Defence Minister David McGuinty included costs of tree-planting in attempting to meet a minimum 2 percent NATO target on military spending, Access To Information records show. The defence department still fell billions short: 'It's for the ongoing planting of approximately 14,450 trees at strategic locations.' READ MORE
The Department of Transport promises its $90 billion regional high speed rail venture Alto will never go over budget. The department in a report to senators said “challenges are expected,” but did not elaborate: "How will Transport Canada make sure?" READ MORE
Immigration Minister Lena Diab's office yesterday declined comment over its refusal to speak to independent media. Only newsrooms that meet criteria for government approval will be granted questions, according to a Department of Immigration notice: "The department must be satisfied." READ MORE
Trade with the United States is compromising Canada’s “moral compass,” a Commons committee chair said yesterday. Liberal MP Salma Zahid (Scarborough Centre-Don Valley East, Ont.) said internal American immigration enforcement raised “serious human rights questions.” READ MORE
Order of Canada recipients are too old, male and English-speaking, says a Privy Council memo. Cabinet aides in an Access To Information memo said work was underway to “modernize” civil honours: "Nominators are mostly older, male and English speaking and are extremely likely to nominate older male candidates." READ MORE
Parks Canada would license a deer cull at a “sacred site” under a proposal disclosed Saturday. Parks managers complained deer were a nuisance at Grosse Ile, Que., a historic quarantine station home to mass graves of thousands who fled the Irish famine of 1847: "That island is a sacred site." READ MORE
After 11 years of reconciliation fewer than half of employees in one major federal department say they have a clear understanding of what it means or how it applies to their work. It follows a 2024 Privy Council survey of Indigenous people that found reconciliation had not resulted in “any tangible improvements in the qualify of life for Indigenous people.” READ MORE
Competition in journalism rests on fair play, transparency and integrity. Parliament in 2019 amended the Income Tax Act to subsidize daily news media on a promise taxpayers’ aid was temporary and transitional. Temporary, transitional aid is now a permanent, secret subsidy for 141 news corporations. It is the only federal program of its kind that does not mandate disclosure of actual payments. If recipients of $2,500 Canada Student Loan subsidies are named under proactive disclosure, taxpayers are owed similar transparency for newsrooms receiving payroll rebates up to $29,750 per employee.
