Blacklock's Reporter

The Commons industry committee yesterday voted to summon supermarket executives to explain their repeal of a $2 an hour pandemic bonus for employees. MPs questioned whether Loblaw Companies Ltd. and two other chains are in compliance with the Competition Act: “They can explain to this committee and the Canadian public.”

The federal debt is a trillion dollars, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Unprecedented spending on pandemic relief programs follows twelve years of deficits: “The government’s total liabilities reached $1,514 billion.”

Federal privatization of airport security is delayed indefinitely due to the pandemic, the Senate national finance committee was told yesterday. Parliament voted in 2019 to transfer all airport screening to not-for-profit buyers: “We are waiting.”

Credit card companies are profiting off cashless transactions introduced as a pandemic precaution, independent grocers said yesterday. A cut in merchants’ transaction fees that was to take effect this spring has been delayed, the Commons finance committee was told: “How does a small and medium-sized business in this country make any money?”

One of the country’s largest utilities yesterday was ordered to surrender confidential customer records to a federal regulator. The CRTC sought hydro bills to follow the “money trail” of suspected spammers: “Canada’s anti-spam law is a federal statute that applies everywhere.”

Paula Simons, $157,600-a year Senator from Edmonton, yesterday said she will not return to the Senate until lawmakers wear masks. Simons in a “dear friends” note to senators said she was horrified legislators showed up for work mask-less: “I simply don’t feel safe.”

The Canada Revenue Agency is drafting a national policy on when to say sorry. Taxpayers’ Ombudsman Sherra Profit yesterday complained the Agency has no formal guide on what to say when it’s wrong: “If the CRA was at fault, use the word ‘apologize’.”

Public cynicism is an “ongoing challenge” for federal institutions, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion said yesterday. The Commissioner noted Canada dropped rank in a global corruption index since the SNC-Lavalin Group scandal: “Safeguarding democratic institutions is a perpetual endeavour.”

The Parliamentary Budget Office yesterday formally cited Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna for “missing” details on thousands of subsidized public works projects. Of more than 52,000 projects claimed, analysts could find addresses and details of only 32,566 that received funding: ‘We’re just looking for proof.’

Near-record high immigration quotas are “doubtful” this year, a deputy minister yesterday told the Commons immigration committee. Cabinet in a plan written before the pandemic said it would admit 341,000 immigrants in 2020: “What are your estimates today?”

Cabinet’s leader in the Senate yesterday said he’s still in the stock market though the practice is banned under the Conflict Of Interest Act. Senator Marc Gold (Que.) came under the Act when he took appointment last January 24 as the $244,800-a year Government Leader in the Senate: “Where is this at?”

A federal arbitrator has ordered Canada Post to pay wage increases of up to 2.9 percent to its largest union. The arbitrator said the two sides were “not that far apart” when Parliament in 2018 passed a back-to-work bill forcing an end to rotating mail strikes: “The parties would not have settled for less than these amounts had they been left to their own devices.”

Federal agencies will spend $120 million on pandemic advertising this year to “get the news to Canadians”. The Privy Council Office yesterday credited ads with promoting social distancing, though one MP noted “it’s on the news cycle 24 hours a day” at no charge to taxpayers: “Do you think this is a fair use of taxpayers’ money to advertise about something that every single person in the entire world knows is going on?”

Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna yesterday told MPs she does not know what bonuses or severance pay were awarded to a former CEO of the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The executive abruptly resigned April 3. It was a “determination”, said McKenna’s deputy.