Cabinet yesterday promised pre-election relief for first-time homebuyers including small equity loans from the federal insurer Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation. The initiatives come two years after CMHC vowed to “remove the punch bowl” from borrowers: “Is this going to work?”
Even the smallest businesses in Canada contact regulators at least once a week for mandatory compliance with rules and tax filings, says Statistics Canada. The agency yesterday counted 60,759,228 mandatory filings a year by businesses nationwide: “Results are intended to help measure the impact of efficiency measures.”
The labour department is now conducting 2,200 spot inspections a year under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the Commons human resources committee was told yesterday. The department did not do any surprise inspections prior to a critical audit two years ago: “It was incredibly mismanaged.”
Cabinet yesterday revived a proposal to offer electric car-buyers a federal rebate of $5,000. The subsidy followed lobbying by industry and a recommendation from a Zero Emission Vehicle Strategy panel shelved two years ago: “How much is that going to cost us?”
The Commons transport committee yesterday recommended cabinet appoint a national ombudsman to hear airport noise complaints. MPs stopped short of endorsing an outright ban on night flights: “Airport noise is a significant problem.”
Cabinet yesterday said it will create a Canadian Drug Agency on a promise to lower the cost of prescription medicine. Savings will only occur “in the long term”, wrote staff: “For fifty years, we’ve been talking about this.”
Cabinet today detailed a pare-down bailout for Canadian newspapers with the bulk of subsidies, $95 million a year, deferred until after the October 21 election. “We need time to consult,” said Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez.
The Liberal majority on the Commons justice committee last night served notice it will abruptly end public hearings on the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. political scandal. The move followed the resignation of a fourth official: “No one did anything wrong, but everybody is resigning for it.”
Cabinet quietly shelved a 2017 proposal to offer cash rebates to electric car buyers, says an advocacy group. Transport Canada never released the recommendations of a panel it appointed to draft a Zero Emission Vehicle Strategy: “It was confidential.”
A bill to ban the capture of live whales for display sets a dangerous precedent that could affect zoos and national parks, the Commons fisheries committee was told yesterday. No federal license has been issued for whale capture in Canadian waters since 1992: “I question whether keeping an animal in captivity is abusive.”
Members of the Senate national security committee yesterday questioned a new firearms bill as a dogpile of regulations on lawful gun owners. A cabinet report on whether to impose an outright ban on 839,000 handguns is due in weeks: “You are punishing lawful citizens for the acts of criminals and gangs.”
A federal museum let irreplaceable artifacts deteriorate in drafty warehouses at the same time it accepted an award for excellence from the Canadian Museums Association, investigators said yesterday. The Auditor General criticized the National Museum of Science & Technology for weak oversight and poor conservation practices: ‘We found many weaknesses.’
The Canada Border Services Agency proposes to keep track of Canadian drivers who cross into the U.S., some 300,000 a day. The Agency said the surveillance program is to combat “terrorist activities”, but acknowledged records will be used for tax purposes: “The government cannot easily determine who is inside or outside the country at any given time.”
Incompetent federal employees cannot be denied pay hikes as punishment, a labour board has ruled. The Professional Institute of the Public Service successfully challenged a 2014 Conservative directive targeting “poor performers” in the public service: ‘Withholding of pay increments is not permissible.’
A Canada Revenue Agency campaign to curb offshore tax evasion has flopped, according to in-house research. Canadians questioned the point of Facebook ads rated unlikely to deter wealthy tax evaders: “An ad talking about this is not perceived as new information.”
