The Public Health Agency is downplaying the full impact of the pandemic with a resulting threat of needless deaths and economic turmoil, the Commons health committee was told yesterday. An epidemiologist testified federal forecasts severely underestimate the infection rate in an inevitable second wave due this summer: ‘It will take over a year.’
The Department of Industry yesterday said it has no formal plan to reopen the economy though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said pandemic regulations may lift on “certain industries” within weeks. “The reality is it’s going to be weeks still,” Trudeau told reporters.
An Ontario tribunal has agreed to hear a political dispute as a human rights case. Allegations of discrimination follow a claim a Liberal city councilor threatened to fire a Conservative staffer in Hamilton, Ont.: “You realize if you choose to run for Council I will fire you.”
The Department of Agriculture yesterday said it will pay a $1,500 grant for every foreign worker hired by farmers, meatpackers and seafood processors though Canadian jobless number 1,547,000. Cabinet said the subsidy would offset higher costs of quarantining migrants: “Canadians should have the first crack at every single job.”
A federal target to halt landfilling of plastic garbage could cost up to $8.3 billion, says the Department of Environment. It would require construction of dozens of new recycling plants nationwide: ‘Business as usual will not be sufficient.’
Work on the costliest renovation in Canadian history will continue regardless of the pandemic, says the Department of Public Works. MPs have noted they still have no final deadline or budget for the multi-billion dollar refit of Parliament’s Centre Block and iconic Peace Tower: “We don’t know.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs says decades of medical records prove Gulf War veterans have a lower suicide rate than the general public. Researchers said there was no evidence to support repeated claims of long-term health effects: ‘They had a significantly lower risk.’
The Canadian Press, self-described “trusted news leader”, is lobbying for grants from the same federal government it covers. A staff memo disclosed by the Ryerson University Journalism Project said management was “pressing” cabinet for aid though it already received seven figures in federal fees and grants last year: “We are pressing Ottawa.”
Legislators predict another wave of insolvencies May 1 due to ongoing delays in processing of federal payroll rebates. Cabinet gave various estimates of when the first of $73 billion in subsidies will be paid: “They have a choice to make: lights on, lights off.”
Cabinet can’t rebate GST payments to small business because “it’s not their money”, says Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Opposition MPs last week proposed the rebate as a quick $30 billion remittance to employers facing bankruptcy: “We looked at it.”
Banks should follow one credit union’s lead in waiving all credit card interest payments for six months, the Commons finance committee was told. Vancouver City Savings Credit Union also waived ATM fees until September 30 and deferred mortgage payments for borrowers hit by pandemic job losses: “Canadians want to see the big banks are not profiting during this crisis.”
The Canada Revenue Agency last week received $7.6 billion in claims for relief cheques by self-employed and other uninsured workers suffering income loss due to the pandemic. “We know how very honest Canadians are,” said Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough.
The recession is so stark and sudden a business counselling hotline is taking suicide calls from shopkeepers, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business yesterday told the Commons finance committee. Parliament meets Saturday to pass a $73 billion payroll rebate bill that comes too late for thousands facing ruin, MPs were told: “I can’t underscore enough just how dark and dangerous these days are.”
The federal deficit has catapulted to $184 billion, more than triple the previous record. The budget shortfall is equal to 112 percent of all personal taxes paid to the national treasury last year: “The long-term effects of this are going to be very serious.”
Shipping sixteen tonnes of pandemic supplies to China in February was not the “best decision”, the Canadian Public Health Association said yesterday. Witnesses told the Commons health committee that federal regulators’ failure to stock up on masks, gloves and medical apparel was reckless: “The national emergency stockpile is probably the largest failure.”
