The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday said it has “quality assurance” that audits do not target small business. The claim at a Commons finance committee hearing followed a March 2 Court ruling that cited auditors for malicious prosecution of a family-owned restaurant: “It is true we have some issues with respect to litigation.”
Legalizing cannabis could lead to longer lineups at Canada-U.S. border crossings, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale yesterday told the Senate national security committee. American authorities have raised concerns about Bill C-45, said Goodale: “Their greatest concern is the potential for congestion.”
Pharmacare “is difficult”, Finance Minister Bill Morneau yesterday told the Commons finance committee. Cabinet has ordered a one-year review of a pharmacare plan with provinces after rejecting a similar 2017 motion in the Commons: “We’re not totally aware of what the best solutions will be.”
Liberal and Conservative MPs yesterday opposed a motion for Commons study to revive postal banks. The Canadian Bankers Association and credit unions earlier lobbied against any reopening of post office banks that operated for a 101 years, until 1968: “They were not looking for competition.”
Federal agencies introduced major new sets of regulations at the rate of six a week last year, says the Treasury Board. The accounting comes three years after Parliament passed a bill intended to reduce red tape: “Tracking of ins and outs under the rule operates much like a bank account.”
An internal audit cites continued federal mismanagement of foreign real estate six years after cabinet ordered a cleanup. Auditors in one case complained they could find no details of $35.8 million in phantom investments listed as “projects” by the Department of Foreign Affairs: “Information is not always accurate.”
A jobseeker using a fake diploma was hired as a national health care administrator by the Canadian Coast Guard, say Federal Court records. The deception was not discovered for six years until a supervisor did a Google search: ‘She had not taken any courses at this university, which in fact does not exist.’
Federal claims that cannabis use is commonplace among young Canadians is contradicted by the Public Health Agency’s own data, according to documents. A 2010 high school questionnaire cited as the main source of data said teenagers were more likely to drink beer than smoke marijuana: “Drinking seems to be more socially acceptable than cannabis.”
Cleanup of a 2015 spill in Vancouver cost public agencies more than $3 million, say Federal Court records. The incident prompted the reopening of a British Columbia Coast Guard station: “These costs provide good insight into what the impact of a larger spill would be.”
The chair of the Senate transport committee says internet-based privacy breaches and monitoring of everyday Canadians has become a “threat to our way of life”. The remarks followed disclosures that federal agencies committed 5,998 separate privacy breaches last year involving personal information belong to nearly a quarter-million Canadians: “I’m worried.”
The stewardess bends
to serve passengers
across the aisle.
Her backside
rubs against my shoulder.
Skin to skin,
if not for my shirt,
her skirt.
When she turns to me
I notice her ring.
“Coffee or tea, Sir?”
Her lover
thousands of kilometres away.
Closer than I will ever be.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Environment Canada will not detail the impact of its $50 per tonne national carbon tax on greenhouse gas emissions. “I don’t have that number offhand,” Deputy Minister Stephen Lucas yesterday told the Commons environment committee. MPs asked the question 16 times: “Give us the number. I’m looking for a number.”
Cannabis trafficking by federal mail is a worry under cabinet’s bill to legalize marijuana, RCMP yesterday told the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee. The Canada Post Corporation Act forbids police from intercepting mail in transit, and the Canada Border Services Agency cannot inspect mail under 30 grams: “It’s a very significant challenge, I admit. The volume is huge.”
Senators yesterday warned of international consequences if Parliament legalizes marijuana. The Department of Foreign Affairs acknowledges the bill breaches three United Nations conventions, but calls it a minor violation: “Whether it is in your opinion minor or major is not the issue.”
The Senate last evening gave Second Reading to a bill repealing a 95-year ban on recreational marijuana. The 44 to 29 vote sends the bill to ongoing hearings of five separate committees: “It’s not over till it’s over.”
