Nearly 1,800 bank branches have closed nationwide since 1990, according to research by Canada Post unions advocating for a revival of postal banks. Closures have left hundreds of small towns without a storefront bank or credit union, officials said: "There is no reason why Canada Post cannot go ahead."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “Detroit International Airport, flight delayed. Need something to do. Across the hallway, guards in tactical gear…”
Cabinet must examine ways of making it easier to fire incompetent federal employees, a senior Treasury Board official yesterday told the Commons public accounts committee. MPs have questioned the government’s powers as an employer in the wake of the $1 billion Phoenix Pay System failure: "Are there enough consequences for poor performance in the public service?"
Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand yesterday said she will audit cabinet’s carbon tax as early as 2019. Environment Canada has acknowledged neither the $50 per tonne tax nor other regulations to date will meet 2030 emission targets: "What is the plan? Let's see some details."
Hundreds of taxpayers a year are mistakenly declared dead by the Canada Revenue Agency, say newly-disclosed records. The data follow Department of Employment complaints that nearly $2 million a year is mistakenly paid to federal employees who really are dead: "I don’t know why it is so hugely difficult to efficiently manage a data system."
Public institutions must lead in protecting copyright for Canadian creators, the Library of Parliament committee was told yesterday. “Traditional media are dying,” said Senator Michael Duffy (Independent-P.E.I.): “Be a leader.”
Taxpayers now have a 22 percent chance of being misinformed when calling Canada Revenue agents. Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier in a report to MPs claimed progress from an average 29 percent error rate last year: 'We will make call centres more agile.'
Federal inspectors in a costly admission yesterday said an unlicensed strain of genetically-modified wheat has been found in Canada. An earlier proposal to license herbicide-tolerant wheat prompted mass protests by leading Japanese buyers of the Canadian crop: "There are huge stakes at play."
Cabinet yesterday rejected a key Senate amendment to its cannabis bill. Senators had sought to give provinces protection from legal challenges in enforcing local bans on home cultivation of marijuana: "Do I understand the Government of Canada would leave it totally to the courts?"
The Canada Revenue Agency estimates it is short about $12 billion a year in unpaid tax. The low figure contradicted the Agency’s own previous reports: "This is why we need an independent source looking at any numbers coming from the Revenue Agency."
Senators yesterday recommended an overhaul of services for veterans. Witnesses at hearings of the Senate subcommittee on veterans affairs complained of waiting months, even years for benefits: "This is just not acceptable."
Health Canada yesterday said new regulations prompted by two tainted food scandals will not fully come into force until 2021, nine years after Parliament passed the Safe Food For Canadians Act. “We’ve been working on this for a very, very long time,” said Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor.
Federal employees, even a Crown prosecutor, may campaign for a political party off duty, a federal labour board has ruled. The Public Sector Labour Relations & Employment Board upheld a grievance by a prosecutor forbidden from handing out pamphlets and lawn signs in the 2015 federal election: "She would only identify herself by her first name."
Federal managers should be compelled to testify under oath when taking legislators’ questions, the Senate national finance committee was told yesterday. The proposal by a Conservative senator came as auditors discussed the $1 billion Phoenix Pay System failure: "They can’t lie, they can’t mislead, they can’t give you talking points."
Members of the Commons public accounts committee yesterday flayed Canada’s senior civil servant for dismissive treatment of an audit on federal bungling. Michael Wernick, secretary to cabinet, described auditors’ remarks on the Phoenix Pay System failure as “an opinion piece”, adding: “We have the most effective public service on the planet.”
