We don't need these people at all:
In a letter tabled in Parliament Monday, Commons Law Clerk Michel Bédard told MPs that he had recently received new documents from three government departments relating to Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). In all three cases, information was withheld.
“All three government institutions provided documents containing redactions and/or withheld some pages purportedly relying on the Access to Information Act,” he wrote to Speaker Fergus about Finance Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development and the Treasury Board Secretariat.
Testifying to MPs on the Public Accounts committee Monday, Bédard said that meant the three departments are still failing to comply with an order by the House of Commons.
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“Canadians have been sold a bill of goods,” Bruce Pardy, the author of the report and a Queen’s University law professor, told National Post by email. “Many of them think that they have a right to equal treatment under the law. They think that discrimination is illegal. But nothing could be further from the truth. In Canada, discrimination is lawful as long as it is committed against the right groups — and in particular against straight white men.
This is all Justin's dad's fault.
We need a Bill of Rights or a Magna Carta, not this dreck.
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The Hogue Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian democracy has not yet concluded, but it now appears that China and India may have both stuck their hands into our elections, and worse. The potential for this should have been foreseen years ago, and strong safeguards should have been placed against it.
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The federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below the promised $40-billion cap in the last fiscal year, the parliamentary budget officer said on Thursday.
The budget watchdog estimates in its latest economic and fiscal outlook that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
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The CEO and president of CBC/Radio-Canada says she believes members of the parliamentary heritage committee have been using her appearances to “vilify and to discredit” her, along with the public broadcaster as a whole, as she defended bonuses paid to executives.
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Immigration Minister Marc Miller is refusing to release a federal citizenship booklet that’s been under revision by his department since 2016. Parliamentarians complained Miller’s office ignored multiple requests to see the guide that promised “historically accurate” accounts of Indigenous history with input from the LGBTQ community: “References generally in the guide are ones that are outdated."**
Canada is planning to put new limits on a program that allows companies to recruit high-wage foreign labour by forcing firms to offer higher compensation, according to a senior government official with knowledge of the matter.
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Western free trade farm groups are petitioning the Senate to reject a Bloc Québécois bill on dairy quotas. Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet has warned the bill must be signed into law by 11:59 pm Eastern on October 29 or he will “bring down the government.”
Also:
More than six billion litres of milk has been discarded on Canadian dairy farms since 2012, according to a newly released study.
“Systemic inefficiencies” in Canada’s supply management system have led to between 6.8 billion and 10 billion litres of milk being dumped out over the past 12 years, says the study published in the journal Ecological Economics. Valued at as much as $14.9 billion, the dumped milk accounts for roughly 7 percent of milk produced on dairy farms during that time period.
The report, which was co-authored by Dalhousie University Agri-Food Analytics Lab scientific director Sylvain Charlebois, said the wasted product was a “nutritional and economic loss” that could have provided enough milk each year to supply 11 percent of the Canadian population.
And:
Consumers retreated from the beef category, and sales never fully recovered. The current situation, however, could be even worse. As of July 1, Canada’s cattle herd was the smallest since 1987, despite the country having 15 million more people now. The U.S. is experiencing an even more pronounced decline, with the smallest cattle inventory since 1951.
At some point, producers may attempt to rebuild their herds to take advantage of high prices, but this won’t happen overnight. Economic uncertainty, including fluctuating interest rates and the upcoming U.S. election, may cause the industry to delay any significant expansion.
Looking ahead, consumers should expect to see elevated beef prices through 2025 and into 2026. This trend is likely to hold, whether it’s barbecue season or not. The beef industry faces a tough challenge in maintaining consumer interest amidst these high prices. Back in 2015, the surge in prices led to the closure of many butcher shops as consumers adopted more frugal approaches to buying animal protein.
As history has shown, when prices spook consumers, new habits form. This shift could have long-lasting consequences for sectors like beef, which are key to North America’s agricultural economy. Keeping consumers engaged in the face of these price pressures will be a challenge, one that the industry must tackle head-on.
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And I thought this ship was running smoothly:
Demand for electricity in Ontario is set to soar by 75 per cent in the next couple of decades, far higher than was projected just last year, in part due to a sudden surge in data centres supporting artificial intelligence, the system operator said Wednesday.
The demand has been relatively flat for the past 20 years, but now it is building and shows no signs of levelling off, officials with the Independent Electricity System Operator said in a briefing. Just last year, they expected demand to grow 60 per cent higher by 2050.
Much of that additional pressure will come from industry, such as the three electric-vehicle battery plants that are in the works and associated supply-chain manufacturing. Industrial demand is anticipated to rise by 58 per cent by 2035, adding the equivalent of a city the size of Toronto to the grid, the IESO said.
The new demand is also coming from data centres that need much larger amounts of energy to power artificial intelligence, the IESO said.
“Previously, the data centres, they existed … but the energy use that data centres now require, because of these AI functionalities, is infinitely higher than it was previously,” said Chuck Farmer, the IESO’s vice-president of planning, conservation and resource adequacy.
“I’ll be frank, we have been — as many system operators have been — caught a little off guard by how quickly this has happened.”
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Three-tenths of Canadians admit to turning to bill-splitting strategies such as carpooling, buying in bulk, sharing subscriptions and childcare, and cohabiting with others, according to the latest MNP Consumer Debt Index conducted by Ipsos on behalf of MNP LTD.
Ipsos found 13% of Canadians say they are saving money by living with family, friends, or partners or by seeking out additional roommates or co-living spaces. Additionally, it said 28% have resorted to eating less to save money.
“We’re witnessing a bill-splitting boom as Canadians adapt to the high cost of living,” said MNP LTD President Grant Bazian in a press release.
“Strategies like sharing expenses and co-living arrangements showcase not only resourcefulness but also the financial pressure many are facing.”
In response, Bazian said these measures “reflect the harsh reality of soaring living costs, compelling Canadians to find new ways to save.” He said it is concerning close to three-tenths are cutting back on food to make ends meet.
Ipsos said 51% have tried to save money by grocery shopping more strategically, 46% are avoiding impulse purchases, and 44% have stopped eating in restaurants or getting takeout. It added the bill-splitting trend is more common among Canadians aged 18 to 34 and those living in British Columbia and Alberta.
Canadians are building up the bank this quarter, reporting they have on average $155 more left over at the end of the month by reaching $937 — the largest amount of money they have had after all expenses in the last five years. Four-two percent said they are $200 or less away each month from financial insolvency — the lowest recorded proportion since September 2018.
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