Government Archives - Page 6 of 14

Uber hack: NDP requests formal investigation into breach

November 23, 2017

The NDP is calling on Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien to open a formal investigation after the ride-hailing service Uber admitted earlier this week it covered up a hack that compromised the personal information of 57 million users and drivers last year.

A spokesperson for Therrien told Global News on Wednesday it asked Uber to explain how the hack happened and how many Canadians are affected but that the company told them it “was not able to confirm the number of impacted Canadian customers.”

Kolga: Canada has passed the Sergei Magnitsky law against human rights abusers. Now let’s use it

October 30, 2017

In late October, Parliament passed an innovative and historic piece of human rights legislation known as “The Sergei Magnitsky Law.” Once implemented, it will allow the government to place targeted sanctions against global human rights abusers, by freezing their Canadian assets and banning their entry into this country.

Vladimir Putin’s regime has predictably expressed its disproportionate outrage, which should not discourage the prime minister or his government from fully implementing the sanctions that this law enables. The legislation only targets individuals who engage and profit from the abuse of human rights. Those who observe and respect them have no reason to fear Canada’s Magnitsky Law.

Investigators devised sting operation to arrest Quebec MNA, Radio-Canada says

October 26, 2017

Quebec’s anti-corruption unit (UPAC) used a text message to trick a sitting MNA into a situation that led to his arrest, according to Radio-Canada sources.

Guy Ouellette was arrested Wednesday in connection with UPAC raids but has not been charged. He has since temporarily resigned from the Liberal Party caucus.

The Sûreté du Québec officer-turned-politician is considered to be a suspect in an investigation into information leaks, Radio-Canada says.

It’s believed someone disclosed information to the media about a confidential UPAC investigation into Liberal Party financing, an investigation that involved former premier Jean Charest and former party fundraiser Marc Bibeau.

Canada fiscal update: Morneau eager to shift focus away from small business tax fracas, personal finances

October 24, 2017

The Canadian government will unveil a budget update widely expected to show shrinking short-term deficits, as Finance Minister Bill Morneau looks to turn the page on questions about his own finances.

Morneau will deliver his Fall Economic Statement at about 4 p.m. Tuesday in Ottawa. The midyear update to the March budget will reflect the improving picture for government finances, driven by surprisingly strong growth. Over the past four quarters, the economy expanded by an average 3.7 percent, the best performance in a decade.

That will have an impact on the government’s bottom line. The budget forecast a shortfall of $28.5 billion for 2017-18. CIBC World Markets Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal expects it instead to come in between $15 billion and $16 billion, including the so-called budgeted risk adjustment.

Reevely: Hiding billions in hydro debt ‘unacceptable,’ Ontario’s auditor general says

October 17, 2017

Hiding billions of dollars the Ontario government is borrowing to lower electricity bills for a few years will cost hydro users an extra $4 billion, the province’s auditor general reported Tuesday morning.

Maybe worse, Bonnie Lysyk said in a special report on the Liberals’ “Fair Hydro Plan,” the tricks the government is using throw doubt on all the province’s books. The government, citizens, auditors and giant institutions that lend the province money are pretty much operating in a post-truth universe, where what the Liberals say is going on with Ontario’s finances has begun to drift from any previously understood shared reality.

Government promises tighter rules after company accused of diverting $2.6M meant for First Nation

October 16, 2017

The federal government is promising to tighten qualifications and improve monitoring of companies managing the finances of struggling First Nations following allegations an Ontario company misappropriated millions of dollars in health-care funds.

Crupi Consulting is alleged to have diverted a total of $2.6 million in government transfers intended for the Kashechewan First Nation, an isolated reserve in Ontario’s far north. The company’s former treasurer, Joe Crupi, is facing eight fraud-related criminal charges concerning his handling of $1.2 million earmarked for an elementary school breakfast program, including an allegation he spent $700,000 for his own personal use.

Tax reforms will put the brakes on economic growth

October 5, 2017

Instead of clamping down on the entrepreneurs who drive Canada’s economy, the federal government needs to back off on all taxation.

The federal government is determined to eliminate the perceived income tax benefit provided to people who incorporate. The argument is that those who incorporate get an unfair benefit at the expense of Canadians who file tax returns as individuals, usually as employees.

The Finance Department proposes to eliminate exclusions and oddities so that incorporated professionals, farmers and entrepreneurs pay more tax and at rates comparable to employed individuals.

Russia threatens Canada with retaliation as bill targeting human rights abusers nears passage

October 3, 2017

A bill now before the House of Commons that targets foreign citizens deemed to be guilty of human rights abuses is a “deplorably confrontational act” which “will be met with resolve and reciprocal countermeasures,” the Russian Embassy in Ottawa warned Tuesday.

Bill S-226 moved to third reading on Monday. It would give the federal cabinet the power to forbid the Canadian business dealings, or dealings with Canadians abroad, of foreign nationals who are “responsible for, or complicit in, extrajudicial killings, torture or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”

Government added privacy protections to MyDemocracy.ca contract only after privacy commissioner began investigation: documents

September 5, 2017

When the Liberal government launched its MyDemocracy.ca website last December, the online survey — part of an ultimately fruitless public consultation process on electoral reform — was ridiculed. It also raised concerns about privacy.

Why, observers wondered, did a survey asking people’s opinion about our “democratic values” — though not which voting system we should have — need to know a respondent’s postal code? Their occupation? Their household income?

Immigration Canada ‘breaking the law,’ when denying some disabled applicants, say legal experts

August 29, 2017

Families looking to become Canadian permanent residents are being unfairly rejected by immigration officials, say legal experts, and in some cases the federal government may be breaking the law.

The consequence can be devastating for families trying to move to Canada.

The issue involves the government’s failure to provide specific cost estimates in “procedural fairness letters” given to people who could be denied due to so-called “medical inadmissibility.”