The Canadian Press, self-described “trusted news leader”, is lobbying for grants from the same federal government it covers. A staff memo disclosed by the Ryerson University Journalism Project said management was “pressing” cabinet for aid though it already received seven figures in federal fees and grants last year: “We are pressing Ottawa.”
Legislators predict another wave of insolvencies May 1 due to ongoing delays in processing of federal payroll rebates. Cabinet gave various estimates of when the first of $73 billion in subsidies will be paid: “They have a choice to make: lights on, lights off.”
Cabinet can’t rebate GST payments to small business because “it’s not their money”, says Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Opposition MPs last week proposed the rebate as a quick $30 billion remittance to employers facing bankruptcy: “We looked at it.”
Banks should follow one credit union’s lead in waiving all credit card interest payments for six months, the Commons finance committee was told. Vancouver City Savings Credit Union also waived ATM fees until September 30 and deferred mortgage payments for borrowers hit by pandemic job losses: “Canadians want to see the big banks are not profiting during this crisis.”
The Canada Revenue Agency last week received $7.6 billion in claims for relief cheques by self-employed and other uninsured workers suffering income loss due to the pandemic. “We know how very honest Canadians are,” said Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough.
The recession is so stark and sudden a business counselling hotline is taking suicide calls from shopkeepers, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business yesterday told the Commons finance committee. Parliament meets Saturday to pass a $73 billion payroll rebate bill that comes too late for thousands facing ruin, MPs were told: “I can’t underscore enough just how dark and dangerous these days are.”
The federal deficit has catapulted to $184 billion, more than triple the previous record. The budget shortfall is equal to 112 percent of all personal taxes paid to the national treasury last year: “The long-term effects of this are going to be very serious.”
Shipping sixteen tonnes of pandemic supplies to China in February was not the “best decision”, the Canadian Public Health Association said yesterday. Witnesses told the Commons health committee that federal regulators’ failure to stock up on masks, gloves and medical apparel was reckless: “The national emergency stockpile is probably the largest failure.”
Economic turmoil will continue into 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday. Job losses for March alone totaled 1,010,700 with millions more working reduced hours: “It could be in a year, a year and a half.”
About 11,000 Canadians may die of Covid-19, twice the average fatality rate from influenza despite “stronger epidemic controls” including travel bans and workplace shutdowns, the Public Health Agency said yesterday. The forecast confirmed figures detailed in a pandemic master plan reported March 18.
The value of new building permits collapsed 23 percent last month, a decline close to the crash of 1930. “We need to prevent that recession from becoming a depression,” Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos yesterday told reporters.
A federal medical officer yesterday acknowledged a “dire” shortage of pandemic supplies. The admission came eight weeks after the Department of Foreign Affairs shipped sixteen tonnes of supplies to China: “They may only have a couple of days left in some of their acute care hospitals.”
Hotelkeepers require 100 percent federal loan guarantees to survive the pandemic, the Commons finance committee was told yesterday. One MP whose riding includes the most visited national park said local unemployment is near 85 percent: “Most hotels in Canada today are closed.”
Cabinet for a third time in two weeks yesterday rewrote a pandemic relief bill for employers, increasing the cost by $2 billion. Opposition MPs called it an “administrative nightmare” that could have been avoided with immediate tax rebates: “Not a single penny has moved.”
MPs will choose which local employers win 100 percent wage rebates for hiring students under the Canada Summer Jobs program, cabinet said yesterday. The Ethics Commissioner has already cautioned against sweetheart subsidies for friends and family: “If you do so, you may be in contravention.”
