Federal managers paid almost $700,000 to consultants for tips on how to save money on consultants. “This is about smarter not smaller government,” said Treasury Board President Anita Anand: “This is not about doing more with less.”
Almost a quarter of the entire country would qualify for subsidies under a proposed federal dentacare program, far more than originally estimated, data show. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised free dentistry for lower income households under a 2022 agreement with New Democrats: “This is what working constructively is all about.”
The largest public service union is asking a federal judge to quash surprise paycheque clawbacks for members suspected of being overpaid five years ago. The Public Service Alliance of Canada in a Federal Court filing said almost a thousand members had pay docked without notice or explanation: “The Department of Public Works erred in law.”
Rideau Hall on Saturday formally stripped an ex-Saskatchewan Provincial Court judge of her 2021 Order of Canada for claiming to be Indigenous. The case prompted demands that a Senate committee investigate the phenomenon of “pretendians.”
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A federal contractor paid millions for the ArriveCan app boasted of having pull at the Canada Border Services Agency. Remarks by Kristian Firth, partner with GC Strategies of Woodlawn, Ont., were secretly recorded by a subcontractor and given to the Commons government operations committee: “They’ve got you recorded.”
Cabinet will have to “barrel on” through public complaints over the carbon tax, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said yesterday. Cabinet faces a Commons vote Monday on a motion to repeal the 12¢ per cubic metre tax for the majority of Canadian homeowners who heat with natural gas: ‘Everyday folks are just having trouble making things meet and looking for someone to blame.’
Cabinet has not committed to passing a pharmacare bill by year’s end, says Health Minister Mark Holland. He made no mention of a 2022 agreement with New Democrats to pass pharmacare legislation before December 31, 2023: “It’s not something I have committed to.”
Cutting the CBC “would be devastating” for Canada, CEO Catherine Tait yesterday told the Commons heritage committee. The market share for CBC-TV is currently 4.4 percent and falling, according to the Crown broadcaster: “This is a precious asset.”
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney secretly warned cabinet members to treat their chauffeurs as spies and gossips, according to newly declassified records. Political aides were also unreliable, said Mulroney: “Talking in the presence of chauffeurs was a deplorable but common mistake as these persons were notoriously unreliable gossips.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a House vote on whether to extend carbon tax relief on home heating to all householders nationwide. Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday also challenged the Prime Minister to call a carbon tax election: “Let’s make a deal. Let’s pause the carbon tax on all home heating until Canadians go to the polls.”
The Canadian Armed Forces are shrinking. Defence Minister Bill Blair yesterday said more soldiers, sailors and air crew are quitting than can be replaced with new recruits amid “a great deal of priorities right now” with war in Israel and Ukraine and domestic search and rescue operations: “Over the last three years we’ve actually seen greater attrition.”
Homes are so costly in Toronto and Vancouver that more buyers are relying on family to meet minimum downpayments, data show. CMHC said Toronto’s share of its insurance portfolio has shrunk by half: ‘Parents and grandparents are playing the CMHC’s role.’
Immigrants complain Canadians pay too much tax, says in-house Canada Revenue Agency research. Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Nigerians and Syrians interviewed by Agency researchers said that “taxes in Canada are expensive.”
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney asked to be personally told of every single Access To Information request filed with the Privy Council Office, according to newly declassified cabinet records. Mulroney vowed to not give an inch on disclosing federal documents he considered embarrassing: “The government should not open the door one further inch for more Access To Information requests.”
