Blacklock's Reporter

Labour Minister Patricia Hajdu embellished a story about a poor, disabled man facing homelessness to justify back-to-work legislation ending a mail strike. Hajdu would not take questions on the anecdote. Staff confirmed Hajdu never met the man. Canada Post management and employees disputed the story.

Hajdu on November 22 said she’d heard from a man she identified only as Jack who faced eviction from his home due to delays in receiving his disability cheque. “We know that some of the most vulnerable in our country count on Canada Post for their cheques,” said Hajdu.

“These Canadians count on this money to scrape by, and they are put in very precarious positions by any delay, like Jack, who told me that as a person on Ontario disability any delay could mean a loss of housing for him. Many others rely on prompt payment to survive month to month,” said Hajdu.

The labour minister’s office confirmed Hajdu neither met nor spoke with Jack. Hajdu would not disclose the man’s last name, or when the two were in contact. “Jack contacted the Minister on social media to express his concerns about the delivery of his disability cheque,” said press secretary Véronique Simard. Asked to provide a redacted copy of the correspondence, Simard replied: “It’s an exchange of private messages. I apologize, but I can’t share them.”

Canada Post said cheques for disability, Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, Guaranteed Income and Employment Insurance benefits were delivered under a longstanding agreement with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

“There is no delay,” said Jon Hamilton, spokesperson for the post office; “This has been the approach we’ve taken with CUPW for years without issue. This ensures people received their cheque at the right time and avoids confusion.”

Jack Story “Not Very Convincing”

“I don’t know who Jack is,” said Mike Palecek, national president of the Union of Postal Workers. “What I do know is we have an agreement with Canada Post that we deliver socio-economic cheques, whether they’re pension cheques or disability cheques, throughout any strike action. We’ve done that for decades.”

The post office in a directive How Delivery Will Take Place said monthly benefits cheques were pre-sorted by union volunteers for delivery on November 22, the same day Minister Hajdu told her Jack story in the Commons. “No cheques are to be sorted to the postal boxes or delivered to customers prior to Thursday, November 22,” said the directive.

“The cheques were sitting at all the plants across Canada last Monday and they refused to let us go out and deliver them,” said Daniel Weinkauf, a CUPW member in Ottawa. “They were sitting there, ready to be processed and to be taken out for delivery on Monday at a specific time.”

“We take pride in this,” said Weinkauf. “We are concerned that disabled Canadians actually get their cheques on time, and it’s a commitment that we do.”

Minister Hajdu recounted the Jack story as she introduced Bill C-89 An Act To Provide For The Resumption And Continuation Of Postal Services. The bill would force an end to 48-hour rotating strikes under threat of $100,000-a day fines against the union. “As far as fake news is concerned, it’s a possibility,” said Weinkauf.

“Jack may exist, but I fear it may have been a misleading example on the Minister’s part,” said CCF MP Erin Weir (Regina-Lewvan). “Emotive appeals can be politically effective, so maybe it’s a testament to the labour minister’s political skill. But I think it is quite strained as a justification for the legislation.”

“If the government had made the decision to bring in this legislation on good public policy grounds, I could understand they might try to justify it politically through emotive appeals, but when the Minister can’t answer a question as to whether the legislation is unconstitutional and instead tries to tell an anecdote about someone waiting for a cheque, it isn’t very convincing,” said MP Weir.

Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said rotating strikes were intended to avoid public hardship. “We don’t have a general strike,” said Yussuff. “There are great lengths the union has gone to, to ensure the public does not suffer a major disruption.”

By Staff

They want to consult “at length”

where to sell pot

in Ontario.

Will delay store openings

by half a year.

But

issue is important,

deserves stakeholder input.

Citizen involvement and

public deliberation

key to moving forward.

They do not consult on small things:

dropping Cap-and-Trade Program,

scraping Basic Income Pilot Project,

cancelling renewable energy contracts,

axing fund for school repairs,

suspending plans for overdose prevention sites,

slashing Toronto City Council by half,

repealing sex-ed curriculum, and

telling brewers

what the price of beer should be.

Campaign slogan

says it all:

For The People

(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)

A federal agency spent more than $300,000 on meals and refreshments in a two-month period, accounts show. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research did not reply to detailed written questions seeking an explanation of the billings. “Is this spam?” said David Coulombe, spokesperson for the agency.

Cabinet in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons disclosed the agency’s hospitality expenses totaled $300,185 from last May 14 to July 19. Expenses included $4,177 for meals at a one-day meeting of 22 people at Toronto’s Chelsea Hotel, the equivalent of $190 for each guest. Meal allowances for public servants on government business are only $90 per day for breakfast, lunch and supper.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research have 120 staff. The grant-awarding agency is mandated to support medical research.

An unidentified employee charged $12 for a visit to Toronto’s Azure Lounge. The expense was billed as “executive recruitment”. Federal employees must obtain ministerial approval before charging taxpayers for alcohol, according to a 2017 Treasury Board Directive On Travel, Hospitality, Conference & Event Expenditures.

Employees also routinely hosted meals at Ottawa restaurants like the Baton Rouge Steakhouse & Bar, Victoria Trattoria, Play Food & Wine bar and restaurant, and Mamma Teresa Ristorante located six blocks from the agency’s headquarters. Staff spent a total $12,613 for meetings of “peer review committees” at Mamma Teresa at an average $53 a plate.

The Institutes of Health Research did not comment on whether charges included drinks. The restaurant sells $28 entrees and $11 Italian coffee.

The Italian eatery was once a favourite of former Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski, driven from office in 2003 for excessive spending. Radwanski dined at Mamma Teresa 14 times in two years, and rang up a total $12,200 in hospitality charges.

“He failed to exercise sound and reasonable judgment,” the Auditor General wrote in a 2003 Report On The Office Of The Privacy Commissioner. “He spent public money on travel and hospitality unreasonably and extravagantly without regard to prudence and probity. We found little value to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and to taxpayers for expenditures on hospitality.”

Radwanski was acquitted on charges of breach of trust in 2009. He died of a heart attack in 2014 at 67.

Auditors noted federal employees may only bill taxpayers for meals and refreshments for “work sessions extending over meal hours or beyond normal working hours”: “It should not be provided during meetings of colleagues working closely together on a regular basis.”

The 2017 Treasury Board Directive states: “Hospitality can only be provided in situations where participation is required in operational meetings, training or events that extend beyond normal working hours.”

By Staff