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The Liberal government’s move to limit parliamentary sitting days this year and delay Parliament’s return until late November is part of an effort to evade scrutiny, opposition MPs say.
The Prime Minister’s Office has said that the House won’t resume sitting until Nov. 22, eight weeks after a vote that resulted in a re-elected Liberal minority Parliament. MPs say the debate over the extension of pandemic supports for businesses and individuals should already be taking place, especially with income, rent and wage-support programs set to expire Oct. 23. Cabinet can extend them until Nov. 20, but any additional changes or extensions would require parliamentary approval.
Recent low numbers of parliamentary sitting days under the Liberals continue a clear downward trend over the past few decades, according to a Globe and Mail review of historical data.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks and is projected onto large screens as he takes part in the COVID-19 pandemic committee in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 27, 2020.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
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Armed gang in Haiti abducts 16 Americans, one Canadian
A Canadian is among a group of 17 missionaries and family members abducted in Haiti on Saturday amid a wave of similar crimes in the Caribbean country.
Christian Aid Ministries said 16 Americans and one Canadian associated with the charity were taken near Ganthier, east of Port-au-Prince, as they returned from a visit to an orphanage. Haitian police placed blame on 400 Mawozo, a gang that has brazenly carried out mass abductions in the past. Le Nouvelliste, a Port-au-Prince-based newspaper, reported that a group of heavily armed men barricaded a road in the area and abducted several vehicles full of people.
It was not immediately clear how the Canadian or U.S. governments would react.
How Calgary copes with record number of office vacancies
Kelly Doody is still reeling from the financial shock that hit her small business in Calgary’s Inglewood neighbourhood two years ago, when she received notice that her property tax bill was set to increase by more than five times in a single year.
Doody’s company, Social School, which teaches digital marketing to entrepreneurs, was among tens of thousands of businesses in the city that faced significant increases as they became collateral damage in Calgary’s downtown vacancy crisis. To make up for lost revenue as vacancies caused downtown property prices to plummet, the city, Doody says, turned to businesses like hers.
As Calgarians head to the polls Monday, the impact of office vacancies on the municipal budget will be among the most difficult challenges facing the next mayor and council. Mayor Naheed Nenshi and the majority of councillors aren’t running again.
Read more:
- Alberta to vote on rejecting equalization in a referendum framed by Jason Kenney as leverage
- Naheed Nenshi, Don Iveson ready to ride off into the sunset
- The void in Calgary: How office towers emptied in a once-bustling downtown
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Iqaluit officials to conduct environmental assessment as water contaminants linger: Iqaluit residents will have to deal with foul-smelling water for a little while longer, city officials warn, saying the process to flush the water lines clean of the contaminants found will continue into the week. The city last Friday said it had identified high concentrations of hydrocarbons, consistent with diesel fuel or kerosene, in samples from the local treatment plant. The water tank the samples came from has since been isolated from the system. Nunavut’s Chief Public Health Officer, Michael Patterson, said that the water tests didn’t turn up any carcinogens or other chemicals known to cause long-term damage to human health.
Trudeau to visit Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc after facing political backlash over Tofino trip: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, a community in B.C. that discovered unmarked graves of former residential school students. Trudeau’s visit follows a political backlash he faced after the community sent invitations – including to an event marking the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – to which he did not respond. He apologized later, expressing regret that he decided to travel to Tofino, B.C., with family, instead of commemorating the day with Indigenous peoples.
Canadians paying steep prices as air travel recovers from pandemic: A year and a half after the pandemic grounded most flights, vaccinated Canadians are now bracing for more than just vaccine checks and longer lineups at the airport – they are facing higher prices for their seats. The average price for a domestic round-trip ticket in July, 2021, rose by 21 per cent compared with the same month in 2019, long before the industry was forced to scale back operations. Airlines that posted deep losses while shut down are re-emerging amid soaring fuel prices, and many find themselves saddled with higher per-seat costs associated with the smaller aircraft they have deployed.
Inside Rogers board battle: Wife of late Ted Rogers, Loretta, backs CEO Natale: Rogers family matriarch Loretta Rogers is throwing her support behind chief executive Joe Natale after her son, company chair Edward Rogers, unsuccessfully attempted to unseat Natale and several other members of his senior leadership team. “While I’m deeply disappointed by the recent public airing of board discussions, I am very confident and excited about the future of Rogers under Joe Natale’s stewardship, and that of his leadership team,” she said in a statement to The Globe. Her statement was released ahead of a board meeting, during which members are planning to discuss Edward Rogers’s future interactions with the company’s management, according to a source.
Q&A with Rogers Communications’ Loretta Rogers
Listen to the latest Decibel: Whatever happened to the pandemic baby boom?: Early into the pandemic, many speculated that lockdowns would inevitably lead to a baby boom. Statistics Canada recently released preliminary data that shows the opposite has happened, with more than 13,000 fewer babies born than in the previous year. The Globe’s national reporter Zosia Bielski explains why so many people chose to delay having a baby, why experts are saying the data may have a silver lining and whether this baby bust could just be a blip.
MORNING MARKETS
World shares dipped this morning after data showed slower-than-expected growth in China’s economy last quarter and surging oil prices fed inflation concerns.
Calls by China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday to make progress on a long-awaited property tax to help reduce wealth gaps also soured the mood.
An MSCI gauge of global stocks was down 0.1% by 0808 GMT as losses in Asia and a weak open in Europe erased part of the gains seen last week on a strong start to the earnings season.
U.S. stock futures were also lower with S&P 500 e-minis last down 0.2% and Nasdaq e-minis down 0.3%.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Erin O’Toole faces damaging prospect of a televised hybrid Parliament for his unvaccinated MPs
“It’s not that Conservative MPs will defend the right of Canadians to remain unvaccinated. It’s that they will be among the Canadians who choose to remain unvaccinated. Politically, that’s a whole different picture. And it is the one Canadians could well see on their TV screens five or six weeks from now. So far, the Tories haven’t figured out what to do about that.” - Campbell Clark
A trench once again divides Europe – and it’s not the English Channel
“Poland and Hungary are both currently ruled by governments with deep disdain for the EU and its values and would likely launch a Polexit and Hungexit if it were politically feasible. But their populations, even their own parties’ voters, are overwhelmingly in favour of the union and its resulting jobs and money – and Britain’s awful five-year exit odyssey is not something anyone wants to repeat (for now).” - Doug Saunders
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David ParkinsDavid Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
How to transition your backyard, deck or balcony for colder weather
With winter approaching, Toronto designer Sarah Keenleyside is preoccupying herself with a new project: making the necessary modifications to her outdoor living area so that she and her husband can sit outside on chilly evenings and share a hot toddy or warm, mulled wine.
For those uncertain about where to start, Bert Minor, design and sales manager for Ottawa-based Jonathan Robert Landscape, recommends first assessing how you want to use your outdoor space. With landscaping, lighting, covered areas and strategic placement of furniture, he says, it’s possible to create an all-season vibe.
MOMENT IN TIME: Moving to small-parcel service, 1983
Handlers put parcels into chute at Canada Post Corp. Gateway plant in Mississauga, Ont., Oct. 21, 1983.EDWARD REGAN/The Globe and Mail
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo editors working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography. Every Monday, The Globe will feature one of these images. This month, we’re looking at Canada’s postal service.
The earliest methods of mail delivery in Canada were by foot and canoe. Steam power helped speed things up by the 1850s. Airmail took off in 1918, and some automation began to take hold in the form of conveyor belts, elevators and gravity-fed systems. Coding and sorting machines, and optical character readers were rolled out in the mid-20th century. This photo taken by The Globe and Mail’s Edward Regan in 1983 accompanied a story on how Canada Post was making inroads in small-parcel delivery, something it has increased as letter mail declined. It broke records in 2020 for parcel delivery, including one million parcels or more a day for 181 consecutive delivery days, and moved 2.4 million parcels alone on Dec. 21. As technology continues to evolve, those parcels may soon be delivered by drone and self-driving car. Iain Boekhoff
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