MPs on the Commons public accounts committee yesterday said there is little chance cabinet will increase funding for the Auditor General’s office. Auditors will abandon audits of cybersecurity, employee travel and other issues after they were denied an extra $10.8 million: “We have money for everything, except this.”
Former labour minister Kellie Leitch in a farewell speech to the Commons said “not all Canadians are tolerant”, and urged MPs to confront controversial issues. Leitch complained she was targeted with hurtful incidents dating from the 2015 general election: “I was subjected to the worst type of threats online.”
A $595 million bailout for federally-approved news media may cost more than budgeted, the Department of Finance yesterday told the Senate national finance committee. Costs may “not be proved entirely accurate”, said Assistant Deputy Finance Minister Brian Ernewein.
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. was the only company invited to participate in a Department of Public Works review of its Government-Wide Integrity Regime, the Commons government operations committee was told yesterday. The invitation came as the company prepared for a pending trial on fraud and bribery charges: “Why was SNC-Lavalin brought in?”
A third or more of Canadians in four provinces oppose the carbon tax, according to in-house polling by the Privy Council Office. Pre-election research obtained through Access To Information shows opposition runs as high as 44 percent on the Prairies: ‘Opponents felt it was a new form of taxation that mostly hurt the little guy.”
Members of the Senate social affairs committee yesterday expressed frustration with vague terms of a $1.25 billion homebuyers program. Senators complained they are expected to pass the bill without knowing the true cost to taxpayers, or viability of the program: “We don’t have a lot of time to understand what is a major piece of legislation.”
Health Canada is commissioning its first national survey of 48 colleges and universities on students’ marijuana use. Staff cited ‘intense interest’ since Canada became only the second country after Uruguay to legalize recreational cannabis: “There is intense policy and scientific interest in collecting data.”
A federal judge has faulted the Canada Revenue Agency for pocketing interest on a $1 million tax payment they had no right to claim in the first place. Courts have issued contradictory rulings on whether taxpayers who overpay are owed interest charges: “This is a normal right of the taxpayer.”
Industry Minister Navdeep Bains yesterday would not speak to reporters after acknowledging he was contacted by a “friend” seeking federal subsidies. Bains’ unusual admission points to “the culture that needs to be cleaned up in Ottawa,” said an MP: “It’s all very comfortable.”
A Maclean’s contributor whose writings prompted repeal of federal human rights investigations of internet speech yesterday appealed to the Commons justice committee to let the law alone. Mark Steyn described rights tribunals as “pathetic rubber-stamp jurists” that would stifle free speech: “To hell with that, sir.”
Privatization of Canada’s airport screening service looks like a “toll booth operation”, a Liberal senator yesterday told the Senate transport committee. “What about the consumers?” asked Senator Dennis Dawson (Liberal-Que.). “Consumers are being left out.”
The chair of the Commons industry committee yesterday said he’s positive there were no leaks of a confidential report on the Copyright Act. The substance of a key committee recommendation was cited by an Ottawa blogger four days before the report was published: “I was very clear as chair that nothing could be leaked.”
The Commons public accounts committee is due to vote tomorrow on a New Democrat proposal to increase funding for the Office of the Auditor General. Staff complained they are so short of money they must cut audits: “Even Stephen Harper, for all he gets demonized around here, didn’t do this,” said a New Democrat MP.
Voters should beware of a newspaper bailout regardless of which party wins the October 21 general election, a Conservative MP yesterday told the Commons. “Somebody who votes NDP or Green should have a huge concern,” said MP Michelle Rempel (Calgary Nose Hill): “They would have a very hard time standing up here arguing for, let us say, Stephen Harper having control over the Canadian media.”
The Department of National Defence has threatened to sue Canadians that make patriotic use of the Support Our Troops slogan, according to Access To Information records. The department trademarked the yellow ribbon emblem under an obscure provision of the Trademarks Act: “This ‘official marks’ category is weird.”
