Global News caught up with Senator Patrick Brazeau as he was moving house in Gatineau, and he insisted that he still hasn’t received any formal notice that his wages are going to be garnished, and he continues to insist that he didn’t do anything wrong or that he broke any rules. He at least knows that he won’t win in the court of public opinion, but insists that he still hasn’t received his due process. Both Brazeau and Mac Harb are expected to have 20 percent of their pay garnished, though the judicial review that Harb has requested may put a spanner in that works.
Oh, look – for the second time in two years the government is late in publishing its GHG regulations for the oil and gas sector. Oh, but they’re just taking the time to “get it right” rather tan setting a price on carbon and letting industry innovate and find ways of reducing their own emissions. And yes, the oil and gas sector is just as anxious for the regulations and most of the major players would prefer a price on carbon.
Apparently it was essential that there be communications staff involved as Environment Canada planned where to cut some $60 million from its budget, and that included planning on “rollout days” where they would be prepared to handle increased media calls about the cuts being announced on those days.
The interim Parliamentary Budget Officer is invoking the names of the Speakers in order to get reluctant departments to turn over their data by the 19th. Afterward, it looks like she’s back to the courts.
The quarterly financial returns are in from Elections Canada, and the Conservative fundraising machine appears to be faltering, while the Liberals continue to out-fundraise the NDP.
Jason Kenney announced that Canada will accept another 1300 Syrian refugees – 200 government-sponsored, and the other 1100 divided among private and group sponsorship. These new 1300 will be over and above the existing quotas and caps for the year.
Striking foreign service workers are slowing down visa applications, which will have an economic impact. Enough to get their (fairly modest) demands? We’ll see.
Here’s a look at Google and the major Canadian telecomm companies, and how they may or may not be participating in Internet surveillance and the collection of metadata – and how government agencies could get around them.
Thomas Mulcair is making a pseudo-official visit to France in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition, though the trip is largely going to be about Quebec politics.
Mike Moffatt looks at the government’s changes to the tariff codes around iPods and MP3 players, but still has questions going forward.
The city if Toronto has decided that the results of the National Household Survey are too unreliable for their needs, and they won’t use it. But hey, remember that it’ll be just as good as the mandatory long-form census – right?
And while PostMedia cribs their own cabinet shuffle notes, Aaron Wherry’s seems to be drawing the most praise.