A 1994 moratorium on rural post office closures could be revised to save Canada Post money, says the Department of Public Works. Federal researchers quietly polled Canadians on alternatives including one proposal to bypass the moratorium by redefining “rural.”
The federal Competition Bureau yesterday said it will begin enforcement of a criminal ban on wage fixing effective June 23. Parliament passed the law on allegations Canada’s largest grocers conspired to eliminate pandemic “hero pay.”
A 2015 law to cut federal red tape achieved little, says a Treasury Board report. Critics had dismissed the initiative as doomed to failure: “We see the Act as nothing more than a public relations exercise.”
Cabinet has invoked confidentiality in refusing to disclose the overhead cost of a new social program, the Canada Dental Benefit. It follows suspicions administrative expenses are high though the program disqualifies the poorest families from receiving aid: “I’m curious to see how much we’re actually spending on administration rather than delivering to folks.”
Five years after Parliament legalized marijuana a third of the market is still controlled by drug dealers, says the Department of Public Safety. Federally licensed retailers had trouble competing with organized crime, it said: “There continues to be a well entrenched illegal market in place.”
A federal agency, the Canadian Dairy Commission, will introduce another round of wholesale milk price hikes effective February 1. Data show retail prices for dairy products jumped as much as 22 percent last year: “Three consecutive increases have been allowed.”
Canadians are ambivalent about hosting future world sporting events, says in-house research by the Department of Canadian Heritage. Mixed views included complaints that events like the Olympics are “corrupt” and a waste of money: “There is no clear consensus.”
A now-disbanded Crown corporation has passed its last audit. Investigators said all projects funded by PPP Canada will be completed this year within budget: “Some projects would not happen without funding.”
The Department of Health is rewriting its agreement with New Democrats over a national prescription drug insurance program. Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos had committed to passing a bill by year’s end. A department briefing note now says it is sufficient to “work” on it: “Is this what Canadians voted for?”
There is no evidence a federal ban on everyday plastic products will reduce plastic pollution, says the Department of Environment. An internal report contradicted claims by Minister Steven Guilbeault that banning six types of single use plastics would make a “sustainable world.”
Federal employees overpaid due to garbled payroll software owe the treasury more than a half billion, say updated figures from the Department of Public Works. The department counted 120,000 current and former employees who received excess payments and have not returned the money to date: “Outstanding salary overpayments stand at approximately $559 million.”
The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday expanded a search on taxpayers’ title to U.S. vacation properties. Auditors seek six years’ worth of records on Canadians including names, addresses, tax assessments, lot sizes and the value of American properties bought and sold: “Penalties and interest associated with unreported real estate sales can be substantial.”
More than a million college and university students cashed pandemic relief cheques, Statistics Canada said yesterday. New figures did not include benefits paid to almost 318,000 high schoolers: “Almost two thirds of postsecondary students, 65 percent, received emergency benefits.”
Minister Diane Lebouthillier’s Canada Revenue Agency de-registered numerous charities after misplacing paperwork, records show. Groups that filed annual returns were stripped of their charitable status after the Agency lost the records then claimed they were never mailed in the first place: “It was atrocious.”
Canadians thrown out of work by climate change programs can always get jobs as janitors, says a federal briefing note. The memo to Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the “green economy” will still require workers without “green skills” like janitors and truck drivers: “Some green jobs will not require workers with green skills to perform their jobs, i.e. janitor or driver working for a solar energy company.”
