The Department of Industry in an audit says spending on hospitality is required to conduct public business. Expenses included thousands billed for a Christmas party: “Hospitality expenses often receive high public and media scrutiny but are necessary.”
The beauty of wind farms is in the eye of the beholder, Québec Superior Court has ruled. The court dismissed a class action lawsuit against a $400 million development blamed by landowners for lowering property values: “Some like it, some don’t.”
The Senate’s leading climate advocate billed nearly $17,000 for flights last year, according to records released yesterday. Senator Mary Coyle of Antigonish, N.S. has urged Canadians to take bold action to avert a “climate catastrophe”: “Our house is on fire and something urgently needs to be done.”
The Department of Industry yesterday denied faking job numbers to justify corporate subsidies. Mammoth job creation claims have been contradicted by Access To Information disclosures. “We’re not in the habit of coming and just sort of throwing numbers around,” Deputy Minister Simon Kennedy told the Commons industry committee. MPs demanded the department prove it: “We need to know.”
The Canada Revenue Agency used $73,128 focus group research to ask taxpayers if it should change the colour if its tax notice envelopes. Results were mixed: “One suggestion was to change to a more ‘friendly’ colour.”
The Department of Natural Resources yesterday budgeted $2 million to expand its national network of earthquake early warning sensors. The spending follows an appeal from insurance brokers that Parliament mandate quake coverage for homeowners: “I gather the plan of financial institutions is to hope the government will bail it all out.”
The Senate yesterday voted to censure Senator Lynn Beyak a second time. The order passed on a snap vote. No senator spoke in Beyak’s defence: “This experience has taught me many things.”
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday said he will introduce a bill by spring that follows recommendations for mandatory registration of internet news sites. One MP told the Commons heritage committee the proposal would “scare the hell out of me”.
The Department of Canadian Heritage in an Access To Information report predicts a rise in climate change migrants. The forecast follows a Privy Council prediction Canada could become a “preferred destination for climate refugees”.
Dozens of senators yesterday expressed unease with censure of Senator Lynn Beyak (Ont.) for deemed misconduct. Nearly a quarter of the Senate voted for more study of Beyak’s case by the Senate ethics committee: “Be fair.”
The Commons faces another vote on a northern Pacific oil tanker ban that narrowly passed into law last June 20. A Conservative MP yesterday introduced a bill to completely repeal the legislation: “Canada is spiraling out of control.”
A tenth of Canadians on the voters’ list claimed to cast a ballot in the last election but didn’t. Statistics Canada ascribed it not to dishonesty but “social desirability bias”: “People tend to ‘over-remember’ when it comes to voting.”
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller yesterday contradicted his own written version of a private election fundraiser in New York City. Miller’s account came as Senate questioning prompted a cabinet representative to “make inquiries” on who contributed to Miller’s campaign: “Election laws apply to everyone.”
A Liberal MP’s office yesterday fumed the Canada Revenue Agency is so dysfunctional it can’t even deliver tax forms. A complaint email sent to all 338 MPs came as the Agency boasted it’s world class: “I have had several calls from very upset constituents.”
MPs yesterday expressed astonishment there is still no final budget and no deadline for ongoing multi-billion dollar renovations on Parliament Hill. Members of the House affairs committee drew uneasy comparison with the 1999 construction of a Scottish Parliament that went more than 1,000 percent over budget: “We’re digging a hole on the front lawn but we don’t know what’s going to be in it.”
