The Department of Finance yesterday rejected additional funding for the Office of the Auditor General despite a cut of nearly fifty percent in the number of yearly audits. “They weren’t stonewalled,” said Assistant Deputy Finance Minister Nicholas Leswick: “They didn’t receive nothing.”
Cabinet yesterday rejected a key Senate amendment to the Fisheries Act sought by farm lobbyists, and cut short debate to speed the bill into law. “We are planning to get things done,” said Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
A bill to curb dogfighting for sport yesterday was endorsed by the Senate social affairs committee. Attorney General David Lametti said the bill “does not go far enough” and should prompt other animal protections: “There is much more work to be done.”
Cabinet faces a rare petition to overturn a CRTC decision dubbed a $20 million subsidy for Rogers Media Inc. “The Commission caved,” said a rival applicant for a lucrative license to broadcast multilingual news programming nationwide: “Any other decision would have been better.”
Pharmacare should be a ballot box question this election, the Canadian Labour Congress said yesterday. A cabinet-appointed panel recommended Parliament enact a $15.3 billion-a year universal drug program by 2027: “It cannot be avoided anymore.”
Transport Canada yesterday said it will begin monthly monitoring of major airlines for poor service including late flights and lost luggage. Data will be published online for consumers’ benefit, officials said: “Weak results would almost certainly spur efforts to improve.”
Cabinet yesterday rejected 130 of 229 Senate amendments to an oil and gas bill and vowed to rewrite the legislation within days. “They want to hand over decisions to oil lobbyists,” said Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.
Inter-provincial trucking and commercial bus fleets yesterday were ordered to install electronic engine monitors for public safety. The reform comes four years after the Commons transport committee recommended Canada abolish drivers’ paper logbooks: “Pay attention to the road.”
The Department of Public Works awarded the Globe & Mail an untendered contract for news clippings worth $2 million, more than double a previous Globe contract. An independent publisher and former Liberal cabinet minister yesterday described lucrative election-year fees to corporate media as ridiculous. “What’s in the Kool-Aid?”
The Canada Revenue Agency has erased a million pages of charity filings from its website, the Commons finance committee was told yesterday. The Agency said the deletion was unrelated to claims of suspected fraud by shell charities: “I totally expect you to believe that.”
The Commons transport committee yesterday rejected any federal regulation mandating seatbelts on school buses. Transport Canada calculated a seatbelt requirement would cost school boards $20,000 per vehicle refit, the equivalent of $400 million nationwide: “The issue of retrofitting school buses is very complex.”
A federal loan program for small business costs taxpayers about $4,000 per job created, says Department of Industry research. Staff noted claims of job creation are estimates only and could be lower than stated: “It reflects expectations.”
Public transit ridership increased 1.5 percent last year despite Parliament’s repeal of a $210 million transit tax credit, says the Canadian Urban Transit Association. The advocacy group said it still considered the credit useful: “It was unfortunate the Department of Finance took an opposite view.”
The Commons health committee yesterday recommended Parliament work with provinces and cities to decriminalize simple possession of heroin, cocaine and all other narcotics. Cabinet repeatedly vowed it had no plans to remove criminal sanctions on street drugs when it legalized marijuana in 2018: “God knows what else.”
Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer yesterday would not commit any future Conservative cabinet to repealing a $595 million media bailout under the Income Tax Act. His remarks followed disclosure of an untendered $5.5 million federal contract for “communications research services” to Postmedia that endorsed Conservatives in the 2015 campaign: “We’re going to have our own plan.”
