A multi-billion dollar pandemic relief program intended for post-secondary students will pay jobless teenagers whether or not they are studying. High school graduates need only mail a student application to a college or university to qualify for federal cheques, according to regulations detailed yesterday: "I admit this is not a perfect system."
The Canadian Red Cross yesterday defended a federal shipment of pandemic supplies to China, saying Chinese donors have since given three times as much equipment back to Canada. “Everything is of quality,” the Commons health committee was told.
Cabinet yesterday acknowledged its costliest pandemic relief program was under-subscribed by small businesses. Widening the wage subsidy program will not increase costs, the Department of Finance said: "It came too late."
A parish hall that refused to accommodate a Pride Week fundraiser must face a human rights hearing, a British Columbia adjudicator has ruled. The Catholic Church complained the banquet would have featured drag queens and same-sex dancing: "There are significant facts and issues in dispute."
Canada Post is funding $500,000 in research on financial services after introducing a currency exchange home delivery program. A postal union yesterday predicted a return to some form of postal banking for the first time in more than fifty years: "I think we're going to move forward."
Deficit spending is unsustainable, Parliamentary Budget Office Yves Giroux yesterday told the Senate national finance committee. Giroux said this year’s budget shortfall is now an unprecedented $260 billion and counting, five times the previous record of $55.6 billion set a decade ago: "We’d be looking at a level of taxation that’s not been seen for generations."
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s delegation to a UN climate change conference last December in Spain cost more than $680,000 including $178,000 in air fares and the expense of two chauffeurs. Delegates were told “our house is on fire”.
The taxpayer-financed Canada Infrastructure Bank endorsed a scale of million-dollar bonuses for its CEO, according to records. The Bank had withheld the disclosure under Access To Information: "It’s a little hard to ask questions about the Bank because nothing is really public at all about it."
A media outlet suing for the privilege of asking questions of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says in a Federal Court affidavit it was banned from accreditation by the Parliamentary Press Gallery. The Gallery is intended to be nonpartisan. The executive last night did not comment: 'It is government influenced.'
The Department of Justice loses almost a third of lawsuits at a taxpayers’ cost in legal fees averaging more than $200 million a year, says a newly-released audit. Of cases settled out of court, 44 percent were paid out just before trial: “Some improvement is needed.”
Canada needs about three billion pandemic masks as the economy opens up, says a federal contractor. The Public Health Agency had just 100,000 high-grade N95 masks in a national stockpile before the Covid-19 outbreak: "We're going to need a lot more."
Federal 1-800 centres have improved their rate of dropped calls by not answering the phone. The president of Shared Services Canada, the federal IT service, said an undisclosed number of jobless callers seeking benefits received endless busy signals: "The call would never get dropped, it would just never get answered."
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a consumer group's demand for cash refunds on pre-paid flights. The Canadian Transportation Agency in 2019 said that “compensation must first be offered in cash or equivalent”, but waived the rule as a pandemic measure: 'The airline industry has been seriously affected by Covid-19.'
Canadians should avoid using the word “aboriginal”, says a federal language guide. The term may give offence and has no legal meaning, wrote researchers: "Using appropriate language is fundamental."
Cabinet yesterday said it will discuss with provinces a New Democrat proposal to mandate ten days’ paid sick leave for all workers nationwide. No cost or deadline was discussed: "It is just beyond imagination."
