Federal climate programs threaten at least 170,000 jobs with little transitional planning by cabinet, Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said yesterday. DeMarco compared economic fallout to the catastrophic 1992 collapse of the commercial cod fishery: “It’s seven years since they’ve had notice they had to work on this.”
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday acknowledged missing repeated inflation targets and warned higher interest rates may risk driving the economy back into recession. “We got some things wrong,” Macklem told the Commons finance committee: “Are there some risks? Yes.”
Paul Rouleau, a Liberal-appointed federal judge, yesterday was named by cabinet to lead an inquiry into the use of emergency powers against Freedom Convoy protesters. Rouleau was previously partner in a Montréal law firm whose associates included Pierre Trudeau: “Will he have full access to cabinet documents?”
The Canada Revenue Agency paid nearly a half million in rent subsidies to a phantom company that had no leases and never filed a tax return, records show. The Agency to date has not disclosed the scope of fraudulent Covid relief claims it paid without cursory background checks: “Some individuals may be taking advantage.”
The Department of Health did not ship a single rapid test kit to any hospital in the first six months of the pandemic, documents show. Dr. Theresa Tam at the time claimed the department was “pulling out all stops.”
Federal weather forecasters are under pressure from the private sector, says the Department of Environment. Staff rated their own forecasts as largely accurate within 72 hours but less so over five days: ‘Pressures include the growth of the private weather sector.’
Governor General Mary Simon’s office awarded a sole-sourced $96,100 contract to a CBC pundit who told a network audience Simon was the “perfect” appointee. A CBC ethics code forbids undisclosed payments to on-air commentators: “Mary Simon is going to play a pivotal role.”
A third of federal Covid-era borrowing had nothing to do with Covid, says a Parliamentary Budget Office report. Budget Officer Yves Giroux earlier warned that taxpayers face an “astronomical increase” in debt interest costs: “Do you believe the Government of Canada is living on a credit card?”
Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi (Ottawa Centre) remained a director of a tax delinquent marijuana wholesaler until after winning election to Parliament. Naqvi has not explained his involvement with the company that folded with $1.9 million owing to the Canada Revenue Agency: “I cannot go to one event or meeting in my community of Ottawa Centre without a question about cannabis.”
A retired federal IT consultant has won $19,900 in Federal Court costs and damages after successfully searching the internet for technical breaches of bilingualism regulations. A judge upheld one complaint against the St. John’s Airport Authority for wishing travelers “a happy St. Patrick’s Day” in English only: “The older I get the more I realize federal institutions continue to violate my rights.”
A federal mask mandate for air travelers now in its third year should not be repealed, says Dr. Theresa Tam. The chief public health officer called masks inconvenient but necessary: ‘If everybody’s going to be wearing a mask, why not?’
Reader’s Digest insists the most hated phrase in Canada is,
“Your call is important to us.”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you,”
seconded by a case of the hang-ups.
The opposite of the Internet
is a secret.
The world’s smallest deer,
the adorablest.
(Editor’s note: poet Jeff Blackman is a federal employee)
Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi (Ottawa Centre), parliamentary secretary for emergency preparedness, was director of an insolvent marijuana company that owed millions in unpaid federal tax, records show. Naqvi did not comment: “I recognize my duty every single day to seek out the truth.”
CMHC quietly approved a $200,000 grant to promoters of a home equity tax, according to Access To Information records yesterday disclosed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Culture change is hard,” read one email by a tax promoter to CMHC managers: “We work to make the politically impossible (now) possible (sooner than later).”
Internal whistleblower emails and memos disclosing allegations of misconduct by senior Canada Revenue Agency executives yesterday were removed from public access by federal lawyers. The documents were mistakenly filed in Federal Court: “The Court has ordered that the documents be removed from the public record.”
