Cabinet will not meet a Bloc Québécois ultimatum to pass two bills into law by Tuesday or risk collapse of the 44th Parliament. Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet had set a deadline of 11:59 pm Eastern on October 29: “There will be plenty of non-confidence votes between now and Christmas.”
New quotas lower the number of foreigners to be allowed in Canada next year by 218,000 landed immigrants, migrant workers and foreign students, about 11 percent from 2023 levels, figures show. It follows record-high quotas the Department of Immigration blamed for fueling a “housing crisis.”
The Senate is close to passing a private Liberal bill proclaiming April as Arab Heritage Month. “We are open to the world,” said MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South), sponsor of the bill: “How can we use this bill to heal divisions and reduce bigotry?”
ArriveCan managers yesterday abruptly announced they’d discovered thousands of “deleted” emails involving business with contractors now under RCMP investigation. It followed protests from MPs after the Canada Border Services Agency claimed evidence was mysteriously destroyed: “We trust this clarifies any potential misinterpretation.”
Critics of Parks Canada have become “conspiracy addled,” says a Liberal-appointed senator. Paula Simons (Alta.) told a committee hearing she disapproved of “back seat forest fighters” who questioned Parks Canada forest management practices prior to a disastrous blaze at Jasper National Park: “What do you want people to know?”
Farm free traders last evening told senators to defeat a Bloc Québecois bill on dairy quotas though it could topple the 44th Parliament. “Trade is not a political game,” Nathan Phinney, president of the Canadian Cattle Association, testified at the Commons foreign affairs committee: ““I am shocked.”
Members of the Commons government operations committee have censured Governor General Mary Simon for attempting to tour Québec City without being able to speak to local residents in French. Simon claimed to have “worked in Québec City quite a bit” but cut short her visit following criticism she appeared incapable of saying more than “Bonjour, comment ca va?” (“Hi, how’s it going?”)
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday declared victory in the fight against inflation, predicting the economy will be “a good news story” in months ahead: “It’s a pretty good looking story.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly yesterday quietly removed a Russian banker from cabinet’s Ukraine war sanctions list. No reason was given: “Public consultation would not have been appropriate.”
Cabinet could spend even more without risking national insolvency, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday told reporters. Her remarks followed a Budget Office warning that Freeland missed this year’s deficit target by 17 percent: “We could be spending even more.”
Emails by a manager of the $59.5 million ArriveCan program have vanished, the Commons government operations committee learned yesterday. MPs sought thousands of emails and texts by Minh Doan, former chief information officer for the Canada Border Services Agency: “Something is rotten.”
The Senate is “looking at bicycles” to lower its carbon footprint, the chair of the committee on internal economy Senator Lucie Moncion (Ont.) said yesterday. Senators log five million kilometres a year in air travel, by official estimate: “We are looking at bicycles, you know.”
More than a tenth of federal prisoners are diagnosed with “serious mental illness,” says the Correctional Service of Canada. The agency in a report to Parliament said it now spends more than $70 million a year on mental health programs in penitentiaries: “12% meet the criteria.”
Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, 78, yesterday said he will seek a 12th term in Parliament. “I am prepared,” MacAulay told reporters: “You intend to run?”
Catherine Tait, $497,000-a year CEO of the CBC, yesterday confirmed she billed taxpayers $1,000 a night to enjoy a five star hotel in Paris in July. Tait said taxpayers would have been concerned if she didn’t attend the Paris Olympics: “Was this during a personal vacation?”
