Nearly half of consumers in a federal survey report problems with their bank. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada that commissioned the poll earlier hired 200 “mystery shoppers” to pose as customers in scrutinizing bank practices: “They feel they can do whatever they want.”
The Privy Council Office will not release cabinet minutes from Pierre Trudeau’s last tumultuous term as prime minister though records were to be unsealed this year. Files won’t be disclosed until after the October 21 election campaign: “We certainly have nothing to hide.”
A federal labour board has upheld the suspension of a Canada Revenue Agency clerk who claimed a conspiracy to pay staff for “fake work”. There was no evidence employees pointlessly shuffle paper, an adjudicator said: “It was very boring.”
A radio commentary depicting U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden as “icky” with small children does not breach Canadian broadcast standards, says a national panel. However regulators faulted the same program for portraying Muslims as inherently intolerant: “It’s very disturbing.”
The Department of National Defence is investigating the suicide of a long-time employee described as an alleged victim of gross mismanagement. The staffer ended his life only hours before a disciplinary hearing, and left a lengthy suicide note concealed by police: ‘It poses a serious threat to public confidence in the integrity of the public service.’
Ottawa’s mayor
shows courage.
He stands up
to the powerful, deep-pocket owners
of the Chateau Laurier,
telling them
their proposed addition
to the landmark hotel
is as ugly as a shipping container.
He then prepares
for the city council’s meeting
where he votes to approve the design.
“That is leadership,”
he tells reporters,
wearing his dark blue suit
and a matching, black-and-blue tie.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
The largest daily newspaper in Canada, the Toronto Star, yesterday estimated its take of federal media bailout money is worth the equivalent of $115,385 a week. Payroll rebates will see publishers awarded up to $13,750 per newsroom employee: ‘They got what they wanted.’
Most Canadians have never heard of cabinet’s carbon tax rebates and find the concept difficult to understand, says in-house research by the Canada Revenue Agency. Rebates were to offset consumers’ out-of-pocket expenses for the tax, scheduled to rise to 12¢ a litre for gasoline by 2022: ‘It is not easy.’
A rights tribunal is scheduling hearings on whether recital of God Save The Queen in public schools breaches Charter rights. It follows a complaint from an Iron Bridge, Ont. math teacher who identified herself as a secular humanist: “I am surprised any school is still playing God Save The Queen.”
CMHC insured a mortgage worth twice the value of a home, according to Court records. Agency practices were detailed in a New Brunswick foreclosure as CMHC prepares to launch a billion-dollar equity loan program nationwide: “Who will be responsible if the homeowner defaults?”
Canadians in federal focus group research complain the “government made lots of apologies” this term without solving problems. The Department of Finance commissioned the questionnaire entitled What The Government Has Handled Poorly: “All talk and no do.”
Federal lawyers at the Public Prosecution Service have complained of workplace harassment, according to an internal investigation. Employees in one Prairie office also claimed favouritism and discrimination:
‘Some of it originated during appearances at court.’
Canadians now buy so much online the collection of duties from cross-border bargain hunters has dropped more than a third since 2014, says the Canada Border Services Agency. Internet sales “impacted revenue trends”, staff wrote in an internal audit: “We’re in new territory here.”
Environment Canada proposes to ban light bulbs containing trace amounts of mercury beginning in 2023, including neon signs, fluorescent tubes, street lamps, auto headlights and compact fluorescent bulbs once touted as energy savers. The cost was not detailed: “How many people know?”
The head of a Crown agency cancelled a series of national stakeholder meetings out of fear he was being surreptitiously recorded, according to Access To Information records. Claude Joli-Coeur, the $243,000-a year Commissioner of the National Film Board, yesterday did not comment: “The Commissioner was very upset.”
