Blacklock's Reporter

The RCMP Security Service in a declassified 1976 memo complained “liberal thinkers” were forcing police to accept gays and minorities as recruits. Mounties had used height requirements as cover for disqualifying unwanted applicants, wrote police. The memo was obtained through Access To Information: “Some police departments have already hired homosexuals because, no doubt, of political pressure.”

Employers must make a genuine effort to hire Canadians before applying for migrant labour, a federal judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of a small trucking company that complained it could not find Canadian drivers with as little as a year’s experience: “This decision is so unfair.”

Liberal and Conservative Senators are demanding cabinet explain the hiring of Red Cross investigators to monitor human rights in Canada Border Services Agency detention centres. The Agency is paying the Canadian Red Cross Society $1.8 million to check on thousands held in detention, including children: “There must be transparency.”

Statistics Canada is underestimating the number of non-resident foreigners in the country by more than 40 percent, says a federal agency. Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation commissioned its own research to counter StatsCan figures: ‘It is skewing the results.’

Transport Canada proposes to mandate seatbelts on highway motor coaches but not school buses. Refitting the nation’s 20,000 school buses with belts would be costly and unnecessary, regulators said: “Children are more likely to be killed walking to school when compared to taking a school bus.”

The Canada Revenue Agency mistakenly paid out at least $22.4 million in refunds to fraudsters in an internet-fueled tax protest movement, say newly-released Access To Information memos. A total 44 taxpayers were jailed under the scheme dating from 2007: “This campaign attracts true believers.”

Cabinet faces a federal lawsuit over one of the last nationally-subsidized transport companies. Crown-owned Marine Atlantic Inc. is accused of using millions in taxpayer funding to undercut private shippers. Transport Minister Marc Garneau declined an interview. “It’s before the courts so I’m not going to comment,” he said.

It’s faster to visit an employment insurance claims office in person than call the government’s 1-800 number, says a federal survey. The research follows longstanding complaints of lost calls and lengthy wait times: “They would disconnect you, and you’d call back later.”

Cabinet has no choice but to write off a 42-year loan to Cuba, says the Treasury Board. The 1975 loan in its day was mired in controversy after an agency was accused of lying to MPs over its terms: “Who would decide to write that off?”

The middle class is now a minority of Canadian families, says a secret Department of Finance memo. The report defined middle-income families as those earning between $32,400 and $43,800 a year but noted, “There is no consensus definition of middle class, nor is there an official definition.”

The Canadian Transportation Agency is dismissing complaints over ceaseless clanging of locomotive bells on one of the country’s busiest urban rail routes. Residents must prove actual harm and not mere annoyance, said regulators: ‘It’s that clang, clang, clang.’

Cabinet plans new cybersecurity measures this spring following the shutdown of two federal websites over fears of hacking. An Access To Information memo details government worries over future cyberattacks: ‘It could impact the safety and security of Canadians.’

The Navy is dismantling two decommissioned vessels but says it’s still willing to offer surplus ships as artificial reefs for scuba divers. The 2015 scuttling of a toxic vessel in fish habitat in British Columbia triggered an environmental lawsuit: “If the Navy can fob a ship off on a local dive club and sink it, that saves a ton of money.”

The Department of Finance has expressed alarm over “rapidly increasing housing vulnerabilities” and pledged further action in 2017. The confidential memos were obtained through Access To Information: “Taxpayers have exposure to losses.”