The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed two new fraud investigations against senior staff. The disclosures follow a series of internal audits over a 20-year period that uncovered wrongdoing resulting in losses of millions to taxpayers. The scope of the latest investigations include “misuse of public funds”.
Advocates yesterday petitioned cabinet to enact a statutory right to housing. Cabinet has promised to introduce legislation by October that would mandate aid for social housing and rental subsidies for low-income Canadians: “Affordability is going down the drain all over Canada.”
The Canada Revenue Agency is questioning retailers with bitcoin ATMs to determine the scope of tax avoidance by speculators. Officials interviewed convenience store operators, barkeepers and coffee shop owners for details of bitcoin customers and their habits: ‘There was an impression of some sort of wrongdoing.’
Costs of illegal immigration now total $345 million and counting, provinces yesterday said in a teleconference with federal cabinet members and municipalities. “I don’t think it’s sustainable,” Ontario Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod later told reporters.
The Department of Justice in a confidential memo is rejecting a national statutory holiday honouring Indigenous people. The memo obtained through Access To Information dismisses a 2015 recommendation of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission: “There are some limits as to what legislation can do.”
Fireplace emissions still account for one-third the nation’s black carbon pollution, says a Department of Environment report. The department has proposed a “phased approach” to limiting recreational wood-burning, but stopped short of detailing any regulations: “14 million tonnes of wood are burned annually in Canadian homes.”
Canadians have little interest in electric cars, says a federal survey of auto dealers. The Department of Transportation will detail a long-promised program to boost electric sales by year’s end: ‘There is skepticism about the technology.’
The Department of Veterans Affairs will pay the Royal Canadian Legion $339,000 to visit aged veterans in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. The program follows a 2014 audit that found veterans wait months, even years for processing of disability benefit claims: ‘It’s to identify needs that might be addressed.’
Canada paid $9.2 million in foreign aid to China last year, according to accounts. The People’s Republic owns foreign exchange reserves of US$3 trillion. The Department of Foreign Affairs did not explain why China remains a foreign aid recipient: “A deepened and broadened relationship with China is a priority.”
Nearly a century after the Armistice the Department of Veterans Affairs is still paying out pension benefits for service in the First World War, according to Access To Information records. The department counted a total 82 beneficiaries, all widows and orphans. Canada’s last surviving WWI infantryman died eight years ago: ‘It becomes our duty, more than ever, to remember.’
Blacklock’s pauses for the August bank holiday with warmest regards to friends and subscribers. We wish you a safe, happy holiday wherever your travels take you. We’ll be back August 11 — The Editor.
The Department of Justice in a secret memo says it opposes a Senate bill to rewrite federal usury laws for the first time in 40 years. The memo obtained through Access To Information described the consumer protection measure as inappropriate: ‘It would predominantly target credit cards and personal lines of credit.’
Federal agencies last year pocketed a 14 percent profit on a mandatory air travelers’ security fee, according to Access To Information records. One senator described the financing as a “shell game” in which millions collected for security are never spent there: “It has become a cash cow, not a fee for service.”
Senators yesterday described incompetence in the Department of Public Works as deplorable, but said it was not their job to name and blame officials responsible for the Phoenix Pay System failure. The bungled program to streamline federal payroll services has cost taxpayers $1.2 billion to date, three times its original budget: “It is a much larger problem than individuals, right?”
A federal labour board has dismissed complaints from a former Statistics Canada interviewer fired over a survey session that went awry. Eyewitnesses complained of shouting and weeping in the incident at a Kelowna, B.C. high school: “She’s crying in front of the students.”
