Taxpayers now have a 22 percent chance of being misinformed when calling Canada Revenue agents. Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier in a report to MPs claimed progress from an average 29 percent error rate last year: ‘We will make call centres more agile.’
Federal inspectors in a costly admission yesterday said an unlicensed strain of genetically-modified wheat has been found in Canada. An earlier proposal to license herbicide-tolerant wheat prompted mass protests by leading Japanese buyers of the Canadian crop: “There are huge stakes at play.”
Cabinet yesterday rejected a key Senate amendment to its cannabis bill. Senators had sought to give provinces protection from legal challenges in enforcing local bans on home cultivation of marijuana: “Do I understand the Government of Canada would leave it totally to the courts?”
The Canada Revenue Agency estimates it is short about $12 billion a year in unpaid tax. The low figure contradicted the Agency’s own previous reports: “This is why we need an independent source looking at any numbers coming from the Revenue Agency.”
Senators yesterday recommended an overhaul of services for veterans. Witnesses at hearings of the Senate subcommittee on veterans affairs complained of waiting months, even years for benefits: “This is just not acceptable.”
Health Canada yesterday said new regulations prompted by two tainted food scandals will not fully come into force until 2021, nine years after Parliament passed the Safe Food For Canadians Act. “We’ve been working on this for a very, very long time,” said Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor.
Federal employees, even a Crown prosecutor, may campaign for a political party off duty, a federal labour board has ruled. The Public Sector Labour Relations & Employment Board upheld a grievance by a prosecutor forbidden from handing out pamphlets and lawn signs in the 2015 federal election: “She would only identify herself by her first name.”
Federal managers should be compelled to testify under oath when taking legislators’ questions, the Senate national finance committee was told yesterday. The proposal by a Conservative senator came as auditors discussed the $1 billion Phoenix Pay System failure: “They can’t lie, they can’t mislead, they can’t give you talking points.”
Members of the Commons public accounts committee yesterday flayed Canada’s senior civil servant for dismissive treatment of an audit on federal bungling. Michael Wernick, secretary to cabinet, described auditors’ remarks on the Phoenix Pay System failure as “an opinion piece”, adding: “We have the most effective public service on the planet.”
Taxpayers have paid nearly $10.5 million in overtime for communications employees at federal departments and agencies since 2016, say newly-disclosed records. Cabinet explained staff often worked late hours publishing Tweets and monitoring news media: “This government is really focused on image.”
Pacific fish farms have only a 1 in 6 chance of being federally inspected annually, according to data. The inspection rate follows an audit that faulted the Department of Fisheries for poor monitoring of the industry: “It’s very, very alarming.”
Parliament must impose a “market correction” on free use of material under the Copyright Act, says a Liberal MP. The Commons industry committee yesterday was told middle-class creators have disappeared with loss of income under the Act: “Many live at or below the poverty line.”
Canada Revenue Agency employees snooped through private files belonging to more than 39,000 individuals this past tax season, say newly-disclosed records. A Conservative MP who requested the data expressed outrage: “This is absolutely stunning.”
Allegations of bid-rigging at Library & Archives Canada yesterday collapsed with the acquittal of one former manager, and a stay of charges against another. Prosecutors claimed employees conspired in a $3.5 million scheme on consulting contracts. The most senior manager charged in the case was found not guilty on all counts: “There is no evidence the government actually suffered any deprivation.”
Federal agents are attempting to have Canadian pensioners buy the Trans Mountain oil pipeline nationalized by cabinet, the Commons finance committee learned yesterday. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said it was approached only days after cabinet agreed to buy the 1953-era line: “Has there been any pressure whatsoever?”
