Bonuses for federal executives averaged nearly $18,000 in 2024, according to figures detailed in a year-end briefing note. Updated numbers on 2025 bonuses are due shortly, said the Treasury Board: "How does it work in the public sector?"
Federal job cuts will total about 40,000 by 2029, according to Treasury Board briefing notes. Board President Shafqat Ali has declined to specify actual numbers of layoffs since it “impacts those public service employees and not only them, their families."
A Bloc Québécois MP is sponsoring a Commons petition to cancel all subsidies for halal and kosher meat processing in Canada. MP Martin Champoux (Drummond, Que.) earlier expressed outrage after the Department of Agriculture awarded a multi-million dollar subsidy to a halal butcher in Prince Edward Island: "It is not the government's job."
The Department of Transport last year disciplined 58 employees for workplace misconduct. Violations covered “a wide range” of wrongdoing from rudeness to theft, said managers: "Even a single instance is unacceptable."
Parliament should compel the Canada Revenue Agency to annually report on offshore tax evaders including successful prosecutions, says a labour submission to the Commons finance committee. The Commons seven years ago defeated a similar private bill: "Transparency is essential."
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s claim of “fast tracking a trillion dollars of investment” is grossly inflated and drawn mainly from reannouncements of old spending, according to Budget Office figure released yesterday. Carney repeated the claim Tuesday in a speech to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos: "We are going to put more than $3,000 in the pocket of every Canadian."
Authorities yesterday confirmed Housing Advocate Marie-Josée Houle spent two weeks holidaying in Egypt after booking a $13,684 business class junket to Cairo for meetings. A spokesperson denied Houle timed her vacation to subsidize her flights: "The Advocate extended her stay for personal reasons."
New Democrats must counter an “incredibly active” Jewish lobby, Party leadership candidate Avi Lewis said last night. Lewis made his remarks in a leadership debate sponsored by an anti-Israel group, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East: "We have to expose the actions of the Israel lobby."
Chrystia Freeland yesterday said she “behaved ethically at every moment” in accepting a job as an advisor to Ukraine’s President while acting as parliamentary secretary overseeing Canadian postwar aid to that country. Freeland spoke to Rebel News Network in her first public comments since resigning January 9: "I wasn’t on both sides of the deal."
Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault is appointing new returning officers in three federal ridings that reported 2025 election irregularities, records show. Revisions to the List Of Returning Officers are in anticipation of another general campaign as early as 2026: "A ballot box got lost. How can that possibly happen?"
A self-described ‘watchdog for homelessness' billed taxpayers nearly $14,000 for a business class junket to Cairo, records show. Employees in Access To Information emails questioned expenses charged by Marie-Josée Houle, cabinet's $213,000-a year Housing Advocate: "It’s my job to be a watchdog for housing and homelessness in Canada."
Costs to manage the Canada Dental Care Plan have jumped to nearly 9 percent or almost $860 million since the program was launched, records show. Health Minister Marjorie Michel’s department disclosed the program has already been audited but would not release the findings: "The report is confidential."
The Senate banking committee yesterday endorsed a campaign proposal by Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre to compel rollbacks in municipal development charges as a condition of receiving federal aid. Ten of 13 senators on the committee are Liberal appointees: "Funding for municipal infrastructure is the main tool available to the federal government to require reductions in municipal fees and boost accountability."
Canada had no choice but to repeal a 100 percent tariff on Chinese battery electric cars, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said yesterday. Moe acknowledged his province was a winner in trade talks with Beijing but denied it came at the expense of others: "To say this is favouring one province or another, that is just simply not a true statement."
The Navy yesterday said it will pay the Royal Canadian Geographic Society $300,000 to develop “Navy-themed lesson plans” for schoolchildren. It follows declining membership in youth programs like the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets: "Being a cadet promotes pride in Canada."
