Federal managers suspended without pay more than 2,500 employees for declining to show proof of vaccination, records show. Employees stripped of salary and benefits included 66 at the Department of Health and Public Health Agency that spoke against coercive vaccination: “The federal government violated human rights knowing few people can afford to sue.”
Cabinet must protect whistleblowers who allege wrongdoing at the Canada Revenue Agency, Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West) yesterday told the Commons government operations committee. Agency executives are accused of manipulating tax rulings for corporate lobbyists: ‘Will they be protected from retribution for exposing corruption and wrongdoing within the CRA?’
The Canadian military had only two aircraft in Kabul when the city fell to the Taliban last August 15, says Immigration Minister Sean Fraser. Canadian diplomats commandeered one of them to flee the city leaving behind thousands of Canadian citizens and Afghan allies: ‘The U.S. had 110 planes on site; Canada had two and one of them wasn’t in great working order.’
Federal climate programs threaten at least 170,000 jobs with little transitional planning by cabinet, Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said yesterday. DeMarco compared economic fallout to the catastrophic 1992 collapse of the commercial cod fishery: “It’s seven years since they’ve had notice they had to work on this.”
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday acknowledged missing repeated inflation targets and warned higher interest rates may risk driving the economy back into recession. “We got some things wrong,” Macklem told the Commons finance committee: “Are there some risks? Yes.”
Paul Rouleau, a Liberal-appointed federal judge, yesterday was named by cabinet to lead an inquiry into the use of emergency powers against Freedom Convoy protesters. Rouleau was previously partner in a Montréal law firm whose associates included Pierre Trudeau: “Will he have full access to cabinet documents?”
The Canada Revenue Agency paid nearly a half million in rent subsidies to a phantom company that had no leases and never filed a tax return, records show. The Agency to date has not disclosed the scope of fraudulent Covid relief claims it paid without cursory background checks: “Some individuals may be taking advantage.”
The Department of Health did not ship a single rapid test kit to any hospital in the first six months of the pandemic, documents show. Dr. Theresa Tam at the time claimed the department was “pulling out all stops.”
Federal weather forecasters are under pressure from the private sector, says the Department of Environment. Staff rated their own forecasts as largely accurate within 72 hours but less so over five days: ‘Pressures include the growth of the private weather sector.’
Governor General Mary Simon’s office awarded a sole-sourced $96,100 contract to a CBC pundit who told a network audience Simon was the “perfect” appointee. A CBC ethics code forbids undisclosed payments to on-air commentators: “Mary Simon is going to play a pivotal role.”
A third of federal Covid-era borrowing had nothing to do with Covid, says a Parliamentary Budget Office report. Budget Officer Yves Giroux earlier warned that taxpayers face an “astronomical increase” in debt interest costs: “Do you believe the Government of Canada is living on a credit card?”
Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi (Ottawa Centre) remained a director of a tax delinquent marijuana wholesaler until after winning election to Parliament. Naqvi has not explained his involvement with the company that folded with $1.9 million owing to the Canada Revenue Agency: “I cannot go to one event or meeting in my community of Ottawa Centre without a question about cannabis.”
A retired federal IT consultant has won $19,900 in Federal Court costs and damages after successfully searching the internet for technical breaches of bilingualism regulations. A judge upheld one complaint against the St. John’s Airport Authority for wishing travelers “a happy St. Patrick’s Day” in English only: “The older I get the more I realize federal institutions continue to violate my rights.”
A federal mask mandate for air travelers now in its third year should not be repealed, says Dr. Theresa Tam. The chief public health officer called masks inconvenient but necessary: ‘If everybody’s going to be wearing a mask, why not?’
Reader’s Digest insists the most hated phrase in Canada is,
“Your call is important to us.”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you,”
seconded by a case of the hang-ups.
The opposite of the Internet
is a secret.
The world’s smallest deer,
the adorablest.
(Editor’s note: poet Jeff Blackman is a federal employee)
