Security agents secretly warned Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault of irregularities at a 2019 nomination meeting in a Toronto riding, Don Valley North, the China inquiry disclosed yesterday. Perrault said he referred the incident to investigators but did no more: "Am I correct those concerns related to the Liberal Party nomination?"
One of the Prime Minister’s parliamentary secretaries yesterday accused premiers of wasting Liberals’ time by “spewing the same lines” on the carbon tax. MP Irek Kusmierczyk (Windsor-Tecumseh, Ont.), secretary for employment, complained of “the screaming hypocrisy of premiers coming here to decry a three-cent increase on the price of a litre of gas.”
Cabinet needs new “strategies” to restore public trust in the Government of Canada, says an Access To Information memo. The document complained of “growing evidence” of mistrust by the public: "What are some of the strategies that can be put in place to restore the public’s trust?"
The Canadian Embassy in Washington admits it displayed large friendship banners that mistakenly proclaimed sovereignty over Greenland. The banners were on display more than a week before the Department of Foreign Affairs noticed, a spokesperson said yesterday: "The banner was removed."
Cabinet must cancel a planned 23 percent increase in the carbon tax, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe yesterday testified by videoconference at the Commons government operations committee. “We don’t need to accept this,” said Moe, who launched a February 29 carbon tax strike on natural gas for home heating: "We can make changes."
Chinese émigrés yesterday pleaded with the China inquiry to counter harassment campaigns targeting dissidents in Canada. Witnesses testified foreign agents typically tried to bully pro-democracy activists into silence: "The hidden agenda is trying to persuade these organizations to remain, quote, unquote, ‘neutral,’ and not to be, quote, unquote, ‘political.'"
It would “be a good idea” for cabinet to calculate how much it costs to collect taxes before introducing any new tax, Budget Officer Yves Giroux said yesterday. His remarks followed data showing the paperwork on an equity tax targeting foreign property owners costs more than it raises in revenue: "I think there will need to be a correction in the budget."
The Department of Immigration documented a suspiciously high rate of refugee claims by Mexican travelers at airports in Montréal and Calgary, new records show. Figures predate cabinet’s February 29 decision to reintroduce mandatory visas for air passengers from Mexico: "They are significant and they have increased dramatically."
MPs yesterday ordered disclosure of all internal federal investigations into claims an ArriveCan executive tried to destroy 1,700 emails. Minh Doan, now chief federal technology officer, has not publicly answered allegations he attempted to hide documents on his dealings with contractors: "There seems to be a culture of hiding."
The Canada Border Services Agency disciplined more than 140 employees in a year for wrongdoing, Vice-President Jonathan Moor yesterday told ArriveCan hearings. The Agency is one of the largest police departments in Canada with 16,000 employees and a $2.7 billion annual budget: "We have a lot to do."
Liberal MPs yesterday tried and failed to block speedy hearings into why cabinet concealed evidence of Chinese security breaches at the National Microbiology Laboratory. “Why wasn’t this caught earlier?” asked Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills, Ont.): "This is the start of the matter, not the end."
Cabinet should cut immigration to ease a housing crisis, Canadians tell federal researchers. In-house focus groups by the Privy Council Office found popular support for lowering quotas to “alleviate demand for housing.”
Revenues from a national luxury tax exceed Budget Office forecasts, new data show. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland imposed the tax in 2022 to make wealthier Canadians share “a little bit of that good fortune” with the federal treasury, she said: "Thank you for contributing."
The China inquiry tomorrow opens its public investigation with testimony from Elections Canada officers who downplayed complaints of meddling by foreign agents. Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, the first to testify, earlier told MPs he saw no evidence of Chinese interference but acknowledged he didn’t look: "Our goal is to uncover the truth."
A total 986 Gazans, the majority men and boys, have applied to enter Canada, records show. Immigration Minister Marc Miller has proposed to raise the current cap of 1,000 permits to an unspecified number: "The Department of Immigration has not refused any applications."
