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Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

How a Clinton or Trump presidency could affect Canada

Canada’s neighbour elects a new president Tuesday with either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump to take up residence in the White House. Each are proposing different agendas for the U.S. that pose questions, opportunities and challenges to cross-border relations.

Hillary Clinton

Connections: Clinton is a known quantity to Canadian officials from her time as a U.S. senator and secretary of state, which has also given her an understanding of Canada’s role in the world, says Gordon Giffin, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada: “Sometimes there’s too much focus on what we sell back and forth across the 49th parallel and not enough attention to the fact that Canada is quite engaged with the United States all over the world on issues and principles and values that we share. And she knows all of that, so she starts from a pretty strong foundation of engagement with Canada.”

Trade: Frustrations over the long-running dispute over softwood lumber could receive a boost with Clinton in the White House, as Giffin predicts Clinton would want to resolve the years-long impasse with a long-term agreement. Clinton is also likely to look for changes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership having expressed criticisms on the campaign trail to maintain support from Bernie Sanders backers. Canada is among the countries negotiating the agreement, and could use the opportunity to find changes for Clinton that help Canada and the United States. Another trade opportunity: Changes to the cross-border labour mobility rules in the North American Free Trade Agreement that Clinton may also be open to updating.

Source: http://www.cp24.com/news/how-a-clinton-or-trump-presidency-could-affect-canada-1.3148395

Whose Canada Infrastructure Bank?

In mid-April, Bank of Canada (BOC) governor Stephen Poloz surprised many Canadians when he stated that the Federal Finance Minister “is not my boss,” while insisting that the Bank of Canada “is a fully independent policymaker.”

In reporting this, the Financial Post (April 13) also quoted a UK-based economist who said, “Technically, the bank is a Crown corporation and the shares are owned by the Minister of Finance. So as the main shareholder, it could force some decision…But in real life, central banks have fought for their independence, which is widely recognized as sound policy and means that the finance minister does not interfere in the bank’s affairs and allows the bank to be independent.” [1]

But according to members of the Toronto-based Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER), the Bank of Canada Act is clear about just who is Poloz’s “boss.” Article 14:2 of the Bank of Canada Act states that in any difference of opinion between the Governor and the Finance Minister regarding monetary policy, the Minister may “give to the Governor a written directive…and the Bank shall comply with that directive,” which would then have to be published in the Canada Gazette and presented to Parliament.

Source: http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/whose-canada-infrastructure-bank

Drug Giant Faced a Reckoning as China Took Aim at Bribery

Peter Humphrey was in the bathroom of his Shanghai apartment when the police kicked the door off its hinges and knocked him to the ground. Nearly two dozen officers stormed his home. They confiscated files, laptops and hard drives related to his work as a corporate investigator.

Mr. Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yingzeng, were taking to Building 803, a notoriously bleak criminal investigation center normally reserved for human smugglers, drug traffickers, and political activists. Sleep- deprived and hungry, he was transferred later that day to a detention house, placed in a cage and strapped to an iron chair. Outside, three officers sat on a podium and demanded answers.

Mr. Humphrey knew the reason for the harsh interrogation. He and Ms. Yu had been working for GlaxoSmithKline, the British pharmaceutical maker under investigation in China for fraud and bribery.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/02/business/international/china-rules-glaxo-bribes-sex-tape-whistleblower-cautionary-tale.html

Morneau confirms Liberals seeking to eliminate more tax credits

Finance Minister Bill Morneau is looking to eliminate more tax credits as he prepares for the 2017 budget, a move that could simplify the tax code while also raising new revenue for a cash-strapped Liberal government.

The Finance Minister made back-to-back parliamentary-committee appearances Wednesday, one day after releasing a fall fiscal update that promised increases to infrastructure spending but also forecasted larger deficits due to slower economic growth.

Tax credits – which are officially called tax expenditures but are often referred to as boutique tax cuts because they can be targeted at specific segments of the population – are worth about $100-billion a year in foregone federal revenue.

The minister appointed a panel in June to review these credits, but he had been largely non-committal as to whether he intended to take further action on this front.

However, when asked directly during an appearance Wednesday before the Senate finance committee, Mr. Morneau confirmed that more changes are coming.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/morneau-confirms-liberals-seeking-to-eliminate-more-tax-credits/article32653689/

Quebec Liberal Party fundraisers allegedly pocketed huge payouts in government real estate deals

Key fundraisers for the Quebec Liberal Party may have pocketed large sums of money through a series of real estate transactions, allegedly splitting that money with the former head of the provincial Crown corporation charged with managing those buildings, Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquête has learned.

The months-long probe by Enquête presents what a retired anti-corruption investigator believes could be the biggest case of real estate fraud involving government buildings in Quebec, and perhaps even Canadian, history.

“We’re talking about real estate fraud involving government agencies,” said Christian Plourde, a retired investigator with Quebec’s anti-corruption unit, UPAC, who supervised the investigation until last year.

The investigation dates back to 2007, when Swiss police tracked the suspicious movement of money between European banks, alerting investigators in Quebec.

UPAC has carried out a long and complex investigation since 2011.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/real-estate-quebec-fava-rondeau-fortier-bartlett-1.3833469

KPMG to look for ‘waste, inefficiency’ in Manitoba’s health-care system

The consulting firm KPMG LLP has been awarded a government contract to find ways to eliminate waste in Manitoba’s health care system and improve its efficiency and responsiveness.

The province says the government, regional health authorities, Diagnostic Services of Manitoba, Cancer Care Manitoba and the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba will be included in the Health Care Sustainability and Innovation Review.

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen says the firm will look at whether services are being provided at a reasonable cost, if they’re producing good results and if expectations are being met.

He says in a release that the review — which was promised by the Progressive Conservatives several months ago — is timely in light of pending cuts to the Canada Health Transfer.

Goertzen also wants a first ministers meeting with the prime minister to discuss what he calls a long-term, predictable and flexible funding mechanism for health care.

Source: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/kpmg-to-look-for-waste-inefficiency-in-manitobas-health-care-system/

Is the government about to make the Internet even more expensive for all Canadians?

At OpenMedia, we cover a wide range of digital rights issues, and so we’ve really seen the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly when it comes to policy proposals over the years. And this one’s a doozy: Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly is considering adding a new ISP tax to the monthly bills of Canada’s Internet subscribers.

This new tax will make Internet access even more expensive, despite the fact that Canadians already pay among the highest prices in the industrialized world for this basic necessity. Indeed, fees are already so high that 44 per cent of low-income households do not have a home Internet connection, leaving vast numbers of Canadians excluded from our digital endowment.

The ISP tax is the brainchild of Canada’s large publishers and broadcasters, who have been using government consultations about how to fund Canadian content to push their plan. In a nutshell, they want to burden Canadian Internet users with an ISP tax in order to subsidize industries that are struggling to adapt to the digital age.

If implemented, an ISP tax will have serious consequences for our digital future. Making our sky-high Internet bills even more expensive will make it even tougher for low-income Canadians to surmount barriers to access, excluding them from the benefits of the open Internet. An ISP tax will also force offline low-income Canadian households which are barely managing to afford Internet access, further exacerbating our stark digital divide.

Source: http://rabble.ca/columnists/2016/11/government-about-to-make-internet-even-more-expensive-all-canadians

Legal marijuana could raise federal cash — but not right away, PBO says

While Canadians are expected to spend billions on legal marijuana, governments won’t see a huge boost in tax revenues right out of the gate, warns Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).

In a report released today studying the fiscal considerations of legalizing marijuana, Jean-Denis Fréchette suggests initial revenue for governments from taxation could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, rather than billions.

But as the market matures, those revenues are likely to grow, according to the analysis. Fréchette expects production costs for the industry will decline and suggests governments could collect a portion of the cost savings.

There are many variables that affect revenue projections, from quantity consumed to price and competition from legal and illicit markets. The report estimates sales tax revenues could be $618 million at the outset of legalization, but that number will grow.

“As the legal cannabis market matures, the potential for government to capture fiscal revenues will grow,” it reads.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marijuana-parliamentary-budget-officer-revenues-1.3830593

Detroit Home Health Owner To Serve 30 Years for $33 Million Scam

The owner of four Detroit area-based home health companies was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for a $33 million Medicare fraud scheme he played a role in.

Zafar Mehmood, owner of Access Care Home Care Inc., Patient Care Home Care Inc., Hands on Healing Home Care Inc. and All State Home Care Inc., was involved in a Medicare scam that took place from 2006 through 2011, according to the Department of Justice.

Mehmood was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, four counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, two counts of money laundering and two counts of obstruction of justice, court documents show.

Through this scheme, Mehmood obtained patients by paying cash kickbacks to recruiters, who then paid cash to patients to convince them to sign up for home health care with Mehmood’s companies. Mehmood also paid kickbacks to physicians to refer patients to his companies for unnecessary home health care services, the evidence in court showed.

Along with co-conspirators, Mehmood falsified records to make it appear that patients were qualified to receive certain services that Medicare paid over $33 million for during the six years the conspiracy took place.

Source: http://homehealthcarenews.com/2016/10/detroit-home-health-owner-to-serve-30-years-for-33-million-scam/

Jacques Corriveau found guilty on 3 fraud-related charges in Liberal sponsorship scandal

More than 10 years after being described as the “central figure” in an elaborate and lucrative sponsorship kickback scheme, a man once close to ex-prime minister Jean Chretien was convicted on three fraud-related charges.

A jury found Jacques Corriveau, 83, guilty on Tuesday after a trial in which the Crown alleged he pocketed $6.5 million by using his firm to defraud Ottawa in contracts awarded during the sponsorship program.

Crown prosecutor Jacques Dagenais suggested the prospects of recovering the entire sum from the former federal Liberal organizer are slim.

“Less than $1 million, excluding his residence, has been found,” Dagenais told reporters after the guilty verdicts were handed down.

Both the money and the home will be the subject of confiscation requests when sentencing arguments take place, he added.

The crimes occurred during the sponsorship program, which was intended to increase the federal government’s presence in Quebec after the No side’s slim victory in the 1995 sovereignty referendum.

Source: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/11/01/jacques-corriveau-found-guilty-on-3-fraud-related-charges-in-liberal-sponsorship-scandal.html