Travel agents have petitioned the Commons finance committee for a $200 million bailout. Agents blamed federal travel restrictions for a shutdown of their entire industry amid “recalled commissions” for flights they booked: "It’s because the government is imposing travel restrictions that we are being hindered from operating our business."
A Covid contractor awarded a rush order for $149 million in test kits after “a couple of good meetings” in the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday filed for bankruptcy court protection. Spartan Bioscience Inc. of Ottawa owes taxpayers at least $25.2 million: "Had a couple of good meetings with the CEO of Spartan."
Federal regulators should take down websites with hurtful words, says a former Supreme Court chief justice. Beverley McLachlin yesterday said enforcement measures must be taken against internet publishers deemed to hurt democracy: "The consequences ultimately would be to shut them down, which happens in non-democratic countries all the time."
A Toronto publisher who publicly opposed a federal newspaper bailout sought and received funding under the $595 million program, according to records. “No statement, thanks,” said David Skok, editor of The Logic Inc.: “I founded The Logic on the belief that journalistic independence comes from financial independence.”
A federal judge has struck a cabinet order delaying local elections under the Indian Act in the name of pandemic safety. A similar law affecting voters in 338 parliamentary ridings remains on the books: "The government is asking me to tolerate an invalid exercise of power because it was done for a good reason. This is simply incompatible."
In-house investigations at the Canada Border Services Agency are haphazard and raise questions of fairness, says an internal audit. Legislators for years have sought to strip Agency management of the right to investigate complaints against employees: "Fairness is essential."
Cabinet must order a post-Covid judicial inquiry into pandemic management including favouritism in federal contracting, Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole said yesterday. O’Toole also endorsed a proposal from a former Québec prosecutor for ongoing monitoring of contracts: "We need complete transparency and accountability."
Parliament should be more helpful and friendly to China, says a former Bank of Canada executive. The People’s Republic has a sunny outlook while “there’s a sense of things being very broken” in Canada, he said: "If I had to wager, I wager they will make it."
The Department of Public Works claims to have discovered $28 million in urgently needed repairs to a building it's owned for decades. Members of the Senate committee on internal economy expressed unease with ongoing spending on Parliament Hill renovations: "We can probably build a new building for just over that."
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal says it's seen a flood of complaints over mandatory mask orders. The province’s Human Rights Code “does not protect people who refuse to wear a mask as a matter of personal preference or because they believe wearing a mask is pointless,” said the Tribunal.
The CBC has seven vice-presidents, ten directors general, five directors of finance and a “strategic intelligence department” with a $900,000 budget, according to records disclosed in a labour hearing. Management has praised its “visionary talent” in spending a $1.3 billion-a year federal grant: "We are covering the planet with very few resources."
The Prime Minister’s Office has named a Canadian supplier blamed for selling substandard pandemic masks for use at municipal nursing homes in Toronto. The city’s solicitor had asked that the name be withheld: "So consider that confidential."
Cabinet has signed an order, the first of its kind, that caps selected fees charged taxpayers by accountants and tax consultants at $100 a year. Consultants had called the cap ruinous for 60,000 firms nationwide that handle claims for disability credis, though the sponsor of a bill to regulate fees said too many taxpayers were victimized by unscrupulous promoters: "This money was siphoned off by the middlemen."
Evan Siddall, retiring $459,000-a year chief executive of CMHC, in farewell remarks to the Commons finance committee said the corporation never lied to Canadians about home equity taxes. Siddall did not comment on Access To Information records: "I was accused of lying, in fact, and a media cover-up on this."
Self-help seminars for federal prisoners cost taxpayers up to $7,331 per inmate but may save money in the end, says a Correctional Service study. Participation is voluntary in group discussions on “goal setting,” “learning style,” “healing” and other topics: 'The ultimate goal is to assist offenders in becoming law-abiding citizens.'
