Parliament should rewrite the Canada Labour Code to classify port workers as essential, freight shippers yesterday told the Commons trade committee. The designation would prohibit longshore strikes and see all disputes resolved through binding arbitration: “The victims of strikes are not the workers.”
A typical family of four will spend $16,297 on groceries next year, says a national Food Price Report by analysts at four universities. One co-author has recommended Parliament enact a food stamp program for Canadians who can’t afford fresh fruit and vegetables: “Such a program could be meticulously targeted to provide essential grocery store assistance to those in dire need.”
A Liberal-appointed director of a federal foundation acknowledges he voted to award $393,805 in grants to a Québec company in which he had a direct interest. “We all declared conflicts of interest – well, not everyone,” Guy Ouimet testified at the Commons industry committee: “I have acted in good faith.”
Cabinet has spent almost $200 million on carbon tax paperwork since Parliament introduced the fuel charge in 2019, new records show. Hundreds of federal employees administer the tax described by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault as the cheapest, “most efficient” way to cut greenhouse gas emissions: “Carbon pricing is central to our climate plan.”
The cost of keeping federal prisoners in a maximum security penitentiary now averages almost a quarter million a year, new documents show. The Correctional Service blamed fixed costs in what is one of the world’s most expensive prison systems: ‘The staff-to-inmate ratio is one to one.’
Cabinet must establish a federal task force to protect religious freedoms, the Commons justice committee yesterday wrote in a report to Parliament. Canadians should be free to attend a Hebrew school or menorah lighting without harassment, said one MP: ‘Without freedom of religion, there actually is no freedom.’
Calling the Prime Minister a liar yesterday saw Conservative MP Damien Kurek (Battle River-Crowfoot, Alta.) ejected from the Commons for unparliamentary language. “He lied,” Kurek said after leaving the chamber: “The Prime Minister lied. His minions continue to lie.”
Cabinet has no plan to solve the housing crisis, the CEO of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said yesterday. “There is not a plan,” Bowers testified at the Senate national finance committee: “I just need an answer; is there a plan yet?”
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s department misrepresented inspection claims under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, records show. Of 2,139 “inspections” on migrant labour it reported last year fewer than a tenth were actual random, in-person checks in the workplace: “We are building awareness.”
The Commons today is expected to order a committee investigation of Speaker Greg Fergus. A total 149 Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs have already demanded that Fergus resign for overt partisanship: “The head referee is in the tank.”
Automakers and the Government of Alberta yesterday petitioned MPs for a federal ban on port strikes by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Such a move would be unconstitutional, the Union president warned the Commons trade committee: “That is something that can never happen.”
The Senate banking committee yesterday questioned bankers’ sale of mortgages dubbed a “payment shock” for borrowers. An estimated $246 billion worth of mortgages were sold at variable rates with fixed payments: “They are at risk of suffering a significant payment shock.”
The Department of Public Works yesterday for the first time acknowledged it “took a risk” in subsidizing a vaccine factory in Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’ riding. Taxpayers lost $150 million: “There was a lot of risk at the time.”
Commons Speaker Greg Fergus faces censure only nine weeks on the job. Fergus admitted to participating in a Liberal Party function in breach of a rule that he remain impartial while holding the $287,400-a year speakership: “Boy did we have fun; we had a lot of fun together through the Ottawa South Liberal Association, through Liberal Party politics.”
Independent MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) says allegations have made him “the face of Chinese foreign interference” in federal elections, according to the Commission on Foreign Interference. Dong yesterday was granted standing at the China inquiry: “He is also uniquely situated to provide first-hand information about relevant events.”
