The Department of Industry yesterday said “picking winners” through federal subsidies is difficult. An analysis of thousands of high growth Canadian companies found most were small and already profitable: "They are rare."
Google Canada yesterday advised users to rely on advice from the Public Health Agency despite contradictions. Disregarded recommendations from the Agency did not count as misinformation, a Google executive told the Commons industry committee: "What about in a situation where the ‘informed source’ is wrong?"
The Federal Court yesterday dismissed a complaint against a Thunder Bay, Ont. judge criticized for accepting a volunteer post at Lakehead University though he wasn’t Indigenous. A judicial investigation prompted by a single CBC News story was “unfair” and “an abuse of process”, wrote the Court.
Members of the Commons health committee yesterday expressed outrage after a Canadian scientist claimed reprisal for publicly criticizing the Public Health Agency and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The expert witness said he was blacklisted from a grant application by the Agency: "We're talking about science."
Applications open May 25 for a $2 billion commercial tenants' relief package that MPs warn will not work. “We didn’t want to be bailing out failing businesses,” said the CEO of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation: "I don’t know if people think they can negotiate a program with us, but that’s not the way the world works."
Persistent shortages of pandemic supplies for health care workers leave the country unprepared for an expected second wave of Covid-19 infections this summer, says the Canadian Medical Association. The group compared doctors’ dilemma to dispatching firefighters into a burning building without personal protection: "They are being told to ration."
Canada’s national civil aviation authority yesterday said it cut management salaries following the sharpest decline in air traffic in peacetime. Major airports are down to as few as 95 flights a day on average, data show: "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the aviation industry has been profound."
Federal agencies recommend Canadians avoid reference to China when discussing the pandemic. Origins of the coronavirus are irrelevant, the Treasury Board wrote in a guide for employees: 'Don't blame people from a specific country.'
Canada Post yesterday cited “fierce and dynamic” competition from non-union Amazon and other rivals in reporting a $153 million pre-tax loss for 2019. The report follows cabinet’s April 1 award of a sole-sourced contract to Amazon to manage distribution of pandemic supplies: "Our inflexible and high-cost structure threatens our ability to effectively compete."
One in five homeowners is expected to defer mortgage payments by Labour Day amid a forecasted decline in average home prices of up to eighteen percent, says CMHC. The agency’s CEO yesterday said mortgage rules must be tightened to curb household debt one MP called “bloody terrifying”: "As much as one fifth of all mortgages could be in arrears if our economy has not recovered sufficiently."
Cabinet waited too long to close the nation’s borders, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam last night told the Commons health committee. Tam acknowledged foreign visitors should have been prohibited long before cabinet restricted travel: "In hindsight, yes, I think people could act faster."
Incoming Auditor General Karen Hogan yesterday vowed to investigate the Public Health Agency’s failure to prepare for the pandemic. The Agency has admitted throwing away millions of high-grade masks and failing to maintain a national stockpile of emergency supplies: 'I am known for telling it like it is.'
Facebook makes an average $1.40 per day from active users in Canada, according to details of a federal Competition Bureau investigation. The California corporation in a compliance agreement with Canadian regulators agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle privacy complaints: "Canadians expect and deserve truth from businesses in the digital economy."
Cabinet yesterday said it will expand a small business relief program that disqualified the smallest operators. “I heard the concerns,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
Cabinet in an unprecedented measure last night proposed to freeze civil court proceedings from Tax Court challenges to bankruptcies for the next four months. Attorney General David Lametti cited a “problematic situation” due to the pandemic: "There is a risk."
