Pay and benefits averaged more than $143,000 per federal employee last year, the Budget Office said yesterday. It was “historically high,” wrote analysts: "An employee can have seven levels of management above them." READ MORE
Air Refugee Claims Fall 73%
Refugee claims by travelers passing through Canadian airports fell 73 percent after cabinet reintroduced a Mexican visa requirement, records show. Inland claims also declined as cabinet cut foreign study permits at colleges and universities: "Ineligibility measures are about protecting the asylum system." READ MORE
Feds Pulled 4,100 Pot Licenses
Federal regulators have suspended thousands of marijuana distributors’ licenses “for reasons of public health and public safety” including illegal diversion of cannabis into the black market, says a Department of Health memo. It follows widespread bankruptcies in the marijuana trade: "Health Canada has refused or revoked over 4,100 registrations." READ MORE
Rewrites Broken 2% Promise
Canadians will be expected to make sacrifices to build up national defence, Prime Minister Mark Carney said yesterday. Carney reiterated a pledge he reneged on last year to spend 2 percent of GDP on military preparedness: "Can you outline what sacrifices?" READ MORE
Challenges Driver Age Tests
The Alberta Human Rights Tribunal will allow a hearing on whether mandatory medical tests for older drivers are discriminatory. The case involved an octogenarian motorist who complained he had to pay out of pocket for needless exams: "He has no medical issues." READ MORE
A Million Cheques Uncashed
Federal agencies last year mailed more than a million government cheques that were never cashed, records show. Payments totaling $609.4 million ranged from Old Age Security to unclaimed carbon rebates: "How many cheques?" READ MORE
Can’t Run Without Suppliers
The Department of National Defence in three years spent nearly $300 million hiring transport contractors due to its inadequate vehicle fleet, say auditors. A total 203 separate contracts were approved: "Armed Forces transport capability cannot satisfy the transportation requirements." READ MORE
Guest Commentary
I will never forget the 1993 campaign. It was electric. There was a cry for change and tempers ran high. I got into a fight with one voter on his own front porch. And I learned never to campaign in bars. Alcohol brings out cynicism in the electorate. When we almost killed the Conservative Party, the hunger for change was genuine. We won 2,559,245 votes from Canadians who sought to reform forever the way Ottawa worked. It’s a shame we failed to do it. There’s a proverb that reform movements are like bees: They sting and then they die.
