Events across the country on Saturday will mark Indigenous Peoples Day
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OTTAWA — Hundreds of events are planned across the country on Saturday to mark Indigenous Peoples Day.
First observed in 1996, Indigenous Peoples Day is meant to recognize First Nations, Inuit and Metis cultures and traditions.
Prime Minister Mark Carney will take part in a closed event in Ottawa to mark the day.
'Supporting Indigenous communities, advancing self-determination, implementing treaties, and creating generational wealth and prosperity are central to our commitment to advancing reconciliation,' Carney said in a statement.
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Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The answer, potentially, is the waste of mega-billions of public dollars on projects that are so poorly administered, some may never be completed. The issue isn't the policies themselves. 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The legislation is now headed to the Senate, scheduled to sit until June 27, for final approval before Canada Day on July 1. Read More But recent reports by Parliament's two financial watchdogs of government spending – Auditor General Karen Hogan and Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux – suggest there are major concerns about how these projects will be approved. Hogan reviewed the Liberal government's approval of the notorious ArriveCan app that was supposed to cost $80,000 and ended up costing about $60 million, as well as 106 other professional services contracts awarded by 31 federal departments and agencies and one Crown corporation to IT staffing firm GCStrategies Inc. from 2015 to 2024. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. They totalled up to $92.7 million – of which, $64.5 million was paid out. 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In a separate report, Hogan estimated the cost of replacing Canada's aging fleet of CF-18 fighter jets with 88 new F-35s, increased by almost 50% within two years – from $19 billion in 2022 to $27.7 billion in 2024. In addition, another $5.5 billion will be needed for infrastructure needed to make the new jet fighters fully operational, because the government relied on outdated data and failed to develop contingency plans for managing financial risks associated with the project. She also noted a long-standing shortage of trained fighter pilots. In a report released Thursday, parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux said because Carney has delayed the federal budget until fall, he can't determine whether his claim he will balance the federal operating budget by 2028-29 is credible. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Nor can he determine whether Carney will achieve his commitment to increase federal spending on defence to the NATO target of 2% of GDP this fiscal year, and whether the government's overall financial plan is fiscally sustainable. In his election platform Carney's outlined $130 billion in new spending over four years with total deficit spending of $224.8 billion. That's 71% higher than the $131.4 billion in deficit spending the Trudeau government predicted during the same period last December. The problem, Giroux said, is that Carney is claiming he can balance the operating budget, the cost of running the government, within three years, while financing new capital spending on infrastructure with more public debt. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'There is no commonly accepted definition of what is defined as 'operating' or 'non-operating capital' spending,' Giroux wrote, meaning he 'is unable to assess whether the government's recent policy initiatives presented in Parliament … are consistent with achieving its new fiscal objective … This means the government could achieve its fiscal objective and yet be fiscally unsustainable.' Unless the federal government addresses the concerns of the auditor general and parliamentary budget officer, expect for more billion-dollar boondoggles of the type we've seen so often in the past. lgoldstein@ Columnists Toronto & GTA Columnists Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls
