A Canadian Armed Forces program to recruit immigrants has seen only 77 applicants successfully enlist to date, says a briefing note for Defence Minister Bill Blair. Many thousands more applied but faced lengthy security checks: “Security clearances generally take longer for permanent residents.”
The husband of Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner (Hamilton Mountain, Ont.) must repay pandemic relief cheques improperly claimed under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program, records show. MP Hepfner yesterday had no comment but earlier praised cabinet for “rolling out these programs to help Canadians.”
More than $900,000 in federal subsidies were paid last year to insolvent Black Press Group Limited, one of Canada’s largest publishers. The company in bankruptcy court filings blamed the internet, Covid and a disastrous foray into Ohio publishing for its financial troubles: “The company is insolvent.”
Federal inspectors have found traces of a bestselling weed killer in food, tap water and Canadians’ blood and urine samples albeit at safe levels, says a Department of Health briefing note. The document is dated two weeks after an Ontario judge certified a class action lawsuit against the makers of glyphosate commonly sold under the Roundup brand: “The Canadian government takes pesticide safety very seriously.”
Key housing starts fell seven percent last year, CMHC said yesterday. New construction figures followed Housing Minister Sean Fraser’s pledge to “build more homes faster.” Starts in some cities were down as much as 40 percent or more: “No there is not a plan.”
“Aggressive and threatening” lunch room remarks have brought censure for a B.C. employer facing a union drive. The British Columbia Labour Relations Board called the case “particularly troubling.”
Gambling has grown in Canada under a 2021 cabinet bill that legalized bookmaking, says a federal briefing note. Authorities appeared powerless to curb black market gaming or match fixing, wrote the Department of Canadian Heritage: “Illegal sport betting has expanded.”
MPs investigating the $54 million ArriveCan project tomorrow will question an Ottawa insider who reportedly boasted he “rubbed shoulders with every assistant deputy minister in town.” The Commons government operations committee to date has been unable to find who approved sweetheart contracts that paid millions to federal consultants.
“It should be evident to everyone in this room as well as Canadians there is systemic corruption within this government,” Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore) told an October 26 committee hearing. “It should be absolutely evident.”
Consultant Vaughn Brennan was named as a reluctant witness who ignored initial requests that he appear for questioning. Brennan is scheduled to appear tomorrow at the government operations committee at 12 noon Eastern. Subcontractors earlier named Brennan “as a self-styled political insider.”
Witnesses testified Brennan reportedly “rubbed shoulders with every assistant deputy minister in town” and considered $23 million on a sole-sourced contract “a drop in the bucket.” Brennan has never spoken publicly. He is confirmed to have worked with an ArriveCan consultant GC Strategies Incorporated of Woodlawn, Ont.
Brennan had “declined” to testify, Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West), chair of the government operations committee, earlier told MPs. “GC Strategies is playing hard to get,” said McCauley. “That would be a polite way of saying it. We have not been able to get a commitment from them despite our clerk going above and beyond in trying to accommodate them. We’re having difficulties with them.”
GC Strategies, a two-man company operating from a private home, received an $8.9 million sole-sourced contract to work on the ArriveCan project. Evidence showed GC Strategies pocketed an undisclosed commission worth up to 30 percent or $2.7 million then assigned all work to subcontractors.
“It is a two-person company that works out of their basement who did no IT work whatsoever but simply did a Google search and found IT professionals,” Conservative MP Larry Brock (Brantford-Brant, Ont.) told a November 28 hearing.
MPs have been unable to find which federal manager asked GC Strategies to submit a contract proposal for ArriveCan, a pandemic-era app that required cross-border travelers to submit electronic proof of vaccination prior to arrival in Canada. “Nobody wants to take responsibility,” Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) told a November 28 hearing.
MPs were told a GC Strategies executive “routinely boasted he and his friends, senior government officials with contracting authority, have ‘dirt on each other.’” There was no explanation. GC Strategies received some $44 million in federal contracts since 2022, according to records.
By Staff 
A taxpayer-subsidized electric auto battery factory is under Department of Fisheries review over “potential for the destruction of wetlands and fish habitat.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had called the Northvolt plant “the world’s cleanest.”
CBC News says it published an inaccurate “fact check” of Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre. The Crown broadcaster had sought recognition as a Facebook fact checker in the last federal election: “CBC’s video has been edited to remove inaccurate mortgage comparisons and clarify information.”
Employers opposed to assisted suicide should be disqualified from Canada Summer Jobs funding, an advocate has written MPs. The submission to the Commons human resources committee is from the same group that successfully lobbied for denial of funding to pro-life employers: “Regardless of the Canada Summer job, even if it is to mow the lawn, that work gives sustenance to the group’s harmful mandate and activities.”
The CBC last year cut spending on Indigenous language services that account for less than one half of one percent of its budget, Access To Information records show. CEO Catherine Tait had cited “fantastically exciting” Indigenous shows as justification for ongoing subsidies: “Should we be defunded we would no longer be reaching all of those Canadians.”
The Department of Transport rated its vaccine mandate “aggressive” and “unique in the world,” says a 2021 memo. The in-house document obtained by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms contradicts public claims the mandate “followed the recommendations of public health experts.”
Cabinet is using media bailout money to “leverage news coverage in its favour,” says Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre. His remarks coincided with release of a federal briefing note indicating media subsidies will continue indefinitely “through this time of disruption.”
Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault on Saturday named new returning officers for all federal ridings nationwide. The legal notice preceded a major revision to the electoral map: “We are going to have to be ready.”
