In the final days of 2023, there was no more poignant symbol of Canada’s post-national malaise than the cultural darkness cloaking Parliament Hill.
Christmas lights—the ones that actually mean something—haven’t been seen there since 2021. The federal government replaced them the following year with something called “Winter Lights” which, no matter how hard you think about it, stand for nothing at all.
A $400-million air defence system promised almost a year ago by Canada to Ukraine has yet to be delivered as plans are still being developed.
The Liberal government announced with great fanfare on Jan. 10, 2023 that it was acquiring the advanced air defence system and associated munitions for Ukraine at a cost of $406 million.
But the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, hasn’t been delivered, and plans are still being worked out, National Defence confirmed to this newspaper.
Is there no low the Liberals cannot sink to?
With the Conservatives poised to make major gains in the next election, don’t expect to see the Liberals and NDP duplicate the 2003 Conservative merger that stopped vote splitting on the right, despite their current close partnership in Parliament.
The Liberal and New Democratic parties may be looking at their current polling numbers with unease, but party insiders and analysts say the two parties believe they would have more to lose if they joined forces and ran on the same ticket.
The federal government says a maximum of 1,000 Palestinian relatives of Canadian citizens will be able to apply to escape the Gaza Strip with Canada’s help.
The special extended family program for people in Gaza is set to launch next week, after Palestinian Canadians pleaded with the government for months to rescue their loved ones as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
The policy details released last week say the program will stop taking applications either after it receives 1,000 requests or after a year has elapsed.
It was another record-breaking year for Canada’s richest CEOs.
In one work day, and less than a half hour into the new year — 27 minutes to be exact — Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs will have already earned the average worker’s annual salary, according to a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
It translates to roughly $60,600 by 9:27 a.m. on Jan. 2, if you include Monday as a paid holiday, according to the report.
When you make that kind of dough you must believe it your duty to betray your fellow citizens in all sorts of scummy ways like mass immigration.
OTTAWA – For more than a year, Canada has been mulling the creation of a foreign agent registry to fight interference in the country’s democratic processes.
The Liberal government and even some firm supporters of the idea acknowledge such a registry would be just one of several tools to prevent hostile actors from meddling in Canadian affairs.
Others say it doesn’t belong in the toolbox at all.
The federal public service reached a record size last year as the amount of jobs filled through non-advertised posts soared to nearly three times the level prior to the election of the Liberal government in 2015.
In addition, more public servants switched jobs, resigned or were investigated than at any time during the Trudeau government’s mandate, new statistics from the Public Service Commission of Canada show.
Nanos tracking for 2023 closes out with the Conservatives enjoying a 13-point lead in ballot support and Poilievre with a 12-point advantage on preferred PM tracking.
Whether it’s asking for a raise or switching careers altogether, many Canadians are setting financial goals for the new year. But an increasing number of workers doubt they’ll get paid more in 2024, a new poll has found.
The management services company ADP Canada released its monthly Happiness at Work Index Wednesday, polling 1,200 Canadians in the first week of December. More than half (56 per cent) reported feeling “less optimistic” about getting a salary bump in the coming year.
In my last column of the year, I consigned 2023 to the trash can of history with a gloomy declaration that things are bad and getting worse, and a wish for a Happy New Year where Canadians start demanding better policy instead of watching our politicians drift into disaster. And I kick off 2024 by calling my own bluff about admitting we’re in trouble, then making “a New Year’s list of resolutions… that contains five key policy areas and the things you won’t tolerate politicians doing and those you really want them to do,” with my five areas being national defence, finances, the economy, health care, and regulation.
Down by the harbour in Longyearbyen, the crew of the Polargirl prepared for the day’s voyage, a round trip across the fjord to the Russian coal-mining settlement of Barentsburg on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.
One would-be traveller, her suitcase set down in the snow, explained that she planned to spend the night in Barentsburg and return the next day before Masha, the Russian guide, shook her head sadly.
Canada’s ban on election advertising by unregistered third parties does not violate the Charter right to free expression, a judge has found.
Federal Court Justice Cecily Strickland ruled against a case brought by Rebel News founder Ezra Levant, who was fined for lawn signs promoting his book, titled The Libranos: What the media won’t tell you about Justin Trudeau’s corruption, during the 2019 federal election. The capital S in Libranos was styled as a dollar sign, and Liberal ministers were shown in a play on the mobster drama The Sopranos. It did not include disclosure of who paid for them, which is legally required for election ads.
Inside the lab at Olive Fertility Centre in Vancouver, hundreds of unfertilized human eggs are nesting in round tanks full of cold liquid nitrogen.
For some, the frozen eggs could fulfil dreams of parenthood in years to come.
“Honestly, I’m so grateful for science,” said Natalie Grunberg-Ferreira, 47, who conceived two sons from the eggs she froze at the fertility clinic.
Loss of cooking skills has hurt our ability to adapt to rising food prices, experts say
Skyrocketing prices have taken a big bite out of what Canadians are able to serve up for dinner but food economists say our ability to cope has been worsened by our collective decline in cooking skills.
“We are less able to cook than we were 30 or 40 years ago, and so it’s much more difficult for us to adapt our diet,” said Mike von Massow, an associate professor at the University of Guelph’s Food, Agricultural & Resource Economics department.
Of course no amount of cooking prowess will help if you can’t afford a basket of groceries. Nearly two million Canadians used a food bank in March, according to an annual report by Food Banks Canada.
I took Home Ec in Grade 9, so did a lot of guys, it was fun, except for the sewing part. I feel sorry for our teacher to this day.
