Nearly 90 billion litres of raw sewage and untreated wastewater have been dumped in waterways by municipalities in the past year, says Environment Canada. “No studies have been done or are ongoing regarding the impact,” the department wrote in notice.
A Crown corporation has again spent public funds on pro sports tickets despite a 2015 cabinet directive to halt the practice. Staff at Farm Credit Canada billed taxpayers for 28 game tickets to see the hometown Saskatchewan Roughriders: “This is public money”.
A federal contractor is threatening to sue the public works department after being publicly blacklisted for tax evasion. The company is the third to unwittingly breach a little-known 2015 policy in which firms that plead guilty to tax offences are banned from public works for 10 years: “We’re going to sue”.
Federal agencies continue to spend million a year on taxis, almost all of it shuttling between offices in Ottawa, according to accounts. Staff at Environment Canada booked only $20 worth of bus fares compared to $14,447 on cabs, though the department officially encourages taxpayers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by using transit: “There is a bit of irony”.
The foreign ministry solicited more than a quarter-million dollars from corporations to sponsor Canada Day banquets at a trade mission in Mumbai, say Access To Information memos. Staff even sought cash from a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., though a federal ethics code forbids soliciting donations from companies “charged, convicted or sanctioned for bribery”.
The Department of Canadian Heritage in confidential memos warns that wolves are at the door of the nation’s largest daily newspaper chain, and its competitors are not far behind. The 2016 memos were obtained through Access To Information: “What is happening to Postmedia papers will now happen to the Globe & Mail and the Toronto Star in five years”.
Federal aid for social housing declined nearly eight percent last year, a cut of $17.7 million, according to accounts. The data follow remarks from the Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. that even additional funding will fail to meet demand: “Our aim is to hold the government’s feet to the fire”.
The Canada Revenue Agency must pay $25,000 in compensation for mistreating a longtime employee. A federal labour board ruled management was unfair and reckless in its dealing with a tax auditor made to wait days at his desk for instructions and denied permission to attend a Christmas party before he was finally fired in 2015: “The injury to his dignity and self-esteem was tremendous”.
A small-town pizzeria has won a Tax Court judgment against false claims it failed to pay the GST. The Court cited Revenu Québec for high-handed misconduct over a two-year audit that began with a take-out pizza: “This case highlights a serious flaw in our judicial system”.
Canada is being duped on climate change initiatives as polluting Chinese factories dump product here, says a Conservative MP. The remarks came as the Commons trade committee opened hearings on unfair trade practices by Chinese steel mills: “I can’t believe you’re not thinking about this”.
The Commissioner of Official Languages is spending nearly a quarter-million dollars on private investigators to probe bilingualism complaints. The office has 27 investigators on staff: ‘This is to handle 500 complaints?’
The Commons industry committee has rejected hearings on the impact of a $50 carbon tax on manufacturing. An ongoing Senate investigation has already heard testimony that 13% of factory owners surveyed will move investments out of the country if the tax is imposed as planned: “Why would I come to Canada?”
A human rights tribunal will investigate whether workplace drug bans discriminate against licensed marijuana users. The British Columbia case comes as cabinet drafts 2017 legislation legalizing cannabis nationwide: “We are entering a new era”.
A federal tax credit for transit users has not increased ridership despite costing more than $200 million a year, data show. Ridership is driven by unemployment rates, not the 15% tax credit, said the Canadian Urban Transit Association: “In the past year ridership has remained stagnant”.
Taxpayers who challenge city assessments face a risk of paying even more under a Supreme Court ruling, say a minority of justices. The Court in a 5-4 decision upheld a municipal tax agency’s right to raise an assessment 78 percent after the landowner complained: “The majority is what counts”.
