Blacklock's Reporter

The Department of Public Safety is short of roadside marijuana test kits eight weeks ahead of cabinet’s deadline to have the Senate pass a cannabis legalization bill. The department yesterday issued an appeal to manufacturers following warnings police are not prepared for an expected rise in drug-impaired driving: “How long would it take to manufacture 500, one thousand, 2000 or 3000 devices?”

Access To Information records indicate federal agencies sunk more than $800,000 into a failed Canada 150 project. Files show the contractor missed production deadlines, garbled financial data and couldn’t submit progress reports on time. The Department of Canadian Heritage would not comment: ‘This will serve as a legacy of Canada 150 for future generations.’

“Immunization apathy” is to blame for static vaccination rates across Canada, says University of Waterloo research. Health Canada in 2017 cut funding for public awareness campaigns and will not meet its target to improve participation rates by 2019: “What we have is a gap between scientific knowledge and parental concerns.”

The Department of Industry says a federal loan guarantee program for small business remains essential 57 years after its launch. Most small borrowers would never get a bank loan without a guarantee against default, wrote researchers: “Startups struggled to obtain the financing they asked for.”

The Department of Natural Resources completed an exhaustive 33-page memo on the industrial cost of cabinet’s national carbon tax, then censored much of the document, according to Access To Information records. Data were compiled weeks after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the tax in 2016 and remain hidden: “The purpose of this memo is to present an analysis that answers your question…”

The Department of Foreign Affairs breached an Act of Parliament in concealing nearly $82,000 in expenses previously billed by Governor General Julie Payette. Staff claimed records were destroyed. They weren’t: “Government information belongs to the people we serve.”

A former Library & Archives Canada manager accused of fraud had nothing to gain in awarding IT contracts, Court was told in closing arguments at a $3.5 million bid-rigging trial. The case focused on the propriety of government executives’ dealings with contractors: “In order for there to be fraud, there has to be deceit.”

Ten credit unions have lost a bid to strike a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit over a federal usury law. The ruling by the British Columbia Court of Appeal followed a vote by the Senate banking committee to amend the Criminal Code on usury for the first time since 1978: “I do not agree with the credit unions’ argument.”

A federal ombudsman will not name an outlaw bank cited 7 times in five years for breaching consumer protection legislation. The latest violations saw mortgage borrowers overcharged more than $1.3 million: “It would only cause its customers to worry about their mortgages and unnecessarily warn other consumers.”

The judge in a $3.5 million bid-rigging trial yesterday questioned evidence of alleged wrongdoing by Library & Archives Canada staff. Lawyers began closing arguments in the trial at Ontario Superior Court: “It strikes me that almost anything anybody does in a certain context could create an opportunity for somebody else to defraud.”

A parliamentary committee is citing Environment Canada and other agencies for repeatedly breaching a federal law to protect threatened fish and wildlife. The finding follows a 2014 Federal Court ruling that regulators took extraordinary delays — up to 11 years — in enforcing their own Species At Risk Act: “It is not an aspirational goal; it’s a binding legal requirement.”

Parks Canada skewed a six-figure survey in claiming 95 percent of Canadians enjoyed visiting national parks last year. Data show the survey disproportionately targeted retirees in Alberta and British Columbia who liked to visit parks, anyway. The Agency yesterday did not comment: “If the respondents qualified, they were interviewed.”

Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier is appealing a Court judgment that cited tax auditors for abusive practice and malicious prosecution of a family-run restaurant. The Agency’s pursuit of a British Columbia couple falsely accused of tax evasion is now in its 13th year: ‘It may indicate an unfortunate culture within the Canada Revenue Agency.’

Federal spending on science and technology will decline 6 percent this year, by Statistics Canada estimate. The forecast comes a year after cabinet launched an Innovation And Skills Plan to “make Canada a world-leading centre for innovation.”

A 2014 bill granting the Canada Border Services Agency new powers to seize counterfeit goods has resulted in just two successful prosecutions in the past two years, say Access To Information records. The disclosures follow warnings by the Senate trade committee the bill appeared weak: “It’s pretty tough to amend legislation.”