Almost a tenth of Canadians surveyed in federal focus groups say they now worry about running out of food. In-house research also identified people who said they were “hungry but did not eat.”
Attorney General Arif Virani faces a direct challenge over cabinet’s signature bill to censor speech on the internet. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill) yesterday said an alternative Opposition bill will target online crimes without “putting a chill on Charter-protected speech.”
Operating costs at federal prisons last year were the equivalent of $428 per inmate per day, according to Statistics Canada figures. The Correctional Service cautions actual expenses are much higher when including equipment, prison guards’ pensions and other costs: ‘Canada’s is among the highest resourced correctional systems in the world.’
A majority of voters outside Québec do not trust the Government of Canada and rate it secretive and incompetent, says in-house Privy Council research. The pre-election findings follow Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement that “Canadians’ need to have faith in their government’s honesty.”
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday said he will compel the Commons to vote no confidence in cabinet as soon as possible and send voters into a fall election. It is “put up or shut up time for the NDP,” Poilievre told reporters: “Which will it be?”
The China inquiry yesterday confirmed it is recalling a Liberal Party executive for questioning. Azam Ishmael, national director of the Party’s 2021 campaign, has repeatedly testified he was unaware of any foreign interference: “We have a lot of trust.”
Parks Canada blames former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps for ordering staff to put a smile on the agency’s beaver mascot. Managers resisted but were instructed to do as they were told, say Access To Information records: “The next election resulted in a change of government and the smile was removed.”
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly yesterday granted Canadian jewelers a partial waiver from wartime sanctions on Russian diamond imports. Joly earlier pledged to “do more” to counter Russian war financing: “Russia’s war on Ukraine is a war on freedom.”
There is not much “left of the leadership of Mr. Trudeau,” Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet yesterday told reporters. Blanchet said his caucus will press cabinet for passage of favoured bills but had no interest in keeping Liberals in office any longer than necessary: “Let there be no ambiguity here.”
Internal emails show Parks Canada executives feared “public and political perception” in managing fire hazards at Jasper, Alta. Access To Information records yesterday released by Conservative MP Dan Mazier (Dauphin-Swan River, Man.) are dated only months before wildfire destroyed a third of the town: “Very disturbing.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday said public funding should be pulled from a Canadian-produced film Russians At War. The documentary promoted by the Toronto International Film Festival depicts Russian soldiers on the Ukrainian front as war-weary conscripts: “It’s not right for Canadian public money to be supporting the screening and production of a film like this.”
CBC’s Ombudsman yesterday faulted radio host Ian Hanomansing for a 2023 broadcast in which he said people “want more immigrants to come to Canada.” The episode of Cross Country Checkup strayed from balanced treatment of a contentious issue to a “value judgment,” said the Ombudsman: “CBC can do better.”
Canada’s largest book retailer is attempting to use the federal Trademarks Act to counter anti-Semitic protesters. Indigo Books & Music Inc. in a Federal Court application asks that a judge block a copycat website claiming the bookseller is “aiding in the slaughter of Palestinians.”
The Commons’ assistant deputy speaker yesterday became the first Liberal MP to publicly demand Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation. MP Alexandra Mendès (Brossard-St. Lambert, Que.) said Trudeau should not lead the Party into a fourth campaign: “He is no longer the right leader.”
Defence Minister Bill Blair’s department will not disclose figures to substantiate its claim Canada will meet NATO spending targets. The Department of National Defence invoked cabinet secrecy in refusing to divulge the information to the Budget Office: “This information remains under cabinet confidence and is expected to take some time to finalize.”
