Harper calls for national unity, independence at portrait unveiling

OTTAWA — Conservative amendments to provide more guardrails to a provision in the federal budget that would allow cabinet ministers to exempt entities from federal laws was passed by the finance committee on Monday, with support from the Liberal government. Buried in the federal government’s 600-page Bill C-15 is a provision that gives cabinet ministers discretionary power to exempt a company or individual from any act of Parliament for a three-year period, except for the Criminal Code, for the purposes of what’s called a “regulatory sandbox.” The provision is proposed under...