New Syrian refugees are costing taxpayers the equivalent of some $10,000 each under a resettlement plan that’s gone 137 percent over its promised budget, documents show. The immigration department acknowledged the figures are “forecasted expenditures” and may rise: “How far do we go?”
Cabinet is only partially reviving a federal tax credit for labour-sponsored venture capital corporations once dubbed a national “boondoggle”. The 2016 budget will see limited credits offered on a restricted basis after a previous Conservative cabinet took steps to halt the program in 2013: “We never supported these outfits”.
The 2016 budget codifies a cabinet pledge to roll back Conservative changes to the National Energy Board Act that limited the scope of hearings on pipeline projects. New funding for environmental assessments – worth $30.7 million over four years – is tied to “restoring trust” in risk reviews, the budget said: “What else can we do?”
Introduction of any national pharmacare program will involve “significant” complexities, says a health department official. Canadians currently pay from 10 to 30 percent more for comparable drugs than consumers in the European Union, according to federal data: ‘There are Canadians who do not fill prescriptions because they simply cannot afford to do so”.
Transport Canada will spend three years scrutinizing a VIA Rail plan to upgrade to 110 mph commuter service on its busiest routes, say budget documents. Cabinet remains silent on a recommendation that passenger subsidies be cut on a promise of better service: “Much is left to be done”.
Creation of a new federal Youth Advisory Council is a “good first step” to tackling stubbornly high youth unemployment, says the Canadian Labour Congress. The initiative follows dismissal of a Commons committee report that urged tax credits for employers who hire job-seekers under 30: “Timing is critical”.
Cabinet proposes new wholesale spending on infrastructure and the environment en route to a $700 billion federal debt by 2018, the largest in Canadian history. “Our priority is to make investments for Canadians,” said Finance Minister Bill Morneau. “Our objective of growing the economy is critical.”
Cabinet will spend nearly half a billion dollars under a five-year crackdown on tax evasion. The 2016 budget also promises to improve customer service for lawful tax-filers frustrated by dealings with the Canada Revenue Agency: “It’ll be money well spent”.
A private Conservative bill would see big donors to Canadian charities get the same federal tax credits as political contributors. The bill’s sponsor said that “feeding a politician should be no more important than feeding the hungry.”
The Supreme Court tomorrow hears an appeal watched by city tax assessors nationwide. A mall owner accused Edmonton assessors of bullying it into accepting a 78 percent increase: “Supreme Court cases have national implications”.
Environment Canada for the first time is proposing methods to track upstream greenhouse gas emissions. It follows release of a confidential memo that Canada has fallen far behind the U.S. in meeting targets: “Opponents argue that emissions are large, and proponents argue they are small”.
Canadians are too fiscally conservative to buy reverse mortgages, says a finance department memo. Staff in a secret memorandum calculated less than one percent of mortgage-free homeowners over 55 have borrowed against their equity: “Why is the reverse mortgage market so small?”
Airline regulators are being taken to court in a challenge of proposed licensing changes to benefit start-up discount carriers. The Canadian Transportation Agency is accused of breaching its own Act: “They are going out of their way to bend the rules”.
Federal anti-trust investigators are targeting contracts in the billion-dollar commercial waste trade from British Columbia to Québec, court records disclose. The probe follows a letter from an executive of Waste Management of Canada Corp. who told regulators “we have no fear” of competition.
A federal Code of Conduct on credit card companies will be expanded on a promise of new protections for merchants, says the Financial Consumer Agency. Legislators have tried twice in two years to replace the voluntary code with regulations: “This gives more clarity”.
