Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office yesterday had no comment on what, if any, contingencies it has to deal with a seven-week filibuster that has gridlocked the Commons. Freeland was counting on quick passage of an $18 billion hike in capital gains taxes by Christmas: “It’s an important moment.”
The Department of Immigration in a “Welcome To Canada” guide advised foreigners to be prepared to book Airbnb rentals or resort to homeless shelters on arrival here. “Search online,” said the guide published in Arabic, Dari, Haitian Creole and Spanish: “Housing costs in Canada are high.”
Labour disputes are “economic self-destruction,” Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said yesterday. MacKinnon for the fourth time in three months forced transport unions into binding arbitration without Parliament’s consent: “Are you concerned about the precedent you are setting?”
Federal funding for a United Nations Agency that employed anti-Jewish terrorists totals nearly $286 million since 2016, new figures show. The costs were tabled at the request of an MP who complained taxpayers were subsidizing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency while fellow Canadians scrounged for food: “We will immediately stop funding UNRWA.”
MPs must investigate taxpayer financing of a Canadian-produced documentary, says the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. It petitioned the Commons public safety committee for first-ever public hearings on a film depicting the Russian army in Ukraine: “Seek a return of these taxpayer funds.”
Investigators have confirmed whistleblowers’ complaints of “misuse of public funds” through sweetheart contracting in Defence Minister Bill Blair’s department. It follows a 2022 audit that documented inside dealing and favouritism: ‘The process was tainted.’
A federal agency whose president boasted to MPs of “the highest standard” on ethics has failed an internal audit. Irregularities in contracting at the National Research Council included favouritism, missing paperwork, inside dealing and poor oversight: “Millions of Canadians are skeptical when they hear senior civil servants uttering words like, ‘trust us.'”
Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault will testify on why he attended a secret meeting with New Democrats and Liberals to discuss rewriting the Elections Act. Perrault’s office said he considered it routine though it included a proposal guaranteeing pension eligibility for 28 New Democrat and Liberal MPs: “Didn’t you find it unusual?”
MPs may not call Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a terrorist even if the word appears in constituency mail being read aloud in the House of Commons, the Speaker has ruled. Reciting letters with rough language was no excuse for breaching decorum, MPs were told: “We will not tolerate these type of comments.”
A total 200,000 fewer foreign students were let into Canada this fall compared to last year, says the Department of Immigration. Managers would not say how many existing foreign study permit holders remain in the country including dropouts and refugee claimants: “How many?”
Blacklock’s Reporter today pauses for Remembrance Day observances with gratitude to all who honoured our country. Thank you for your service — The Editor.
Blind and dumb,
The system bore down.
Closing gates as it went.
Dulled and unsettled,
Citizens moved through the city.
A resource distilled into data points.
Their desires, dreams and future,
Nudged by the administrators,
Own desires and dreams.
A Leviathan born in the static,
And borne on the ether.
Manifest in the people.
The man, in his worship of the Machine,
Dimly perceived the zephyr wind,
Whispering from an open sky…
By W. N. Branson
When then-Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish launched a bitter anti-U.S. rant for the TV cameras in 2003 – “Damn Americans, I hate those bastards,” she said – nobody noted her hometown of Mississauga, Ont. was headquarters for Walmart Canada, General Electric Canada and Hershey Canada.
Thus the “continuing paradox” of Canada-U.S. relations, writes political scientist Geoffrey Hale. “Canada’s physical and cultural proximity to the United States leads many Americans and other observers to overlook differences between the two countries, not least many Canadians’ heartfelt desires to be different and to have Americans (and others) notice the differences.”
The same Canadians who harp on “American untrustworthiness” will never hesitate to “take advantage of their proximity to the United States to get the most they can from the relationship,” he writes. So Near Yet So Far invites readers to rethink our relationship with an open mind, stripped of smugness or “ideological agendas.”
Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault met privately with political organizers including staff from NDP headquarters to discuss a bill that stood to benefit New Democrats, the House affairs committee learned yesterday. Elections Canada did not comment: “NDP headquarters staff were invited and attended those meetings.”
Household debt in Canada is nearly $3 trillion, more than the value of all economic production nationwide, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The cost of credit fees and charges alone was costing billions, a StatsCan analyst told the Commons industry committee: ‘It is beyond historical experience.’
