Parliament should change the way it monitors advertising to ensure taxpayers aren’t billed for partisan promotions, auditors have told the Commons public accounts committee. No legislation resulted from cabinet’s 2016 promise of a statutory ban on political ads disguised as federal announcements: “We’re running out of runway.”
The Federal Court of Appeal in a censored ruling has faulted senior government employees for improperly concealing public records as privileged legal documents. It follows the Privy Council Office’s refusal six years ago to release 27 pages of files regarding senators’ expenses: ‘A document does not become privileged simply because it gets into the hands of a lawyer.’
Former Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, jailed in solitary confinement for breaching 2008 campaign spending limits, yesterday challenged Parliament to probe Elections Canada compliance agreements with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. for similar offences. “They did everything they could to shame and embarrass me,” Del Mastro told reporters.
Transport Canada yesterday acknowledged travelers may face higher fees from the privatization of airport screening. Members of the Commons transport committee protested the move would see air passengers pay twice for security services: “They’ve already paid for them.”
Senator Lynn Beyak (Non-Affiliated, Ont.) yesterday was suspended six months without pay over complaints she posted racist mail on her website. Beyak called the penalty “right out of Orwell’s 1984”: “This type of penalty is totalitarian,” she said.
Realtors yesterday praised a budget measure to expand a Mulroney-era Home Buyers’ Plan allowing first-time owners to use RRSP savings for downpayments. About one quarter of buyers using retirement funds already reach the withdrawal limit, the Commons finance committee was told: “It was overdue.”
Members of the Senate budget committee yesterday demanded a colleague repay the $15,255 cost of an opinion poll billed to taxpayers. Staff approved the billing but acknowledged Senate rules on appropriate spending were arguable: “If it’s not over the line, it’s uncomfortably close.”
The Government Representative in the Senate yesterday said he had “no idea” why he is publicly named as advisor to a pro-China group. Senator Peter Harder (Ont.) earlier praised the People’s Republic for a “mostly commendable record of responsible international behaviour.”
A federal agency spent more than $300,000 to pave three short lanes and a parking lot at the Prime Minister’s temporary home, according to Access To Information records. The National Capital Commission explained the cost was less than the $475,000 it originally budgeted: “Media interest may be generated.”
The Treasury Board has agreed to compensate federal employees for stress, interest payments on unpaid debts and sick leave attributed to the garbled Phoenix Pay System. The Board yesterday said it could not estimate the cost, though cabinet’s March 19 budget set aside another $523.3 million for “addressing payroll errors”.
A federal judge has ordered the Canadian Human Rights Commission to investigate alleged racial profiling by the Toronto Dominion Bank. The order follows an incident in which a Black depositor was refused a $5,000 withdrawal from her savings account: “People of colour share these experiences daily in banking institutions in Canada.”
A locomotive engineer falsely blamed for the fiery Lac-Mégantic wreck will receive nearly a quarter-million dollars for wrongful dismissal, a federal board has ruled. Forty-seven people died in the derailment: ‘It is an appropriate remedy in exceptional circumstances.’
Hudson’s Bay Co. yesterday agreed to pay federal investigators $4.5 million in an out-of-court settlement over alleged breach of the Competition Act. A similar probe of Sears Canada was abandoned when the retailer went bankrupt in 2017: “It sends a strong message.”
Taxpayers are on the hook for millions in new home equity loans if house prices fall, CMHC yesterday told the Senate national finance committee. Loans for first-time homebuyers will cost $14.7 million this year and $1.25 billion over the life of the program: “There is inherent risk in the program to the extent prices go down.”
A Newfoundland & Labrador judge has acquitted a woman of driving with open cannabis in the car. Legislators questioned the scope of Canadians’ rights when Parliament legalizing public possession of cannabis in 2018: ‘She had no way of knowing a passenger had cannabis in his parka.’
