A federal judge has dismissed an immediate injunction to block construction of an Alberta resort in the habitat of a threatened songbird, the Bank Swallow. The challenge to the Department of Environment to save the birds goes to a full hearing April 26: “The nesting sites do not face a risk of destruction from any activity that is likely to occur over the short term.”
The Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery yesterday rejected mandatory disclosure of all federal grants and subsidies sought by member organizations. Media instead adopted an ethics code requiring only new applicants for membership to reveal financial conflicts of interest.
“That’s cleared up,” said Catherine Levesque of The Canadian Press, the Gallery president. Levesque told a meeting of members in Ottawa that a motion mandating disclosure of subsidies was out of order. The Canadian Press in 2020 petitioned the Commons finance committee for millions in federal grants.
Blacklock’s sponsored the motion stating “that all Gallery members disclose all applications for grants, rebates or subsidies to any branch of the Government of Canada,” and that disclosures be published on a Press Gallery website. The Gallery dismissed the motion without explanation.
“This is a debate for another day,” said Elizabeth Thompson, a CBC producer. “Out of order,” said Philippe-Vincent Foisy, a CBC reporter. “Can we have a vote please?” said Chris Rands, a CBC producer.
The Gallery instead voted for an ethics code solely for new members. The Journalistic Principles And Practices White Paper forbids membership to any new media that fail to disclose “any form of sponsorship” to readers, or any “conflict of interest” including “diverse contracts.”
Staff journalists who voted for the code, including employees of subsidized media, were Rachel Aiello (CTV), Amanda Connolly (Global TV), Bill Curry (Globe & Mail), Lina Dib (Canadian Press), Janice Dickson (Globe & Mail), Philippe-Vincent Foisy (CBC), Murad Hemmadi (The Logic), Melanie Marquis (La Presse), Christopher Nardi (National Post), Shannon Proudfoot (Maclean’s), Boris Proulx (Le Devoir), Greg Quinn (Market News International), Chris Rands (CBC), Guillaume St-Pierre (Le Journal de Québec), Elizabeth Thompson (CBC), Ryan Tumilty (National Post), Marie Vastel (Le Devoir) and Marieke Walsh (Globe & Mail).
Of 45 news organizations accredited in the Press Gallery a majority, all but nineteen, take direct federal subsidies. The Canadian Press news agency, self-described “trusted news leader,” last June 6 petitioned the Commons finance committee for grants equivalent to $500,000 a week to offset revenue losses.
CP President Malcolm Kirk wrote MPs that Parliament should “direct revenue to The Canadian Press to fully offset subscription fees paid by CP’s media clients”. Costs were estimated at $2 million a month.
“It assures that independent, trusted and timely news continues to move nationally to publishers and broadcasters to keep Canadians informed,” wrote Kirk. The Canadian Press never reported on its appeal for subsidies.
Other publishers applied for lucrative 25 percent payroll rebates under a $595 million media bailout approved by Parliament two years ago. “We see the need to adjudicate the organizations that would be eligible for these tax advantages carefully,” then-Finance Minister Bill Morneau testified at 2019 hearings of the Senate national finance committee.
“I’m concerned about freedom of press reporting,” replied then-Senator Raynell Andreychuk (Sask.). “You need to ‘adjudicate’ where the money is going to go. That gives me concern.”
By Staff 
The federal Competition Bureau yesterday said it’s receiving more than 300 public submissions daily over Rogers Communications’ proposed $26 billion buyout of an Alberta rival, Shaw Communications of Calgary. The agreement must be approved under the Competition Act: “Are prices too high?”
Auditors have cited two Canadian embassies in Africa for improper contracting at taxpayers’ expense. The Department of Foreign Affairs has conducted ongoing audits of missions overseas following the 2017 discovery of a $1.7 million fraud ring at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti that saw thirteen employees fired: “Strong management practices are critical.”
A federal guaranteed basic income program would cost billions but lower poverty rates, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Analysts said a guaranteed income would be a disincentive to work: “The overall cost of a guaranteed basic income would rise from $85 billion in 2021 to $93 billion in 2025.”
Travel agents have petitioned the Commons finance committee for a $200 million bailout. Agents blamed federal travel restrictions for a shutdown of their entire industry amid “recalled commissions” for flights they booked: “It’s because the government is imposing travel restrictions that we are being hindered from operating our business.”
A Covid contractor awarded a rush order for $149 million in test kits after “a couple of good meetings” in the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday filed for bankruptcy court protection. Spartan Bioscience Inc. of Ottawa owes taxpayers at least $25.2 million: “Had a couple of good meetings with the CEO of Spartan.”
Federal regulators should take down websites with hurtful words, says a former Supreme Court chief justice. Beverley McLachlin yesterday said enforcement measures must be taken against internet publishers deemed to hurt democracy: “The consequences ultimately would be to shut them down, which happens in non-democratic countries all the time.”
A Toronto publisher who publicly opposed a federal newspaper bailout sought and received funding under the $595 million program, according to records. “No statement, thanks,” said David Skok, editor of The Logic Inc.
The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday listed publishers who applied for subsidies and were approved, including The Logic. Editor Skok in a 2019 commentary called the program an insult to readers.
“It will have a direct impact on the daily assigning and editing of a journalism product,” wrote Skok. “But worse, the policy is an insult to the audience.”
Parliament in 2019 amended the Income Tax Act to pay publishers 25 percent payroll grants of up to $13,750 per newsroom employee annually and a 15 percent tax credit to online subscribers. Publishers must apply for subsidies and be approved as “qualified journalism organizations” by the Canada Revenue Agency.
An Agency document Guidance On The Income Tax Measures To Support Journalism explained Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier would have final say over which publishers received aid based on “a consistent practice of providing rebuttal opportunity for those being criticized” in news coverage, including the cabinet.
Editor Skok in his 2019 commentary Canada’s New Journalism Subsidies Will Pick Winners And Hurt Start-Ups said the Revenue Agency was “getting into the minds of editors to dictate what areas of coverage are deemed more important than others.” Subsidies were “problematic” and “will have a direct impact on the daily assigning and editing of a journalism product,” wrote Skok.
“I founded The Logic on the belief that journalistic independence comes from financial independence,” Skok wrote in a separate 2018 commentary. “I still don’t think government intervention was needed.”
Records show The Logic Inc. last year in addition to payroll rebates received a $218,049 grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage, pandemic wage subsidies, an interest-free Canada Emergency Business Account loan and a sole-sourced $271,200 contract for “communications research services” from the Department of Public Works.
Publishers are not required to tell readers they are federally subsidized and subject to Canada Revenue Agency monitoring for criticism. Blacklock’s neither solicits nor accepts government grants. Other publishers that received payroll rebates were:
Bob Cox, publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press who lobbied for the bailout program on behalf of News Media Canada, testified at 2019 hearings of the Commons finance committee that subsidies should not be paid indefinitely. “We will have to save ourselves,” said Cox.
“The program itself is envisioned to be for five years and I felt that was an appropriate period of time because of course there will be news outlets, newspapers, that fail the transition and you can’t give them forever,” said Cox. “There does need to be a deadline.”
CWA Canada, a union representing newsroom guilds, earlier criticized the bailout program as rife with conflicts of interest. “Big publishers were salivating at the prospect of government money and they got it,” said Martin O’Hanlon, union president.
By Staff Photo The Logic
A federal judge has struck a cabinet order delaying local elections under the Indian Act in the name of pandemic safety. A similar law affecting voters in 338 parliamentary ridings remains on the books: “The government is asking me to tolerate an invalid exercise of power because it was done for a good reason. This is simply incompatible.”
In-house investigations at the Canada Border Services Agency are haphazard and raise questions of fairness, says an internal audit. Legislators for years have sought to strip Agency management of the right to investigate complaints against employees: “Fairness is essential.”
Cabinet must order a post-Covid judicial inquiry into pandemic management including favouritism in federal contracting, Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole said yesterday. O’Toole also endorsed a proposal from a former Québec prosecutor for ongoing monitoring of contracts: “We need complete transparency and accountability.”
Parliament should be more helpful and friendly to China, says a former Bank of Canada executive. The People’s Republic has a sunny outlook while “there’s a sense of things being very broken” in Canada, he said: “If I had to wager, I wager they will make it.”
The Department of Public Works claims to have discovered $28 million in urgently needed repairs to a building it’s owned for decades. Members of the Senate committee on internal economy expressed unease with ongoing spending on Parliament Hill renovations: “We can probably build a new building for just over that.”
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal says it’s seen a flood of complaints over mandatory mask orders. The province’s Human Rights Code “does not protect people who refuse to wear a mask as a matter of personal preference or because they believe wearing a mask is pointless,” said the Tribunal.
