Updated: Senators agree on COVID-19 oversight committees, pass $73-billion wage subsidy bill
The Senate set up two committees on April 11 to keep tabs on the government’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, before Senators passed the government’s wage subsidy bill in the Upper Chamber. The Senate passed the bill shortly before 9 p.m. on April 11. Bill C-14 will allow the government to legally go ahead […]
Feds’ priciest COVID-19 spending measures could cost more than $851-million, says budget watchdog
Some of the federal government’s priciest spending measures in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic could cost more than $851-million between the 2020 and 2021 fiscal year, according to analyses released Thursday by the Parliamentary Budget Officer. The PBO estimated that one of the feds’ priciest COVID-19 programs, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which is […]
Challenges to virtual sittings not insurmountable, say MPs, experts, but reforms should reflect House’s diversity
In the absence of daily televised parliamentary sittings, many MPs have been consigned to the sidelines of the pandemic, operating largely behind the scenes as they tend to constituency issues and keep tabs on the federal government’s evolving and unprecedented response to the coronavirus. But the looming prospect of convening the House virtually holds the […]
AFN National Chief Bellegarde calls on feds to ‘immediately’ release 10 per cent of COVID-19 funding to communities
The Assembly of First Nations wants the federal government to “immediately” release about 10 per cent of all its future funding dedicated to its response to the COVID-19 pandemic “directly” to First Nations communities. In an appearance before the House Finance Committee, which met over teleconference on Wednesday, AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde said his […]
‘The deeper the wound, the longer it takes to heal’: Trump’s threats undermine Canada-U.S. relationship, says former envoy
The Trump administration’s threat to withhold critical medical infrastructure has angered Canadians and may have deepened an already open wound in the Canada-U.S relationship, as politicos say the federal government needs to find alternate avenues to protect Canada’s most important alliance. Following a weekend of uncertainty over whether Ontario hospitals would receive much needed respirator […]
MPs join fight to stamp out COVID-19 disinformation that’s ‘spreading faster than the virus’
The World Health Organization has warned of an “infodemic” of misinformation and disinformation around COVID-19, and as authorities, companies, and individuals work to combat it, two Members of Parliament have joined an international initiative aimed at calling out and fact-checking online content around the virus. “We’ve seen misinformation in many other contexts—electoral contexts and certainly other […]
‘Critical situation’ in prisons as health-care workers threaten to walk over lack of protective equipment
Health-care workers in Canada’s federal prison system are on the verge of walking off the job over coronavirus-related safety concerns, according to their union, as pressure mounts on other public servants who would be tasked with handling the early release of inmates. “This is a very critical situation that we’re trying to resolve” with the […]
‘We’re all under the gun’: MPs work 24-7 in the midst of a pandemic
By the time the clock ticked past 8 p.m. on April 6, Liberal MP Wayne Easter still had 16 calls left on his list to return, capping off another busy day wherein urgent requests have become the norm. MPs like Mr. Easter, and their staff, report their hours being consumed by “case work” of constituents […]
Patients in psychiatric care at great risk to COVID-19 outbreak, warns Sen. Kutcher
Independent Senator Stan Kutcher is raising the alarm about the looming risk of a COVID-19 outbreak among patients in psychiatric care, facilities that he’s warning don’t have the capacity to protect against or properly respond to infectious diseases. As a leading psychiatrist who pioneered research and headed the psychiatric department at Dalhousie University, the Nova […]
Feds order 30,000 ‘made-in-Canada’ ventilators
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is working with a number of companies to produce 30,000 made-in-Canada ventilators as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “If we end up making more ventilators than Canadians need … that will be great news, and we will have ventilators to share with other countries […]
