The Senate banking committee yesterday questioned Parliament’s anti-money laundering scheme as ineffectual. Of nearly 100 million cash transactions analyzed in the period from 2009 to 2014, only two resulted in successful prosecutions: “It seems like a waste of time, actually.”
MPs on the Commons agriculture committee yesterday faulted animal rights groups for “social media attacks” on farmers. Remarks came a day after Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said advocacy groups have a right to free speech: “I follow social media and you’re attacking me.”
A federal agency spent more than $300,000 on meals and refreshments in a two-month period, accounts show. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research did not reply to detailed written questions seeking an explanation of the billings. “Is this spam?” said David Coulombe, spokesperson for the agency.
Cabinet in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons disclosed the agency’s hospitality expenses totaled $300,185 from last May 14 to July 19. Expenses included $4,177 for meals at a one-day meeting of 22 people at Toronto’s Chelsea Hotel, the equivalent of $190 for each guest. Meal allowances for public servants on government business are only $90 per day for breakfast, lunch and supper.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research have 120 staff. The grant-awarding agency is mandated to support medical research.
An unidentified employee charged $12 for a visit to Toronto’s Azure Lounge. The expense was billed as “executive recruitment”. Federal employees must obtain ministerial approval before charging taxpayers for alcohol, according to a 2017 Treasury Board Directive On Travel, Hospitality, Conference & Event Expenditures.
Employees also routinely hosted meals at Ottawa restaurants like the Baton Rouge Steakhouse & Bar, Victoria Trattoria, Play Food & Wine bar and restaurant, and Mamma Teresa Ristorante located six blocks from the agency’s headquarters. Staff spent a total $12,613 for meetings of “peer review committees” at Mamma Teresa at an average $53 a plate.
The Institutes of Health Research did not comment on whether charges included drinks. The restaurant sells $28 entrees and $11 Italian coffee.
The Italian eatery was once a favourite of former Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski, driven from office in 2003 for excessive spending. Radwanski dined at Mamma Teresa 14 times in two years, and rang up a total $12,200 in hospitality charges.
“He failed to exercise sound and reasonable judgment,” the Auditor General wrote in a 2003 Report On The Office Of The Privacy Commissioner. “He spent public money on travel and hospitality unreasonably and extravagantly without regard to prudence and probity. We found little value to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and to taxpayers for expenditures on hospitality.”
Radwanski was acquitted on charges of breach of trust in 2009. He died of a heart attack in 2014 at 67.
Auditors noted federal employees may only bill taxpayers for meals and refreshments for “work sessions extending over meal hours or beyond normal working hours”: “It should not be provided during meetings of colleagues working closely together on a regular basis.”
The 2017 Treasury Board Directive states: “Hospitality can only be provided in situations where participation is required in operational meetings, training or events that extend beyond normal working hours.”
By Staff 
Cabinet is prepared to introduce back-to-work legislation on striking members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers as early as Friday. “We are ready to act when needed,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday told the Commons.
Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden last night urged MPs to press minor sports officials for new measures to prevent concussions. Federal data show schoolboy hockey players aged 10 to 14 are the most concussion-prone children in Canada: “This is actually a bigger problem than we thought.”
The Federal Court has ordered the Royal Bank to pay a customer $2,800 for breaching privacy law. Staff tossed a client’s tax records in a manager’s desk drawer while repeatedly claiming the files were secure or destroyed: ‘She suffered some anxiety and stress.’
The Commons finance committee by an 8-1 vote has rejected labour amendments to a Pay Equity Act. Union executives said a feared loophole in the bill would allow employers to cite “diverse needs” in refusing to correct wages for underpaid women: “It would be a serious betrayal.”
The Auditor General for a third consecutive year has cited the Canada Revenue Agency for poor service and arbitrary treatment of taxpayers. Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier yesterday promised once again to do better: “It’s a job.”
The Commons public accounts committee in a report says it is “appalled and angry” over incompetence in the Department of Public Works. The remarks targeted the failed Phoenix Pay System estimated to cost taxpayers at least $1.2 billion: “It is extremely difficult to fire people.”
MPs should weigh the cost of a new federal holiday to honour Indigenous peoples, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation yesterday told the Commons heritage committee. Legislators have not detailed the expense of a New Democrat holiday bill endorsed by cabinet: “Statutory holidays are not free.”
A consumers’ group yesterday said Financial Consumer Agency Of Canada Act amendments should put a “speed bump” in aggressive sales tactics by bankers. Customers are routinely sold products they don’t need, the Senate banking committee was told: “At present, consumer protection measures are few.”
Animal advocacy groups have a right to speak their mind, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay yesterday told reporters. Witnesses testifying at the Commons agriculture committee blamed unnamed groups for causing farmers anxiety and stress with social media campaigns: ‘They have the right whether the government likes it or not.’
Federal agencies have allowed heritage buildings under their care to crumble into disrepair, the Auditor General yesterday reported. One agency, Parks Canada, was unsure of how many historic structures it manages: ‘We saw buildings in such bad condition they were health and safety risks.’
Industry Minister Navdeep Bains yesterday said he only learned from media that Statistics Canada proposed a data scoop of bank records belonging to more than a million people. The Privacy Commissioner similarly said he was never told of the scope of a project to track all financial transactions including credit card debts, mortgages and ATM withdrawals: “Something has gone wrong here.”
Public Works Minister Carla Qualtrough yesterday said cabinet “has to do something” to end a Canada Post dispute, but did not propose back-to-work legislation. Rotating strikes now in their 29th day are hurting small business, Qualtrough told reporters: “Everybody is hurting.”
