Spammers, marketers and firms suspected of violating commercial law are targeted under a cybercrime bill, confidential records show. Department of Justice briefing notes disclose the legislation, depicted as targeting child pornographers and drug lords, was also planned to aid Competition Bureau attorneys: “Can we be cynical with reason?”
Parks Canada and other agencies spent millions on a three-week search for 19th century Arctic shipwrecks, confidential accounts show. The expensive mission came amid cuts in national parks budgets and unfunded maintenance for historic sites: “This smacks of public relations to me”.
Police have a constitutional right to conduct random Breathalyzer tests of drivers leaving a liquor store parking lot since it’s “not as if the officer had targeted a daycare or church”, an Ontario court has ruled. The judgment comes as MPs consider legislating random breath testing: “At issue here is only location targeting”.
Transport Canada’s fleet of oil spill surveillance aircraft will remain at three planes to spy three oceans, the Great Lakes and 243,000 km of coastline. However officials promise to spend more time in the air: ‘We feel that any risks can be mitigated’.
Refits of puncture-prone tank cars like those in the Lac-Mégantic disaster will take years to complete, warns a Transport Canada panel. Authorities recommend a feasibility study on getting rid of unsafe cars: “The longer those cars are out there, the longer they will be a danger to the public”.
A 149-year tradition in Government of Canada cheques will end effective in 2016 with the substitution of paper payments with prepaid cards, officials say.
The Receiver General explained anyone receiving a federal cheque for tax refunds, pension or benefits payments will “automatically be switched to prepaid cards unless they qualify for and register as an exception” effective April 1, 2016. Authorities told Blacklock’s that “some exceptions may be required for individuals who live in a remote location or those who do not have a bank account”; “Various solutions are being examined”.
Cabinet earlier set the same April Fool’s deadline for mandating direct electronic deposits as a cost-savings measure. Direct deposits cost 13¢ per transaction compared to 82¢ to cut a paper cheque.
“The question is, are we changing the nature of cash? The answer is yes,” said Ken Whitehurst, executive director of the Consumers Council of Canada. “There are an enormous number of privacy issues that go with that, and it is hard to see how the government could account for them all.”
The Department of Public Works said in a notice it will consult widely on the changeover. It would see banks, credit unions and other institutions issue, activate and load prepaid cards for people expecting a federal payment: “We will engage with Canadians.”
Whitehurst said the Consumers Council is concerned “whether or not there has been much evaluation of the unintended consequences of this.”
“Government cheques today are pretty negotiable, and you do have people for a variety of reasons who will not walk into a bank,” said Whitehurst. “A lot of people will like the convenience, but if the card is the front-end to an account, there are learning curve issues that could be considerable for others. How will they react to it?”
The Receiver General, the federal office that manages all money transactions between Canadians and the treasury, issues more than 300 million payments each year, by official estimate. Some 77 percent are currently made by direct deposit, with other payments handled through wire transfer and paper cheque.
“The use and prevalence of paper cheques will get smaller and smaller,” said Patrick Culhane, president and CEO of the Canadian Payroll Association; “Canada makes more use of technology in payroll than any other country. Where the government is headed is frankly the right move.”
Culhane cited association polling data that found of 2800 employees surveyed, 97 percent are paid electronically; 83 percent “had and liked” online pay statements; and 84 percent “had and liked” receiving electronic T4 statements for tax purposes.
“I made a presentation to Canada Revenue Agency and said, ‘These numbers are real,’” Culhane said.
Canada Revenue has urged taxpayers to file their annual returns electronically, estimating it saves $3.50 on every e-file. Eighty percent of last year’s returns were filed by internet with more than a million T1 e-forms filed on a single day, April 30 – the largest in history.
The tax department earlier closed in-person counter service at 26 offices; levied a $25 “disincentive fee” on tax preparers who file more than 10 paper returns; and in 2012 cancelled its Telefile system that permitted the filing of simple returns by telephone. Some 279,000 taxpayers, mostly seniors, had used the Telefile system.
By Tom Korski
Mounties attempting to unionize say they’re optimistic the Supreme Court will lift a 94-year ban on collective bargaining in the federal force. The Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada noted the RCMP remains the only civilian police force forbidden by executive order from joining a union: “We’re seeking equal treatment”.
The CBC did not pay the Canadian Coast Guard for a “fun” Arctic cruise aboard an icebreaker for anchorman Peter Mansbridge and a television crew, authorities confirm. Memos show the government put the vessel at the network’s disposal for a 2012 TV story, though policy states no media are to get a free ride: ‘The Coast Guard did not charge journalists’.
A tax credit for Canadian miners has been renewed for a fourteenth straight year amid claims it’s become a giveaway to corporations. Finance Canada again extended the credit, worth $100 million this year: “We see this as a gift to investors”.
Structures with sprinkler systems are safer than those without, regardless of the type of construction materials, new research concludes. Analysis of actual fire reports and fatalities involving different building materials found no safety advantage to concrete, metal or wood under the National Building Code: “Sprinkling takes away that threat”.
The National Capital Commission billed taxpayers for massages, beach balls, $4520 worth of hot chocolate and hundreds of thousands more in incidental costs to host Ottawa’s annual winter festival, secret accounts show: “I bet you could not find another ice sculpture contest anywhere in Canada that offered massage therapy”.
Environment Canada and the Department of Fisheries won’t say if they will appeal a stinging Federal Court judgment that they broke the law in failing to protecting threatened species. Documents show both departments had to be sued before complying with federal law: “This isn’t just a technical breach”.
Canada’s largest airports are “quasi-monopolies” that must increase accountability, says a Montréal think-tank. Airports have collected some $14 billion in fees without proper Transport Canada oversight, concludes a report: “We feel there is something wrong here”.
Hundreds of deaths in federal prisons pass without proper review by the Correctional Service, says the nation’s Correctional Investigator. Howard Sapers said authorities typically take years to conduct a cursory review of inmate deaths attributed to “natural causes”, like the inmate who died of cancer after being treated with antibiotics: ‘It is first and foremost a prison service’.
Local authorities are waiting for the fine print of a new subsidy plan for utilities, roads and bridges. The renewed Building Canada Fund targets $43 billion in spending over the next decade but gave city councils little time to draft plans and tender contracts: “There won’t be any ribbon-cutting ceremonies this year”.
