It's Just Money

It grows on trees, apparently:

Cabinet’s estimated $5.2 billion cost of settling with striking federal employees did not include the expense of $2,500 bonuses, says Treasury Board President Mona Fortier. Bonuses would add more than a third of a billion to the settlement: “We can adjust the amount.”

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Altogether, Lac La Croix is receiving $131.3 million in compensation: $118.2 million from the federal government and the remaining $13.1 million from Ontario.

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While reforestation efforts are at the heart of the fight against climate change around the world, more than 11.5 million tree seedlings destined for Quebec forests were destroyed last year.

Ironically, it was extreme weather conditions that forced plant nurseries to discard those that did not meet the government's criteria.

The significant losses, valued at $3.6 million, represent almost nine per cent of the trees that were poised to be planted in the province.

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Room and board for illegal immigrants who entered Canada at a single Québec border crossing cost more than $127 million in the past five years, new data show. The figures, the highest disclosed to date, include hotel room bookings from Surrey, B.C. to St. John’s: “Staggering.”

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Canada Post yesterday reported a pre-tax loss of $548 million last year. Cabinet has yet to detail a management plan to return the post office to profitability but polled Canadians on service cuts: “To what extent would you support or oppose an end to door to door home delivery?”

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The Department of Industry now expects a heavily-subsidized Volkswagen battery factory will last perhaps “dozens of years,” says Deputy Minister Simon Kennedy. Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne had predicted it would survive 100 years. Kennedy did not explain the discrepancy: “Is that a challenge?”

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Cabinet’s National Housing Strategy Act has financed construction of 106,000 homes since 2019, new figures show. CMHC has estimated builders are short of demand by 400,000 a year: “We have a large task in front of us.”

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Someone has to apply the brakes:

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland faces an opposition filibuster over her latest omnibus budget bill. Conservative MPs at the Commons finance committee delayed all clause-by-clause votes until Freeland appears for questioning: “Oh my goodness.”