The Commons yesterday by a unanimous 327-0 vote endorsed a justice committee report that it take immediate steps to protect faith communities. The vote followed warnings from postsecondary students that Canadian universities were fostering vulgar anti-Semitism: "I have personally heard ‘death to the Jews’ chanted in Arabic."
The Commons environment committee by unanimous vote has ordered disclosure of subsidy contracts under a federal program claiming to lower industrial greenhouse emissions. Conservative MP Dan Mazier (Dauphin-Swan River, Man.), sponsor of the motion, called it “nothing more than another slush fund.”
Federal union executives yesterday protested a Treasury Board order that teleworking employees return to their jobsites at least three days weekly. Chris Aylward, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said cabinet reneged on a 2023 agreement to negotiate telework terms: "We will be encouraging our members to file tens of thousands of individual grievances."
The Department of Immigration is phasing out costly hotel subsidies to shelter illegal immigrants and refugees. It will be up to local authorities to find “permanent, sustainable” housing for foreigners by 2026, it said: "Funding in 2026 will be conditional."
Catherine Tait, the $497,000-a year CEO of the CBC, yesterday denied misleading the Commons heritage committee over payment of millions in executive bonuses while the network pleaded financial hardship. All but Liberal MPs expressed exasperation: "I want to make a personal objection."
Cabinet learned a lot from its short-lived experiment in decriminalizing public use of cocaine in British Columbia, Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks said yesterday. The program scheduled to run to January 31, 2026 was abruptly cut short on complaints of public disorder: "Is this a failure?"
Cabinet yesterday moved to invoke closure on its latest omnibus budget bill introduced a week ago. The 686-page bill amends 48 separate Acts of Parliament and raises the federal debt ceiling to $2.13 trillion, a record: "Every single Canadian will be affected by this budget in some way or another."
Canada Post should work with its unions to cut costs after posting a $748 million pre-tax loss in its latest Annual Report to Parliament, Public Works Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said yesterday. Duclos told reporters the post office faced stiff competition from non-union rivals like Amazon: "Decrease costs by working with unions."
Legalization of marijuana normalized drug use among seniors, says in-house Department of Health research. Pensioners now routinely use cannabis to relieve insomnia or boredom, said a federal report: "It’s extremely common right now."
The Department of Natural Resources is hiring consultants for advice on cutting greenhouse gas emissions by Canada’s trucking industry. It follows the latest data confirming a continued rise in emissions: "We need everyone to help drive down the emissions."
The Department of National Defence since 2015 has paid consultants and contractors nearly $10 million for “equity and inclusion” programs, new records show. Spending ranged from the purchase of gay pride flags to a “workshop on the gendered nature of security.”
The sale of costly Covid ventilators as scrap metal was “the height of incompetence,” the Commons was told yesterday. Federal agencies have yet to explain why new $22,000 medical devices were auctioned for as little as $305 for lots of 51, the equivalent of $6 apiece: "What happened to all those ventilators?"
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault yesterday under heated questioning refused to say how much he has collected from an Alberta holding company while serving in cabinet. Payments included fees collected on contracts with local authorities and the Department of Transport, the Commons human resources committee was told: "I followed all the rules."
Cabinet yesterday introduced a long-promised bill to name paid friends of China and other foreign governments. Similar legislation in the United States has unmasked foreign agents for 86 years: "We intend to proceed quickly."
A Liberal MP named a beneficiary of Chinese election meddling yesterday told the Commons that actions by foreign agents “were not successful.” MP Parm Bains (Steveson-Richmond East, B.C.) would not discuss events in his own riding: "We must adapt our thinking."
