Federal managers paid out more than $500,000 in settlements to employees suspended under vax mandates, records show. The payments were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Ted Falk (Provencher, Man.) who opposed mandatory vaccination as a breach of Charter rights: "That is what happened."
The Canada Revenue Agency should tighten ethics training, say auditors. The recommendation comes after Revenue Commissioner Bob Hamilton misled MPs over the fact 232 employees were fired for defrauding pandemic relief programs: "I don’t have the numbers right in front of me; not very many, obviously."
The Budget Office is calculating the cost of failed asylum claims by illegal immigrants. It seeks to update 2018 figures that put expenses at up to $33,700 per person depending on lengthy appeals: "They are staggering."
Elections Canada yesterday began preparation for printing ballots in anticipation of a general campaign. The agency in a notice to contractors ordered the printing of special ballots for electors with disabilities from August 1: "Be ready."
Federal airport screeners predict millions more Canadians will fly over the next year but are making no promises on reducing wait times. The forecast follows a 33 percent increase in mandatory fees paid by travelers to cover security costs: "Canadian travelers already pay one of the highest aviation security fees in the world."
Cabinet’s decriminalization of cocaine in British Columbia sets possession limits “too low” and doesn’t allow addicts to buy in bulk, says a federal report. Researchers advocated more generous possession limits from the current 2.5 grams: "Buying in bulk may be more economical particularly for people who use drugs."
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday said it “would be just wrong for me to comment” on a Parliament Hill protest celebrating the October 7 killing and kidnapping of Jews in Israel including eight Canadians. A police investigation of the demonstration is underway: "Is that hate speech?"
Cabinet’s decision to defer a steep increase in capital gains taxes for two months was “surprising to say the least,” says Budget Officer Yves Giroux. MPs called the deferral a ploy for pre-election boosts in tax revenues: "If that's not the reason that certainly will be the effect."
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has postponed until after the next election the mandatory registration of $34 billion a year worth of plastic goods made in Canada from takeaway cups to fishing gear. Guilbeault’s lawyers are currently appealing a 2023 Federal Court decision that struck a "toxic" blacklisting of plastics: "Not every plastic manufactured item has the potential to create a reasonable apprehension of harm."
A federal ban on false environmental claims should be widened to include all misleading “green” advertising, say environmental groups. A cabinet bill would outlaw fake claims that certain products are environmentally friendly but not broader misleading statements that companies are “net zero."
The Public Health Agency broke its own rules in auctioning brand new $22,000 ventilators as $6 scrap, records show. Agency directives forbid the sale of licensed medical devices as scrap metal: "Do we get reimbursed?"
The newspaper chain that successfully led the national campaign for press subsidies, FP Newspapers Inc., lost more than $6 million last year, new records show. The publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press, Brandon Sun and other Manitoba titles received $989,000 in payroll rebates at taxpayers’ expense: "There does need to be a deadline."
A third of Canadians are wary of air taxis and urban drones if the federal government is responsible for regulating traffic, says in-house Department of Transport research. “A third of respondents, 31 percent, have low trust in the Government of Canada to handle the implementation of the technology,” wrote researchers.
Parliamentary critics should be forbidden from calling the Prime Minister corrupt, says Deputy Government House Leader Mark Gerretsen. The Liberal MP (Kingston & the Islands, Ont.) sought a Speaker’s ban on the adjective “to further improve decorum here.”
Two scientists fired as Chinese spies in 2021 kept their top federal security clearance for months while under investigation because “these were allegations,” the Public Health Agency told a Commons committee Friday. MPs expressed astonishment at the lapse: "How were there not red flags at that point?"
