The Commons finance committee is recommending cabinet introduce a homeowners’ tax credit for energy refits. Cabinet cancelled a similar grant program five years ago: “It doesn’t take much to get Canadians to do the right thing.”
Authorities have paid a private contractor nearly $34 million to wrap up the Canada Savings Bond Program. More administrative spending will be required as the last issues of the mom-and-pop bonds mature: “It’s fair to ask what value Canadians are getting.”
The Department of Finance says it has no calculation on how much tax revenue it will collect from marijuana sales. Members of the Senate finance committee yesterday expressed dismay that tax values are unknown just six months ahead of a cabinet deadline to legalize cannabis: “I find it incomprehensible.”
Health Canada has cut 71 percent of its annual funding for flu shot promotions despite low vaccination rates. Influenza is blamed for 12,000 hospital visits annually and some 5,000 deaths, according to Statistics Canada: “Vaccines are effective and safe.”
Cabinet’s nominee as Commissioner of Official Languages wants more “teeth” in bilingualism. Dr. Raymond Théberge yesterday told the Commons languages committee the 1969 Act lacks enforcement tools: “I know it’s old to talk about linguistic police.”
Scientists and members of the Senate fisheries committee yesterday expressed support for a first-ever Canadian ban on shark fin imports. Researchers said finning for soup threatens the species, though processed shark parts are tasteless: ‘It’s a certain kind of eating experience.’
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is being sued by ecologists over delays in assessing survival of a British Columbia caribou herd. Advocates said they’ve waited eight months for McKenna to respond as required under federal law: “It’s really tragic.”
A former chief economic analyst says Statistics Canada is a powerful bureaucracy that overstates its vulnerability to political meddling. Philip Cross, now senior fellow with the Macdonald Laurier Institute, made his remarks at Senate committee hearings on a new StatsCan bill: “It knows how to pump iron pretty well.”
Federal agencies in the past year spent more than $2 million on talent fees for models and actors, including hand models hired by the Royal Canadian Mint, and child actors paid by Environment Canada. The spending is detailed in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons: “It’s fresh.”
‘Lobbyist’ is not a four-letter word, cabinet’s nominee as federal Commissioner of Lobbying yesterday told the Commons ethics committee. Nancy Bélanger told MPs: “Canadians need to understand lobbying is okay.”
The Department of Public Works is hiring private investigators to probe complaints of harassment involving federal employees. The initiative follows a Treasury Board survey that found 1 in 5 government workers said they were victims of harassment on the job: “You look at the allegation to see where it falls on the spectrum.”
The Senate national security committee yesterday passed a cross-border travelers’ bill in 12 minutes without debate. One diplomat warned the bill must not be amended, though Canada’s Privacy Commissioner cautioned it exposes travelers to intrusive searches of cellphones, laptops and tablets: “It’s a curious way to make law.”
The Commons yesterday passed amendments to the Access To Information Act that give federal departments new reasons to conceal public records. MPs supported the cabinet measure by a vote of 157 to 126: “All expert opinion gives it a fail.”
Federal contracting remains mired in red tape, witnesses yesterday told the Commons committee on government operations. Cabinet last year disbanded a Red Tape Regulatory Advisory Committee appointed in 2013 to monitor rules and regulations: “Why is it so difficult?”
A new Canada Food Guide will promote basic ingredients and home cooking, a Health Canada manager yesterday told the Commons health committee. The department said it excluded food and beverage lobbyists from development of the new Guide, to be completed in 2018: “Get away from distracted eating.”
