The head of the largest Liberal-appointed Senate group yesterday would not commit to passing a $217 million-a year tax on foreign real estate speculators. Senator Yuen Pau Woo of Vancouver previously ridiculed “stories about rampant foreign buying” blamed for rising prices: “Of course all of us have political views.”
Not enough French-speaking people apply for senior jobs as broadcast regulators, the Department of Heritage complained in an Access To Information memo. Staff asked to review résumés of candidates applying for six-figure jobs with the CRTC: “The Minister’s Office is concerned.”
The Department of Justice in an Access To Information memo complains it’s been targeted by political Twitter users with “clear far right leanings”. Staff compiled Digital Scan & Analysis bulletins with monitoring of parliamentarians’ accounts: ‘Some users purposely seek to spread confusion.’
Federal agencies spend an average of more than $18 million a year managing a loan and subsidy program for companies in rural Canada, says a Department of Industry report. More than a tenth of borrowers said it “did not achieve any results”.
Senior federal employees in a confidential memo claimed Conservative cuts to the size of Toronto’s city council raised fundamental questions about democracy. The Privy Council memo questioned the right size for a city council, but was inconclusive: “It is difficult to say.”
A national media ombudsman yesterday faulted a CTV affiliate for broadcasting “jarring” video of a fatal stabbing in a suppertime newscast. “Clearly that is not appropriate!” wrote one viewer who complained: “Footage of someone being stabbed to death?”
Senator Lynn Beyak yesterday said she attended mandatory sensitivity training in a bid to avert expulsion from the Chamber. Beyak, a former Rainy River, Ont. realtor, was suspended last May 9 without pay on complaints she posted racist mail on her website: ‘I look forward to working hard for all the people.”
An unhappy Bell Canada customer has been ordered to pay $4,000 in damages over a salty exchange with a customer service agent. The Québec Human Rights Tribunal said the man “suddenly exploded” when the agent identified himself as Mohamed: “Take your bags and go.”
A pro-carbon tax group with ties to the Department of Environment yesterday urged Parliament to quadruple the charge to fifty cents a litre for gasoline. The current tax cap of 12¢ a litre will not meet emissions targets, said the Ecofiscal Commission: “This will be insufficient.”
A tax preparer that waged a decades-old feud with the Canada Revenue Agency over a “duty of care” has been ordered to pay $675,000 in court costs. Prosecutors filed, then dropped fraud charges against the firm: “There is no such thing as a perfect investigation.”
Most Canadians want portraits of prime ministers removed from banknotes, according to in-house research by the Bank of Canada. The bank has issued bills depicting dead prime ministers for eighty-four years: ‘Great Canadians from other fields should be featured.’
Canadian National Railway Co. today resumed regular freight service at 6 am local time in cities nationwide following an eight-day national rail strike. It was the first shutdown of its kind in seven years. Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Parliament would not be compensating shippers for losses: “It’s part of life.”
A declassified Department of Justice memo claiming to explain root causes of anti-Semitism cites language never used by postwar German prosecutors, says a Brown University scholar. Staff declined comment on the secret 1987 memo by the department’s war crimes unit that pointed to Jewish “financial power” and “the image of the ‘Jew-Communist’.”
Federal regulators in Access To Information memos say they will “use discretion” in enforcing contentious new animal welfare rules that take effect February 20, 2020. Farmers and truckers are liable for up to $50,000 in fines for harm to livestock and poultry in transport: “It is a contentious topic.”
A federal labour board has upheld the one-day suspension of a Statistics Canada analyst upset over a sticky note. “The employer had the burden of proving that the incident took place,” wrote an adjudicator: “Come and see me right away.”
