Seventeen percent of small business owners surveyed are preparing to close permanently under pressure of six-figure Covid debts, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said yesterday. Few will formally file for bankruptcy protection from creditors, analysts said: “Small firms are in for a rough recovery.”
Internal records identify a Department of Public Works manager, Shawn Gardner, as the contact man for SNC-Lavalin lobbyists who won a $150 million contract for pandemic supplies nobody asked for. Documents show Gardner contacted SNC-Lavalin within days of the pandemic’s outbreak: “The actual contract was signed by Shawn.”
Two MPs vying for the Conservative Party leadership say they’d repeal a Canada Revenue Agency regulation that tax filers must report the sale of their home under threat of an $8,000 fine. Critics have condemned the data scoop as a step to a home equity tax: “I will stick a pin in that in a New York minute.”
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino yesterday claimed federal agents had “a record year for illegal firearms seizures” in 2021. Records show 316 smuggled handguns were confiscated by the Canada Border Services Agency: “The total number of firearms successfully smuggled into Canada is unknown.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday signed off on Canada’s latest loan to Ukraine, a total $450 million to buy heating oil. Canadian loans total $1.95 billion to date: “The Ukrainian economy will contract 33 percent in 2022.”
Francophones are outnumbered by Canadians speaking new immigrant languages, Statistics Canada confirmed yesterday in new Census data. The number of citizens whose mother tongue was neither English nor French was at its highest level in 121 years: “This is a record high since the 1901 Census.”
The Department of Public Works in a briefing note says it continues to do business with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. since criminal charges against the company “relate to alleged misconduct from 20 years ago.” SNC-Lavalin was the first company in Canada to win an out of court settlement under new provisions of the Criminal Code: “Canada is committed to taking action against improper, unethical and illegal business practices.”
Federal managers are weary of the pandemic and need “time to recover and refresh,” says the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada. The commentary follows an in-house survey indicating managers felt unappreciated: “Seventy-six percent show high levels of exhaustion.”
A 12-year old schoolgirl who objected to being vaccinated cannot be forced to take a Covid shot, a Peterborough, Ont. judge has ruled. The decision came in a family court dispute: “Requiring her to be vaccinated against her will would not respect her physical, emotional and psychological safety.”
Canada’s oldest retailer Hudson’s Bay Company fell millions behind in commercial rents due to Covid lockdowns, according to court records. The scope of pandemic damage in the retail sector was detailed in legal disputes with landlords: “March 2020 changed everything.”
Treasury Board President Mona Fortier yesterday rejected any language bonus for federal employees who speak an Indigenous dialect. The Board currently authorizes an $800 annual bonus to bilingual employees fluent in English and French under a program dating from 1966: “Currently we are continuing to explore.”
Freedom Convoy judicial inquiry hearings will open September 19, the same day the Commons returns from summer recess. The chief of the Public Order Emergency Commission yesterday said cabinet must be held to account for its claim a truckers’ protest outside Parliament represented a national emergency: “Hearings are vitally important.”
Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough’s department in a briefing note boasted it processed a record number of permits for migrant workers even as auditors warned foreign labour may cost Canadian jobs. “The Temporary Foreign Worker Program has processed a record high number of files,” wrote staff.
The federal IT department Shared Services Canada spent almost $50,000 to interview 58 computer students to ask if they’d like to work in Ottawa, records show. Students rated it “bureaucratic, boring and hierarchical.”
Parks Canada has been ordered to pay a penalty for secretive contracting. The agency did not treat all bidders fairly, said Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic: “Parks Canada did not meet its obligations with respect to transparency.”
