Politics

Politics


From school boards to dog adoption, N.S. Tories have pulled back from 2021 promises

Campaign promises to fund mental health care, reinstate public school boards and give tax breaks for dog adoptions are among the pledges that, nearly three years into his mandate, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has either tossed aside or been slow to enact. On the cover of the Progressive Conservatives’ 140-page 2021 party platform, the […]

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‘A moral issue’: Canadian funeral directors warn of unauthorized obituaries

Funeral directors across the country are warning grieving families about a trend of third-party websites republishing obituaries for profit. Jim Bishop, the funeral director for Bishop’s Funeral Home in Fredericton, said he’s noticed an increase in grieving people who use his services complaining of altered death notices — sometimes with erroneous details — appearing on […]

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Justice Department sues TikTok, accusing the company of illegally collecting children’s data

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.  The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled […]

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N.L. opposition calls for firing of university chair over forwarding of alumna email

Newfoundland and Labrador’s Progressive Conservatives called Thursday for the removal of the chair of Memorial University’s board of regents after he forwarded an alumna’s pro-Palestinian campaign email to her father last month. In a news release, Paul Dinn, the Official Opposition education critic, said Glenn Barnes showed a “severe” lack of professionalism and judgment and […]

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Internal federal public service report details racism in the Privy Council Office

An internal report from the federal public service released Monday says Black and racialized Privy Council Office employees experience racism and discrimination in the workplace. “Black and racialized employees — through dozens of examples of racial stereotyping, microaggressions, and verbal violence — described a workplace culture where such behaviour is regularly practised and normalized, including […]

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Privy Council to continue anti-racism efforts, clerk says after report release

The head of the federal public service says he is personally committed to “continuous action” to address racism and discrimination in the workplace, following the public release of an internal report that details employees’ troubling experiences on the job.  Privy Council clerk John Hannaford says the department has put a number of initiatives in place, […]

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Government chatbots? It’s one possibility under Ottawa’s new AI strategy

Delayed air passengers, disgruntled phone customers and even hungry people craving a slice of pizza increasingly find their pleas to private companies being answered by artificial intelligence. Soon Canadians who need to reach out to the federal government could also find themselves talking to an employee who’s been helped by non-human assistants.  Ottawa is working […]

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What to know about the Kids Online Safety Act and its chances of passing

The last time Congress passed a law to protect children on the internet was in 1998 — before Facebook, before the iPhone and long before today’s oldest teenagers were born. Now, a bill aiming to protect kids from the harms of social media, gaming sites and other online platforms appears to have enough bipartisan support […]

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Elections Canada floats suggestions to shield nomination contests from meddling

Elections Canada is suggesting possible changes to protect the political nomination process from foreign meddling, including barring non-citizens from helping choose candidates, requiring parties to publish contest rules and explicitly outlawing practices such as voting more than once. The federal elections agency outlines the proposed moves in a discussion guide intended to help chief electoral […]

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Expert calls NRA’s spending policies a ‘dumpster fire’ as gun group’s civil trial begins a new phase

NEW YORK (AP) — The second phase of the trial in a civil lawsuit against the National Rifle Association began Monday in Manhattan, with New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking an independent monitor to oversee the powerful gun rights group’s finances. In addition, the Democrat wants Wayne LaPierre, the organization’s former CEO, banned from […]

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Alberta to relax rule on buying oil, gas wells if municipal taxes unpaid

The Alberta government plans to relax a rule that requires energy companies seeking to buy viable wells from bankruptcy proceedings to first pay all the failed producer’s outstanding taxes. “I have informed the Alberta Energy Regulator and the Orphan Well Association that my office will be amending the order in a way that will protect […]

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CBC/Radio-Canada board approves bonuses for 2023-24, but will review performance pay

The board of directors for CBC and Radio-Canada has approved bonuses for some staff for work they did in the most recent fiscal year, despite members of Parliament saying it would be inappropriate to do so after hundreds of jobs were eliminated.  The decision was posted on the public broadcaster’s website last month following a […]

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