Blacklock's Reporter

MPs yesterday described New York Consul Tom Clark as a “confirmed liar.” The Department of Foreign Affairs would not say if Clark will resign regarding complaints he deliberately misled the Commons government operations committee over the purchase of an $8.8 million Manhattan penthouse at taxpayers’ expense: “He wanted to live like a king.”

Parliament should penalize Google and Facebook if they fail to identify and isolate “undesirable or questionable” information on the internet, says a Commons heritage committee report. A majority of Liberal, New Democrat and Bloc Québécois MPs complained of “societal harms arising from unregulated social media platforms.”

Chinese-brand solar panels continue to be imported into Canada despite subcontractors’ past links to slave labour, according to court records. Parliament five months ago passed a law requiring that major importers ensure goods are not slave-made.

Parliament must find methods to revoke passports of citizens under investigation for espionage, says a Commons committee. The recommendation follows the disappearance of suspected spies now believed to have fled to China: “I mean, these are Canadian citizens.”

The Mounties have written off millions’ worth of vehicles as scrap metal, new records show. It follows cabinet’s 2021 suspension of police vehicle auctions as a public safety measure: “The RCMP has the largest law enforcement land fleet in North America.”

Cabinet yesterday would not release a statutory cost-benefit report detailing direct costs of a proposed cap on oil and gas emissions. “You owe it to Canadians,” Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs (Lakeland, Alta.) told the Commons natural resources committee: “If Canada did not have contributions from oil and gas right now, Canada would be in a recession.”

MPs yesterday discovered bonuses and severance pay have not been ruled out for managers of a disgraced federal agency disbanded over conflicts of interest. Ziyad Rahme, chief operating officer of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, would not answer the Commons public accounts committee though he was asked seven times: “It’s a yes or no question.”

A $2.14 billion Telesat “Lightspeed” satellite loan announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a promise of universal high speed internet does not require that any specific number of households actually get connected, records show. Trudeau had called it a taxpayers’ investment in “really cool stuff.”

It is “astonishing” to question if politics played any role in forest management prior to a disastrous fire in Jasper National Park, Liberal MP Adam van Koeverden (Milton, Ont.) said yesterday. Van Koeverden, parliamentary secretary for the environment, made no mention of Access To Information memos showing Parks Canada feared “political perception” in managing fire risks.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s department in an internal report admits it took no steps to determine if foreign workers took Canadian jobs or kept wages low. “Impacts are not monitored,” said the report: “The program is less aligned with commitments to consider Canadian workers first.”

Cabinet must be forthright in telling Canadians climate programs will be painful, says David Dodge, 81, former governor of the Bank of Canada. “We are all going to pay for it one way or another,” Dodge testified at the Senate energy committee: “I’ll call it pain.”

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s department to date has subsidized about six percent of the charging ports it predicts Canada needs to comply with electric vehicle mandates. Budgeted costs so far are $1.2 billion: “This demand must be met.”

Parks Canada knew of dead pine throughout Alberta’s Jasper National Park prior to a disastrous July 24 fire, Jasper’s mayor testified at the Senate agriculture and forestry committee. Mayor Richard Ireland declined comment when asked if dead trees contributed to the blaze that left 40 percent of townspeople homeless: “I am not a scientist.”

Federal airport rents jumped 30 percent last year to nearly a half billion despite a payment holiday at eight regional airports. New figures confirm the Department of Transport collects five times more in rents than it pays to subsidize airport improvements: “The more expensive we are for aviation in Canada, the more expensive it is for Canadians.”