The Treasury Board yesterday invoked employee safety in withholding pandemic records including details of sole-sourced contracts. Opposition MPs cited “an awful lot of questions” over concealed files: ‘Accountability is key.’
Mass photocopying of works for university course packs breaches the Copyright Act, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in a decision released yesterday. Authors and publishers blamed the practice for a disastrous fall in copyright income: “It is theft.”
Lawmakers worried about physical distancing could reconvene Parliament in a hockey arena, the House affairs committee was told yesterday. It would be the first change of venue since a 1916 fire forced MPs to debate in a dinosaur museum: “I must admit it’s quite interesting.”
Christmas came early at Canada Post as housebound consumers did so much shopping by internet, parcel deliveries soared to holiday levels. Management yesterday said deliveries on a single day, April 20, totaled 1.8 million parcels: ‘Volumes are well over thirty percent higher.’
The manager of the nation’s $300 million pandemic medical supply stockpile yesterday admitted the Public Health Agency had no idea what shortages existed prior to Covid-19. Sally Thornton, vice-president of the Agency, told the Commons health committee that managers were having to make “course corrections” as acute care hospitals run short of masks, gowns and gloves: “I am in charge.”
A hodgepodge of pandemic regulations has forced police to ticket Canadians for everyday activities, says the nation’s largest police union. The Canadian Police Association complained of a “general lack of consistency” by regulators: “Why are you trying to prevent me from going to this park?”
Cabinet yesterday said it will recall Parliament into emergency session for a third time to pass another pandemic relief bill, this one to provide $9 billion in aid to university and college students. Cost of the Canada Emergency Student Benefit puts the federal deficit close to $200 billion this year: “We’re working out those details.”
The Department of Public Safety yesterday refused to say how many federal prisoners have been released as pandemic parolees, or what they were sentenced for. Minister Bill Blair earlier put the number at “literally hundreds”.
Cabinet is concealing thousands of pandemic records including details of contracts and ministerial memos. Cabinet in one case breached a direct order from the Commons health committee to disclose briefing notes, while the Library of Parliament has refused to disclose files it admits are public documents: “They were not so busy that they could not busy themselves with redacting the documents.”
Gas and diesel use fell by billions of litres last month as cabinet invoked stay-home orders, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The Commons finance committee was told recession-bound motorists should have no difficulty meeting greenhouse gas emission targets this year: “Go home and stay home.”
Corporations with offshore accounts qualify for taxpayer grants under a $73 billion wage subsidy though they may be publicly named, officials said yesterday. MPs protested companies with accounts in tax havens should be barred: “They hide their millions.”
The Canada Revenue Agency expects a million employers or more to apply for wage subsidies starting Monday, April 27. Most claims will be automatically processed without audits under the largest pandemic relief program to date: “We are pretty confident.”
The Speaker of the Commons yesterday said he’s closed public buildings to “avoid the spread of germs”. Opposition MPs ridiculed fears Parliament cannot safely do its work while other Canadians go about their business: “There’s talk about opening golf courses, for God’s sake.”
Cabinet acknowledges “challenges” in shipping pre-paid pandemic supplies from China. The Department of Public Works confirmed Chinese authorities imposed new export controls that delayed deliveries of vital equipment: “We are seeing export controls change.”
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair yesterday said illegal border crossings that once peaked at more than 5,700 a month have now declined to zero. Blair credited enforcement of the Quarantine Act: ‘There have been fewer than ten who crossed and were directed back to the United States.’
