The Commons government operations committee yesterday by a 5 to 4 vote reopened its investigation of the purchase of an $8.8 million Manhattan penthouse for New York Consul Tom Clark. Liberal MPs opposed the motion: “He personally complained his taxpayer-funded residence wasn’t up to his standards because it didn’t have a luxury kitchen.”
Auditor General Karen Hogan yesterday she is baffled by serial irregularities in federal contracting. “I recommend the government find the root cause,” Hogan told the Commons public accounts committee: “During our audits we kept trying to figure out why we’re seeing the behaviour that we’re seeing.”
The central plank of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget plan is ill-defined and may prove irrelevant, the Budget Office said yesterday. Carney has proposed by 2029 to balance what he called the “operating budget,” not the actual budget: “This means the government could achieve its fiscal objective and yet be fiscally unsustainable.”
Canada’s Ambassador to Russia has drawn protest after celebrating with tweets and flowers our diplomatic relations with Stalin. One Prairie senator, the descendent of Ukrainian homesteaders, yesterday expressed revulsion: “Why on Earth is Canada’s ambassador celebrating this?”
Federal employees are attempting to “manage all the conflicts” involving Prime Minister Mark Carney’s private business interests, a deputy minister disclosed yesterday. Both Carney and his wife were paid by federal contractors prior to his January 15 run for the Liberal Party leadership: “We are working very closely with the Prime Minister’s Office to manage all of the conflicts he has declared.”
A national buy-back of “assault-style” firearms will cost more than a third of a billion, the Department of Public Safety said yesterday. Managers admitted the figure was based on police estimates of firearm ownership rates that were 13 years out of date: “There is a bit of a data gap.”
Internet “misinformation” is eroding Canadians’ faith in government, a Statistics Canada report said yesterday. Statisticians denied their research was sought by cabinet to justify a third attempt at censoring legal content: “The report was not requested by any public authority.”
Federal managers who spend billions on consultants are now required to sign an oath stating “they thought about” it, the Treasury Board said yesterday. Parliamentarians complain spending on consultants averaged $25 billion a year even as the public service payroll grew to more than 413,000 employees: “We have been doing work to strengthen managers’ understanding.”
Liberal-appointed Senator Kim Pate (Ont.) yesterday questioned why U.S. President Donald Trump was permitted to step foot in Canada to attend a G7 meeting. Pate pointed to regulations under the Immigration And Refugee Protection Act that prohibit travel by foreigners with criminal convictions: “I received many calls.”
Cabinet should not be held to strict definitions in fast-tracking industrial projects under Bill C-5, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc yesterday told the Senate. Asked if premiers held vetoes over permits, LeBlanc replied: “Vito’s is also a restaurant on Mountain Road in Moncton.”
This year’s federal deficit appears near $50 billion, says Budget Officer Yves Giroux. A precise figure is difficult to calculate since cabinet declined to table a spring budget, he told the Senate national finance committee: “It is very difficult to know exactly what the government’s forecasts are.”
MPs last night by a 194-141 vote upheld a federal mandate to ban new sales of gasoline-powered cars by 2035. Commons critics challenged the measure as costly, impractical and Draconian: “How will they do it?”
Physician MPs on the Commons health committee yesterday proposed that all witnesses be compelled to disclose any conflict of interest, a parliamentary first. The suggestion followed complaints that pharmaceutical lobbyists “infest Parliament Hill.”
The Bank of Canada in a report released yesterday said adoption of government-controlled digital currency was technically feasible but denied any interest in pursuing it. Canadians share widespread skepticism of Bank-issued cryptocurrency, says in-house research: “This should not be interpreted as a recommendation to issue a central bank digital currency now or sometime later.”
Housing Minister Gregor Robertson yesterday said he would “demonstrate integrity” but could not explain why he failed to publicly disclose millions in real estate investments including a $2.4 million Pacific Coast penthouse. Robertson again declined to discuss his share in British Columbia property assessed at $10.85 million: “The only thing getting built under the housing minister is his personal fortune.”
