A federal environmental program paid out millions in grants without proof the subsidies had any impact. Auditors at the Department of Fisheries found more than a third of grant recipients failed to report on what they did with the money: “Reporting is inconsistent.”
The Supreme Court yesterday confirmed it will hear an appeal on whether unregulated free photocopying is legal under Canadian copyright law. Two lower courts ruled mass photocopying of books and articles for university course packs is improper: “Publishers indicate they have been damaged.”
The Bloc Québécois yesterday served notice of a motion to have Parliament create a permanent subsidy fund for newspapers like in France. Canadians publishers who successfully lobbied in 2019 for a half-billion bailout argued taxpayers’ aid should not become permanent: “We will have to save ourselves.”
The Senate will pay $528,000 to settle harassment claims by former employees of ex-senator Don Meredith (Ont.). A retired judge who recommended payment of damages called it a “unique and sad episode” in Senate history: “Almost all complainants described their work experience as ‘the worst thing that ever happened to me.'”
A British Columbia court has upheld a 47 percent loan interest rate as legal. A bill to lower the federal usury rate to 45 percent lapsed in the Senate two years ago: “Recognize it for what it is, a premium that the poorest pay when they borrow to meet their basic needs.”
Federal GST audits are more cost effective than cumbersome investigations of income tax cases, says a Canada Revenue Agency study. It follows complaints from business owners and accountants that auditors avoid “larger fish” in tracking tax avoidance: “You’re picking the low-hanging fruit.”
The federal oil and gas regulator spent nearly $60,000 to find few Canadians have heard of it. The Canada Energy Regulator has operated in Calgary since 1959 but changed its name last year: “Canadians either do not know the Board or misunderstand it.”
New Democrat MPs yesterday served notice they seek first-ever parliamentary hearings on the troubled Canada Infrastructure Bank. The chair and CEO abruptly resigned last April. Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna has promised to “get shovel-ready projects built quickly” though none have been completed since the Bank was established three years ago: “Well, that’s unacceptable.”
A Liberal MP who apologized for vulgar tweets about Indigenous women, Chinese-Canadians and others yesterday invoked Nelson Mandela in decrying racism. MP Jaimie Battiste (Sydney-Victoria, N.S.) told the Commons Indigenous affairs committee he was upset by intolerance in Canada: “Why do I assume every skinny aboriginal girl is on crystal meth?”
Parliamentary investigations of federal contracting with We Charity and others are “petty politics”, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday told reporters. The Commons ethics committee will try again Thursday to obtain records on more than $758,000 in payments to the Trudeau family by We Charity and others: “That is their choice.”
You can’t sell marijuana near a schoolhouse, Ontario Superior Court has ruled. Judges dismissed complaints a no-cannabis zone around schools was miscalculated “as the crow flies”.
Costs of federal regulations fall heaviest on small business, says a Department of Industry study. Researchers said businesses with fewer than five employees or as little as $30,000 in yearly revenue faced a “heavy regulatory burden”.
A cabinet filibuster to block disclosure of corporate sponsorship fees paid to the Prime Minister’s family is now in its second week. Liberal MPs on the Commons ethics committee have delayed a vote to release records detailing hundreds of thousands paid to Trudeaus: “We’re not talking about $1 or $200, we’re talking about a lot.”
Second-wave subsidies for small business come too late for thousands driven to insolvency by pandemic shutdown orders, say MPs. Cabinet pledged $13 billion in new aid under old programs so complex they were undersubscribed: “People have put their sweat and tears into their business.”
Electric car rebates are the costliest federal climate change program, according to Department of Transport figures. The department estimated cuts to greenhouse gas emissions as a direct result of cash rebates cost taxpayers nearly $900 per tonne in the first year of the program: “An audit has not yet been completed.”
