Big publishers and TV networks including the CBC are up for more than a third of a billion a year under cabinet’s Bill C-18, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Independent publishers opposed to the bill have called it another federal subsidy for distrusted media: "We expect news businesses to receive total compensation around $329.2 million per year."
The Department of Fisheries yesterday said it has no plans for an Atlantic seal cull despite repeated appeals from MPs and senators. Legislators from Atlantic Canada have sought a cull over complaints predatory seals eat too many fish: "The department is not looking at a seal population control program at this time."
There is no guarantee a cabinet bill expanding bilingual mandates to the private sector will halt the decline in French, Languages Commissioner Raymond Théberge said yesterday. MPs at the Commons languages committee questioned how the mandate would apply in cities like Regina where francophones are outnumbered 200 to 1: "If we don’t do anything the decline will continue."
Records show the head of the federal public service, then-Privy Council Clerk Ian Shugart, certified a copy of an "April 31" website notice used to mislead a federal judge in a trademarks dispute. The notice included a “date modified” entry of April 31, 2017. April does not have 31 days: "There appears to have been a misunderstanding."
A member of the Commons ethics committee yesterday questioned censorship of records detailing attempts by now-Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to backdate documents in a Federal Court case. “We don’t know whether it’s obfuscation, whether it’s abdication or whether it’s a cover-up,” Conservative MP James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake, Man.) told the committee: "The question was about Minister Mendicino’s involvement with the potential falsification of records."
Air passengers filing federal complaints over poor service can expect to wait nearly two years, says the Canadian Transportation Agency. One consumers’ advocate called the backlog predictable: "There’s always room to improve."
The Canada Revenue Agency “could have done some sort of screening” before paying out claims under the costliest pandemic relief program, says Auditor General Karen Hogan. The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy cost taxpayers $100.6 billion including payments to companies in tax default: "The Agency had information where they could have vetted the eligibility of businesses."
The Commons yesterday voted unanimously to endorse Taiwan’s bid for membership in the World Health Organization. The House passed a motion sponsored by Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville, Ont.) that it concur with a recommendation of the health committee to lift a China ban on Taiwanese participation: "Taiwan deserves a seat at the table."
Federal managers laughed about backdating documents used in a Federal Court case, records show. Then-Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino approved the 2020 backdating in an apparent bid to mislead a judge: "Ha ha!"
The Department of Public Safety yesterday said it has no specific research indicating new gun controls will reduce gun crime. Initiatives were based on a general sense that fewer legal guns would make for safer homes, witnesses told the Commons public safety committee: "I think Canadians would want to know."
The ArriveCan app program cemented Canada’s reputation with U.S. travelers as an irritating place to visit, the Commons trade committee was told yesterday. Cabinet suspended the mandatory program last Saturday following an outcry from border cities: "When you have an experience that’s good you tell someone and when it’s bad you tell ten people. That’s exactly what’s been happening."
The Commons ethics committee yesterday censured the RCMP as reluctant witnesses at parliamentary hearings. It marked the second time in two months that MPs faulted the Mounties for withholding evidence: "Members voiced concern during the RCMP’s testimony that witnesses were being evasive."
Inaction by the Department of Fisheries has put species at risk, Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said yesterday. DeMarco said the department wasted years in acting to save endangered species: "Once an aquatic species becomes extinct it is lost forever."
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino backdated government documents in an apparent bid to mislead a federal judge, records show. Mendicino did not comment. Access To Information files in the case date from 2020 when Mendicino was Minister of Immigration: "Things are on fire over here."
The Commons ethics committee yesterday by a 6 to 5 vote ordered hearings into allegations of sweetheart contracting at a Québec border crossing used by illegal immigrants. The committee’s majority questioned cabinet secrecy over millions spent at Lacolle, Que. including warehouse leases for a Liberal donor. Liberal MPs opposed the investigation: "There is no scandal here."
