The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board yesterday called itself a climate change leader despite millions spent buying stock in Chinese coal companies. “We are thinking about climate change,” Mark Machin, the Board’s $5.9 million-a year CEO, told the Commons finance committee: “We do believe climate change is happening.”
A $60 billion pandemic relief program has attracted swindlers, identity thieves and shady tax preparers, the Canada Revenue Agency said last night. “Where we are focused is organized crime,” Assistant Revenue Commissioner Ted Gallivan told the Commons finance committee: ‘People have gone into senior citizens’ homes to make claims under those names.’
The Department of Natural Resources assigned a single employee and $100,000 in special funding to monitor corrupt practices by Canadian energy companies abroad, says an internal audit. The report cited skimpy resources in questioning the credibility of the program enacted by Parliament five years ago: ‘It’s difficult to know the full extent of compliance due to the hidden nature of corruption.’
MPs yesterday questioned terms of Chinese government bank loans to Foreign Minister Françoise-Philippe Champagne. The two-term MP owes $1.2 million to the Communist Party-run Bank of China: ‘These are matters of personal finance.’
A federal agency billed taxpayers nearly $6,000 for a bowling party and Valentine’s Day chocolates, according to accounts. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority described the expenses as necessary for “team building”.
Realtors must name names of suspicious clients under new federal regulations introduced yesterday. The rules target offshore speculators and money launderers using shell companies to buy property: “A single transaction in the real estate sector could be used to launder a large sum of money.”
Parliament yesterday ground into gridlock as MPs balked at a cabinet bill threatening jail for Canadians who falsely claimed pandemic relief cheques. “They are not normal times,” said Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez.
MPs on the Commons agriculture committee last night ridiculed cabinet’s claim the carbon tax is costing farmers as little as 60¢ a day for grain drying. Deputy Agriculture Minister Chris Forbes said it was “probably a question of the average”.
Hot dogs cost 27 percent more in Vancouver than Montréal while shoppers in Toronto pay an average $1.43 more for a litre of milk than Winnipeggers. Statistics Canada yesterday detailed spot prices at grocers nationwide with “interesting trends and observations”.
Federal agencies must question “what messages we want to be sending” with historic designations, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said yesterday. The remarks followed a 2019 recommendation to remove a “white race” plaque on a statue in Orillia, Ont.: “It’s a conversation we need to have.”
A labour board has cited a casino operator for using the pandemic to abruptly renegotiate a union contract. The Commons human resources committee earlier heard complaints other companies have sought coronavirus concessions: “The proposals were not made in good faith.”
The Commons finance committee last night by a unanimous 10-0 vote recommended full funding for audits of federal spending. “Call in the auditors,” said Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.), sponsor of the motion.
A pandemic loan guarantee program for small business will be expanded June 15, a Crown banker yesterday told the Commons finance committee. Loans to the smallest operators may increase total costs: “Every week puts another person closer to bankruptcy.”
Public Works Minister Anita Anand yesterday said she was shocked and surprised by conflict of interest on a federal Covid-19 Supply Council. Six of seventeen appointees are registered lobbyists. One member has resigned to date: “Is your government comfortable with the presence of lobbyists?”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday said cabinet cannot predict 2020 federal tax revenues or the size of the deficit. Any budget forecasting would be “an exercise in invention”, he said: “No, no, no.”
