The Royal Canadian Air Force faces a “personnel crisis” with fewer volunteers joining and more veterans leaving the service, says a federal report. It follows a 35 percent decline in military recruitment across the board last year: “The RCAF is experiencing a personnel crisis.”
Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is in Federal Court to block release of records sought by the Information Commissioner. Cabinet in a 2015 Ministerial Mandate letter had promised to “ensure the Commissioner is empowered to order government information to be released.”
A million-dollar oil painting by Canadian master Tom Thomson was undamaged in a vandal’s attack yesterday, said the National Gallery. A British Columbia environmental activist videotaped himself on Instagram smearing pink paint across the painting: “Fortunately the artwork was not harmed.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday said cabinet is looking out for “the safety of every single Canadian” in issuing a travel advisory for LGBTQ people visiting the United States. Freeland cited no specific threat: “Our travel advisories are done very professionally.”
Municipalities owe ratepayers a duty of care but only on accurate calculations of their property tax, a British Columbia tribunal has ruled. The decision came in Duncan, B.C. where assessments jumped an average 34 percent and City Council in two years hiked taxes 14 percent: “We are at their mercy.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs held a secret ceremony honouring Ambassador Reid Sirrs and other diplomats who fled Afghanistan aboard a half-empty military plane during the fall of Kabul, records show. Canadian military called the incident an embarrassment: “Some still carry this emotional weight to this day.”
Federal auditors have uncovered more irregularities over government-issue charge cards, this time at the Immigration and Refugee Board. A random check identified missing records, transactions that were “not properly signed and dated” and a lack of spending limits: “No documentation was on file.”
Drug deaths rose by a third in 2021, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The increase in fatalities due to “accidental poisonings” followed parliamentary proposals to decriminalize heroin nationwide: “What do you think the impact of decriminalizing small amounts of illicit drugs would be?”
Federal healing lodges account for a high number of prison breaks, according to Correctional Service records. New data show 70 percent of federal escapees are Indigenous: “Escapes from healing lodges represent a challenge for residents, staff and community alike.”
A federal lawyer implicated in editing Blacklock’s Wikipedia page yesterday was named a Superior Court judge. The 2016 incident led to disciplinary measures against an unidentified courthouse clerk.
“I wish Justice Kaufman every success,” Attorney General Arif Virani said yesterday in a statement. Alexandre Kaufman, formerly with the Department of Justice civil litigation branch, was appointed to Ontario Superior Court.
As a federal lawyer in 2016 Kaufman successfully defended the finance department in one Blacklock’s copyright action in Federal Court. Access To Information records indicated Kaufman within minutes of receiving a court judgment emailed it to 22 people including two Ottawa bloggers, a Globe & Mail columnist, two private law firms, two federal communications officers, the University of Western Ontario and several federal lawyers. “Christmas came early,” wrote. Kaufman. “Please enjoy.”
“Very well done Alex,” counsel for the Bank of Canada replied to one Kaufman email. “A wonder kick in the knackers for Blacklock’s.” Bank counsel later apologized for the note.
Documents showed during Kaufman’s email blitz an unknown person using a Federal Court computer edited Blacklock’s Wikipedia page with a disparaging entry. Managers refused to identify the person or answer if the Wikipedia entry was made at Kaufman’s request.
“We strive to be exemplary in everything we do,” the Courts Administration Service wrote in its Annual Report to Parliament at the time. “Judicial independence is a cornerstone of the Canadian judicial system.”
Kaufman resigned from the Department of Justice prior to release of records in the matter. Then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould left an investigation of the Wikipedia incident to the Courts Administration Service.
“Disciplinary measures were taken against an employee,” the Administration said in a statement. “The measures taken took into consideration the employee’s wrongdoing.”
Justice Kaufman in a separate incident emailed Blacklock’s witnesses who filed sworn statements to suggest “you are free to withdraw your affidavit” to avoid cross-examination. The Federal Court in 2018 dismissed allegations of witness tampering in the case. “I’m just doing my job,” Kaufman told Blacklock’s reporters.
By Staff 
A CBC executive, Michel Bissonnette, has billed nearly $30,000 in travel expenses to date this year including a now-cancelled junket to the French Riviera, records show. Bissonnette repeatedly flew business class to Paris and once hired a driver to chauffeur him five blocks through downtown Ottawa: “We simply can’t be in a position where we have to keep cutting.”
The cost of a federal tax credit once dubbed an “open bar” for corporations is now approaching levels last seen a decade ago when the previous Conservative cabinet cut the subsidy. More than 16,000 companies nationwide are now claiming the Scientific Research and Experimental Development credit, said a federal report: “I’m a big, big fan.”
There is no evidence a five-year, $133.7 million climate change program reduced diesel emissions in Northern Canada, says a federal audit. The program mainly resulted in “trusting and respectful relationships” with Indigenous people, wrote auditors.
The post office warns it is tracking another heavy loss this year. Revenues for parcels, letter mail and flyers all fell in the first half of 2023, said the Canada Post Corporation: ‘We acknowledge the magnitude and significance of recurring financial losses.’
CBC Radio billed more than $160,000 in legal fees to challenge a CRTC order over use of the n-word, according to Access To Information records. The network won its free speech case June 8 in federal court: “The CRTC overstepped its jurisdiction.”
