Tips from informants led auditors to recover more than $26 million in penalties and incorrect payments under the costliest pandemic relief program, records show. Tipsters led the Canada Revenue Agency to conduct hundreds of audits under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy: "How many did the Agency investigate?"
Federal departments have spent at least $50.6 million on hotel bookings for illegal border crossers and lawful refugee applicants since 2015, piecemeal figures show. No department has attempted a complete costing of illegal immigration since the Budget Office put expenses at a billion: "How many hotels?"
Cabinet has replaced its chief pandemic manager for the fourth time in 28 months. Heather Jeffrey, a career civil servant, was named $274,000-a year president of the Public Health Agency. The last three presidents abruptly resigned without completing their contracts: "Was there anyone who faced any discipline at all?"
Trade Minister Mary Ng will not repay the cost of contracts improperly awarded to a personal friend and CBC pundit. The payments for media coaching were the equivalent of more than $2,800 an hour: "Do you think taxpayers should be reimbursed?"
More than a quarter of young children eligible for Covid shots went unvaccinated over parental worries, data show. Mothers and fathers were concerned vaccines had unknown side effects, said the Public Health Agency: 'They worried not enough research on the vaccine has been done in children.'
A Calgary trucker arrested as co-organizer of the Freedom Convoy has lost a bid to move his trial out of Ottawa on claims of jury bias. However Ontario Superior Court agreed residents, workers and commuters who witnessed the Parliament Hill protest are disqualified from sitting in judgment of James Bauder: "There may be a legitimate concern about securing an unbiased jury."
A Russian-owned tractor factory has won a Tax Court claim for a six-figure federal tax credit. Buhler Versatile of Winnipeg avoided blacklisting under cabinet’s Russian sanctions: "We are very aware of Russian interests in Canada."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “In the Patent Office, young Einstein gets bored. His job repetitive. His mind seeks intellectual stimuli…”
Years ago a friend of mine, a defence contractor in a spot of trouble, asked: “How can I manipulate media?” It was a blunt, honest question deserving a response in kind. “You can’t,” I replied, not from any claim to newsroom virtue but in observance of Lincoln’s Law that nobody can fool all the people all the time. If public opinion was that malleable, every movie would be a blockbuster, every book a bestseller. every political candidate a winner. Focus group failure speaks for itself.
Yet the myth persists. The lure of manipulation as an expedient problem-solver is irresistible. As every gambler has a “system” so every bureaucracy has a “media strategy.” The practitioners are known as comms guys, communication directors.
The RCMP yesterday said it did not conduct any criminal investigation of alleged Chinese interference in the 2019 federal election. Members of the House affairs committee said the testimony was not reassuring amid repeated claims of illegality: "I am very, very frustrated right now with the lack of information."
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan yesterday said Canada needs more oil and gas workers, not fewer, and cursed cabinet’s “just transition” climate retraining program. “I can’t stand the phrase ‘just transition,’” said O’Regan: "We asked workers in Saskatchewan and Alberta to figure out how to get oil out of sand and by God they did it."
Most Canadians oppose internet voting, says Elections Canada research. A Liberal Party proposal for voting by smartphone was rejected by the House affairs committee prior to the 2021 campaign: "A majority agree that voting over the internet should not be an option."
Cabinet polled for popular catchphrases in anticipation of its spring budget, records show. Most Canadians surveyed in Privy Council focus groups said buzzwords were unlikely to solve economic troubles: 'Most were of the view economic problems facing Canadians were quite complex.'
Trade Minister Mary Ng has signed a “conflict of interest screen” pledging to never award another sole sourced contract to a longtime friend and CBC-TV pundit. The written pledge followed testimony at the Commons ethics committee that rated contracts for Amanda Alvaro as unusual: "The Ethics Commissioner and I have agreed."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Privy Council Office commissioned confidential research on a national electronic ID system. No reason was given. Parliament has repeatedly rejected any mandatory identification program as intrusive and costly: 'Adoption may be difficult especially among Canadians already distrustful of public institutions.'
