Treasury Board President Anita Anand yesterday promised details “very soon in the coming days” on cuts to spending on consultants. Her remarks followed disclosures that federal managers paid $669,500 to a consultant for advice on how to save money on consultants: “I will show very soon in the coming days the progress we are making.”
New Democrats yesterday introduced a Commons motion to lift the GST on home heating. Critics noted the Party six years ago voted against a similar bill to remove the GST on the carbon tax: “All of us opposition parties should not only be in opposition but in proposition.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday said Canadians must do more to meet climate targets. The remark followed a warning by Canada’s Environment Commissioner that targets are not on track to be met despite carbon taxes, clean fuel mandates and coal mine closures: “It has spent billions of dollars.”
Federal departments are avoiding electric cars as too costly, says a federal report. The finding follows in-house research by the Department of Natural Resources that most drivers are also reluctant to buy zero emission vehicles: “Electric vehicles and the infrastructure obviously are an important part of addressing the climate crisis.”
Nearly 900,000 English Québecers and those speaking a foreign language left the province since 1966, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The migration could have been larger but there were comparatively few English-speaking people in the province to begin with, analysts said: “We count 672,903 English speakers and 220,448 people who had a non-official language as a mother tongue such as Greek or Italian who left Québec.”
Liberal MP Pam Damoff (Oakville North-Burlington, Ont.) admits she discussed a Commons farm bill with a Party donor prior to lobbying against the legislation on the company’s behalf. Executives with Earth Fresh Farms Inc. of Burlington did not reply to questions: “You and I met several months ago.”
Opposition benches yesterday accused a Liberal Member of making an obscene hand gesture as MPs voted to uphold carbon taxes on home heating by natural gas. Liberal MP Ken McDonald (Avalon, Nfld. and Labrador) denied giving opponents the finger: “If they think it’s one finger that’s up to them.”
The Commons health committee is expected to vote tomorrow on a motion to investigate taxpayers’ losses on a vaccine factory in Public Works Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’ Québec City riding. Cabinet awarded $173 million to Medicago Inc. for a plant that quickly closed and vaccines that were never delivered: “Clearly someone made decisions that were wrong.”
New figures confirm the Canada Revenue Agency from 2016 doubled the number of audits targeting small business. Data follow longstanding complaints the Agency chases “low-hanging fruit” instead of multinational corporations with sophisticated tax schemes: “Some question how much energy is put toward tackling the more significant tax avoiders.”
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne yesterday promised to fire any appointee responsible for suspected sweetheart contracting at a green technology agency. “The buck stops with me,” Champagne told the Commons ethics committee: “Will you admit today Sustainable Development Technology Canada has seen rampant corruption through conflicts of interest and funding ineligible companies and projects?”
A Liberal parliamentary secretary lobbied on behalf of a Party donor opposed to a Commons farm bill, records show. MP Pam Damoff (Oakville North-Burlington, Ont.) would not discuss the apparent breach of federal ethics law: “I am very proud to have toured there many times.”
Federal managers paid almost $700,000 to consultants for tips on how to save money on consultants. “This is about smarter not smaller government,” said Treasury Board President Anita Anand: “This is not about doing more with less.”
Almost a quarter of the entire country would qualify for subsidies under a proposed federal dentacare program, far more than originally estimated, data show. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised free dentistry for lower income households under a 2022 agreement with New Democrats: “This is what working constructively is all about.”
The largest public service union is asking a federal judge to quash surprise paycheque clawbacks for members suspected of being overpaid five years ago. The Public Service Alliance of Canada in a Federal Court filing said almost a thousand members had pay docked without notice or explanation: “The Department of Public Works erred in law.”
Rideau Hall on Saturday formally stripped an ex-Saskatchewan Provincial Court judge of her 2021 Order of Canada for claiming to be Indigenous. The case prompted demands that a Senate committee investigate the phenomenon of “pretendians.”
