A federal pandemic preparedness agency that's run short of Covid-19 face masks spent millions on climate change programs last year, accounts show. Spending by the Public Health Agency of Canada included a half-million grant for “science and storytelling regarding climate change”.
MPs yesterday told the Commons health committee they can’t get straight answers on the scope of pandemic equipment shortages. Cabinet said it is spending $2 billion on masks, ventilators, test kits, medical gowns and gloves: "Canadians have a right to know."
The Department of Women and Gender Equality paid a pollster $69,562 to gauge Canadians’ views on the #MeToo movement. Staff said the spending would “inform future efforts to shift attitudes in Canada that contribute to gendered inequalities.”
The Department of Health yesterday said it's worried about the nation’s food supply. Farmers have complained delays in allowing migrant workers into Canada may upset fruit, vegetable and greenhouse production: "Food security in particular is a topic of great concern for the government."
MPs yesterday complained hurriedly-announced federal pandemic relief programs have strings attached that disqualify Canadians they were intended to help. Cabinet has yet to spell out regulations for billions in Covid-19 relief: "It makes no sense."
The Department of Industry in an Access To Information report claims self-regulation of the internet is “inadequate” and warns Parliament must police content. The 2019 memo predates a January 29 proposal to create a first-ever national registry of internet news websites: "Those words scare the hell out of me."
A pandemic wage subsidy for small business will be expanded to include large corporations, cabinet said yesterday. Subsidies for just five percent of the nation’s workforce would cost $11 billion: "These costs keep climbing."
A federal biometric program to compile a fingerprint database on visa applicants has gone millions over budget, according to the Department of Immigration. Auditors found the program also identified few criminals: "Will the use of biometrics be used for mass surveillance?"
Federal regulators in an embarrassing admission yesterday said they mistakenly published confidential records of two telecom companies on a CRTC website. The Commission asked that any internet users who downloaded the secret data immediately identify themselves: 'Release would provide competitors with invaluable information.'
A Crown bank tapped by cabinet to issue pandemic relief credit says it is overwhelmed. The admission follows complaints loan applicants to the Business Development Bank of Canada have been buried in paperwork: "So far it is pretty bad."
Two Ontario MPs are donating their 2020 pay raise to the Salvation Army and a local women’s shelter. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation urged all parliamentarians to follow suit in donating a $2.5 million pandemic pay raise to charities: "People are losing their jobs."
The Public Health Agency for the first time is acknowledging “imminent shortages” of pandemic supplies. The Agency did not explain why it ignored a 2011 auditors’ report to stock up: "Yes, there are imminent shortages or issues in the hospitals."
A second wave of Covid-19 infections could be much worse than current rates, suggests federal research into Canada’s last major pandemic. The Public Health Agency has acknowledged successive waves may see the pandemic continue into next winter: "It's definitely months -- many months."
Canada may see three million unemployed by Labour Day, fully fifteen percent of the workforce, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. It would be the highest jobless rate since the 1983 recession. The Bank of Canada would not comment on whether a deep recession is already underway: "It's just a number."
The leader of the largest group in the Senate is accused of political score-settling in the midst of a pandemic. The chamber rejected oversight hearings on federal pandemic programs after Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) refused to allow ex-Liberal Caucus members a seat on committees: "I control the largest group."
