Federal departments are under-reporting lost and stolen equipment, says an internal audit at the Department of Industry. Auditors found managers waited months, even more than a year to properly report missing computers, cellphones and other equipment: “Sensitive data may be compromised.”
Cabinet yesterday budgeted $3,164,228 to begin work on YouTube regulation though a bill permitting first-ever internet controls has yet to pass Parliament. “We will continue to do all we can to get it through as quickly as possible,” said Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault: “We have worked hard.”
The Manitoba publisher that spearheaded a 2019 campaign for press subsidies last year received more than $6.2 million in federal aid, according to accounts. Subsidies were equivalent to more than half of net income for FP Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun: “Of course there will be newspapers that fail, and you can’t give it to them forever.”
Tracking the true ownership of shell companies in Canada is a “personal priority for me,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday told the Senate national finance committee. Cabinet has budgeted $2.1 million to develop a publicly-accessible website naming names, though the registry will not be operating until 2025: “Realize that we will be seven or eight years behind the U.K.”
A federal labour board has upheld the firing of a Department of Employment manager for nepotism. No investigation of family hiring in the federal public service government-wide has ever been conducted, though a 2018 survey of employees found it a common practice: ‘It raises the timeless question: Was the culprit sorry for his or her misdeeds, or for having been caught?’
A grocery store worker fired for “stealing” $1.80 worth of bread at a self-checkout scanner has been ordered reinstated. A Saskatchewan labour arbitrator ruled scanner price codes were so complicated it was not obvious how any customer could figure them out: “The self-checkout process is anything but straightforward.”
The Public Health Agency breached federal rules in paying out more than $600 million in cash advances to contractors for rush orders on pandemic supplies, auditors disclosed yesterday. The value of money lost on goods never delivered was not revealed: “These contracts are considered riskier.”
The Commons government operations committee yesterday by a 6-5 vote ordered disclosure of confidential emails regarding a sole-sourced federal contract to the Prime Minister’s half-brother. Kyle Kemper, an Ottawa bitcoin developer, was paid to attend a Swiss conference as a “champion speaker” on behalf of the Government of Canada: “What is the suspicion here?”
The Royal Canadian Mint yesterday deleted Nobel Laureate Frederick Banting from a coin commemorating the discovery of insulin, but honoured James “Skookum Jim” Mason of the Tagish First Nation in a separate coin marking discovery of gold in the Yukon. The decision follows a 2019 cabinet policy to address “colonialism, patriarchy and racism” in historical observances: “This contributes to the ongoing process of truth-telling and reconciliation.”
The future of a proposed $750 million St. Lawrence River container terminal is in doubt after cabinet yesterday banned any work threatening the habitat of a rare fish, the Copper Redhorse. An environmental group threatened to sue if the Port of Montréal expansion proceeds: “It is a wonderful fish.”
Cabinet must eliminate long delays in enforcing a Pay Equity Act passed into law three years ago, an all-party committee of MPs yesterday told Parliament. Enforcement could take until 2026 or later: “This cannot be done overnight.”
VIA Rail blames First Nations blockades as well as the pandemic for a record operating loss last year, $415.8 million. “We faced two crises, the blockades and the pandemic,” wrote VIA’s $401,000-a year CEO: “My empathy extends to our passengers.”
The war on drugs has failed, a Liberal Senate appointee last night told the chamber. Senator Gwen Boniface (Ont.), a former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner, said simple possession of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs should be decriminalized: “We must consider an alternative.”
The Commons industry committee yesterday dismissed a bid to speed a rewrite of federal bankruptcy law. MPs on May 12 gave Second Reading by a 189-139 vote to a private bill granting priority treatment to pensioners in bankruptcy settlements: “I am not elected by banks.”
Canada has so many drones it needs a drone air traffic control system, says the Department of Transport. Staff counted 53,000 registered drones nationwide compared to 37,000 licensed aircraft: ‘It requires a re-think of how our airspace is managed.’
