An ex-cabinet aide is being cited for breach of the Conflict Of Interest Act for accepting a job with a lobbyist. The former policy adviser was hired only days after leaving Parliament Hill by the current lobbyist for the Agricultural Institute of Canada: "For us it's a sad day".
Most Canadians still expect to retire by 65 though half now live paycheque to paycheque, according to research by the Canadian Payroll Association. Parliament in 2012 raised eligibility for Old Age Security benefits from 65 to 67: "I haven't started saving yet".
A federal commissioner is winning praise for taking the Privy Council Office to court on complaints it illegally concealed documents. The Privacy & Access Council of Canada yesterday said the Federal Court application sets an important precedent: "There needs to be a voice".
The Government of Canada will see a $4.7 billion surplus on Employment Insurance premiums by 2016, new data show. The gain is equivalent to budget surpluses claimed by cabinet: "This comes right off Canadians’ take-home pay".
Statistics Canada should undertake a first-ever national survey on piracy and counterfeiting, says a Department of Public Safety report. “There are few actual estimates of the size of these markets in Canada,” the department noted in research released through Access To Information.
A federal board that’s warned of spiralling drug prices is commissioning a survey of consumer costs in 21 countries worldwide. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board has cautioned Canadians will soon pay the second-highest drug prices outside the U.S.: "We have been creeping up".
Environmentalists are celebrating what they consider a landmark court application to force regulators to abide by laws to protect species at risk. Advocates argued the Government of Ontario failed to follow its own regulations: "This is the first time a court has said the questions we are raising are important".
Confidential memos show the RCMP urged cancellation of a small “free speech” protest on Parliament Hill though it had no evidence of any security threat. The event was cancelled by the Department of Canadian Heritage on police advice: "Is this really the society we want?"
Few Canadians can list the Canada Food Guide despite decades of promotion by the federal health department, says a new study. University of Waterloo research found fewer than 1 in 100 respondents, only 0.8 percent, correctly identified the recommended food group servings: "Is that surprising?"
Parks Canada hired pollsters to contact 274,000 Canadians to ask if they'd ever heard of – Parks Canada. The $99,100 survey followed cuts to program and maintenance budgets: "They are so far behind the 8-ball".
Unions anticipate a court hearing within nine months on challenges to Canada Labour Code amendments on health and safety. The changes were inserted in the 176th page of a 309-page omnibus budget bill passed in 2013: "It seems like a sneaky and subversive way to gut the Code".
There is no cruelty like bureaucracy. Sociologist Dr. Victor Satzewich explains why Syrian boys don’t get into Canada without ever mentioning “Syrian boys” by name. Satzewich’s first-hand account of the inner workings at the Department of Immigration is not merely timely, it is excellent.
Satzewich visited 11 Canadian visa offices abroad, interviewed 128 staff and witnessed 42 interviews with immigrants. It was unprecedented access. Points Of Entry neither condemns nor patronizes the department; it is what it is. As one officer puts it, “You could train a monkey to do it.”
Canada prides itself as generous and welcoming, to the point of misstating facts. No, we do not let in record numbers of immigrants. No, we do not accept more refugees per capita than any other country. If most refugee applicants are accepted, it’s also true 99.9 percent of the world refugees never get a chance to fill out Form 17-b. Citizenship Canada “could have written the manual on how to design a truly nameless and faceless bureaucracy,” Satzewich writes.
The RCMP spied on 1970s-era gay activists amid fears of allegations over then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s “homosexual proclivities”, say newly-obtained files. The secret police memos were released under Access To Information: “We are aware”.
A federal plan to abolish Social Insurance Number cards has prompted fears of identity fraud, according to a cabinet memo. The government in 2014 stopped issuing the plastic cards as a cost-savings measure: "It is frustrating".
The number of renters in Canada is on the rise, and so are prices. Half of households are renting in select cities, according to new national research: "Incomes are not keeping pace".
