Prime Time Crime
Canadian Elections Life in a Banana republic
OTTAWA - According to a report by the Fraser Institute, preparing and filing personal income tax returns costs Canadians between $4B and $6B every year. It costs the average Canadian tax filer approximately $215 to comply with the personal income tax system. (Financial Post) REPORT: Cost of complying
CALGARY - What is the number one business strategy when an industry can’t compete effectively in a free market? Answer: Go to the government for help. (Calgary Herald)
New funding plan: non-user fees
EDMONTON - Opposition MLAs say it's time for the government to examine some radical ways to get people to the ballot box. NDP Leader Brian Mason and Liberal MLA Kevin Taft say the province should consider fines for people who don't vote. (Edmonton Journal) RELATED: How our health-care system got so unhealthy Somehow we survived
Elections Nova Scotia has fined the governing NDP $10,000 for accepting an illegal campaign donation from a trade union, and has referred the case to police. (CBC) REPORT: Nova Scotia NDP report .pdf
OTTAWA - A federal watchdog has cleared a prominent Conservative fundraiser and senator from Quebec of conflict of interest allegations regarding an engineering contract to study replacing Montreal's Champlain Bridge. (Ottawa Citizen) Leo Housakos
OTTAWA - Since Confederation, 1,009 lawyers have sat in the House of Commons, nearly twice as many as politicians from any other profession, according to data collected by the Parliament. Fifteen of Canada's 22 prime ministers have practised law. (CP)
OTTAWA - In a significant policy shift, the Canadian government now believes that telling the country's taxpayers the future cost of the war in Afghanistan would be a threat to national security. (CanWest) MORE: DND left plans in the trash
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - It could be argued Joe Handley's greatest obstacle to winning the Western Arctic seat is the troubled Deh Cho Bridge project. Handley's signature on a concession agreement three days before the 2007 territorial election put the $165M project into motion, which has since experienced many delays and cost overruns. (Northern News Services) PREVIOUS: AG to look at bridge project Atcon admitted bridge delays before $50M bailout
OTTAWA - Privy Council officials have ended months of stonewalling and handed over documents requested by the federal information watchdog only after Information Commissioner Robert Marleau threatened to have his staff enter the Privy Council offices and seize the paperwork themselves. (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS: Information commissioner resigns
VANCOUVER - Residents of White Rock are headed back to the polls after the Supreme Court of BC declared the election of James Coleridge in last fall's municipal voting to be invalid. (CTV) MORE: Judge unseats councillor Councillor's lies make election invalid
OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada says that Ottawa illegally collected employment insurance contributions for three years under the former Liberal government (CTV) JUDGMENT: 2008 SCC 68 MORE: Government had right to spend surplus SCC sides with government Top court says Ottawa broke law in financing EI
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced 27 parliamentary secretaries - some of them rookies, others veterans. The job comes with a $15,600 a year salary increase (an MP earns $155,400 a year) and responsibility for keeping tabs on key files in committees, as well as standing in on days when a minister is absent from the Commons. (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS: 38 members to sit in cabinet Unelected, and unelectable
Youth drawn to public service, just not in government
OTTAWA - Canada's youth are as interested in saving the world and serving the "public interest" as any generation before them, but they don't connect with a slow, stodgy federal government symbolized by a "bunch of old, grey-haired white guys," says a youth culture expert. (Ottawa Citizen) MORE: 29% believe government is 'open, honest'
OTTAWA - The Federal Court ruled that the 2,000 pages of records are under the control of the Prime Minister's Office and are therefore exempt from federal access-to-information laws. (Ottawa Citizen)
Federal institutions get failing grades
OTTAWA - Canada's information watchdog criticized several federal institutions in a report released for exploiting escape clauses in the access-to-information system, which cause unnecessary delays and have a "detrimental impact" on the system. (CanWest) REPORT: Annual report 2009-2010 MORE: Agencies have encountered 'challenges' PM's office told MPs not to talk to reporters Access to information, isn't Out of time Why do governments hate democracy?
Cabinet ministers' offices regularly interfere
OTTAWA - Cabinet ministers' offices had been under orders to pressure bureaucrats to pare down the amount of information released under the Access to Information Act up until The Canadian Press recently broke the story on how one political staffer killed the release of a document, forcing the Prime Minister's Office to get involved and to do some damage control. (Hill Times) MORE: Political experience still the express lane to lobbying job 'Amoral' political aides Political staff shouldn't meddle Do the zoomer math
YELLOWKNIFE - The Northwest Territories government has a study on whether some small communities could end up using natural gas instead of diesel for power and heat - if the Mackenzie Valley pipeline goes ahead - but it's keeping that study under wraps. The government has also not yet released the name of the company that won the bid, or how much it will be paid for its work. (CBC)
OTTAWA - Daniel Côté - the senator’s aide caught cutting down trees on Lavigne’s neighbour’s Wakefield property during working hours in July 2005 - faces charges in Montreal of assault, assault with a weapon, mischief and three counts of criminal harassment. (Ottawa Citizen) PREVIOUS: Aide hired to scout property Raymond Lavigne
Investigations chief subpoenaed
Daughter says her father knew he was under RCMP lens
OTTAWA - The daughter of storied politician Tommy Douglas says her father would not have been surprised to learn the RCMP had compiled a hefty security file on him. (CP) PREVIOUS: CSIS won't open full file RCMP spied on Tommy Douglas Ottawa sued over censorship
OTTAWA - Financial statements show that spending by the Privy Council Office for the fiscal year that ended in March hit $172.5M, compared to $151.8M in fiscal 2008. (CanWest)
REGINA - The RCMP says it will conduct a criminal investigation after receiving a complaint of forgery related to some irregular NDP memberships submitted by the Dwain Lingenfelter campaign during the recent leadership race. (Regina Leader-Post) MORE: NDP membership scandal to be investigated Party report clears Lingenfelter
Appointment system will be good for us
OTTAWA - The federal cabinet filled more than a half-dozen posts at key government boards last month with Conservative supporters, including one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's closest friends. The high-level appointments were among more than 30 plums cabinet handed out in one day at the height of internal Tory strife and speculation that Harper's leadership might be in trouble. (CP) MORE: Lobbyists say it is a plus to meet with PM but the real work happens elsewhere Tories propose new watchdog Commissioner of lobbying
Despite the tax-cut boasts of governments, Canadian families paid 6% more on average in personal income taxes last year, which remained the single largest expense for families, even ahead of keeping a roof over their heads. (CanWest) REPORT: Survey of household spending 2007 Tax breaks inconsistent
VICTORIA - That seems to be the position that BC municipalities and staff in the provincial Community Development Ministry take regarding the Local Government Act and its provisions dealing with groups that either act like civic parties or try to influence elections by endorsing and advertising on behalf of candidates. (Vancouver Sun) Ending the Gong show
OTTAWA - According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s calculations, the country's 65 defeated or retiring MPs of all political stripes will collect $52.4 million in cumulative pension payments, which kick in at 55 and run until 75 years old. In addition, $2.3 million in severance cheques will be issued to MPs who were in Ottawa for less than six years or who are under 55. (CanWest) Preliminary Results 59.1% voter turnout Results, ridings & candidates
HALIFAX - Fewer than four out of 10 eligible voters cast a ballot in the Halifax municipal election, with some people blaming the low turnout on voter fatigue. (CBC)
OTTAWA - Ian Brodie has been named a senior counsellor at Hill & Knowlton Canada, a renowned firm that provides government-relations and communications advice to a range of blue-chip corporate clients, including BCE Inc., General Dynamics, Rio Tinto and Scotiabank. (Ottawa Citizen) PREVIOUS: Hard times
OTTAWA - "I failed." With those words, Stéphane Dion gave up the Liberal leadership, a prize hard-won less than two years ago and lost in the wake of the worst election results for the party in 20 years. (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS: Nice guys don't last in politics Preliminary Results 59.1% voter turnout Results, ridings & candidates
Envelopes with cash violate ethics rules
OTTAWA - Justice Jeffrey Oliphant has found former prime minister Brian Mulroney breached federal ethics guidelines in his once-secret business dealings with German-Canadian lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber. (CanWest)
You would hope our top public official was worth more than $225K
$14M+ inquiry finds conduct 'inappropriate'
Recommendations don't go far enough
'Inappropriate' does not begin to describe what went on here
Nothing ‘sinister’ about cash stuffed envelopes
Why did Mulroney take the cash?
Tax deal standard practice in 2000
OTTAWA - Some of Canada’s most-respected public policy experts say it is time to rein in the hundreds of assistants to cabinet ministers who roam Parliament Hill with no training and no accountability to anyone but their political bosses. In late 2008, there were more than 600 ministerial aides working for the Prime Minister’s Office, ministers and secretaries of state. (Ottawa Citizen)
Political staff aren't really running amok
McGuinty refuses to close partisan loophole
Political staff shouldn't meddle
What public function does Parliament serve?
Cyber trails make it harder for politicians to escape scandal
Only a third politically involved
One in three Canadians is politically involved outside the voting booth, according to a Statistics Canada report released Tuesday that indicates education level and parental example are among the biggest influences on such behaviour. (CanWest)
Parties should play down partisanship
Alienated from the political process
OTTAWA - As thousands of Canadians protest Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to suspend Parliament, a new report says people are feeling increasingly alienated from the political process and its institutions.
5 more Senate lottery winners appointed
Prorogation's wasted on those who need it
Parliament makes Canada unstable
Crocodile tears for the 'dignity' of Parliament
OTTAWA - Canada's new procurement watchdog says the federal government should close loopholes that allowed more than $1.7B to be handed out over three years to preferred suppliers without competition. (Ottawa Citizen)
Lax on 'sole-source' contracts
Verner invokes obscure parliamentary privilege
OTTAWA - Heritage Minister Josee Verner is invoking obscure 18th-century British parliamentary privilege in a bid to avoid testifying in a case that has pitted her husband and his Quebec City advertising company against a minority shareholder. (CanWest)
Elections Canada to investigate
OTTAWA - Canada's chief electoral officer has been asked to investigate a series of radio ads, funded by an Alberta-based global warming skeptics group, which targeted key markets in vote-rich Ontario during the 2006 federal election. (CanWest) PREVIOUS: Friends of Science Source Watch: Friends of Science Source Watch category: Canada
OTTAWA - The 3,664 lobbyists duly registered, as required by law, to try to influence the federal government are hardly a model of professional solidarity. (Macleans)
Canada's sorry state of affairs
OTTAWA - Somewhere in the political maze that is Ottawa, there is a door with a sign that says, Community Historical Recognition Program. It leads to a small office where politicians decide to whom and how to say, sorry. (Asian Pacific Post)
Take the cloak off MPs' expenses
OTTAWA - Members of Parliament budgeted themselves nearly $128M last year, courtesy of the taxpayer, to run their offices and keep in touch with constituents. That's the big picture. But when it comes to the details, we're in the dark. Even the auditor general isn't allowed to probe Canadian MPs' expenses without first getting their approval. (Toronto Star)
Canadians can learn from UK scandal
Canadian left in dark about MPs' spending
Expense scandal can't happen in Ottawa
Access should include Parliament records
House to post MPs' voting records
MPs less experienced, less educated
Administrators feel the power
OTTAWA - For Export Development Canada (EDC) and its 1,073 employees, the new role of recession fighter is as new as it is for two sister agencies, the Business Development Bank (BDB) and Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp (CMHC). (Globe & Mail)
OTTAWA - Wajid Khan, a former Liberal who crossed the floor to the Conservatives earlier this year, was charged with exceeding his campaign expense limit by $30,000 under the Elections Canada Act, according to Dan Brien, spokesman for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. (CanWest) MORE: Khan 'stepping aside' from party caucus
OTTAWA - Federal, provincial and territorial governments have spent nearly $70 billion more than they budgeted for over the past decade, suggesting a lack of accountability to voters about budget promises, an economic think-tank said. (CanWest) REPORT: Off the Mark: Canada’s 2008 Fiscal Accountability Ranking .pdf
OTTAWA - The Canada Border Services Agency lacks an adequate "risk-management framework" for assessing threats at Canada's borders, despite investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new technology, the auditor general has found. The audit found "no overall co-ordination for risk management." (Citizen)
2007 fall reports of the Auditor General
New NORAD Operations Centre has been compromised
Security rules ignored in sensitive contracts
Clock ticking on chances to lobby
OTTAWA - On July 1, the Federal Lobbying Act will impose a five-year prohibition on senior public office holders, barring them from entering the lucrative world of government arm-twisting. (National Post)
Ka-ching! Another city can tax
MONTREAL - The city of Montreal is getting new powers to levy taxes on items and services ranging from restaurant bills to movie and theatre tickets to parking lots and even bridges. (Montreal Gazette)
MONTREAL - With the country awash in calls for an arm's length probe into a variety of brewing scandals, questions are being raised about the efficacy of public inquiries. (CP)
7 tricks a con-artist will use on you
Public inquiries coming back into fashion
Canada's help a flop, audit says
Ottawa aid officials pulled the plug on the flawed effort run by Vancouver's Institute for Media Policy and Civil Society, but not before almost $3 million was spent, says the document obtained under Access to Information law. (Toronto Star)
OTTAWA - The law requiring rolling information blackouts across the country on election night is almost unenforceable and may have to be changed, a senior Conservative said after the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the statute. (Toronto Star)
OTTAWA - The "vast majority" of 109 transportation contracts worth almost $100 million were awarded by National Defence without proper authority and documentation over the past two fiscal years, according to an internal audit. (Ottawa Citizen) Audit: 26,000 at DND lack security clearance
Big bucks cut off mayors' strategy
OTTAWA - Even before Canada's big-city mayors gather today to press the federal government for a long-term, ongoing, sustainable national transportation strategy, the Stephen Harper government has responded with a NO. (Toronto Star) MORE: Cities to Ottawa: We need $2B for transit
Some MPs reject auditor general's plan to audit Hill
OTTAWA - Auditor General Sheila Fraser is proposing the first audit of Parliament in 15 years but resistance is already building among MPs over the access Fraser, who audits the entire government for Parliament, should have to their own spending details. (CanWest) RELATED: Phoney scare tactics Ministers have right to know who asks for info Entitled to their entitlements: Senators want more
LONDON, Ont. - Elections Canada has identified more than 90,000 dead people on municipal voters' lists in Ontario, Sun Media has learned. But many months after the dead were identified by Elections Canada, they remain on the lists thanks to privacy laws and red tape. (Sun Media) PREVIOUS: Red tape denies baby Sonja her brief life Privacy law keeps dead on voters list Multiple voter cards raise concerns about fraud
Chuck Cadman's former financial advisor says the late Independent MP was in good financial shape and would not have been tempted by a $1M life insurance policy allegedly offered by the Conservative Party in exchange for a vote. (Ottawa Citizen)
Harper says he authorized an offer to Cadman
Judge orders analysis of Cadman tape
Crucial date pulled from Cadman book
Swipe at Tory polling practices
OTTAWA - An investigation commissioned by the Harper government into polling contracts issued by past Liberal governments has shown the current Conservative government itself performs an "astounding" number of public-opinion research projects. (Ottawa Citizen)
Tory failure to disclose donations
Probe into Liberal polling dings Tories instead
Public opinion: Annual report 2006-2007
Tories to probe polling practices
Auditor General 2005: Quality & reporting of surveys
Auditor General 2003: Management of public opinion research
Conservatives faked delegate donations
Lifting the veil on a bogus issue
OTTAWA - The newly amended Canada Elections Act does not require voters to show photo ID. Nor does it require anyone - Muslim or non-Muslim, male or female - to show their faces to returning officers. (Edmonton Journal)
Chief interpreter' can't even interpret laws
TORONTO - Ontario will not be shut out from receiving equalization payments next year, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty confirmed Monday prior to meeting with his provincial counterparts. (CTV)
Ontario qualifies for equalization payments
Ontario expecting little help from feds
Fiscal year ending March 31, 2008
Boom puts have-not provinces on top
Politics and morals, ends and means
Premiers eye Alberta's massive surplus
Ontario releases 2006 public sector salaries
Ontario public sector salary disclosure 2007
Hamilton: Who made what in 2006
Ontario MPPs get 2% raise on top of 25%
Where does the shoe pinch most in Canada
Canada bleeding competitive edge away
Public Accounts of Canada for 2006
Feds losing millions to theft, fraud
Satire: The Social Insurance Credit Card
Canadian consumer Tax Index: 2007
Housing affordability weakening in Canada
Federalism really is dysfunctional
Report claims equalization's illegal
Questioning the legality of Equalization
Equalization consensus remains elusive
McGuinty blasted for nixing equalizations
OTTAWA - The House of Commons passed on Friday the Conservatives’ much-touted Federal Accountability Act. The Tories promised during the last election to bring ethics and accountability to Ottawa, and the bill was the first piece of legislation introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. (CanWest)
2006 Report of the Auditor General of Canada
AG touts strong leaders over whistleblower law
Too much spending at control of Cabinet, PMO
Liberals dispute columnist's claim that Sikh and Muslim MPs conspired to weaken Act
National security vs. Liberal ethno politics
Accountability bill full of new places to hide
Info czar slams Harper on access
Exemptions from Accountability Act
Watchdog criticizes proposed appointments
The Whistleblowers Bill and FAIR
Tories start draining the subsidy swamp
Tories want to create 'integrity commissioner'
A loophole opens door to big-money
Lobbyists against Federal Accountability Act
Tories' untendered contract draws fire
Liberal cleanup had little effect
Federal Accountability Act and Action Plan
Canada's money trees: 93% of forest owned by governments
Greasing the skids of entitlement culture
VANCOUVER - Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer is being investigated by the BC Law Society over allegations she bilked a religious order she represented as a lawyer. (Toronto Star)
Appointed senate delays final vote
Politics more important than product safety
Senate guts product safety bill
Senator's conduct to be reviewed over legal bill
Law society opens investigation
Harper's senators and MLAs' lost minds
Senate lottery winners appointed
Ontario to get 21 more seats in Parliament
Harper anoints ‘elected’ senator
Senator faces criminal charges
Senate Liberals accused of delaying ethics bill
Tory baby steps in Senate reform
Tories introduce bills on Senate
Start Senate overhaul by autumn
Senators keen to get on TV despite jokes
Senate subcommittee on population health
$4M to send bureaucrats on field trips
Liberal senator wins 'Teddy' award
PM demands Senate reform, 'not a report'
Harper lays out his vision for the Senate
GG designate denies separatist list
The democratic deficit marches on
Senators grill colleagues over Dubai trip
Senate committee OKs luxury hotel stay
Appointed Senators in spin control
Document senators warned against trip
Senators blasted for expensive Dubai junket
Conservatives pull plug on Unity Council
OTTAWA - The Harper government is scrapping funding for the Canadian Unity Council, effectively shutting down the Montreal-based agency founded to promote federalism. (Montreal Gazette)
New book investigates shadowy federalist group; Pettigrew named
Liberals under fire; aide's role questioned
Secret to 1995 federal grant lay by dumpster
Shadowy group sought $10M from feds
Edmonton city hall grabs tax refunds
Cut to GST will be only gas taxes relief
Judges, lawyers happy with status quo
Key Liberal slams Martin government
Firearms Centre pays for report that has nothing to do with registry
Charest government on defensive over debt
Political system faces 'meltdown'
Liberals reward: "Relocation Services"?
Hill is alive with the sound of lobbyists
Liberals spent $5B on wrong aircraft
Feds struggle to keep income tax cuts
Three decades later, government still flawed
Time to hold government accountable
Pay hike for gov't officials more
Minister has 'zero' accountability
Opposition to Gomery's proposals
RCMP demotes officer over political bid
Volpe bills taxpayers $7,000 for 31 meals
Why Toronto is Liberal bedrock
Trust in governments, corporations and global institutions continues to decline
MONTREAL - A Quebec court has ruled in favour of former Via Rail chair Jean Pelletier in his wrongful dismissal suit and ordered Ottawa and the Crown corporation to pay more than $335,000 for lost salary and damage to his reputation. (CBC)
Court orders feds, VIA to pay Pelletier
Failed Liberal candidate given federal job
Pelletier files legal motion to block VIA firing
304 top political aides eased into PS jobs
Grits go on patronage spree ahead of election
Liberals accused of campaign payroll grab
David Smith lies to the Ethics Commissioner
Union drops plan to pay candidates
VICTORIA - In 2007, a three-person panel selected by the premier reviewed MLA compensation. (CTF)
Appointment threatens WorkSafeNB
Former MLAs entitled to millions in benefits
MLA salary May 2009 .pdf
EDMONTON - Election turnout Monday was an 41.3%, another record low for the bustling province - and a Canadian worst. (Edmonton Journal)
An alternative to 'first-past-the-post
Cabinet will set reform question
Ontario to vote on voter reform
Voters to decide how to pick MPPs
The generation of entitled to their entitlements
The fix is in on electoral reform
Voting reform would cost extra millions
Reform's on the ballot: now if only they cared
Why electoral reform won't work
Panel picks radical voting changes for Ontario
BC electoral referendum delayed to 2009
BC Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform