We Charity was given three days’ advance notice of a lucrative grant to run a federal students’ program, the Department of Employment disclosed yesterday. A manager who made the call admitted she knew Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie worked with the group. No others were asked to run the program. “The question is whether We got the inside track,” said an MP.
CMHC is spending $250,000 researching a first-ever federal home equity tax. Organizers of the research project earlier likened homeowners to lottery winners whose residences were tax shelters: “The objective is to identify solutions that could level the playing field between renters and owners.”
The Parliamentary Budget Office yesterday expressed unease with losses by Crown banks. Taxpayers have no true picture of pandemic costs of bad loans, said analysts: “The government is on the hook to cover that.”
The Privy Council Office paid “behavioural scientists” to review a $120 million pandemic advertising campaign that promotes measures like handwashing. Authorities in a report to the Commons government operations committee said input from unnamed scientists was vital: “People know about it because we’ve advertised.”
Attorney General David Lametti yesterday acknowledged “serious institutional failings” in the Department of Justice. A federal judge cited government lawyers for concealing crucial information when applying for Court warrants in anti-terrorism cases: “Will anyone lose their job?”
Health Minister Patricia Hajdu took twice as many flights on Transport Canada aircraft than the transport minister, according to records. Hajdu repeatedly flew home to Thunder Bay on weekends even as she proposed fining Canadians who ignored Public Health Agency advice and “don’t listen”, and warned people considering non-essential travel to “think again and stay home.”
The Bank of Canada yesterday predicted continued low interest rates and years of economic hardship as the nation crawls out of it worst postwar recession. The forecast came as a federal agency confirmed oil and gas activity has fallen to its lowest level in nearly sixty years: “This is the deepest decline.”
The Senate proposes to ban legislators from making catcalls or embarrassing remarks under an anti-harassment policy. It follows a rich history of name-calling in the Chamber: “You’re an idiot.”
Next year’s Census for the first time will ask Canadians if they identify neither as male nor female. Cabinet in a statement said it “supports the use of innovative approaches to surveying small populations.”
A federally-funded group in a report to the United Nations cites Canada for “anti-China sentiment and white supremacy”. The Prime Minister has failed to combat a “surge of hateful violence” fueled by the pandemic, said the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic: “Anti-Chinese racism associated with fear of disease has a long history in Canada.”
Health Minister Patricia Hajdu repeatedly flew home by government aircraft on weekends while advising Canadians not to travel. Flight records show Hajdu made solo trips from Ottawa to her residence in Thunder Bay even while telling the public: “Do not go visit your family, do not visit your friends, do not go out and about unless it’s essential.”
The Department of Transport is withholding figures on the most heavily subsidized transportation service of its kind in Canada. Taxpayers overall pay a subsidy of nearly $400 for every vehicle aboard federally-owned ferries in rural Atlantic ports, according to auditors: “The funding program does not align well with Transport Canada’s policy.”
The Canada Revenue Agency should publicly disclose the scope of fraud under the $71.3 billion Canada Emergency Response Benefit program, the Senate national finance committee said yesterday. The Agency to date has refused to detail the number of false claims for $2,000 pandemic relief cheques: “Some individuals may be taking advantage.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada yesterday said a Covid-19 vaccine will not be publicly available until 2021 at the earliest. “We can’t remain in lockdown forever,” said Dr. Howard Njoo, deputy chief public health officer.
The Government Leader in the Senate has finally put personal investments in a blind trust five months after being named a cabinet advisor. Senator Marc Gold (Que.) had refused to say which stocks he bought, sold or held: “The conflict of interest guidelines for senators remain so weak.”
