OTTAWA – A new bill was presented yesterday, at first reading in the House of Commons, to propose a wide range of new requirements for online platforms, aimed at repressing a series of crimes – in particular against children – and the creation of a new digital safety oversight body to force sites to act immediately in the presence of incitement to hatred or child sexual exploitation, under penalty of very heavy sanctions.
TORONTO – Pharmacare: will free pharmaceutical treatments, even if only for diabetes (according to what emerged in the last days) be adequately covered? In the aftermath of the agreement reached between the Liberals and NDP on the issue of accessibility to certain drugs, the Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, assures that this initiative will not jeopardize the fiscal position of Canada – heavily indebted – as the federal government intends respect the spending rules decided in the autumn. →
OTTAWA – Justin Trudeau’s minority government supported by Jagmeet Singh’s NDP is safe, so far: an agreement has in fact been reached between the Liberals and New Democrats on pharmacare, free access to some types of drugs. On it, the NDP had given the Trudeau government an ultimatum: either it passes by March 1, or the NDP’s support fades and we go to vote. Trudeau and the Liberals have obviously given in: if we go to vote now, according to the polls, the Conservatives would win by a landslide. →
OTTAWA – While the federal government has been trying, in vain, for months to convince the food companies to sign up to a “code of conduct” to contain prices, the leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh, sets the tone and overtakes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, bringing forward a bill with the support of his and Liberals’ “enemies”: thanks to the vote of the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois, in fact, the NDP’s bill – which aims to reduce the cost of basic necessities – has already passed its second reading in the House of Commons. The Liberals voted against, but Singh – who also supports Trudeau’s government, keeping it alive – goes on. →
TORONTO – Too many car thefts: a real “massacre” in recent months. The federal government of Canada has therefore decided to “invest” 15 million dollars to combat the phenomenon. The initiative was announced today during a joint press conference by the Minister of Public Security, Dominic Leblanc, the Minister of Transport, Pablo Rodriguez, the Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, the Commissioner of the RCMP, Mike Duheme. →
