Innocent people are wrongfully convicted of crimes on a daily basis, according to prosecutors, Legal Aid lawyers and court staff interviewed by the Department of Justice. Researchers said false guilty pleas are common though the number is unknown: “People plead guilty to things they didn’t do.”
The Canadian Credit Union Association yesterday endorsed a federal bill to name and shame scofflaws, including its own members, that breach consumer protection rules. Parliament is to pass the bill this week: “That introduces an element of accountability that did not exist before.”
The Ontario Court of Appeal has raised by 400 percent a fine on a corporate polluter. Judges faulted lower courts for imposing a fine of as little as $600 on a winery blamed for runoff that contaminated a neighbouring landowner’s pond: “Minimum fines will often seem high; that is the point.”
The Senate national finance committee took just 19 minutes to pass the last of cabinet’s 2018 omnibus budget bills without amendment. The two bills combined, spring and autumn, ran to a record 1,411 pages, about half the size of the federal tax code: “I am not fond of omnibus bills.”
The Department of Public Works says it sees from 1,000 to 80,000 new complaints from unpaid employees every month. Auditors determined a costly, malfunctioning payroll system has now garbled cheques for 62 percent of federal workers: “I feel like we’re two ships passing in the night.”
Cabinet says it has no regrets over granting more than $600,000 in federal aid to a bankrupt Cape Breton call centre. Terms of loans let to ServiCom LLC of Sydney, N.S. remain confidential. Promoters had claimed Cape Breton would become the “call centre capital of the world”.
A federal judge has faulted the RCMP as a “bureaucratic maze”. The remarks came in the case of a British Columbia policeman who spent seven years applying for an apprenticeship program: ‘It would make it difficult for any candidate to succeed.’
One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies has been hit with a two-year federal ban under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Labour inspectors cited a breach of regulations at a Charlottetown plant of Elanco Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Co: “The employer was found non-compliant for an incident.”
WestJet Airlines Ltd. is under federal investigation for alleged predatory pricing. A probe by the Competition Bureau was prompted by complaints from a rival airline that WestJet sold tickets below cost, as little as $39 for a one-way ticket. WestJet said it is “keen to assist the Bureau”.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez yesterday defended taxpayers’ aid for a “bankrupt press”. Cabinet in 2019 is to detail a proposed $595 million, five-year subsidy program for chosen news media deemed to meet unspecified criteria for reliability.
“A bankrupt press is not a free press,” Rodriguez told the Commons. “A bankrupt press is not an independent press. A bankrupt press is not a press at all.”
The Minister’s remarks came under questioning of a $355,950 sole-sourced contract to Torstar Corporation to have reporters attend public meetings of two parliamentary committees, Commons finance and Senate banking. The contract was approved by the Superintendent of Financial Institutions on October 25. It was cancelled December 5 after the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman intervened.
“Committee meetings are public,” said MP John Brassard (Barrie-Innisfil, Ont.), deputy Conservative whip. “Did the Prime Minister pay the Toronto Star for favourable content as we head into an election year?”
“The Conservatives do not want to hear from professional journalism,” replied Minister Rodriguez. “I do not know what they have against tough questions. On this side of the House, we are supporting professional journalism. We are ready to take the tough questions, and will do it in a way that the press is independent and free, as it should be.”
“And so it begins,” said MP Brassard: “The Liberals are placing the journalistic integrity of the Parliamentary Press Gallery at stake by putting reporters in a position of not biting the Liberal hand that feeds them. If reporters write content that agrees with the Liberals, they get funding, but be critical of the Liberals, tough luck.”
“Professional journalism is one of the pillars of democracy,” replied Rodriguez. “After attacking professional journalism, what other pillar of our democracy are they going to attack?”
The contract was to take effect November 15. It would have paid Torstar’s iPolitics subsidiary $71,190 annually for five years – a total $355,950 including taxes and options — for “on-demand, subscription-based parliamentary committee monitoring”.
Authorities said the contract was not put to open bidding since only Torstar Corporation was “capable” of attending meetings. All committees are open to the general public. Forty-three other news organizations are accredited to cover meetings on Parliament Hill.
Torstar Corporation reported $106.6 million in net losses on operations in the past two years. Notice of the contract award came fifteen days after Torstar chair John Honderich published an October 10 commentary appealing for federal subsidies. “I think we’d prefer some real action on these files,” wrote Honderich.
Blacklock’s neither solicits nor accepts government grants.
By Staff 
The Senate committee on internal economy yesterday approved a $114 million budget for the new year, 23 percent more than it cost in 2016. New Senate spending includes the hiring of three interior designers: ‘I’m amazed at how sophisticated we are.’
Lobbyists yesterday clashed with members of the Senate agriculture committee over a proposed federal ban on junk food advertising to children. Bakers, millers and farmers complained the ad ban could target white bread with added sugar and salt: “Gingerbread houses and Santa cookies, is that going to be allowed?”
The Canadian Human Rights Commission yesterday joined union executives in questioning a suspected loophole in cabinet’s Pay Equity Act. The labour department has dismissed fears as unfounded: “Some of us are worried.”
A federal agency yesterday cancelled a $355,950 sole-sourced contract to pay Torstar Corporation reporters to attend public meetings. Authorities claimed only the Toronto Star was “capable”. The cancellation followed a formal complaint by Blacklock’s to Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic.
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions in an October 25 notice Subscription-Based Parliamentary Monitoring Services said it hired a digital news website iPolitics to attend two committees, Commons finance and Senate banking. Torstar Corporation bought iPolitics a month before the notice for $1.4 million, then laid off five iPolitics staff including reporters.
The Superintendent claimed under Government Contract Regulations “only one person is capable of performing the work”; “iPolitics INTEL is the only supplier the Superintendent is aware of that can provide on-demand, subscription-based parliamentary committee monitoring services,” wrote staff.
Parliamentary committee hearings are open to Canadians. Clerks compile exact transcripts of all testimony free of charge. Forty-three other news organizations are currently accredited to cover Parliament Hill committees.
The Procurement Ombudsman in a 2009 Procurement Practices Review said federal agencies should only award contracts without open bidding in cases where “one supplier can meet requirements” due to extraordinary technical or scientific skill, national security or “pressing emergency”.
The contract would have paid the Star $71,190 annually including tax – six times the market rate for news media licensing – with options to renew for an additional four years, a total $355,950.
Star Wanted “Real Action”
Blacklock’s on December 3 filed a complaint with the Ombudsman. The Superintendent of Financial Institutions on December 4 said the contract was “put on hold internally until further notice” after the Ombudsman’s office intervened, then yesterday confirmed it was cancelled altogether.
Notice of the contract award came 15 days after Torstar Corporation chair John Honderich published an October 10 commentary appealing for federal subsidies. Torstar suffered net operational losses of $106.6 million in the past two years.
“There has been a lot of talk but no action,” wrote Honderich: “On balance, I think we’d prefer some real action on these files.” Cabinet in a November 21 Fall Economic Statement proposed a $595 million, five-year subsidy program for select news media deemed to meet unspecified criteria for “professional journalism”. Details are due in 2019.
A week after the subsidy announcement, on November 28, an Ottawa group headed by a former Toronto Star executive confirmed it applied for grants from the Department of Canadian Heritage to “expose” unreliable election-year coverage by other media. “The country lacks adequate understanding of what’s being put through our media ecosystem,” wrote CEO Edward Greenspon of the Public Policy Forum; “This project is designed to expose these attempts and determine how best to counter them.”
Greenspon is a former Star vice-president. He declined an interview. Neither the Policy Forum nor the department would disclose the amount of grant funding sought by the group. Blacklock’s neither solicits nor accepts government grants.
By Staff
Taxpayers face a “risk of cost overruns” on the Trans Mountain Pipeline, says a federal report. Finance Minister Bill Morneau last night told the Senate national finance committee he could not estimate total costs: “We, as you may know, don’t look at that as spending.”
