An “angry, cranky” Green MP Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) yesterday vowed to lead her Party into another election to show voters how they “f—ked this planet.” May, 70, in rambling remarks to reporters said she felt lucky to be alive and didn’t understand why Canadians have sharp opinions of Justin Trudeau: "This is not right."
Cops Track Communist Party
The RCMP yesterday appealed for tips from Chinese Canadians after confirming an investigation into election interference by Communist Party agents. The Mounties targeted suspected criminals victimizing Québec residents of Chinese ancestry: "Let's fight interference together."
All-Labour Report Due Soon
Recommendations on job training and retirement planning from an all-labour committee are due by year’s end, says a Department of Employment briefing note. The committee was appointed last December for ideas to help workers “transition to retirement with dignity.”
Feds Wasted 14K Ventilators
Almost 14,000 ventilators bought under a $700 million Covid program were immediately warehoused as surplus including devices promptly sold for scrap, according to auditors. The figures were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing, Ont.): 'This is destruction of value for taxpayers.'
Paris Junket Cost $428/night
Climate Change Ambassador Catherine Stewart billed taxpayers $428 per night to stay at a hotel in downtown Paris to “inform” the French about Canada’s carbon tax, Access To Information records show. The hotel near the Eiffel Tower charged $22 for croissants and coffee: "Outreach was required to have candid conversations to help inform the development of a strategy."
Agency Polls On Taxing Rich
The Canada Revenue Agency polled Canadians on whether they resent tax avoidance by the rich. In-house records show the Agency hired researchers at $174,047 to poll public resentment about the tax habits of wealthy Canadians: "There was specific interest in gauging how respondents view the Agency’s treatment of ‘rich’ people without defining ‘rich.'"
Fed Report Called ‘Appalling’
Cabinet should decriminalize heroin nationwide, says a Black Justice Strategy report. One MP of Kenyan descent yesterday called the Department of Justice document “appalling.”
Feds Counted 149 Complaints
Elections Canada in a report to the China inquiry now says it knew of at least 149 complaints of foreign interference in the last two general elections. The agency two years ago assured MPs it was unaware of any claims foreign agents were at work: "I have no reason to believe the election was not a free and fair election."
Round The World At $254,000
Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change billed more than $254,000 in travel expenses in less than two years on the job, accounts show. Catherine Stewart charged for stays at luxury hotels ranging up to $623 a night, according to Access To Information records: "Climate change will bring unprecedented challenges."
Home Tax Merely A “Rumor”
Talk of a home equity tax is merely a “rumor” though the Prime Minister met privately for an hour with equity tax lobbyists, says Liberal MP Karina Gould (Burlington, Ont.). Political aides in Gould's office in a note to homeowners dismissed the meeting as routine and unimportant: "I can assure you."
$42M In 14 Days Or Else: Feds
The Canada Revenue Agency demanded Saskatchewan pay $42.4 million worth of carbon taxes within 14 days or else, according to Federal Court records. Saskatchewan Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre called the unprecedented order an obvious threat at political direction: "They started with the threats."
Housing For The 21st Century
Canadians will live in townhouses and walk-up apartments under a Housing Design Catalogue for builders and buyers. No designs for detached single family homes are welcome: "I want to solve the housing crisis."
Anti-Crime Rules For Realtors
Risks of money laundering in real estate have worsened despite attempts to curb black marketeers, the Department of Finance said Saturday. The department in a regulatory notice said it will mandate that all realtors identify anyone involved in the purchase or sale of property in Canada: "Realtors do not want to see a single dollar of dirty money."
Poem: ‘Eyewitness To An Era’
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “Followed a floater in my eyeball. Saw it disappearing before I could reach to a pen…”
Book Review: Good Eating
At a plain beige Parliamentary cafeteria where Canada’s leaders took lunch there was a salad bar with fresh greens, chickpeas, beets and whole broccoli, sometimes artichoke hearts. It was the most colourful table in the place. Further down was a grey deep fryer that sold salted, fat-laden potatoes and meats. Can you guess which had the line-up every day at noon?
In examining the national diet, Professor Anthony Winson of the University of Guelph laments the “nutritional degradation of food.” It is not food at all, Winson writes, but “edible commodities that too often subvert our well-being and promote disease instead of nourishing us.”
Soft-drink consumption in Canada increased 50 percent in a generation. The incidence of diabetes in Ontario alone rose from 6.6 percent of the population to 10.5 percent in a decade. Nationwide Canadians spent $2 billion a year on confectionery where profit margins average 35 percent. Industrial Diet notes this is neither new nor unique. Consumption of sugar in the U.K. first spiked in 1844 and has risen almost annually ever since except for periods of wartime rationing.