The Canada Revenue Agency logs more than 2,000 complaints a year of misdirected tax mail, including hundreds of privacy breaches. The Access To Information disclosures follow three lawsuits in three years by taxpayers who successfully challenged reassessments due to lost mail: “The Minister owes a duty of fairness to all taxpayers.”
Citizenship Canada is hiking its photography budget for “creative and emotive” images of its new minister. The department budgeted $45,000 for photos this year after spending $10,010 in 2016: ‘Pictures need to be attractive to the general public and media.’
The Government of Canada has spent six figures in a $1,231 dispute over a Canada Pension Plan deduction, says a British Columbia complainant. The pensioner filed a federal lawsuit seeking return of his benefits: “Where does the money go?”
Environment Canada is testing Arctic mammals for toxic polychlorinated biphenyls 40 years after cabinet banned PCB production nationwide. Samples from mammal blubber will help track global pollution, the department said: ‘Contaminants have been stored for years in snow and ice.’
Any tax gains from legalized marijuana will be offset by higher policing and enforcement costs, say Department of Public Safety memos. The Access To Information documents confirmed the findings of the Parliamentary Budget Office that forecast little net financial gain from decriminalizing cannabis: ‘Keep the price point low to dissuade illegal production and trafficking.’
Federal agencies are unprepared for cyberattacks due to aging technology and poor coordination, says a government managers’ periodical. The warning follows newly-released Access To Information files acknowledging federal systems are “coming under attack”.
Pleading an honest mistake is no defence against enforcement by the Canada Border Services Agency, a federal judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of a couple whose car was seized after a shopping trip to Walmart: “He tried to explain the situation but the officers were aggressive.”
Mineral and soil samples are being analyzed by federal scientists to fully measure the chemical fallout from one the most polluted industrial sites in Canada. Peat and lake sediment will be microscopically examined to measure arsenic from 75 years of gold mining at Yellowknife: ‘It becomes like a history book.’
The Department of Finance sees difficulties in mandating a national carbon tax on provinces, says a secret memo. The document cited “challenges” detailed through the 8-page document, virtually all of it censored before its release under Access To Information: “This note highlights some of the difficulties.”
Canada’s Poet Laureate has republished on a Parliament of Canada website a poem casting Shakespeare as a black rapper “out of the ghetto”. Professor George Elliott Clarke said the work by a Nova Scotia poet depicting Shakespeare as “a little nigga” speaks to relevant social issues: “Good poetry ought to be provocative.”
A national agency has filed a legal claim against a tanker that ran aground off Cape Breton, N.S. The Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund sought a federal warrant to impound the vessel as a precaution against environmental damage: “I have issues with vessels like this.”
A federal agency can order employees to surrender airline vouchers received while traveling on public business, a labour board has ruled. The judgment follows complaints from two Canada Border Services Agency employees who won travel vouchers while escorting a deportee out of the country: ‘The directive is clear and unambiguous.’
VIA Rail will lose money for at least another decade even with a multi-billion dollar refit, says an Access To Information memo. The Department of Finance said the Crown railway will not be profitable until 2027 at the earliest: “VIA is at a critical juncture.”
A federal tribunal has cited Health Canada as intransigent and uncooperative in its aggressive enforcement against a small company’s mosquito repellent. Regulators had little evidence to substantiate claims the firm committed a serious violation of the Pest Control Products Act, an adjudicator ruled: “I am trying to earn a living.”
The Canada Revenue Agency faces a constitutional challenge of its audit powers. A private equity firm is resisting auditors’ demands for tax records as part of what it calls a criminal investigation without charge: “It’s beyond the power of any police force in Canada.”
