Tag Archives: HIV

Roundup: The case of the missing naval documents

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Questions are being raised after Access to Information requests showed that naval intelligence documents were destroyed and then suddenly reappeared after being found in the emails of those serving overseas. Not only would their destruction have been against National Archives laws, but it raises further questions about how intelligence matters are being handled in the post-Delisle era.

Jason Kenney says he doesn’t want to turn any more immigration powers over to the provinces like already exist for Quebec, because he wants immigration to be about nation-building, not just making more Albertans or Nova Scotians rather than new Canadians.

Newly released emails show that during the last election, government officials avoided a meeting with the Parliamentary Budget Officer about the cost of the F-35s, and when his report was released that showed they cost double what the government claimed, they scrambled to undermine his credibility.

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Roundup: BYO-Armoured Car

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As the Prime Minister’s trip to India rolls along, we learn that after eight years of negotiation, a foreign investment protection agreement still hasn’t been signed, we’re still haggling out a deal to ship uranium two years later, and Harper brought over his own armoured cars, though that sounds to be more of an RCMP decision rather than his usual case of presidential envy.

A medical journal is warning of increased mental and physical illness as a result of the omnibus crime legislation, as people will be locked up for longer in overcrowded and stressful situations, and will be more exposed to things like Hepatitis C and HIV. The government, of course, doesn’t think the link between violence and overcrowding.

Further to the issue of veterans’ funerals, it seems that the rate has remained unchanged for 11 years. The Liberals are calling for an independent review of the Last Post Fund and its requirements.

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Roundup: The clawback climbdown

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At 4:26 pm on the Friday before a long weekend, it was time for the government to release something they wanted buried – in this case, backing down on some of the changes to the EI Working While On Claim programme. The government will now allow some claimants to return to the old system that didn’t claw back as much for low-income earners. That said, it’s a temporary short-term fix that won’t do much in the long term for those claimants.

Here’s a bit of perspective on the “largest beef recall in Canadian history.”

Uh oh – it looks like the government is set to miss its deficit reduction targets for last year.

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Roundup: Announcing the intention to keep a promise

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Because it’s the height of summer with not a lot else to do, Stephen Harper paid a visit to a Ronald McDonald House out in Vancouver to announce that his government planned to follow through on a campaign promise to provide 35 weeks of EI benefits to parents dealing with seriously ill children. Well, so long as you intend to keep that promise… Perhaps the announcement should have come when the bill was tabled. Oh, wait – I’m sure we’ll get yet another photo op when that does happen sometime in the fall (unless it’s not until spring with next year’s budget…)

Harper also defended the environmental review process of the Northern Gateway pipeline and said that the decision will be made on scientific and economic as opposed to political criteria. Well, so long as we’re clear about that, we can stop worrying – right?

Trade Minister Ed Fast is in London during the Olympics to extol the virtues of trade with Canada.

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