A federal Covid vaccine death and injury compensation program has paid out nearly $7 million in claims to date, records show. The Department of Health said it anticipated $75 million in claims by 2026: “The benefits outweigh the potential risks but it is still a drug.”
Federal employees with disabilities are routinely harassed by managers, says a Treasury Board report. Workers complained needling and “public humiliation” were commonplace four years after Parliament passed Bill C-81 An Act To Ensure A Barrier-Free Canada: “Incidents of harassment occurred routinely.”
A 2021 heat wave that broke an all-Canadian temperature record was the result of a high pressure system, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society confirms. “Climate change was not the sole cause of this event,” wrote scientists.
Federal regulators yesterday invited public comment over labeling of imported goods from “contested territories.” It follows a long running Federal Court feud over labeling of Israeli wines: “This is a matter of particular sensitivity and importance to the organized Jewish community in Canada.”
Three times as many Department of Employment staff were investigated as were reported fired for defrauding pandemic relief programs, says a federal briefing note. The disclosure follows confirmation of widespread fraud investigations at the Canada Revenue Agency: “We know in times of crisis the risk of fraud is heightened.”
More than a quarter of Atlantic startups that receive federal subsidies fail within five years, says a federal briefing note. The disclosure follows a 2020 audit that faulted the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency for failing to conduct risk assessments on companies applying for taxpayers’ aid: “Once a project is funded the Agency has limited control.”
Snooping by public employees is the worst kind of privacy breach, a Commissioner has ruled. The warning came in the case of an employee of the Town of Hafford, Sask. caught browsing through property records: “Even worse is when an employee snoops and uses the information for potential personal gain.”
The Department of Industry spent $76 million since 2016 in recycling government-issue computers for use by schools and charities, says an internal audit. It was better than throwing them away, wrote auditors: “These results represent a significant second life for equipment.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department says it does not know the extent of ecological damage caused by an all-Canadian contaminant, road salt. Tonnes are used annually, mainly in Ontario and Québec, though federal researchers have rated it a bigger environmental threat than fracking: “Freshwater ecosystems have shown increasing chloride concentrations.”
Exploring the landscape
of the English language,
I find Fee in Coffee,
Off in Office.
There’s Cat in Catastrophe,
Dog in Dogmatic, and
Water in Waterloo.
Even Colour in Colourless
– that’s odd –
now imagine my thrill
to discover God in Pagoda
and Gold in Marigold!
Here’s Paper in Papers
– that’s easy –
but despite my effort
I cannot find
Wisdom, Truth, or Hope, in Trump,
or any Guarantee in Democracy.
There’s no Glory in Aging,
or Fairness in Promotion.
And no Infrastructure in Attawapiskat.
By Shai Ben-Shalom
Two Liberal MPs held shares in Facebook even as cabinet vowed to lead a national advertising boycott against the company. Neither MP commented yesterday after cabinet said it was “doing our part” to cut dealings with Facebook: “If the government and politicians don’t stand up against that kind of bullying or intimidation, who will?”
Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough’s department fired 64 employees as security risks, according to records. One was confirmed as a foreign spy: “For sensitivity reasons we cannot provide additional information on specific cases.”
Cabinet yesterday approved billions more subsidies for battery factories in what the Canadian Taxpayers Federation criticized as a free for all for foreign automakers. Aid totals more than $31 billion for three Ontario plants: “The feds need to draw the line somewhere.”
A federal tribunal yesterday saved General (Ret’d) Jonathan Vance from a summons to testify in a human rights case. Vance last year pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, a first for a Chief of Defence Staff: “He was untouchable.”
The Conservative Party yesterday released an email from a Liberal cabinet aide as proof of double dealing on suspected election fraud by foreign agents, it said. The email was dated only hours before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Conservatives were obstructing a public inquiry: “They don’t want answers.”
