A photogenic family on the cover of the 2019 budget Investing In The Middle Class are an actual Canadian, middle-class mother and son and not professional models, says the Québec City photographer who sold the image to Finance Canada. The department halted its use of paid models after MPs protested the spiraling cost of budget artwork: "Putting faces on the budget cover is a great idea."
The Department of Foreign Affairs in an internal contracting review acknowledges it skirted disclosure rules, breached the Canada Labour Code and repaid suppliers twice for the same work. Misconduct was uncovered by auditors reviewing $740 million in contracts: "Global Affairs Canada does not have effective controls."
The Department of Public Safety in an Access To Information memo says it remains convinced lawyers are susceptible to money-laundering and should be watched. The memo was written months after the Federation of Law Societies told a parliamentary committee that self-regulation has worked: 'They have specialized knowledge and expertise.'
The Federal Court in one of its first rulings in a wave of asylum claims by illegal immigrants has ordered a Haitian-American family out of the country. A judge ruled the family had no claim of hardship, and only entered Canada for “better health care”.
The Commons ethics committee by a 5 to 4 vote yesterday rejected hearings on the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. political scandal. The vote by the panel’s Liberal majority followed a March 20 decision by MPs to end public hearings at the House justice committee: "You hold the majority of the votes, and we all can count."
The Department of Industry in an Access To Information memo says it was “surprised” the Senate launched public hearings on the Broadcasting Act without telling staff. Cabinet last June 5 started its own closed-door review of the CBC: "The government is pouring hundreds of millions into CBC."
Illegal cannabis use by high schoolers has grown with Parliament’s legalization of recreational marijuana for adults, says a University of Waterloo study. Researchers said the rise contradicted a steady decline in marijuana use by teenagers in previous years: "There is a type of normalization."
A federal agency today will announce another subsidy for a New Brunswick kindling factory that’s received more than $1.6 million in aid to date. The firm that sells bagged firewood has 12 employees: “Smart investments such as this one demonstrate our commitment.”
A federal labour board has upheld the firing of a human resources case officer for rudeness. Witnesses said the woman barked at coworkers, complained about Excel software and sent needlessly aggressive emails: "She did not know that using all capital letters was inappropriate."
The Department of Public Safety in an Access To Information report proposes that Parliament limit the amount of cash Canadians can carry. Staff also suggested a new federal registry of businesses dealing in large volumes of cash as a crime prevention measure: "Large denominations are especially an issue."
Cabinet will not meet an MPs’ deadline for quick action on dealing with gross mismanagement by federal executives. Public Works Minister Carla Qualtrough in a letter to the Commons public accounts committee said work is incomplete: "The Titanic was heading for an iceberg; anyone would have said, 'Oh my God.'"
The Competition Bureau is expanding a probe of sales practices in home water heater rentals. The investigation has been ongoing since 2012. The Bureau in Federal Court asked that Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. disclose contracts and fees: "We don’t think people should be locked into rental agreements."
Foreign Affairs is the only federal department to buy a Huawei internet plan, accounts show. Staff did not explain the purchase dating from 2016, prior to the Vancouver arrest of a Huawei executive that led to Canadians’ detention in China and a billion-dollar trade dispute: "The Chinese government arrests people to use as bargaining chips."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “Changes are coming to Ontario’s autism program. Families will get $20,000 a year…”
Canadians don’t think of themselves as some of the most liberal people on earth, but we’re pretty close: gay marriage, nude theatre, cuss words in Parliament, no social aristocracy of any kind, and every liquor store has an ample parking lot.
When former Attorney General Vic Toews left his wife to take up with a younger woman he not only escaped shunning – Toews was appointed a judge – his friends said they were shocked, shocked anyone dare read Toews’ divorce papers, though they are public documents. This does not happen in America.
