It would “be a good idea” for cabinet to calculate how much it costs to collect taxes before introducing any new tax, Budget Officer Yves Giroux said yesterday. His remarks followed data showing the paperwork on an equity tax targeting foreign property owners costs more than it raises in revenue: “I think there will need to be a correction in the budget.”
The Department of Immigration documented a suspiciously high rate of refugee claims by Mexican travelers at airports in Montréal and Calgary, new records show. Figures predate cabinet’s February 29 decision to reintroduce mandatory visas for air passengers from Mexico: “They are significant and they have increased dramatically.”
MPs yesterday ordered disclosure of all internal federal investigations into claims an ArriveCan executive tried to destroy 1,700 emails. Minh Doan, now chief federal technology officer, has not publicly answered allegations he attempted to hide documents on his dealings with contractors: “There seems to be a culture of hiding.”
The Canada Border Services Agency disciplined more than 140 employees in a year for wrongdoing, Vice-President Jonathan Moor yesterday told ArriveCan hearings. The Agency is one of the largest police departments in Canada with 16,000 employees and a $2.7 billion annual budget: “We have a lot to do.”
Liberal MPs yesterday tried and failed to block speedy hearings into why cabinet concealed evidence of Chinese security breaches at the National Microbiology Laboratory. “Why wasn’t this caught earlier?” asked Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills, Ont.): “This is the start of the matter, not the end.”
Cabinet should cut immigration to ease a housing crisis, Canadians tell federal researchers. In-house focus groups by the Privy Council Office found popular support for lowering quotas to “alleviate demand for housing.”
Revenues from a national luxury tax exceed Budget Office forecasts, new data show. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland imposed the tax in 2022 to make wealthier Canadians share “a little bit of that good fortune” with the federal treasury, she said: “Thank you for contributing.”
The China inquiry tomorrow opens its public investigation with testimony from Elections Canada officers who downplayed complaints of meddling by foreign agents. Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, the first to testify, earlier told MPs he saw no evidence of Chinese interference but acknowledged he didn’t look: “Our goal is to uncover the truth.”
A total 986 Gazans, the majority men and boys, have applied to enter Canada, records show. Immigration Minister Marc Miller has proposed to raise the current cap of 1,000 permits to an unspecified number: “The Department of Immigration has not refused any applications.”
Taxpayer holdings in a Kenyan phone company have declined by two thirds despite millions spent on shares, records show. Lori Kerr, CEO of FinDev Canada that bought the shares, had assured MPs the agency was “an investor with impact.”
Almost all Canadian retailers conduct cash transactions and a majority still take cheques, the Bank of Canada said yesterday. The research followed Bank monitoring of “digital” currency like bitcoin: “Merchants will continue to accept methods of payment consumers choose to use.”
Pandemic ventilators purchased from an ex-Liberal MP’s company but never used have been donated to Ukraine as war surplus, records show. Thousands of the Baylis Medical machines remain warehoused: “What are the known location of each ventilator?”
An ArriveCan supplier faces a summons to the bar of the House of Commons to name friends in government who provided inside tips on millions in contracts. Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville, Ont.) sponsored the summons, the first involving a federal contractor since 1913: “Who was in charge?”
Dozens of federal employees logged thousands of hours on the ArriveCan app despite the hiring of 32 contractors at a $59.5 million charge, new records show. The Canada Border Services Agency said staff logged 134,000 hours on the program it falsely claimed had saved lives: “It was value for money,”
Canadian shippers are pleading with cabinet to delay the May 13 launch of a digital Customs collection scheme already 42 percent over budget. “If it launches and launches poorly this will land on the government’s feet because they have been warned,” Conservative MP Kyle Seeback (Dufferin-Caledon, Ont.) told the Commons trade committee.
