” but would not discuss which specific errors contributed to public distrust. “Trust in health and institutions has been strained,” Dr. Joss Reimer of Winnipeg told the Commons health committee: "Whether those were the right or wrong decisions, we know there were many difficult things." READ MORE
MPs yesterday recommended first-ever annual reporting on military suicides. The Commons veterans affairs committee complained of “data shortages” amid conflicting figures: "Release an annual report on deaths by suicide." READ MORE
Cabinet has jurisdiction to regulate the internet, Heritage Minister Marc Miller said yesterday. Canada had fallen “a couple of years behind” European countries in monitoring legal content, he said: "We’re working on it." READ MORE
Cabinet rates its “nation building bill” a success though no project has been approved since it passed into law last June 26, a parliamentary committee was told. Conservative MP Aaron Gunn (North Island-Powell River, B.C.) ridiculed the claim at a hearing of a Special Joint Committee: "John A. Macdonald and Wilfrid Laurier are looking down on us saying, ‘These guys know how to build things now’?" READ MORE
A federal appointee mandated to monitor Canadian corporate ethics abroad has not tabled an annual report since 2022, Conservative MP Arnold Viersen (Peace River-Westlock, Alta.) yesterday told the Commons. Union executives have long questioned the Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise: "The concern here is not an isolated delay but an ongoing failure." READ MORE
The nation should avoid a 2026 recession if world events are resolved smoothly, the Bank of Canada said yesterday. “If the situation changes, we may need to change course,” Governor Tiff Macklem told reporters. READ MORE
Employment Insurance claimants have no right to keep undeserved benefits even if they were paid through government error, says a federal judge. The ruling came in the case of a jobless claimant told to repay the treasury $1,366: "She did nothing wrong." READ MORE
I often wonder what became of Dennis. He was known to neighbours in the North Park district of Victoria where I lived in 1997. It was a rough-and-tumble neighbourhood. Dennis had a wife and baby. I had seen them going to the welfare office down the corner. He was violent, and he could get very drunk. I don’t think he ever finished high school. I can’t say if restorative justice would have done Dennis much good. Afterward I wondered, what brought Dennis to the point in his life that he was so hateful, so angry, he would shave his head and wear a “White Power” t-shirt and look for someone to hurt?
