The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday disclosed its own employees filed hundreds of complaints of in-house fraud and “integrity lapses” including suspected wrongdoing by managers. The disclosure followed allegations filed in Federal Court regarding inside dealing with corporate lobbyists: “Internal fraud and integrity lapses pose a serious threat.”
Foreign Minister Anita Anand yesterday announced Canada has “a new foreign policy” that encourages Canadians to get to know the People’s Republic of China. The announcement came almost five years to the day after MPs voted unanimously to condemn China for crimes against humanity: “This is a new government with a new Prime Minister, a new foreign policy.”
Canadians are despondent over housing shortages with a majority predicting federal planning will do little good, says internal polling by Housing Minister Gregor Robertson’s department. Robertson has cautioned cabinet will need at least a decade to meet its affordability targets: “We can only work with the facts we have in front of us.”
Canada faces a hotel shortage, lobbyists tell the Commons industry committee. The Hotel Association of Canada predicted the country will be short tens of thousands of rooms by the end of the decade without immediate tax breaks: “By 2030 Canada is expected to face a shortfall of nearly 20,000 hotel rooms.”
Heritage Minister Marc Miller’s department in a briefing note said it is worried some Canadians appear disengaged from government messaging. Federal managers are relying on the CBC to promote “social cohesion,” it said: “Certain segments of the population remain disengaged.”
Liberal appointee Senator Colin Deacon (N.S.) breached conflict rules as founding shareholder of a company that solicited a federal loan. The Senate Ethics Officer granted Deacon a waiver: “My view is your situation falls under the exception.”
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty’s department yesterday was cited for breaching an Act of Parliament in concealing records on the purported graves of 215 children at an Indian Residential School. The department was ordered to begin releasing files within 36 days: “Nothing in the Act allows the department to delay.”
Canada’s last Ambassador to Afghanistan in an Access To Information email released yesterday acknowledged diplomats were “not able to help everyone” in their hurried flight from Kabul aboard a half-empty military aircraft. The comment by Reid Sirrs is the only acknowledgment to date by the Department of Foreign Affairs that it failed to save thousands of Canadian citizens and allies from the Taliban: “There was a lot of scrutiny and negative publicity.”
Cabinet is dismantling its 11-year climate program, Tesla Motors has told MPs. The automaker questioned whether the government remains committed to electric cars after suspending introduction of 2026 sales quotas: “Canada has begun dismantling its environmental policies.”
Cabinet has polled public support for a national forest fire department similar to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, records show. Canadians in Privy Council focus groups supported the idea, complaining current efforts are inadequate: “It could have been more effective.”
The Immigration and Refugee Board yesterday said it needs private sector help to clear a backlog of “rising refugee claims” that is nearly four years’ long. The Board chair earlier described the volume as a shock: “They come, they ask for refugee status, they have to prove their claim.”
The federal prison system is so costly it is “not sustainable,” says an Access To Information memo. Thousands of cells sit empty in penitentiaries with fixed costs that now average a record $436 daily per inmate: ‘Reduce the number of low-performing, high cost assets.’
The health department in a memo to Minister Marjorie Michel says it has no legal duty to negotiate pharmacare agreements with provinces or territories. “We are focused on fiscal discipline,” said the note dated 14 months after Parliament passed Bill C-64 An Act Respecting Pharmacare: “To be clear, the Act does not require the Government of Canada to sign bilateral agreements.”
CBC News coverage of the Middle East is systemically pro-Palestinian with omissions, “emotional language” and selective facts that skew the audience’s perception of Israel, a B’nai Brith Canada report said yesterday. The network has denied its coverage is biased: “My perception is we are working very hard.”
Canada Student Loan write-offs cost taxpayers more than $200 million in 2024 despite a permanent waiver on interest for borrowers, says a federal briefing note. Individual student debts average $15,578 on graduation, according to the Department of Social Development: “The value of unpaid student loans will continue to grow.”
