Federal government overestimating immigration impact on housing gap: PBO

EDMONTON – Canada’s Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is apologizing after shifting claims of his Indigenous identity came under scrutiny.

The Edmonton Liberal member of Parliament says he’s sorry he hasn’t been clear about who he is and his family’s history and that he’s still learning about his heritage.

Boissonnault has previously referred to himself as “non-status adopted Cree from Alberta” and said his great-grandmother was a “full-blooded Cree woman.”

The apology comes after reports that a company co-owned by Boissonnault unsuccessfully bid on two federal contracts while identifying itself as Indigenous and Aboriginal owned.

Boissonnault says he never claimed Indigenous status to his business partner, and he corrected the Liberal party as soon as he became aware of its public claim that he’s Indigenous.

The Conservative party has called for Boissonnault to testify before the ethics committee and answer for what it calls serious allegations of fraud.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

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VANCOUVER – Intense flooding that hammered British Columbia’s coast last month has led to more than $110 million in insured damage claims.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says insurers have been working with clients for the last few weeks since the Category 4 atmospheric river caused “significant flood damage” to Metro Vancouver properties in Coquitlam, Burnaby, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, and Surrey.

The bureau says the intense rainfall and wind — which prompted a local state of emergency in North Vancouver on Oct. 20 — resulted in overflowing rivers, sewer backups, and flooding on roads and in parking garages and basements.

It says that while some residential flood insurance is available, it may be limited or inaccessible to some, forcing them to rely on government disaster financial assistance for their recovery.

About 10 per cent of Canadian households cannot access flood insurance, and the bureau is again calling on the federal government to “fully fund” the National Flood Insurance Program.

It says a national program would provide financial protection to high-risk households, and reduce disaster costs to federal and provincial government treasuries.

“Rather than responding with disaster financial assistance in the aftermath of catastrophes, this program would be a proactive, cost-effective approach to managing the financial toll when disasters strike,” the bureau says in a news release.

“While the federal government has committed to its creation, the program has yet to be fully funded.”

It says insured losses related to severe weather in Canada now routinely exceed $3 billion annually and a new record has been set this year, reaching more than $7.7 billion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – Amid heavy criticism across party lines, an opposition member of the provincial legislature is not backing down from comments that his fellow lawmakers say painted them as racist.

Haroun Bouazzi of Québec solidaire has been criticized this week for a speech delivered recently before a community group that works with immigrants.

He told the audience that every day in the national assembly he witnesses “the construction of the other” — which he described as a perception that the cultures of people who are North African, Muslim, Black or Indigenous are dangerous and inferior.

Other political parties said Bouazzi’s remarks equated to labelling members of the national assembly as racist, and there have been calls for him to be sanctioned.

The co-leaders of Bouazzi’s left-leaning Québec solidaire rebuked him on Thursday, saying his comments were “clumsy and exaggerated.”

Bouazzi explained on Thursday that he was trying to express his concern over the daily discourse at the national assembly, which he said seems to point fingers at immigrants and newcomers as the source of many of Quebec’s problems.

In a radio interview Friday, Bouazzi remained unapologetic and singled out members of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec and opposition Parti Québécois, who he said blamed immigration for social ills.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.