The Department of Foreign Affairs used Filipino disaster aid to finance karaoke machines, says a federal report. Staff yesterday did not comment. Auditors said a 2013 typhoon relief fund was left with such a large surplus, money was used to subsidize local storekeepers: “There were inefficiencies.”
A British Columbia senator in a 2019 speech said all Canadians should be “praying every night” for the People’s Republic of China. Senator Yuen Pau Woo of Vancouver made his remarks to alumni of a Communist-sanctioned university: “We should be humble.”
In-house Privy Council Office research says more than a quarter of Canadians surveyed, 28 percent, say “I am just getting by with no savings”. The polling data was released through Access To Information: “We know we still have work to do.”
Federal lawyers have tried to deny the Canadian Taxpayers Federation intervenor status in a court challenge of an oil and gas bill. An Alberta judge upheld the Federation’s right to speak: “In my view the Court would be assisted by a submission from the perspective of the taxpayer.”
A hastily-scrawled note on a McDonald’s napkin is a valid will, says the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench. The ruling came in the case of a Yorkton widower who reached for a pen after complaining of chest pains while having coffee: ‘He thought he was having a heart attack, a time when one’s mind would reasonably turn to estate planning.’
The National Research Council will introduce an anonymous tip line for informants after auditors found lackadaisical monitoring of conflicts of interest. The Council spends $1.2 billion a year, most of it in grants and subsidies paid to corporations and universities: ‘We identified several instances where there was a conflict.’
The Liberal sponsor of a private bill to decriminalize heroin and cocaine yesterday said the measure did not represent views of cabinet. The Commons health committee in 2019 similarly proposed Parliament work with provinces to make possession of narcotics a ticketing offence: “Canadians are rightly concerned.”
The National Pensioners Federation yesterday vowed to fight a federal ruling permitting a Vancouver-based telecom company to end paper billing. The decision came five years after Parliament banned telecom firms from charging customers up to $70 a year for paper invoices: “I don’t see a commitment to the consumer here.”
An Edmonton judge in an unusual order has forbidden a small business blogger from posting internet commentary on Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench proceedings. The blogger was an unsuccessful defendant in a defamation suit brought by her former landlord, West Edmonton Mall: “Revenge is among the least admired of human motivations.”
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson yesterday said climate change may be to blame for Canada’s low birth rate. Data show the rate is the same as it was thirty-five years ago: “It is no wonder that youth around the world are fed up with our generation.”
The Department of Finance in an Access To Information memo says it’s worried over the social cost of legalizing bookmaking in Canada. Staff wrote the memo in response to lobbying by Unifor: “It is important to consider the social costs of gaming.”
At least one department and agency are in breach of the federal government’s own firearms regulations, says an internal audit. The findings come as cabinet proposes another gun bill this spring: “The department is required to comply.”
The central bank estimates as many as a quarter of Canadian companies listed on the stock exchange are “zombie firms” that owe more than they earn. “We find the share of zombie firms in Canada has been increasing since the mid-1990s,” wrote the Bank of Canada.
Cabinet’s leader in the Senate has directly held investments in the stock market while serving as the $239,400-a year Government Representative, records show. Senator Marc Gold of Montréal did not respond to questions: “It would be inappropriate to comment.”
Pierre Trudeau in 1972 sought to rewrite Order of Canada rules to permit group honours, according to Access To Information files from the national archives. The proposal was prompted by Canada’s win days before in the famed USSR Summit Series: ‘It was a remarkable achievement by a national team.’
