Blacklock's Reporter

Calls to a federal tip line on abuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program nearly doubled last year, labour department figures show. No reason was given. Thousands of complaints prompted on-site inspections: “Businesses have taken advantage.”

Cabinet acknowledges it does not know how many children have been fed under its national school lunch program. Ministers have repeatedly claimed a figure of 400,000 in recounting anecdotes praising the program as a success: “The department does not collect detailed program-level data.”

A multi-million dollar federal art collection will no longer lend pieces after more than 100 artworks vanished, says Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty. Her department has declined to say why police were never called to track paintings, sculptures or photographs that went missing from the Indigenous Art Collection: ‘These are cultural treasures.’

A Covid-era program funded by Parliament to aid cultural groups facing bankruptcy went unspent even as bankruptcies doubled, says a federal report. Auditors wrote they were puzzled: ‘It’s raising important questions.’

The Commons last night passed a Ways And Means Motion on the federal budget 170 to 168 on warnings MPs didn’t know what they were voting for. “The government is hiding information from us,” said Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West) following a Budget Office protest that cabinet was concealing figures on budget impacts: “Parliamentarians need this information and we need it now.”

Cabinet yesterday defended unusual expense claims by the president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Pierre Tremblay. The Commission was part of “the best nuclear system in the world,” said one minister.

Cabinet yesterday would not discuss consequences for federal managers who failed to achieve goals on Indigenous issues despite billions in new spending. “Has anybody been fired?” asked Conservative MP Jamie Schmale (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes, Ont.).

A subsidized newspaper publisher had numerous conflicts with the Department of Canadian Heritage over terms of its grant applications, internal records show. The department will not say why it continued to fund Discourse Community Publishing Ltd. of Sun Peaks, B.C. even after the company was fined for breaching migrant labour regulations: “It can be difficult to provide exact information on how the costs of our business are broken down.”

Cabinet must ensure any digital identification program is strictly voluntary, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis (Haldimand-Norfolk, Ont.) yesterday told the Commons. The Department of Employment is proceeding with legislative changes to have Canadians use digital ID when applying for Employment Insurance and Old Age Security: “We must be on guard.”

Pierre Tremblay, the $343,000-a year president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, billed taxpayers for limo rides, a stay at a French resort hotel and dozens of flights between Ottawa and Toronto rather than take the train, Access To Information records show. Tremblay hiked his travel and hospitality budget 85 percent this year despite cabinet directives to cut unnecessary spending: “These are tough times.”

It is possible aliens have visited Earth though the technology required is beyond human comprehension, says a report by Dr. Mona Nemer, cabinet’s $393,000-a year chief science advisor. Nemer has recommended cabinet create a federal agency to take calls from Canadians who spot UFOs: “Canadian media does not cover the subject.”

Another Jewish charity has been stripped of its tax status by the Canada Revenue Agency, the third in 15 months. It follows an internal report in which the Agency acknowledged “unconscious biases” in auditing charities.

House of Commons Administration is asking security consultants for help following a cyberattack on its internal computer server. It followed a breach of MPs’ accounts by Chinese Communist Party agents four years ago: “We could have taken steps to protect ourselves.”

Cabinet will cut the federal payroll by a tenth and find $60 billion in savings, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday. His remarks came hours after the Budget Office warned there was little chance cabinet will meet its latest deficit targets and remains too secretive over where it will find savings: “It is unclear.”