Social media posts deemed to undermine “social stability” would be subject to blocking orders by a federal censor under a cabinet bill introduced yesterday. “The law applies as soon as it comes into force,” said Heritage Minister Marc Miller. READ MORE
More than 19,000 new Covid ventilators, all purchased through sole-sourced contracts, were sold as scrap at pennies a pound, new documents show. The 19,000 figure detailed in a Public Health Agency memo is the highest yet on confirmed waste under the $1.1 billion pandemic ventilator program: "Consider an audit." READ MORE
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday acknowledged missing another forecast, this time on the likelihood of a 2026 recession. “We’ve seen a lot of volatility,” he said. READ MORE
The defence department proposes to auction dozens of buildings and nearly 1,500 acres of Crown land to meet its quota of savings under a federal budget review, says a report. The largest federal landlord, the Department of Public Works, has calculated about half of all federal buildings could be sold without affecting services: "The department will reduce its real property footprint." READ MORE
Parliament should create a Canadian version of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to handle wildfires, the Senate agriculture and forestry committee said yesterday. The current hodgepodge of jurisdictional overlap was inadequate, said a report: "No single entity is responsible." READ MORE
Specialty drugs lost in a mysterious mishap at a federal warehouse included $20 million in medicines needed to counter a “biological threat,” says a Public Health Agency memo. MPs on the Commons health committee were briefed on the incident behind closed doors last February 10: "I can confirm there was loss of a quantity of treatment for a biological threat." READ MORE
Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner yesterday said Canadians deserve a judiciary free of politics, but would not discuss his own criticism of the Freedom Convoy. Wagner declined to recuse himself from sitting in judgment on protestors he described as anarchists and hostage takers, though none were charged with either offence: "Can you explain why you will not recuse yourself?" READ MORE
Defenders of the Senate often use that phrase about “sober second thought.” It is no joke. Senators should be chosen, not as beneficiaries of taxpayer largesse but because they have the brains and the practical experience to see the flaws in proposed laws. Voter anger and outrage at the Canadian Senate is not new. From the outset, prime ministers used their power to appoint to the Red Chamber as a reward for party supporters and faithful allies in the cabinet and caucus.
