Trudeau shuffles ministers

Winnipeg MP Jim Carr is returning as a full cabinet member after stepping aside for cancer treatments.

The move was announced in a cabinet shuffle this morning that saw four members in total take on new roles.

Carr stepped down as the minister of international trade diversification following a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, after experiencing flu-like symptoms during the 2019 federal election campaign, though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed him as a special representative for the region.

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Under Trudeau Government, Canada’s Vaccine Rollout Lags Many Developed Nations

Unsurprisingly, much of the coverage in the media has focused on supposed provincial government failures in vaccine distribution. Yet, while provincial leaders deserve criticism for many things, the vaccine rollout isn’t one of them.

Rather, this is a clear failure of the Trudeau federal government.

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Rising cases ‘frightening,’ PM Trudeau says, vows vaccine rollout will ‘scale up’

“Quantities of both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine will scale up in February. Remember that Canada has the most vaccines secured per capita in the world, which means that, by September, we will have enough vaccines for every Canadian who wants one,” he said during his national update on the COVID-19 response on Friday.

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‘Confusion’: Airlines slam new coronavirus test rules for travellers returning to Canada

Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced Thursday that air travellers overseas will have to present proof of a negative molecular test — known as a PCR test, conducted with a nasal swab — that was taken within 72 hours of departure, unless the testing is unavailable in that country.

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We’re all in this together!

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MORGAN: Alberta can become Texas North

In Ayn Rand’s most famous novel, Atlas Shrugged, thinkers and producers responded to a world of strangling state control by going on strike. As an ever hungrier government crushed enterprise while growing into an unsustainable size, producers vanished to a fictional hidden retreat called “Galt’s Gulch” where genuinely free commerce could be practiced.

In today’s world of growing state control, Alberta has the potential to become Canada’s “Galt’s Gulch”.

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CRA sent 441,000 ‘education letters’ to Canadians who may have to repay CERB benefits

The new figure provided by CRA suggests how broad the problem might be. According to federal figures, 8.9 million Canadians applied for CERB. That means nearly 5 per cent of applicants have received letters saying they may not be eligible and could be forced to repay benefits.

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Deal for A “Hybrid” Parliament Runs Out

Oh, the loss:

House of Commons business looks set to grind to a halt until at least late January after Liberals and Conservatives failed to agree on measures to keep open a virtual parliament.

New hybrid rules that combined video-conferencing and in-person sittings were agreed to in September but expired Friday, when the Commons rose for a Christmas break.

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As Canadians sour on China, an ambassador changes his tone

Barton appeared conscious of the need to make some repairs to the impression he left in February, when his testimony drew unusually direct criticism from former diplomats with experience working in China.

Back then, Barton suggested that it was incumbent upon Canadians to recognize that “China values unity and the needs of society at large, rather than freedom of individual choice … we just have to understand that.”

Former diplomat and China expert Charles Burton told the subcommittee that Barton’s words parroted Communist Party propaganda asserting that Chinese culture is inherently averse to liberty and democracy — when in fact the aversion comes from Xi Jinping’s Politburo.

In his Tuesday appearance, however, Barton opened with remarks on “our efforts to promote rights and freedoms in China.”

“We are concerned by the decline of civil and political rights in China,” he told MPs.

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