Corporations that flagrantly breach federal privacy law would be subject to maximum $30 million fines under a Commons bill. It follows complaints by the House privacy committee that scofflaws face few sanctions in Canada: “What we need is a regulator.”
A Conservative MP yesterday protested quick passage of a cabinet bill waiving jail time for white-collar criminals. The provision inserted in a 560-page omnibus budget bill passed into law without debate or committee scrutiny.
“I’m very disappointed that you can’t simply explain why this makes Canadians safer,” MP Dan Albas (Central Okanagan-Similkameen, B.C.) told the Commons finance committee. The amendment to the Criminal Code permits so-called “deferred prosecution agreements” that allow corporate executives to escape jail for bribery, money-laundering or other offences. A 2017 federal discussion paper acknowledged the practice is controversial.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau defended the bill. “We think it’s a prudent way to ensure we have companies pay the price for any wrongdoing in a way that allows us to ensure our economy continues to be successful,” said Morneau.
The Criminal Code amendment was inserted on the 531st page of Bill C-74 without comment by cabinet. It passed into law June 14. MP Albas noted the provision was never submitted to scrutiny by the Commons justice committee or Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee:
Division 20 allows prosecutors on finding evidence of corporate corruption to “establish a remediation regime” that would see executives escape a prison sentence in exchange for payment of a fine and “voluntary disclosure of the wrongdoing”. The agreements would require cabinet and court approval.
“We have a method that gets those organizations to pay the price of their criminality or their bad behaviour, and it doesn’t in any way negatively impact their employees, or other unwitting people that happen to work in those organizations,” said Morneau.
The Department of Public Works in a 2017 paper Expanding Canada’s Toolkit To Address Corporate Wrongdoing described prosecution of white-collar criminals as costly and time-consuming – “Investigations may take years,” wrote staff – but acknowledged no-jail agreements are controversial.
“The chief argument that has been made against deferred prosecution agreements is that they may not deter misconduct,” said Wrongdoing. “Some argue that agreements have become ‘a cost of doing business’, allowing corporations to buy their way out of trouble by paying a financial penalty and passing the costs onto the consumer.”
Commissioner of Elections Yves Côté in 2016 waived prosecution of Canada’s largest engineering company, SNC-Lavalin Group, after executives illegally funneled $109,616 in donations to the Liberal Party. A single manager, Normand Morin, retired executive vice-president, was charged May 17 with five counts of alleged illegal cash donations in breach of the Canada Elections Act.
By Staff 
Cabinet has quietly approved another carbon tax exemption, this one for commercial aviation in the Territories. A Conservative senator who won the concession predicted more appeals for tax waivers as the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act takes effect: ‘The precedent has been set.’
One in five Canadians do not trust federal departments with their personal information, says in-house research by the Treasury Board. The findings echoed a 2017 study that found a significant minority is wary of surrendering bank account numbers to the government for direct deposit of tax refunds and benefits: “Is it safe?”
Senators yesterday expressed wariness over the appointment of a Canada Revenue Agency manager as the next Parliamentary Budget Officer. The Agency spent five years stonewalling requests for information from the last Officer, senators said: “That is a question I’ve asked myself a lot.”
An Asian ban on Canadian wheat exports should end by August, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency yesterday told the Commons agriculture committee. Japan and South Korea suspended shipments after an unlicensed strain of genetically-modified wheat was found in southern Alberta: “This is new for us.”
The Senate last night by a vote of 52 to 29 passed into law a bill to make Canada only the second country after Uruguay to legalize recreational marijuana. Opponents predicted quick court challenges: “We certainly don’t want to bring confusion to this at all.”
Auditor General Michael Ferguson yesterday described the $1 billion Phoenix Pay System failure as a stain on the federal government. The bungled program illustrates a mania for civil service box-checking instead of problem-solving, Ferguson told the Commons public accounts committee: “What were the root causes?”
A Health Canada spot check of cross-border pharmaceutical shipments identified 25 percent were fake, and another 60 percent were unfit for sale. The findings were based on thousands of shipments intercepted by the Canada Border Services Agency in a single week-long period last September: “This is alarming.”
The Commons health committee yesterday recommended new regulations on the sale of caffeinated alcohol drinks. The proposed reforms follow the death of a Québec schoolgirl: “Ask the producers: What exactly are you trying to do?”
A 19th century law against blasphemous libel is outdated and should be repealed, scholars have told the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee. The Criminal Code provision was last used to prosecute a film distributor over the 1979 Monty Python production Life Of Brian: “This offence is obsolete.”
The Senate has passed a workplace anti-harassment bill for 895,000 employees in federally-regulated jobsites including Parliament Hill. Third Reading followed secret testimony by Hill employees at a closed-door hearing of the Senate human rights committee: ‘It’s a very important moment in history.’
Public officials have pulled strings to get Peace Tower flags for a governor of New Jersey, the widow of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, and employees of the Department of Public Works, according to Access To Information records. The official public waiting list for the coveted flags is 74 years’ long.
“At the Minister’s request, flags may be offered to Canadians that are not on the waiting list,” said Michele LaRose, spokesperson for the public works department. “Examples are military personnel or athletes, or for events of an exceptional nature.”
Records indicate officials routinely jumped the queue to award flags in unusual circumstances. Renata Ford, widow of the former Toronto mayor, was given a Peace Tower flag in 2016. Then-New Jersey governor Chris Christie was presented with a specially-boxed flag in 2014 following a private meeting with then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Former defence minister Peter MacKay sought a ministerial exemption to give a flag to a skating rink in his Nova Scotia constituency in 2013.
“As the custodian of the Parliamentary Precinct, the Minister of Public Works is responsible for managing the flags located on Parliament Hill including their distribution to Canadians,” said LaRose. “Canadian flags flown at half-mast from the Peace Tower were traditionally given to families of Canadian dignitaries who died in office. The distribution has since progressed beyond ceremonial events to allow for other recipients.” Deserving recipients included:
However, government files disclose heavy lobbying by legislators and federal employees for flags to be distributed to retiring coworkers, hometown high schools, Legion branches, armouries, Army & Navy clubs and fire departments. One MP requested a Peace Tower flag to be auctioned at a hospital fundraiser in Orangeville, Ont. Another received a flag for the Bognor, Ont. Community Centre Canada Day committee. A staffer in Prime Minister Harper’s office in 2012 gave a flag for former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.
In 2014, then-Public Works Minister Diane Finley gave a flag to an unidentified taxpayer who mailed a $13,000 cheque to reduce the national debt. “Donations help in the reduction of our national debt, thus contributing to the economic prosperity of our country,” wrote Finley. “Your concern for the economic future of Canada is greatly appreciated. Enclosed is an official receipt. Also, in recognition of your generous donation to the Crown, it gives me great pleasure as a proud Canadian to present you with the enclosed Canadian flag which was flown from the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill.”
Liberal MP John McKay (Scarborough-Guildwood, Ont.), chair of the Commons public safety committee, requested a flag for an Afghan War combat veteran in his riding. “These flags are hugely popular and a highly treasured item,” McKay said in an interview. “These should not be awarded for highly partisan purposes.”
“I have not had a huge number of requests in my representative capacity,” said McKay. “To my mind, they should go to people who have made a significant contribution to the nation’s well-being.”
Flags were also awarded to former Clerk of the Privy Council Wayne Wouters, who retired in 2014, and retired Public Works Minister Judy Foote, appointed last March 20 as Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland & Labrador. “I will need that flag,” wrote one Foote staffer.
Other petitioners apologized for jumping the queue. “I understand that I may be circumventing the process for the requesting the flag and that there is an incredible wait list of very deserving people,” wrote a Statistics Canada manager in 2015. “I am fully aware of the long waiting list for these flags,” noted an MP in a 2012 email.
The Peace Tower flag is changed daily. Flags flown at half-mast in observance of notable deaths were typically provided to families including Hockey Hall of Famer Jean Béliveau’s widow in 2014, and the family of former foreign minister Flora Macdonald who died in 2015 at 89.
By Tom Korski
Transport Canada currently has only 25 inspectors trained to audit railway safety management plans, according to an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons. The department had pledged stricter audits following the 2013 Lac-Mégantic disaster: “We have a lot of worries over this.”
The Commons languages committee yesterday demanded millions in immediate federal advertising for beleaguered community papers. The appeal follows a 71 percent decline in government ads placed in minority language weeklies: “The federal government has neglected its responsibilities.”
