Newly-declassified files disclose the RCMP in 1970 deployed a Rock Festival Task Force to photograph hippies and the “younger radical element” at concerts from Vancouver to Manseau, Que. Undercover officers compiled hundreds of photos in a redacted 1,551-page file: “Each agent should be equipped with a camera and approximately four to six rolls of film.”
Confirmed candidates for the 43rd Parliament include a minor hockey coach suspended for cheating at a tournament, and a former business manager fired for “unprofessionalism and incompetence”. Conservative and Green Party organizers yesterday did not comment on their nominees.
Two years after cabinet launched a $2 billion Low-Carbon Economy Fund, most Canadians say they don’t understand the term and are wary of the cost, according to in-house research by the Department of Natural Resources. “Many felt the government should explain to Canadians how the transition is not going to be an economic hardship,” said a report.
A Conservative Party offer of 15 percent tax credits for families drawing Employment Insurance parental benefits would cost $1 billion a year by 2021, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. The previous Liberal cabinet promised a 2020 increase in the current $24 billion tax-free Canada Child Benefit: “You’re just getting by.”
The Liberal Party yesterday defended two British Columbia candidates cited for misconduct. One failed to pay GST and was suspended from practicing law, another lied on a CMHC loan application: “I ought to have known.”
A Canada Post lawyer who fought pay equity claims in court yesterday was named federal Pay Equity Commissioner. She is now to champion “gender equality”, said cabinet: “The system has failed.”
A British Columbia judge has upheld a federal usury law on a pawnbroker found to charge “incredibly high” interest at five times the legal rate. Parliament in 1978 capped charges at sixty percent a year under the Criminal Code: “There’s a lot more to be done.”
Tax Court has cited one of the nation’s top securities lawyers for a “careless approach to recordkeeping” that included mystery deposits in his personal bank account. The Court found no evidence of gross negligence, ruling auditors failed to make their case: “He has not explained what they are.”
One of the heaviest users of government-issue credit cards has introduced continuous audits after uncovering misuse, according to Access To Information records. More than 3,500 employees at the Department of Fisheries have been issued charge cards used for $140 million a year in transactions: ‘What sort of internal audits or financial checks are in place?’
Environment Canada says most pulp and paper mills nationwide are dumping harmful chemicals in waterways in breach of the Fisheries Act. The department ordered a review of costs and benefits of tougher regulations on mill operators: “It has to be clear.”
The Parliamentary Budget Office yesterday estimated a New Democrat wealth tax on multi-millionaires would raise $5.6 billion a year beginning in 2020. The Party requested the costing of its campaign proposal: “Our plan is simple.”
The Canada Border Services Agency’s mammoth internal IT system is so dysfunctional it should be replaced, says a report. No cost was detailed. The research follows a United Nations study that ranked Canada behind Estonia in promoting e-government: “They have given up.”
The $92 million National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls paid millions in fees to lawyers and management consultants, according to Access To Information records. Data show advisers were hired at $300 an hour: “Can anything be done more efficiently?”
Farmers blame media, animal rights groups and one burger chain for promoting “misinformation” about their industry, say in-house surveys by the Department of Agriculture. The research follows a Commons committee proposal that Parliament use hate crimes provisions of the Criminal Code against farm critics: “You’re being attacked.”
A billion-dollar federal climate change program cut greenhouse gas emissions less than one percent a year, says an Environment Canada report. Companies that received taxpayers’ subsidies have denied it was a failure: “There is no consensus.”
