Cabinet will not disclose how much it’s prepared to spend on the taxpayer-owned Trans Mountain Pipeline. Finance Minister Bill Morneau yesterday declined comment under repeated questioning at the Commons finance committee: “$17 billion and counting.”
Cabinet’s leader in the Senate yesterday said the Prime Minister will not raise the carbon tax. Assurances from Senator Marc Gold (Que.) contradicted Access To Information records indicating cabinet would “confirm future price increases” after 2022: “Canadians want to know.”
A federal agency in first-ever national research yesterday confirmed banks are indifferent to customer complaints, and make resolution of serious errors needlessly complicated. Banks receive 5.8 million complaints a year, said the Financial Consumer Agency: “Banks do not make it easy.”
The popularity of tax cheating remains “challenging”, says an internal Canada Revenue Agency audit. The Agency said six years after it launched a national crackdown on the underground economy, tax avoidance remains socially acceptable: ‘It is more challenging than initially anticipated.’
Homebuyers show little interest in new federal equity loans, mortgage brokers said yesterday. Brokers said the new program is so restrictive it serves no purpose for most first-time buyers: “We do not expect to see much of a change.”
A federal judge has dismissed an environmental lawsuit against a bestselling weed-killer, glyphosate. The product sold under the brand name Roundup has been used by Canadian farmers, gardeners and landscapers since 1976: ‘Scientifically founded doubt cannot be based on a newspaper article.’
The Privy Council Office last night defended the expense of a VIP cocktail party at the National Arts Centre to present engraved prizes to federal media managers. Guests faced a lone demonstrator, Porky the Waste Hater, pig mascot of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation: “We bring out the pig when we think money is being wasted.”
The Commons trade committee yesterday voted to speed hearings on a continental free trade pact. Opposition MPs noted cabinet has yet to disclose data on the economic impact of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement: “What are you hiding?”
Animal rights activists face jailing and hefty fines for trespassing at farms and slaughterhouses under a private Conservative bill yesterday introduced in the Commons. MPs have complained of surveillance by advocates with hidden cameras: “I fear the situation will get worse.”
Private bills yesterday introduced in the Commons and Senate propose a further multi-million dollar carbon tax exemption for grain farmers. Growers said the tax that adds 8¢ to a litre of propane and 10¢ per cubic metre of natural gas is punitive: “We can’t afford it.”
Managers at the Canada Border Services Agency yesterday were faulted for casually dismissing complaints of workplace misconduct without serious investigations. “All Canadians deserve to feel safe at work,” said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair.
Buyers of insured mortgages would face tougher “stress tests” with rising interest rates under a regulation detailed yesterday by cabinet. New rules will see the Bank of Canada revise each week the minimum requirement for homebuyers who need mortgage insurance: “How is it better for the consumer?”
The deputy minister of industry in an internal email described use of a taxpayer-funded research project to publish a 2019 Muslim Voting Guide as “weird”. The guide criticized opposition MPs for activities that “foment the kind of fear and moral panic that leads to violence and hate.”
Nine-tenths of businesses hit by hackers never call police, says Department of Public Safety research. Business owners said they doubted cybercriminals would ever be caught and convicted: “Could we do more? Yes.”
The Federal Court has ordered a Toronto website operator to pay four times the commercial value of photos it republished without payment or permission. “The use in question was not a fair dealing and copyright infringement should be found,” ruled the Court.
