Blacklock's Reporter

Newspapers have cut so many jobs that subsidies contingent on numbers of newsroom employees are 43 percent under budget. Taxpayers’ payroll rebates of $13,750 per staffer could not avert layoffs, data show: “The loss of even just one job is a tragedy.”

Federal departments and agencies paid thousands to a Liberal-affiliated think tank chaired by Mark Carney, records show. The former central bank governor last May 26 was appointed chair of Canada 2020 to promote “ambitious progressive public policy solutions.”

Emergency pandemic measures like vaccine mandates must not continue without lawful orders, says a privacy commissioner. The ruling came in the case of the Saskatoon Public Library that insisted employees continue to submit personal medical data long after mandates were lifted: “You are expecting me to comply with an invasion of my privacy.”

Social Development Minister Karina Gould yesterday rejected any compensation for travelers left out of pocket due to extraordinary delays at passport offices. Gould to date has not explained why passport managers ignored 2021 warnings to prepare for a flood of new applications for travel documents: “What recourse do they have?”

Food inflation is so persistent it threatens to reverse gains in the national poverty rate, says the Department of Social Development. The average 11 percent annual increase in checkout prices “could impact poverty rates” for years to come, said a department memo: “Food will be reflected in Canada’s poverty rates.”

Fewer than half of Canadians have a high degree of trust that federal institutions tell the truth, say Privy Council researchers. A majority put more faith in family, friends and social media than government agencies, said a report: “Why?”

A British Columbia judge has faulted a lender for waiting years to collect on a loan in default while interest accumulated at 45 percent. The latest judgment follows a cabinet pledge to rewrite Canada’s usury law: “It seems inconsistent to permit such interest to be payable where little was done.”

A Canada Revenue Agency office accused of corrupt practices is committed to full transparency, managers wrote in a report to Parliament. MPs have yet to investigate whistleblower complaints senior auditors manipulated sweetheart tax settlements for offshore corporations: “What did (they) get out of this Prestige? A feeling of power? Influence? Future favours? 10M in a Swiss account?”

The Canada Border Services Agency is targeting a 219 percent increase in deportations this year. Past rates were not good enough, said an Agency memo: “Removals are prioritized based on a risk.”

New federal gun controls “may reduce the number of firearms some hunters use,” admits a federal briefing note to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. Hunters will have to find alternatives, it said: “People feel hoodwinked.”

More than 8,000 undocumented foreign health care workers and their families were permitted to remain in Canada under a temporary amnesty program, according to Department of Immigration figures. The “guardian angels” program was a pandemic necessity, officials said: “We need to bring more people into our workforce.”

The federal prison service is budgeting almost $11 million a year on spiritual healing for Indigenous inmates. Contractors are paid for “telling of stories,” “sacred ceremonies” and “sharing of traditional teachings,” said an internal audit: “One strives to be in harmony with all living things on Mother Earth.”

The National Gallery of Canada paid a private consultant over $126,000 to censor documents under the Access To Information Act. Other federal departments and agencies have hired private censors at fees that ran into the millions: “We’re not able to keep pace.”

A senior Department of Public Works manager has been dismissed for nepotism and misuse of public facilities. Authorities would not name the manager but called the misconduct a “serious breach” of its ethics code: “Allegations of wrongdoing were founded.”