Federal auditors yesterday detailed more costly irregularities in the hiring of consultants, this time at the Department of Agriculture. One MP questioned why federal managers spent millions more on consultants after hiring thousands more employees: “We have more public servants, so why use more consultants?”
Liberal MPs yesterday opposed disclosure of payments to pharmaceutical companies for “safe supply” opioids. Police confirm narcotics bought at taxpayers’ expense are being diverted to the black market at drug dealers’ profit: “Is this true?”
Mandating vaccination of employees who worked exclusively at home during the pandemic was unreasonable, a federal arbitrator has ruled. The decision came in the case of 37 Canada Post employees suspended without pay: “These employees had no reasonable prospect of coming into physical contact with the workplace.”
An ArriveCan executive yesterday admitted to drinking and dining with contractors in breach of ethics rules but said he never talked about money. Chulaka Ailapperuma, a Canada Border Services Agency director, was given a Public Service Award of Excellence for his work on the $59.5 million program now the subject of numerous audits and investigations: “So five people who only have ArriveCan in common sit down in a bar.”
Minimum wage increases are an ineffective poverty reduction program, according to Canadian Federation of Independent Business data. Research follows a 2021 labour department report that links between minimum wages and poverty were “relatively weak.”
Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge yesterday had no comment after stacking a CBC advisory panel with seven beneficiaries of federal funding including two subsidized publishers and a Trudeau Foundation scholar. “It’s not even a partisan issue,” St-Onge earlier told reporters: “I want to ensure the CBC is well positioned.”
Few Canadians with legitimate grievances over poor airline service ever file a formal complaint though it could pay hundreds of dollars, says in-house research at the Canadian Transportation Agency. The current backlog of some 71,000 complaints represents a tiny fraction of unhappy customers, data show: “Roughly 1 in 5,000 passengers will issue a complaint.”
Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic yesterday faulted the Department of Transport for unfairly disqualifying low-cost contractors on arbitrary grounds. Jeglic has complained the entire federal system rewards insiders: “We are seeing consistent problems across the federal procurement landscape.”
RCMP recruitment is declining so sharply the Mounties can’t spare constables for the Musical Ride, says an internal audit. Hiring private equestrians to pose as police was contemplated but deemed too risky if the public found out, said the report: “Legitimacy and effectiveness of the Musical Ride could be negatively impacted if the riders were not police officers.”
Taxpayers wait an average eight weeks for the Canada Revenue Agency to reply to emails or letters, records show. Documents did not disclose how often the replies contained incorrect information: “You’re the big machine.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office yesterday falsely claimed Canada “was among the first countries to recognize Israel’s independence” in 1948. Canada in fact waited seven months and was the 19th country to recognize the Jewish state after Guatemala: “Canada had abstained.”
The federal cabinet yesterday approved $103.7 million in subsidies for homeowners who switch from natural gas furnaces to electric heat pumps, but only in British Columbia. The province’s NDP government faces a general election October 19: “Thanks to the work of the British Columbia NDP.”
United Nations investigators yesterday began a tour of Canadian jails to investigate complaints of arbitrary detention. It follows a cabinet proposal to use federal prisons to temporarily house deportees suspected of criminality: “The experts will gather information from places where people are deprived of their liberty.”
A Senate committee has landed in the midst of a threatened lawsuit after it distributed links to a video alleging sadistic abuse of animals at a Canadian theme park. The Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee released the video as part of its study of a bill to restrict breeding of elephants in captivity: “We are currently seeking legal counsel.”
Access To Information records uncovered by Conservative MP Arnold Viersen (Peace River-Westlock, Alta.) show cabinet waited until after it invoked emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy to seek advice from Crown prosecutors. MPs for years have sought proof of cabinet’s claim it was told by lawyers beforehand that the action was lawful: “We will never know because Justin Trudeau censored it.”
