Prime Minister Mark Carney was director of a charity, the Rideau Hall Foundation, that agreed to create tax credits for corporations whose donations were used to pay federal contractors on public works, records show. Carney yesterday did not comment: 'It was issuing tax receipts.' READ MORE
The Department of Public Safety says it is “very close” to launching a foreign registry ordered by Parliament 18 months ago, but will not set any deadline after twice skipping promised dates to begin tracking foreign agents. “We are very close,” one manager told the House affairs committee: "You need top secret clearance." READ MORE
Winter propane stocks are as much as 30 percent below normal, federal regulators cautioned yesterday. The Canada Energy Regulator said it was unclear from conflicting long-range weather forecasts whether customers faced a repeat of a 2014 price spike that prompted a federal investigation: "Where there is high demand for a finite good, and propane like all energy is a finite good, prices tend to rise." READ MORE
The Department of Veterans Affairs denies basic fairness to ex-soldiers, sailors and air crew who seek internal reviews of benefits claims, Ombudsman Colonel (Ret’d) Nishika Jardine said yesterday. “It’s not fair,” she said: "These appeal decisions affect people’s lives." READ MORE
An income tax cut intended to “deliver real change” will save the working poor about $11 a year, the Senate national finance committee was told. The cost of the tax cut is $5.8 billion, by official estimate: 'It provides effectively no benefit to those in poverty.' READ MORE
Governor General Mary Simon and her husband Whit Fraser promised federally regulated companies a charitable tax credit for money donated to build a $4 million skating pavilion at her official residence. At least $350,000 in contractors' pay contractors was funneled through a registered charity to generate a tax credit, records show: "Consultations with relevant federal authorities were made." READ MORE
More than 700 foreign criminals are at large, the Canada Border Services Agency said yesterday. The Agency said it had already deported 845 foreign criminals in the past year: "We are constantly scooping water out of that bathtub but the bathtub is filling up." READ MORE
Canadians talk about the golden age of television in the 1950s. It wasn’t that golden. It was elitist and very political. It’s a terrible thing if you become pontifical about broadcasting. To me it’s everyman’s service, and should have programming available for everyone. The idea was to keep TV small, and keep it only CBC. People weren’t allowed to watch anything else, but they didn’t want to watch. God forbid the public should be able to say, “I want that channel, not this one.”
