The Canada Revenue Agency in a three-year period fired or suspended 178 employees for snooping through personal tax files, say Access To Information records. A federal labour board has upheld disciplinary measures against employees for reading Canadians’ tax returns: ‘The reality is employee misconduct does occur.’
A payday lender that charged 548 percent interest has seen payments knocked down to 5 percent by a judge. The Court cited payday rates as “harsh and unconscionable”. The ruling comes as the Senate debates Third Reading on a bill to update Canada’s usury law for the first time in 40 years; ‘This constitutes an unfair advantage.’
More than a third of teenagers skip breakfast, says a survey of thousands of students compiled by University of Waterloo researchers. Reasons included weight loss. The typical Canadian child draws a quarter of daily calories from sugar, according to Statistics Canada: ‘It’s quick and easy.’
Cabinet approved an extraordinary $650,000 witness fee to an English law professor to participate in a land claims case, according to newly-released Access To Information records. The fee was so large it exceeded Treasury Board guidelines on payments: “I have a bit of a problem here.”
The judge in a federal bid-rigging trial yesterday rebuked prosecutors for appearing to misrepresent evidence. Prosecutors submitted volumes of Library & Archives Canada emails in claiming to prove a former manager improperly gave inside tips to a contractor: “It brings into question some of the other documents.”
RCMP security checks on transport employees have expanded to include searches on Facebook friends. A federal judge upheld the dismissal of a Vancouver International Airport worker with a clean record who was cited for “friending” a suspected gang member: “The consequences for his employment are very serious.”
The Department of Public Safety will pay a military-style death benefit of up to $300,000 to surviving families of police, paramedics and firefighters under a program to take effect April 1. Cases of suicide or occupational illness will qualify: ‘This includes deaths resulting from psychological impairment.’
The Senate agriculture committee is dismissing any federal regulation of foreign purchases of Canadian farmland. Senators in a report concluded suburban sprawl, not offshore speculation, is to blame for rising land prices: “Does it really matter?”
The Canada Border Services Agency annually confiscates nearly half a tonne of marijuana at land crossings and airport checkpoints, according to Access To Information records. The Agency has not detailed its enforcement plans if Parliament legalizes cannabis: “We only seize a small portion of that drug.”
Crown prosecutors yesterday cited work diary entries by a former Library & Archives Canada manager as evidence of a bid rigging scheme. Prosecutors allege agency staff gave inside information to a favoured contractor in 2009: “There are a lot of coincidences that don’t fit.”
Federal planners propose to downsize living quarters for the Governor General. Vice-regal appointees currently live in the palatial 95,000-square foot Rideau Hall, the biggest official residence in Canada: ‘It is a less than private space.’
The Department of Canadian Heritage in a confidential memo counts 10,000 media job cuts nationwide in the past twelve years. Canadians should be resigned to less news coverage, the memo said: “Trusted media outlets are shrinking.”
The judge in a federal $3.5 million bid rigging trial questioned the point of prosecutor’s questioning of casual 2009 meetings between contractors and Library & Archives Canada managers. Prosecutors allege three archives employees gave inside tips to a favoured consultant in breach of federal law: “Why do you say that?”
Costs to clean up contaminated federal lands across Canada are now estimated at $6.3 billion, the highest figure to date. Environment Canada said only a fraction of more than 23,000 abandoned military bases, factory yards and other sites have been assessed: “If a site has not been assessed they don’t have to include it.”
A judge has dismissed a legal challenge of millions in subsidies for Canada’s last federally-owned marine shipper. Grants to cover yearly losses by Marine Atlantic Inc. are a political decision, the Federal Court ruled: ‘The core of the complaint is subsidization is anti-competitive.’
