Cabinet was aware marijuana inventories from licensed growers were just one quarter the anticipated national demand when it legalized recreational cannabis, data show. The Department of Justice in a confidential 2017 memo feared drug dealers would meet demand for years to come: “It will take time for the new, legal cannabis industry to grow full scale.”
Most Canadians have never heard of cabinet’s signature environmental protection program though it was launched three years ago, says Transport Canada research. Even people living in coastal areas told pollsters they were unaware of the Oceans Protection Plan: ‘Relatively few Canadians have heard of it.’
Secret Cold War files newly released by the national archives indicate Canada required hours to notify local authorities of any Soviet missile attack. Officials blamed the phone companies: “Personnel were frequently late in receiving such information as ‘take cover’.”
First meeting
of Canada’s National Security and Intelligence
Committee.
“Time for a health break,”
declares the chairperson.
“Coffee and tea are in the lobby.
The washrooms are down the hallway.”
“When texting,
avoid details
of our discussions.”
“For sexting,
or nude selfies,
use my office on the 2nd floor.”
“Uh, Tony, come see
what I found on Instagram.”
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
The Department of Finance says it’s unaware of a single Canadian company to land work as a result of a half-billion dollars in federal spending with a Chinese investment bank. Cabinet approved the spending in 2017 on a promise of “thousands upon thousands of Canadian jobs”.
Tax Court has detailed a case in which a taxpayer mailed, faxed and phoned the Canada Revenue Agency six separate times, only to miss a 90-day deadline for filing an appeal. It was a “distressing result”, said a federal judge: ‘He sent documents only to have them returned.’
The Department of Fisheries has quietly killed a staff proposal to have a private consultant teach employees how to write memos, according to Access To Information records. The department yesterday did not comment on the sole-sourced contract: ‘Could other suppliers have been invited?’
A labour board has overturned the firing of a federal employee diagnosed with mental illness. Management complained it “did everything it could” to accommodate a Parole Board analyst who drove co-workers to tears: “He was suffering.”
Canadians will lie about voting, says in-house research by Elections Canada. Interviews with residents in one 2018 byelection riding saw more people claim to vote than actually did: “This is not at all uncommon.”
Homeowners will require some 300 years’ worth of energy savings to recover the upfront cost of proposed climate change amendments to the National Building Code, according to an Environment Canada report. Costs are estimated at $30,000 per household with savings averaging $114 a year: “I don’t have a lot of detail on that.”
Health Canada estimates 1 in 10 legal marijuana smokers will become addicts. The conclusion comes five years after MPs dismissed a Commons health committee report warning of the perils of cannabis: “Does cannabis increase the risk of psychosis or schizophrenia? Yes.”
The Department of Canadian Heritage in a secret Access To Information memo proposes to expand the CBC’s subsidized website service as “the most fitting” alternative to daily newspapers. Staff wrote the CBC needs digital dollars to offset losses “eating away at its resources”, including a disastrous fall in viewership of local TV news: “Revenues for conventional television are diminishing.”
Transport Canada proposes to name and shame airlines with the worst service records. Regulations would compel carriers to publish now-confidential monthly statistics on late flights, overbooking and passenger complaints of lost or damaged luggage. Complaints are believed to number up to 50,000 a year, according to an Access To Information memo: “Lack of information affects consumers’ ability to make informed decisions.”
The Treasury Board in an internal memo says subsidies for green technology are run through a hodgepodge of programs so dysfunctional, taxpayers can’t be sure they get what they pay for. Release of the memo through Access To Information follows the collapse of Canada’s first commercial tidal farm with millions in losses: “Right now, it is not clear what is being funded.”
Health Canada proposes to place tiny warning labels on individual cigarettes in a bid to lower smoking rates. Currently 5.3 million Canadians are casual or daily smokers: “The goal would be to increase awareness.”
