The Treasury Board is concealing the scope of federal job cuts from analysts at the Budget Office, records show. Refusal to disclose follows Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali’s promise to MPs to “strengthen openness.” READ MORE
Gov’t Calls It “Vacation Pay”
Liberal MP Arielle Kayabaga (London West, Ont.) yesterday would not say whether paid employees worked on her political campaign while on the public payroll, a breach of Treasury Board rules. The former Government House Leader’s six-figure billing for “personnel” over nine days mainly reflected vacation pay for staff, a spokesperson said. READ MORE
“Possible Fraud” 450 Times
The Canada Revenue Agency counted “450 possible fraud cases” involving staff who falsely claimed pandemic relief benefits while on the payroll, documents show. The figure detailed in a labour board case contradicted claims at the time by Revenue Commissioner Bob Hamilton who assured MPs there were “not very many, obviously.” READ MORE
Piece Of History Is Scrapped
A piece of Canadiana is bound for the scrapyard. MV Prince Edward, last ferry to link Prince Edward Island with the mainland under parliamentary mandate, will be sold for scrap, the fisheries department said yesterday: "It is highly likely the vessel would have sunk." READ MORE
Try Citizenship By Adoption
A cabinet bill granting citizenship to grandchildren of Canadians abroad should include adoptees, says the Canadian Bar Association. Lawyers in a submission to the Senate social affairs committee said current law was unfair to foreign children adopted overseas: "It treats adopted children differently." READ MORE
Billed $173,574 In Nine Days
Liberal MP Arielle Kayabaga (London West, Ont.) yesterday would not explain why she billed more than $173,000 for nine days’ worth of “personnel” costs in her brief tenure as Government House Leader. Kayabaga spent the entire period in her riding with Parliament out of session: 'It was a short-lived position.' READ MORE
$6.2 Billion ‘Tick Box Exercise’
A globetrotting climate program that cost taxpayers billions became a “tick box exercise” for federal managers, says an internal report. Then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expanded the Climate Financing Program during a failed 2020 campaign to gain a seat on the United Nations Security Council: "Canada is back." READ MORE
Guest Commentary
I grew up on a farm at Gull Lake, Sask. and met my wife Brenda at the University of Saskatchewan. I had no ambition to become a farmer and wanted to get away from the wind and the chaff, so I went to Ottawa. I know. Metaphorically that makes no sense. After I left television, a lady tapped me on the chest and said, “Didn’t you used to be Doug Small?” She remembered the 1989 budget leak story. After 40 years in journalism, I think I can predict it will be the one story that will rate a line in my obituary. It’s certainly the only story that saw me arrested and sent to trial. To this day I can’t imagine not broadcasting that leak. It was my job, any reporter’s job.
