Whistle-blower alleges government coverup over report on green-tech funding agency

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Tuesday denied a whistle-blower’s allegation that his office softened the final report of an investigation into governance and conflict of interest breaches at Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to protect the federal agency’s senior leadership.

The investigation was triggered by a voluminous file alledging that as much as $150-million could have been granted improperly.

A former SDTC employee, who launched the initial complaints about its board and management, testified before a House of Commons industry committee Monday that the federal government knew for several months of serious financial and governance infractions, and in the end covered up the full extent of the problems.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett calls on Prime Minister Trudeau to shut down SDTC amid allegations.

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💉Government paid $323 million for vaccine factory that never produced anything

Canadian taxpayers were on the hook for $323 million that went towards a Quebec vaccine facility that was never built and never produced a single vaccine.

The startling revelation came from a House of Commons health committee meeting Monday regarding Medicago, a now defunct company in Quebec City that received $323 million in federal subsidies – double the amount initially reported.

Despite the money, its vaccine never made it to market. Medicago CEO Toshifumi Tada refrained from divulging contract details.

Medicago failed to deliver any Covid vaccines under an Advance Purchase Agreement, costing taxpayers $150 million.

The company also secured around $173 million in research subsidies through Innovation Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, but Tada was unable to provide specifics, citing confidentiality constraints.

#Quebec

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More than 68,000 guns seized in cross-border mail over four-year span

A Canada Border Services Agency Report said that just over 68,000 guns were seized by federal agents in cross-border mail between 2018 and 2022.

Ninety-six per cent of Canada Border Services Agency firearm seizures, which includes parts, magazines and ammunition, occurred in the postal mode, according to the report.

Under the Canada Post Corporation Act, only postal inspectors, not police, are permitted to intercept suspicious packages in transit.

On June 6, the Senate gave Second Reading to Bill S-256 — An Act to Amend the Canada Post Corporation Act — to allow police to intercept suspicious parcels in transit.

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🏠 Housing minister suggests immigration ‘reforms’ should be considered

Housing Minister Sean Fraser says potential changes could be made to both the international student visa and temporary foreign workers programs amid record-high immigration and a housing crunch.

The government is dusting off a Second World War-era housing plan to ignite the pace of home construction in Canada, and after Immigration Minister Marc Miller last week threatened that he will look at “significantly limiting visas” for international students before next fall if provinces and post-secondary institutions fail to act.

We do need to continue to look at reforms to our temporary residency programs.

Sean Fraser said.

We expect learning institutions to only accept numbers of students that they’re able to provide for, able to house or assist in finding off campus housing. If provinces and territories cannot do this, we will do it for them and they will not like the bluntness of the instruments that we use.

Marc Miller said.

From July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, nearly 1.2 million people were admitted to Canada under both the permanent and temporary immigration programs, according to Statistics Canada.

#housing

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Federal liabilities 'likely' owed to Indigenous people grow to $76B under Trudeau

The Canadian government likely owes Indigenous people almost $76 billion for currently filed land claims and lawsuits, recent official reporting says — a sum that's nearly seven times greater today than when Justin Trudeau became prime minister.

In 2015, Ottawa counted $11 billion in "contingent liabilities," which are potential legal obligations recorded only in cases where the probability of future payment is considered "likely," according to the 2023 public accounts of Canada.

This year's fall economic statement showed the vast majority of these liabilities — 95 per cent — stem from Indigenous claims against the Crown.

From the Liberal government's perspective, the increase means progress, according to Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree.

The data show the two Indigenous-governing ministries spent a combined $89.8 million on lawyers last fiscal year, and currently face 1,152 open lawsuits. There were 136 cases resolved between 2014 and now.

#Trudeau

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Ontario expected to announce beer and wine sales coming to convenience stores

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is expected to announce today the government's plan to expand sales of beer and wine.

Ford promised in the 2018 election campaign to allow beer and wine to be sold in convenience stores and grocery stores across the province.

Ford hinted on social media the province will follow through on that pledge.

The province ran into problems fulfilling that campaign promise because The Beer Store had a 10-year deal with the government and its multinational owners threatened legal action if Ford followed through. That deal allowed for a limited number of grocery stores to sell beer and wine.

#Ontario

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PM Justin Trudeau explained why he wants to run in the next election while addressing a Liberal caucus gathering.

I'm running because now is not the time to stop fighting for progress!

Trudeau told the cheering audience.

He also took a chance to smear his rival Pierre Poilievre, accusing him of "importing far-right populist politics."

Trudeau can make fun of Poilievre all he wants, but the latest polls don't speak in his favor.

And it's about time he learned to pronounce 2SLGBTQ+ so his voice doesn't shake every single time.

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🔫 Liberal gun control bill passes Senate, poised to become law

The federal Liberal government's contentious gun control legislation Bill C-21 passed the Senate without changes on Thursday and is now poised to become law.

The bill passed the House of Commons in May after months of division and political acrimony. The version that made it to the Senate was significantly expanded from what the federal government had initially tabled a year prior.

Bill C-21 passed by a vote of 60 to 24.

Among other things, the legislation tightens gun laws to include "red flag" and "yellow flag" provisions related to a gun owner posing a risk to themselves or others, and imposes a "freeze" on the sale, purchase or transfer of handguns in Canada.

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📈Canadians are paying highest portion of disposable income toward debt on record

Canadians are directing a record portion of their disposable income to debt payments, a sign of increasing financial pressure on households after an abrupt end to near-zero interest rates.

The average household is spending around 15 cents of every after-tax dollar to service their debt, according to Statistics Canada.

The latest figure is up from 15.08 per cent in the second quarter and marks the highest ratio in records that date back to 1990. And it’s likely that the financial strain on Canadian households will worsen, given that many homeowners have yet to renew their mortgages at higher interest rates.

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Trans Mountain pipeline warns of 2-year delay over regulatory setback

Government-owned Trans Mountain Corp asked the country's energy regulator to reverse a decision rejecting proposed construction changes on its oil pipeline expansion, warning of a possibly "catastrophic" two-year delay and billions of dollars in losses.

The Canada Energy Regulator this month had denied Trans Mountain's request for a variance on a section of pipeline under construction in British Columbia.

Trans Mountain had asked to be allowed to install smaller diameter pipe in a 2.3-km section of the oil pipeline's route after encountering difficult drilling conditions due to the hardness of the rock in a mountainous area between Hope and Chilliwack.

The CER decision was yet another setback for the over-budget, delayed $30.9-billion expansion project, intended to triple shipments of crude from Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast to 890,000 barrels per day once it starts operating.

#BritishColumbia #energy

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🏠$115-million funding deal could help build 40,000 homes in Vancouver over decade: Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a $115 million federal funding deal with the City of Vancouver that he said could see more than 40,000 new homes built over the next decade.

Trudeau said the deal would fast-track more than 3,200 new homes over the next three years. The Vancouver deal would bring the total number of housing units “unlocked” by the accelerator fund to almost 300,000, he added.

#housing #BritishColumbia #Trudeau

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Judge delays police's plan for large-scale operation to close Edmonton homeless camps

A judge has ordered Edmonton Police Service to delay plans to begin a large-scale homeless encampment takedown Monday morning until he can rule on the outcome of an urgent court application made by advocates for the people who live in tents in the city's core.

Court of King's Bench Justice James Neilson granted an "interim, interim injunction" late Friday, requiring Edmonton police to wait until at least noon to begin any planned camp removals at eight sites that police have deemed high risk.

#Alberta

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🏦Bank of Canada governor says too early to consider interest rate cuts

The Bank of Canada’s governor said policymakers will consider cutting interest rates when inflation is “clearly” on a path to the two per cent target, but added that it’s “too early.”

In a speech Friday, Tiff Macklem said that once officials are assured that price pressures are on a sustained downward track, they “will be considering whether and when we can lower our policy rate.”

Macklem said that inflation will be “getting close to the two per cent target” by the end of next year, adding that “conditions increasingly appear to be in place to get us there.”

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🏠CMHC says annual pace of housing starts in Canada down 22% in November

The annual pace of housing starts in Canada fell 22 per cent in November as work began on fewer multi-unit projects, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Friday.

The agency said the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in November came in at 212,624 units, down from 272,264 in October.

The notable drop in the rate of housing starts in November, particularly in the multi-unit space, should not come as a major surprise and reflects tighter economic conditions impacting construction timelines. We can expect to see continued slower starts rates in the coming months.

CMHC deputy chief economist Kevin Hughes said in statement.

#housing

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💰Canada's inflation rate holds steady at 3.1%

Canada's annual inflation rate held steady at 3.1 per cent in November, matching the previous month's rate, according to data released by Statistics Canada on Tuesday.

Higher prices for travel tours put upward pressure on inflation rates. Slower price growth for food, energy and cell services balanced this out.

While the price of groceries continued to rise, they did so at a slower pace compared to the previous year's rates for the fifth consecutive month in a row — with a few exceptions, including meat, preserved vegetables and sugar, the agency reported.

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🇨🇦🇺🇸Canada, U.S. to join multi-national operation to counter attacks on commercial ships in Red Sea

The United States, Canada and a host of other nations are creating a new force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea that have come under attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced.

Multiple shipping companies to order their ships to hold in place and not enter the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until the security situation can be addressed.

Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of

Operation Prosperity Guardian

, an important new multinational security initiative

Austin said in statement.

The UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain will join the U.S. in the new mission, Austin announced. Some of the countries will conduct joint patrols while others provide intelligence support in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

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📈Canada's population grew by more than 430,000 in Q3

Canada's population grew by more than 430,000 during the third quarter, marking the fastest pace of population growth in any quarter since 1957.

Statistics Canada released its population estimates as of Oct. 1, which shows Canada's population topped 40.5 million.

It says country's total population growth over the first nine months of the year has already surpassed the total growth in any other full year, including the record set in 2022.

The record-high population growth has been fuelled by international migration, with an increase in non-permanent residents making up most of this increase.

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🇨🇦🇵🇸Toronto police investigating exchange during pro-Palestinian protest inside Eaton Centre

Toronto police say they are investigating an interaction between a demonstrator and another citizen during a pro-Palestinian protest inside the Eaton Centre on Sunday evening.

Video of the protest circulating online shows a crush of protesters chanting in front of the entrance to fashion retailer Zara. In the video, one protester says to someone “I’ll lay you out on the floor” and threatens to put someone “six feet deep.”

Last week, Zara, pulled advertising images for a new line of jackets that some claimed referenced the Israel-Hamas war. It also issued an apology in which it explained that the campaign was conceived and photographed prior to the onset of the war.

However, since then there have been a number of protests outside storefronts for the Spanish fashion brand in Toronto and elsewhere.

#Ontario

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🌱Steven Guilbeault a “national embarrassment,” Danielle Smith says after COP28

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz issued a joint statement calling to immediately replace Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault in response to the federal government’s approach to climate change policy at the COP28 conference.

We were gravely disappointed to see federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault and other radical activists continue to push an approach that would consign the world to

energy poverty and economic stagnation

by focusing only on ending all fossil fuel use.

read the statement.

We once again call on the prime minister to replace this minister immediately, as he continues to damage Canada’s international reputation and sell out the interests and livelihoods of millions of Canadians with his misguided personal obsessions.

said Smith and Schulz.

#Alberta #Saskatchewan #energy

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📉 B.C. sees record stretch of people moving out-of-province

🔹B.C. has recorded its largest period of interprovincial migration losses in 20 years, with more than 12,800 people moving elsewhere in Canada since July 2022, according to Statistics Canada.

It's the first time in a decade B.C. has seen 15 months in a row of more people moving out-of-province than it gains — and most are moving to Alberta in the exodus, StatsCan said Tuesday.

🔹However B.C. has added 151,437 people to its 5.6 million population so far in 2023, largely international immigrants who far outnumber interprovincial and natural losses, or deaths outpacing births.

In all, B.C.'s population has risen approximately 4.2 per cent in the last year.

#BritishColumbia

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🇨🇦🇮🇳 Trudeau says he's sensed a 'tonal shift' from India since U.S. reported alleged murder plot

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he believes India's relations with Canada may have undergone "a tonal shift" in the days since the unsealing of a U.S. indictment alleging a conspiracy to murder a Sikh activist on American soil.

Last week, Trudeau said he went public with the allegation after weeks of fruitless quiet diplomacy in order to "put a chill on India" and deter any Indian agents who might be thinking of carrying out further attacks on Canadian territory.

I think there is a beginning of an understanding that they can't bluster their way through this and there is an openness to collaborating in a way that perhaps they were less open before.

Trudeau said.

#India #US

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