Federal curators at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum yesterday confirmed they are “deaccessioning” a century-old flying boat that survived a National Geographic expedition to the Amazon rainforest. The Museum said it has no room for the mahogany artifact: "It has been decided."
So many federal employees now work from home that more than a third of the government’s desk phones are “not being used,” according to records. Fully 15 percent have been permanently disconnected: 'We define ‘dormant’ phone lines as lines that have been assigned and activated but are not being used.'
A federal arbitrator yesterday cited the rising cost of living in awarding VIA Rail engineers a combined 10.5 percent wage increase over three years, more than the railway offered. Inflation was a fact of life for the first time in generations, said Canada Labour Code arbitrator William Kaplan: "It is fair to say that interest arbitrators have not had to contend with significant inflation since the early 1980s."
Misleading and "ridiculous" testimony is disappointing when it comes from a lawyer, Tax Court has ruled. The finding came in the case of a barrister whose testimony “bordered on the ridiculous” in challenging a reassessment of his tax returns: "He is a lawyer with over 40 years at the bar."
The Royal Canadian Air Force faces a “personnel crisis” with fewer volunteers joining and more veterans leaving the service, says a federal report. It follows a 35 percent decline in military recruitment across the board last year: "The RCAF is experiencing a personnel crisis."
Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is in Federal Court to block release of records sought by the Information Commissioner. Cabinet in a 2015 Ministerial Mandate letter had promised to “ensure the Commissioner is empowered to order government information to be released.”
A million-dollar oil painting by Canadian master Tom Thomson was undamaged in a vandal’s attack yesterday, said the National Gallery. A British Columbia environmental activist videotaped himself on Instagram smearing pink paint across the painting: "Fortunately the artwork was not harmed."
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday said cabinet is looking out for “the safety of every single Canadian” in issuing a travel advisory for LGBTQ people visiting the United States. Freeland cited no specific threat: "Our travel advisories are done very professionally."
Municipalities owe ratepayers a duty of care but only on accurate calculations of their property tax, a British Columbia tribunal has ruled. The decision came in Duncan, B.C. where assessments jumped an average 34 percent and City Council in two years hiked taxes 14 percent: "We are at their mercy."
The Department of Foreign Affairs held a secret ceremony honouring Ambassador Reid Sirrs and other diplomats who fled Afghanistan aboard a half-empty military plane during the fall of Kabul, records show. Canadian military called the incident an embarrassment: "Some still carry this emotional weight to this day."
Federal auditors have uncovered more irregularities over government-issue charge cards, this time at the Immigration and Refugee Board. A random check identified missing records, transactions that were “not properly signed and dated” and a lack of spending limits: "No documentation was on file."
Drug deaths rose by a third in 2021, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The increase in fatalities due to “accidental poisonings” followed parliamentary proposals to decriminalize heroin nationwide: "What do you think the impact of decriminalizing small amounts of illicit drugs would be?"
Federal healing lodges account for a high number of prison breaks, according to Correctional Service records. New data show 70 percent of federal escapees are Indigenous: "Escapes from healing lodges represent a challenge for residents, staff and community alike."
A federal lawyer implicated in editing Blacklock’s Wikipedia page yesterday was named a Superior Court judge. The 2016 incident led to disciplinary measures against an unidentified courthouse clerk: “I’m just doing my job.”
A CBC executive, Michel Bissonnette, has billed nearly $30,000 in travel expenses to date this year including a now-cancelled junket to the French Riviera, records show. Bissonnette repeatedly flew business class to Paris and once hired a driver to chauffeur him five blocks through downtown Ottawa: "We simply can’t be in a position where we have to keep cutting."
