The CBC is a “pillar of democracy,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said yesterday. The network in the past year published 36 corrections: “We have seen some very troubling trends around the attack on the role that media play including the CBC.”
Most Canadians named in the offshore Panama Papers scandal had actually paid their taxes, says the Canada Revenue Agency. Auditors said only two criminal investigations are ongoing following the disclosures seven years ago: “Just because a Canadian individual or company has their name in a leak, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have not met their tax obligations.”
Cabinet in last minute revision to a language bill would mandate “equality of status and use of English and French in Canadian society.” The clause amends a bill that for the first time extends bilingual requirements to the private sector: “We want a modern ambitious law with teeth, a law that will protect and promote French across Canada.”
CBC President Catherine Tait in a private letter dismissed a Conservative Party proposal to cut the network budget as a partisan fundraising ploy. Cutting the CBC’s $1.3 billion annual parliamentary grant would have “implications to this country,” wrote Tait. The CBC disclosed the letter through Access To Information: “Your party continues to run email blasts.”
Canadians are uneasy with letting cabinet decide what qualifies as fake news, says in-house research. Internet users in federal focus groups said they were confident they could spot misinformation online without the government’s help: “Many participants expressed reservations about the Government of Canada telling Canadians what is true or false.”
A federal media bailout has not stemmed the continuous decline of news corporations, says the Department of Canadian Heritage. The department four years ago justified a $595 million bailout as a remedy for an industry “in crisis.”
Cabinet yesterday described 155,000 striking federal employees as unreasonable but stopped short of issuing a final offer to the Public Service Alliance of Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said cabinet was “there to respect collective bargaining” though it used back-to-work legislation twice before: “I don’t have infinite patience.”
A federal buyback of prohibited firearms is delayed again this year under program details outlined yesterday by Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. Cabinet for three years has proposed to buy some 1,500 models of banned guns at an undisclosed cost: “It sounds like you’re still at the beginning.”
Taxpayers will only learn of terms of a $13 billion Volkswagen Canada subsidy once the money is spent, the Senate national finance committee was told yesterday. Managers with the Department of Industry refused to discuss the subsidy for a battery factory in St. Thomas, Ont.: “I am just trying to get an impact of what that $13 billion is going to be on the government’s deficit.”
The Canada Revenue Agency is mandating electronic payment of tax bills over $10,000. The Agency yesterday did not explain if it would refuse alternative payments or prosecute cheque users: “What if somebody doesn’t want to do that?”
Security advisors have no business recommending whether candidates for Parliament are suitable, a senior advisor to the Prime Minister said yesterday. The remarks came during House affairs committee debate over two-term Independent MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.): “That is not their role.”
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino yesterday said it’s a concern that courts have not imposed maximum sentences for gun running. Cabinet proposes to increase the maximum to 14 years but acknowledged the current 10-year sentence is not used: “Is it common at all? Has it happened quite a bit?”
A federal agency issued so many corporate subsidy cheques that staff complained of overwork, says a newly-released report. “Employees’ mental health” was challenged, said an in-house audit by the National Research Council: “Unexpected work was created.”
The Commons public accounts committee yesterday ordered hearings on the Trudeau Foundation. MPs by a unanimous 10-0 vote also requested that the Canada Revenue Agency scrutinize the fund: “It is in the public interest to see an investigation into its finances, donations and in particular any possible misdealing.”
Cabinet yesterday agreed to let MPs see terms of its multi-billion subsidy to Volkswagen Canada but under extraordinary secrecy. The Commons industry committee voted that all copies of the contract shown to MPs be immediately destroyed: “It’s about protecting the integrity of the contract.”
