Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024
House of Commons committee should close loophole on MPs’ travel, Liberal MP says
Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen is calling on the House of Commons to close a loophole that allowed MPs travelling to political party conventions to expense hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel costs in the past year. In a letter to Speaker Greg Fergus obtained by CBC News, Gerretsen said the loophole is allowing some MPs to bypass a House of Commons rule that bars MPs from claiming travel expenses linked to partisan political activity, “effectively making it hollow and meaningless.” While MPs can’t normally claim travel expenses for travel toRead more
Ottawa is spending $1.7M for 10 new jobs at a pasta plant. Are such loans and government aid worth it?
When the federal government said earlier this week its $1.7 million loan to a Brampton, Ont., pasta plant would create 10 jobs, some questioned whether that taxpayer money was being put to good use. One economics professor tweeted he was “legit astonished” by the investment in Italpasta. “Do they not understand just how insane this is? That spending north of $170k for *one job* is an embarrassment, not an achievement?” wrote Stephen Gordon of Laval University. And that was just a fraction of the billions of dollars in subsidies that were announced recently for theRead more
2nd human infected with H5N1 bird flu in U.S., CDC says
A Michigan farm worker has been diagnosed with bird flu — the second human case associated with an outbreak in U.S. dairy cows. The patient had mild eye symptoms and has recovered, U.S. and Michigan health officials said in announcing the case Wednesday. The worker had been in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and the risk to the public remains low, officials said. The first case was found in late March, when a farm worker in Texas was diagnosed in what officials called the first known instance globally ofRead more