It's like a nepotistic gift that keeps on giving:
Michael Wernick, former chief clerk of the federal public service, yesterday joined a Liberal-affiliated think tank. Wernick abruptly resigned in 2019 following disclosures of cabinet’s failed attempt to quash a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.: “I worry about the reputations of honourable people who have served their country being besmirched.”
The federal government’s national dental care plan—introduced as a condition of its supply and confidence agreement with the NDP—will cost more than $10 billion over the next five years, says Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Yves Giroux.
The Liberal government introduced its “New Canadian Dental Care Plan” as part of the 2023 budget tabled by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in late March.
The government allocated $13 billion for the program over the next five years, which was more than double the $6 billion that Ottawa had originally budgeted for the program.
The government’s plan, which it intends to begin by the end of 2023, will be aimed at initially providing dental coverage for uninsured Canadians under the age of 18, persons with disabilities, and seniors whose annual family income is less than $90,000.
By 2025, the government plans to extend the program to cover all uninsured Canadians with an annual family income under $90,000.
Giroux’s office published a legislative costing note for the program on June 28, saying that he anticipates it will “increase federal program spending by $10.1 billion over five years.”
The PBO said his estimate—which is $2.9 billion lower than what the federal government estimated the program would cost in Budget 2023—is based on the assumption that the provinces and territories will continue to provide any of their existing dental care programs in the future.
However, Giroux said that if the provinces and territories “reduce or eliminate” any of their dental coverage programs, the cost of the federal government’s new dental care plan would increase by nearly another $5 billion over five years.
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Two days before the Clean Fuel Regulation (CFR) was enforced, Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz wrote to federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, calling on his government to “immediately halt” the implementation of the new policy.Schulz said the policy will “harm provincial economies” in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Atlantic Canada.“Canadians are already struggling with high inflation. Adding fuel to the fire by hiking the cost of gasoline and diesel will be devastating,” she said in her letter on June 29.“A plan that unfairly increases costs on families and does not account for regional differences is no plan at all.”
Roughly half of all trips by the country’s biggest airline _ including its lower-cost Air Canada Rouge and regional partner Jazz Aviation — were disrupted Saturday through Monday, according to figures from tracking service FlightAware.
The 1,965 flight delays and cancellations — over 52 per cent of scheduled flights — stand in contrast to numbers from other Canadian carriers including WestJet, Air Transat and Flair Airlines, which registered lower flight disruption levels.
They also mark an uptick from the previous weekend, despite an unexpected shortage of air traffic controllers at Nav Canada that snarled travel during that period.
Posts and photos of snaking lines and bulging terminals at airports in Toronto and Montreal popped up on social media over the past few days, as passengers vented their frustrations about late takeoffs and customer service in a throwback to scenes of post-pandemic airport chaos a year ago.
The one-time rebate is aimed at helping 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians and families offset the cost of food at grocery stores, which has risen more than 11 per cent in the past year.The grocery rebate payment will be administered through the GST rebate system. Eligible Canadians will start receiving payments on July 5, in line with already-scheduled quarterly GST rebates, said the Canada Revenue Agency.Who is eligible for the rebate?The eligibility is based on household income and family size, same as for the GST tax credit.The rebate is designed for individuals who make $32,000 or less and families who make $38,000 or less.How do I get the rebate?The rebate will be issued automatically. You don’t need to apply for this separately.
We wouldn't want the masses to riot over the summer, would we?
Also:
Inflation has overtaken the Canada Food Guide, says the federal department responsible for benchmark guidance on healthy eating. Less than a third of Canadians can afford minimum daily servings of fruit and vegetables, it said: “The Food Guide was released prior to the recent rising cost of food due to inflation and does not currently acknowledge the growing issues of food availability and affordability.”
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Over 325 Canadians—among them, doctors, journalists, lawyers, and ordinary citizens—testified about the harms that government policies such as lockdowns, mask mandates, and COVID-19 vaccines brought.
Several doctors, researchers, and professors were highly critical of COVID-19 vaccines, arguing they were not properly tested and resulted in many injuries and deaths. Canadian researcher Jessica Rose said drug companies rushed their vaccine trials and failed to account for factors such as long-term data and safety and efficacy; mRNA pioneer Dr. Robert Malone said COVID vaccines have been shown to damage the brain, as well as the endocrine and reproductive systems of its recipients; and Dr. Joseph Fraiman showed that Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were associated with an excess risk of serious adverse events of special interest in about one in every 565 people.
Meanwhile, several medical professors testified that potential treatments for the disease were ignored or actively discouraged. Alberta physician Daniel Nagase claimed success in treating COVID-19 patients with ivermectin, but Health Canada disagreed, stating there was no evidence for ivermectin’s effectiveness and it was unauthorized for that use, and he was later removed from medical duty after administering ivermectin to his final patient. Psychiatrist Greg Passey also questioned the lack of emphasis governments and public health authorities placed on potential treatments for COVID-19, such as ivermectin.
Canada’s news media received considerable criticism during the NCI hearings. Rodney Palmer, a former journalist with multiple outlets, labeled news media’s pandemic reporting as “propaganda,” arguing they heavily favoured narratives put forth by the federal government and corporations. Marianne Klowak, a former CBC reporter of 34 years, also accused the network of silencing one side of the COVID-19 debate while portraying it as “dangerous” and spreading misinformation.
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The Public Health Agency claims 20 times more Canadians would have died in the pandemic than in World War Two if not for lockdowns and vaccine mandates. The claim is detailed in briefing notes and a “what could have happened” study self-published by the Agency: “Do we have data?”
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The damage caused by this legislation and the government’s decision to ignore the potential consequences therefore run into the hundreds of millions of dollars for Canadian news outlets, effectively undoing years of public support for the sector. The government heard directly from some publishers who warned that losing the links could force them to shut down their businesses given lost links and cancelled deals. Yet it somehow decided it was comfortable putting those businesses at risk as if tough talk would somehow pay the bills.
Cabinet’s costly $595 million media bailout failed to save jobs and included only “temporary” measures, says a briefing note for Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez. Heavily-subsidized newspapers cut jobs while the only significant growth in media occurred with unsubsidized digital startups, wrote staff: “Overall job losses have continued upwards.”
Also - let it ALL come out:
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) must face a defamation lawsuit by a U.S. charity alleging the publicly funded news outlet repeatedly aired false claims that it deceived its donors, a Washington, D.C., federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss on Tuesday rejected the CBC's bid to dismiss the case on the grounds that a Canadian court would be the more appropriate venue.
WE Charity, which once operated in Canada but is suing through its U.S. affiliate based in upstate New York, alleged in its February 2022 complaint that the CBC knowingly aired false claims that the nonprofit inflated the number of schoolhouses it had built in Kenya and deceived donors about how their money was being spent, among other things.
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Business groups across Canada have sounded the alarm about the potential economic impact of the strike, which affects thousands of cargo loaders and 49 of the province’s waterfront employers at more than 30 ports across the province.
In response to calls for back-to-work legislation, a spokesman for Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said in a statement that the federal government is not looking past the bargaining table because the best deals are made there.
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Oh, Barbie ... :
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Tuesday she is concerned about the safety of India’s diplomats following the distribution of what she called “unacceptable” posters advertising upcoming protests near Toronto and Vancouver.
Sikh extremists have been freely operating in this country since the bombing of Air India 182.
"Unacceptable" is the only big word Diplomat Barbie can muster.
Also:
“Barbie” film fans in Vietnam will have to dream of seeing the doll from their childhoods come to life on the silver screen after the government banned the live-action movie for showing a map of China’s claims to territory in the disputed South China Sea.
The fantasy-comedy film, which stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, was originally slated for a July 21 release, but it was banned from release in the communist country after the Culture Ministry’s Department of Cinema found that it contained scenes featuring China’s so-called nine-dash line, state and local media reported.
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"I'm too stupid to do my job" is a going excuse:
Emails released to The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act appear to show Correctional Service of Canada Commissioner Anne Kelly was not clear on how or why Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino had not been informed before Bernardo was moved out of maximum security.The public safety minister and his staff have been under heavy scrutiny over the past month as more details have emerged about the timeline of the prison transfer. The Conservatives have demanded that Mendicino resigns over it.The emails show Kelly herself wrote on May 26 to Public Safety Canada’s deputy minister Shawn Tupper and associate deputy minister Tricia Geddes.“I had said I would confirm the transfer with you. It will occur next week,” Kelly wrote in an email with “High Profile Offender” in the subject line.She told them the federal Public Safety Department, Mendicino’s office, the Privy Council Office and the Prime Minister’s Office “have been advised” and that “we have media lines ready.”Tupper replied just minutes later to thank Kelly for the confirmation.Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the kidnapping, torture and murders of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont. He was also convicted of manslaughter in the December 1990 death of 15-year-old Tammy Homolka, the younger sister of his then-wife, Karla Homolka. Bernardo also ultimately admitted to sexually assaulting 14 other women.
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