The purchase of an $8.8 million Manhattan penthouse for New York Consul Tom Clark prompted too much media attention, the Department of Foreign Affairs complained in an Access To Information memo. Lavish spending by diplomats appeared “disconnected from the financial struggles facing everyday Canadians,” it said. READ MORE
Cabinet yesterday hinted it is prepared to appeal a Federal Court ruling that temporarily suspended the deportation of a trucker responsible for the 2018 Humboldt Broncos disaster. Victims’ families were not given their say, Conservative MP Warren Steinley (Regina-Lewvan) told the Commons: "Harm to the Humboldt Broncos' victims and their families was not adequately considered." READ MORE
Doug Guzman, the Toronto banker hired to oversee defence contracting, yesterday acknowledged longtime dealings with defence contractors but denied any conflict. “I expressed a willingness to serve the country,” Guzman told the Commons defence committee: "I over the course of my career advised or financed probably thousands of companies." READ MORE
Cabinet concessions to Chinese automakers “endanger” domestic industry, General Motors of Canada said yesterday. A GM lobbyist told MPs that allowing low-tariff access to tens of thousands of Chinese electrics will “hollow out our skilled automotive workforce.” READ MORE
A Vancouver climate news site, the National Observer, is the nation’s heaviest user of Department of Canadian Heritage grants, newly-disclosed records show. The “independent news site” received more than $1.3 million in taxpayers' aid to cover the equivalent of 23 employees’ salaries while its CEO served on a volunteer board responsible for approving grants: "The National Observer record speaks for itself regarding our independence from any government." READ MORE
Floor-crossing MPs Lori Idlout (Nunavut) and Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia-Lambton, Ont.) yesterday joined the government caucus in voting 173 to 163 to invoke closure on a motion granting cabinet majority control of all Commons committees. It effectively quashes real-time ethics investigations into Liberal spending, contracting and appointments: "They flattered and recruited a Member who endorsed Avi Lewis and a Member who endorsed the Freedom Convoy, all in the pursuit of power." READ MORE
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne yesterday without comment introduced a long-promised bill to create a federal Financial Crimes Agency. The Liberal Party first proposed a $200 million-a year white collar crime unit in its 2021 election platform: "We’re not sure exactly how the Agency is going to look." 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?
