An environmental group that sponsored partisan campaign advertising for the carbon tax breached the Canada Elections Act, regulators said yesterday. Canadians for Clean Prosperity of Toronto in 2019 sponsored website posts, Facebook ads and YouTube videos questioning opponents’ integrity: “They contained messages that opposed the Conservative Party and the Bloc.”
Favouritism for friends should be forbidden under a Conflict Of Interest Code For MPs, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion said yesterday. The current Code prohibits influence on behalf of family members but not longtime pals: “That is something I am concerned about.”
Cabinet yesterday asked that MPs clear the House of Commons due to fear of Omicron infection despite parliamentarians’ full vaccination and mandatory masks. Omicron infections to date have resulted in mild symptoms or none at all, according to the Public Health Agency: “I wouldn’t go to any large gatherings.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday proposed to cut the federal deficit by more than $180 billion next year. Actual results may vary, Freeland added: “The government remains committed to unwinding Covid-19 related deficits.”
Cabinet organized a pre-election poll on whether the Supreme Court’s carbon tax ruling was popular with voters. The unusual research commissioned by the Privy Council Office came weeks before the Prime Minister dissolved Parliament: “Several participants felt the decision set a dangerous precedent.”
The Commons finance committee by a 6-5 vote has prohibited wage subsidies for publicly-traded companies that pay shareholder dividends. The late reform comes after the program already paid almost $98 billion in corporate aid: “The challenge is with someone gaming the system.”
Canadians distrust federal regulation of the internet, says in-house research by the Privy Council Office. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez yesterday said regulation remains a priority for cabinet: “Who would make the decisions as to what is or is not allowed?”
A Liberal lobbyist, Susan Smith, received secret copies of federal audits months before they were tabled in Parliament to “help us carry out our work,” the Auditor General said yesterday. MPs on the Commons finance committee questioned the arrangement: “This Liberal lobbyist got access to your federal audits before Members of Parliament.”
Auditors will not examine billions in payouts under the now-disbanded Canada Emergency Response Benefit program until 2023 at the earliest, Auditor General Karen Hogan said yesterday. MPs on the Commons finance committee challenged Hogan to “do your job” and find where the money went: “We now know some of it went to criminals, scammers, people not living in Canada.”
The Commons ethics committee yesterday by a 6-4 vote rejected an investigation of Covid contracts for lobbyists. “It would just be stirring the pot,” said Liberal MP Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.), parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister: “I think we should move on to something else.”
Settling claims over systemic underfunding of First Nations child welfare programs will cost taxpayers $40 billion and counting, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller yesterday told reporters. “Again, we’re not done,” said Miller: “This is 30 years of the cost of failure and that cost is high.”
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan last night said he welcomed Senate amendments to his own bill on paid sick days. Members of the Senate social affairs committee complained terms of the bill were too restrictive: “Yes I would say we are looking at ways to making the bill better.”
Defence Minister Anita Anand’s husband is director of a company that received millions in Covid contracts while Anand served in cabinet, records show. There was no insider dealing, said Anand’s office: “We have awarded contracts to private companies.”
Federal tax collectors have yet to audit multi-billion dollar Canada Emergency Response Benefit payments though the Canada Revenue Agency has known of suspected fraud since June 2020. MPs on the Commons finance committee expressed surprise at the slow pace of investigations: “This has been going on since 2020 and nobody’s investigated anything?”
Senators are being reprimanded for misusing anonymous Zoom chat privileges when debating legislation. “I’m a Zoom Gal,” announced Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) after other legislators complained of electronic back chatter by users with pseudonyms during Senate business: “Is an honourable senator in the chamber using tablet Zoom 12?”
