Blacklock's Reporter

Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “Ottawa’s mayor shows courage. He stands up to the powerful, deep-pocket owners of the Chateau Laurier,..”

The largest daily newspaper in Canada, the Toronto Star, yesterday estimated its take of federal media bailout money is worth the equivalent of $115,385 a week. Payroll rebates will see publishers awarded up to $13,750 per newsroom employee: 'They got what they wanted.'

Most Canadians have never heard of cabinet’s carbon tax rebates and find the concept difficult to understand, says in-house research by the Canada Revenue Agency. Rebates were to offset consumers’ out-of-pocket expenses for the tax, scheduled to rise to 12¢ a litre for gasoline by 2022: 'It is not easy.'

A rights tribunal is scheduling hearings on whether recital of God Save The Queen in public schools breaches Charter rights. It follows a complaint from an Iron Bridge, Ont. math teacher who identified herself as a secular humanist: "I am surprised any school is still playing God Save The Queen."

CMHC insured a mortgage worth twice the value of a home, according to Court records. Agency practices were detailed in a New Brunswick foreclosure as CMHC prepares to launch a billion-dollar equity loan program nationwide: "Who will be responsible if the homeowner defaults?"

Canadians in federal focus group research complain the “government made lots of apologies” this term without solving problems. The Department of Finance commissioned the questionnaire entitled What The Government Has Handled Poorly: "All talk and no do."

Federal lawyers at the Public Prosecution Service have complained of workplace harassment, according to an internal investigation. Employees in one Prairie office also claimed favouritism and discrimination:
'Some of it originated during appearances at court.'

Canadians now buy so much online the collection of duties from cross-border bargain hunters has dropped more than a third since 2014, says the Canada Border Services Agency. Internet sales “impacted revenue trends”, staff wrote in an internal audit: "We're in new territory here."

Environment Canada proposes to ban light bulbs containing trace amounts of mercury beginning in 2023, including neon signs, fluorescent tubes, street lamps, auto headlights and compact fluorescent bulbs once touted as energy savers. The cost was not detailed: "How many people know?"

The head of a Crown agency cancelled a series of national stakeholder meetings out of fear he was being surreptitiously recorded, according to Access To Information records. Claude Joli-Coeur, the $243,000-a year Commissioner of the National Film Board, yesterday did not comment: "The Commissioner was very upset."

The federal prison system has compiled recidivism rates based on inmates’ race. Data on Asian, Black, Caucasian and Indigenous parolees are intended to fill gaps in corrections, wrote staff: "The designation of ethnic groups is problematic."

The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld mandatory credit checks on government employees as a reasonable security measure. Unions opposed the program that's spent millions on Equifax checks for federal staff: "Is it truly a threat, that they're going to sell secrets?"

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has been ordered to reopen an investigation of claims “white French Canadians” are given preference in government hiring. The Federal Court order follows a 2015 complaint by a Black employee who uncovered data that few African-Canadians are hired: "Let's dig a little deeper."

The Department of Finance says it has no idea how much it raised with a new tax rate on Canada’s top one percent. The department had claimed it was worth $2 billion a year, though the Canada Revenue Agency in Access To Information records described figures as puzzling: "Turns out we do not track tax amounts by tax brackets."

A federal audit confirms “March Madness” overspending that sees government agencies burn through unused budgets before the fiscal year expires at midnight on March 31. An internal audit at the National Research Council found employees’ use of government charge cards jumped 231 percent in March: "We noted the increased pressure to spend budgets at fiscal year-end."