A federal audit confirms “March Madness” overspending that sees government agencies burn through unused budgets before the fiscal year expires at midnight on March 31. An internal audit at the National Research Council found employees’ use of government charge cards jumped 231 percent in March: “We noted the increased pressure to spend budgets at fiscal year-end.”
Military research confirms Canadians are more likely to read transit bus ads than use Twitter. The Department of National Defence polled the public on media habits to rate the impact of recruitment campaigns: “What is your main source of information?”
Nearly half of Canadians surveyed, 45 percent, say businesses do not respect their privacy rights, says newly-released research by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. The report follows a data leak on 2.7 million customers by one of the nation’s largest credit unions: “Canadians feel they lack control”
A Crown agency compiled a blacklist of ‘negative reporters’ faulted for unflattering coverage of its work. Access To Information records show the Canada Infrastructure Bank listed journalists who criticized the corporation, and named others whose work was so positive the Bank should “reach out to them again”.
A labour arbitrator has halted one employer’s attempt to begin random workplace drug tests to spot marijuana users. Cougar Helicopters Inc. of St. John’s blamed legalization of cannabis for proposing new safety standards on the job: “There is a serious issue.”
A juror who was mentally “paralyzed” by a gruesome murder trial has been cleared of alleged workplace fraud. The Toronto man was guilty only of failing to tell employers of his mental state, a labour arbitrator ruled: “The experience was horrific.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada is calling barbecue cleaning brushes a health risk though reported injuries are rare. “Brush injuries don’t just happen in the summer,” wrote staff. “They happen throughout the year.”
A federal advisory panel yesterday recommended permanent removal of a plaque celebrating the “white race”. The tribute to Samuel de Champlain was unveiled in Orillia, Ont. in 1925 before a crowd of 10,000: “Originally the monument was about reconciliation between the French and the English.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs in 2017 spent more than $12.3 million commemorating old battles, according to a newly-released internal audit. The spending topped annual funding for the Veterans Ombudsman or Veterans Review and Appeal Board: “Consider the price they paid, the burden they bore, the country they made.”
Marijuana-impaired driving remains more “socially acceptable” than drunkenness, according to focus group research by the Department of Public Safety. Federal regulators recommend cannabis users wait up to 24 hours before driving: “The stigma of driving high is definitely not like drunk driving.”
The federal prison service has completed an Action Plan to prevent the mistaken release of inmates, according to an internal audit. The initiative follows the accidental 2017 release of a convicted British Columbia cocaine dealer with sixteen months left in his sentence: “The scheduled release date was incorrectly calculated.”
The Department of Fisheries paid hundreds of thousands to fly private sales reps from Tokyo to Milan to boost the dying seal hunt, according to Access To Information records. Funding was to promote “general acceptance for seal hunting” including seal meat recipes: “We have an obligation.”
An ex-employee who received insulting emails from his former supervisor has been awarded $20,000 in damages by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. “The emails are vulgar, hurtful and vicious,” the Tribunal ruled.
A national press ombudsman has upheld a complaint against a British Columbia paper over a headline deemed patronizing. The publisher pledged to provide guidance to newsroom staff on “appropriate use of language”.
Canadians are ambivalent about a national pharmacare program, according to Department of Finance research. Focus groups polled by the department said any program should be income tested to serve only those who can’t afford out-of-pocket expenses for medication: ‘There were concerns about how much it might cost.’
