Crown prosecutors yesterday alleged a former Library & Archives Canada manager breached a federal ethics code by accepting a free lunch from a contractor. The testimony came in a $3.5 million bid rigging trial at Ontario Superior Court: “You didn’t see any conflict?”
Cabinet’s tax hike on family-owned businesses is worth about 90 percent more than the Department of Finance claimed, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Analysts yesterday calculated an obscure tax rule that took effect January 1 will raise $356 million in new federal revenue this year, not the $190 million reported by the department: “We don’t know if, and how, the Department of Finance scaled its estimate.”
Three years after losing a Supreme Court judgment, a federal agency says it still wants lawyers to report on client transactions, according to Access To Information records. Staff at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) complained of “suspicious” dealings in the legal profession: ‘Large cash transactions are not being reported.’
The Canadian promoters of the Consumer Choice Award are in Federal Court alleging bootleg use of unauthorized prize ribbons. The company alleges one contractor improperly claimed it was a seven-year winner: ‘False representations undermine the credibility.’
MPs yesterday demanded cash penalties on Canada’s two largest railways over service complaints. The Commons agriculture committee postponed til March 19 a full hearing on grievances by grain shippers: “The only thing CN and CP react to is fines.”
Working conditions at Library & Archives Canada were “crazy” and uncoordinated, Ontario Superior Court was told yesterday. The remarks came in a second day of testimony by a former archives manager charged in a $3.5 million bid-rigging case: “The place was exploding, blowing up; morale was in the tubes.”
A federal money-laundering watchdog dropped more than a dozen prosecutions after being cited for misconduct in Federal Court, say Access To Information documents. Judges criticized the Financial Transactions & Reports Analysis Centre for arbitrary fines on small business over minor breaches of the law: “For all we know, the percentages might have been plucked out of the air.”
A federal computer surplus program recycled just over a third, 36 percent, of nearly a million devices collected at taxpayers’ expense, according to records. The Department of Industry said the program was intended to be environmentally friendly: “There is a continued need.”
Double billing under a Caribbean foreign aid scheme cost taxpayers more than a million dollars, say Access To Information records. Files show the Government of Grenada improperly spent aid money on new furniture and computers instead of hurricane reconstruction. The Department of Foreign Affairs did not comment: “The numbers are just not adding up.”
The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday refused to say if it will appeal a damning Court verdict that auditors maliciously targeted a family-owned restaurant with false accusations of tax evasion. The judgment came two years after the Commons rejected a Conservative motion compelling the Agency to show a duty of care to taxpayers: “Its conduct in this case was high-handed, reprehensible and malicious.”
Federal auditors have targeted one of the nation’s largest accounting firms over a tax program for millionaires. The Canada Revenue Agency in Federal Court filings asked that a judge compel PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP of Toronto to name names: “The Agency does not know the identities of all the promoters.”
Springtime in Canada is not much less snowy than it was in the 1970s though the area blanketed in June has dropped sharply in 40 years, says Environment Canada data. Researchers used satellite imagery to confirm Canada remains one of the snowiest countries on earth amid impacts from climate change: “Changes in snow cover have important and far-reaching consequences.”
Regulators cited Ancestry DNA for breaching a federal anti-spam law, according to documents filed in Federal Court. The company was not fined. Other firms have seen six-figure penalties under regulations targeted for an overhaul by the Commons industry committee: ‘It leaves many puzzled.’
One third of Canadians nationwide remain opposed to the national carbon tax, says in-house research by the Privy Council Office. Opposition is higher — 40 percent or more — among Prairie consumers and residents of Atlantic Canada: “It’s a money grab.”
A former director of Library & Archives Canada yesterday took the witness stand in a $3.5 million bid-rigging trial in Ontario Superior Court. Barney Shum denied any favouritism in the awarding of a 2009 IT contract: “Did you ever feel indebted because you got treated to a meal?”
