Most federal agencies spent more, not less, on travel last year while cabinet claimed to save taxpayers’ money, new records show. Then-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland promised a 15 percent reduction in travel spending as proof the government was “fiscally responsible.”
Colleges in a single province made a fortune in fees on foreign students, Statistics Canada confirmed yesterday. Record enrollment by foreigners made Ontario the only jurisdiction in Canada where colleges raised more in tuition than they required in public funding: “Nothing lasts forever.”
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s department in an internal memo questioned bias of a subsidized advocacy group, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. It awarded the Network a $200,000 research grant even as staffers expressed unease over funding: “Was this taken into consideration?”
CBC’s Ombudsman yesterday questioned why the network manufactured a photo of Prime Minister Mark Carney partying with Jeffrey Epstein to illustrate a story on fake news. “Publishing such an image was risky business,” wrote Ombudsman Maxime Bertrand: “What’s wrong with the CBC? Have they lost their senses? Or worse still, was Carney associated with Epstein?”
A cabinet decision to cut tolls on Prince Edward Island’s Confederation Bridge guarantees French investors more than $40 million a year in taxpayers’ subsidies, says a Budget Office report. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the concession last July 28 without disclosing the cost: “Here is a living, breathing example of risk-free investment for a corporation.”
The Commons last night by a 196 to 139 vote rejected a Conservative motion to support construction of an Alberta oil pipeline to the British Columbia coast. Liberals called the motion a ploy to embarrass Prime Minister Mark Carney: “There’s a risk in voting yes, there’s a risk in voting no.”
The top manager in the Department of Industry yesterday admitted lying to MPs over a contract with Stellantis. “No one asked me to lie,” Deputy Minister Philip Jennings testified at the Commons government operations committee: “I have reflected.”
A record hike in the national debt ceiling is a prudent attempt to cover ongoing deficits through the rest of the decade, the Department of Finance said yesterday. Cabinet proposes to raise the cap 20 percent to an unprecedented $2.54 trillion: “We did decide to err on the side of prudence.”
The Department of Health yesterday confirmed it charged taxpayers an undisclosed sum for crack pipes and other drug paraphernalia under its “safe supply” program. Managers had flatly denied it under questioning October 2 by Conservative MP Dan Mazier (Riding Mountain, Man.): “Do you honestly think Canadian taxpayers want their money to be used for crack pipes?”
The Department of Canadian Heritage is invoking privacy in concealing terms of a settlement with an anti-Semitic consultant. Laith Marouf of Montréal was paid $122,661 for a series of anti-racism lectures before managers discovered he was banned from Twitter for fantasizing about shooting Jews: “Too many people in Ottawa knew about this.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s future earnings rely on the success of Brookfield Corporation, the Ethics Commissioner said yesterday. Opposition MPs seek to compel Carney to sell his stock portfolio: “It is clear Mr. Carney’s future compensation is tied to the success of Brookfield.”
A Liberal MP once censured for breach of the Conflict Of Interest Code yesterday complained ethics rules had been “weaponized.” MP James Maloney (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ont.), the first parliamentarian ever ordered by the Ethics Commissioner to publicly apologize in the House of Commons, said no public office holder should be subject to “a bunch of allegations.”
Federal departments last year assigned almost 600 employees to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, records show. Cabinet acknowledged the figure was incomplete since numerous departments declined to report how many managers worked on “representation goals.”
The Privy Council Office yesterday dismissed a request from MPs to interview candidates for appointment as Budget Officer. A standoff over the key appointment will now drag into 2026: “It is so important that the choice of a Parliamentary Budget Office be neutral, unbiased and impartial.”
More than a million homeowners face loss of equity if Parliament does not take steps to confront flood insurance costs, the Commons environment committee was told yesterday. The Department of Public Safety has yet to act on long-promised initiatives to save taxpayers the expense of disaster relief: “We’re not going backwards.”
