Cabinet yesterday issued an order permitting Canada Post to suspend any future dividend payments to the federal treasury. The post office should spend all profits on improving service, it said. Management is also required to publicly disclose its budget plans: “We have had a process with very little real consultation.”
The National Energy Board has until February 22 to complete a maritime environmental risk assessment on the Trans Mountain pipeline. Cabinet yesterday stopped short of imposing a similar deadline on talks with First Nations opposed to the megaproject, but said work must proceed: “We are going to do things differently this time.”
Taxpayers’ Ombudsman Sherra Profit paid a pollster $68,948 to confirm most Canadians never heard of her. The $2.3 million-a year agency was created in 2008 to answer taxpayers’ complaints: ‘The main challenge is actually reaching someone over the phone.’
Canadian steelmaker Essar Steel Algoma Inc. yesterday appealed to the Commons trade committee for help against U.S. duties. One factory owner told MPs’ tariff hearings that all Canadians are now paying for cross-border taxes: “Food bills have increased significantly.”
Taxpayers face nearly $100 billion in unreported costs for federal employees’ pensions, the Commons government operations committee was told yesterday. A typical government staffer will spend as many years in retirement as they do on the job, according to data from the Chief Actuary: “We are storing up trouble for the future.”
Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand yesterday faulted regulators for targeting small business in enforcing a federal Chemicals Management Plan. Inspectors spent more time auditing dry cleaners than pulp mills, records show: ‘We would have expected other priorities for enforcement.’
The Department of Public Works says it has not calculated the cost of compliance with a bill mandating barrier-free access at federally-regulated worksites. Expenses will be detailed later, Public Works Minister Carla Qualtrough told the Commons human resources committee: “You wouldn’t be suggesting that there’s a cost too high.”
The Senate national finance committee yesterday approved a private Liberal bill compelling the Canada Revenue Agency to report on the value of unpaid taxes. The panel okayed the bill in eight minutes’ flat without debate: “What counts is really the long-term trend.”
Cabinet yesterday cautioned a tentative free trade pact with the U.S. is not finalized, and has not resolved tariff disputes that have cost Canadian industry billions. “A word of caution: we’re not at the finish line,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
A retired Supreme Court justice last evening said federal agencies should stop hiring people who can’t speak French. Cabinet should also proclaim Ottawa an officially bilingual city, the Senate languages committee was told: “The Government of Canada is able to do that but I assume they don’t have the courage.”
Cabinet yesterday bypassed ex-military in appointing a former policeman to a senior $112,000-a year Senate post. The appointment, traditionally reserved for combat veterans, came despite two Senate committee reports and a 2015 Act of Parliament that claimed to promote the hiring of medically-discharged soldiers, sailors and air crew: “These are men and women who have served our country with distinction.”
Four in 10 federal employees say their workplace is mentally stressful, according to Treasury Board data. MPs described the finding as worrisome: “This rate is very high.”
MPs yesterday expressed all-party support for a motion declaring a Filipino History Month. The House has debated more than dozen similar community tributes amid grumbling in the Senate: “Is there a committee that sits down?”
A federal prison guard who celebrated Halloween by getting drunk at work and passing out in a toilet was demoted but not fired by the Correctional Service. The incident was detailed in a labour board hearing: “Since it was Halloween everyone was excited.”
Most federal employees think the public service is rife with cronyism, according to government research. Findings were based on 101,892 questionnaires compiled by the Public Service Commission: “To what extent do appointments for positions in your work units depend on who you know?”
