Parliament must develop a national policy on beekeeping amid staggering losses and fears of pesticide poisoning, a Senate committee has been told. Lawmakers are investigating whether farm chemicals are to blame for the deaths of up to half of bee colonies in select provinces: “It’s up to you guys”.
A homebuilder whose firm was implicated in a $15 million tax-avoidance scheme has been named to another term as director of Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation.
Jason Kenney, minister responsible for the mortgage insurer, would not comment on his reappointment Monday of Mattamy Homes’ chief operating officer to the CMHC board. Mattamy was cited last year by a federal judge for “extremely careless” conduct in avoiding millions in GST payments.
“No corporation should get away with something that an average Canadian can’t get away with when it comes to paying their taxes,” said MP Nathan Cullen, Opposition House leader. “There shouldn’t be two standards – as there shouldn’t be two standards between friends of the government and everybody else.”
Brian Johnston, COO of the Oakville, Ont.-based homebuilder, was travelling out of the country and unavailable for comment, the company said. “This is a very old and complex case involving issues he would not normally deal with,” said Brent Carey, Mattamy spokesperson.
Mattamy Homes was cited by auditors over a plan to avoid millions in GST payments on some 15,000 new homes in fifty subdivisions nationwide. Mattamy rates itself Canada’s largest new homebuilder with developments in Ottawa, Greater Toronto and Calgary.
Under the scheme Mattamy used “ambiguous” contracts to have homeowners personally pay GST-free municipal development charges for roads, utilities and transit service – all costs that homebuilders typically pay themselves, then add to new home prices that are GST taxable.
The resulting loss of tax revenue for the Government of Canada “exceeds $15 million”, Tax Court Justice Judith Woods concluded: “Mattamy’s actions were extremely careless.” The builder was also cited for crediting its customers with inflated GST rebates on their purchases.
“Even though the GST is imposed on homebuyers and not builders, Mattamy could potentially benefit from this plan because it sold homes at a lump sum price which included GST,” the judge wrote. “Therefore, any reduction in GST could potentially go to Mattamy’s bottom line, in whole or in part.”
CMHC said Johnston, a chartered accountant, was blameless in the tax scheme though he remains a senior executive.
“Please note that all of the activity in question occurred six years before Mr. Johnston began working at Mattamy,” said Charles Sauriol, CMHC spokesperson. Tax Court records indicate Mattamy ran its GST scheme from 2001 to 2006, when the firm was audited. Johnston then was an executive with rival homebuilder Monarch Corporation, and was named to the CMHC board in 2008.
However Johnston had moved to Mattamy by June 4, 2012 as the builder fought Canada Revenue’s reassessment at tax hearings in Toronto, and was chief operating officer when the firm lost its Tax Court application last February 12, according to Court and company records.
“Certainly he would be aware of a $15 million case,” said Cullen, MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C. “If that is the conduct the government is looking for, that’s worrisome.”
“It seems that using loopholes improperly and getting out of paying millions in taxes would be a disqualifying characteristic for appointment to such an important board like Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation,” Cullen said.
Employment Minister Jason Kenney did not respond to Blacklock’s repeated requests for an interview. Kenney earlier praised Johnston as “very experienced and talented”, but would not say if he was aware of Mattamy’s tax troubles.
By Tom Korski 
Secret Environment Canada polling shows half of people surveyed oppose new oil pipeline and rail shipments as unsafe, even if it means job losses. Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said the findings suggest the country is “torn” over the petroleum industry.
Campaigns to “buy local” groceries may run afoul of free trade pacts, cautions an industry group. A New Democrat bill now before Parliament would have Agriculture Canada promote local food purchases as a national procurement policy: “I don’t know how you can put that kind of bill in place”.
The Department of Fisheries is nearly tripling one species’ quota this year amid industry-wide concerns over catches and revenues. The department said the Atlantic haddock catch will nearly triple this year: “It didn’t just happen overnight”.
VIA Rail is pledging publicly to save its main Atlantic run though a corporate plan identifies the service as a chronic money-loser slated for cuts. The future of the Montréal to Halifax line is in doubt after Canadian National, owner of the track, proposed to abandon a portion in New Brunswick: ‘I hope for leadership’.
The Al Jazeera Network says continued restrictions on its Canadian broadcasts are unfair to Arabic-speaking viewers. The network filed an appeal to lift conditions imposed amid complaints of anti-Semitic commentary. Arab-speaking Canadians today outnumber those who speak Polish, Dutch or Ukrainian.
Sixteen percent of pesticide manufacturers have failed to report chemical sales as required by Health Canada regulations, data show. And records indicate the department is now years behind in mandatory reporting of sales by its Pest Management Regulatory Agency: “Where is the data for 2011, 2012?”
Public safety, not fear of publicity, is the motive behind a bill to restrict access to Canada’s spring seal hunt, says the legislation’s Conservative sponsor. The bill restricts photographers and animal rights activists from getting within a nautical mile of the hunt: ‘Tempers flare and it’s not a good working environment’.
Canada Revenue Agency has won another court case involving a charity fraud that helped inspire proposed new regulations on tax preparers. A federal judge dismissed a claim by a couple who claimed to donate $44,464 to a man they knew only as Oscar, and another man named Dave: “Not credible”.
The purchase of farmland by outside investors should be seen as a financial opportunity and not a threat, says the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. The group told a farm economics conference that corporate investors “bring badly needed capital into the industry”.
Half of Canadians surveyed have not heard of cabinet’s signature trade agreement with the European Union. A survey commissioned by UPS Canada Inc., a supporter of the treaty, found 47 percent were unaware a deal was signed four months ago: “It was surprising”.
MPs are preparing to pass a “flawed” anti-counterfeiting bill that industry executives rate as costly and ineffectual. Opposition parties pledged support for Bill C-8 but only due to a lack of any alternative, MPs said: ““You better take what you can get”.
Health Canada must monitor doctors’ off-label drug prescriptions, warns a Senate committee. And lawmakers urged a crackdown on the illegal promotion of off-label uses by pharmaceutical sales reps: “We think it’s inexcusable”.
A Conservative bill to observe Pope John Paul II Day has encountered unexpected resistance in the Senate. Lawmakers urged pause for thought on issues of church and state, including the Vatican’s refusal to ordain women priests: “It is a bill that deserves a lot of discussion”.
