Canadian Government Archives - Page 3 of 4

Government wants to tax your internet

June 15, 2017

OTTAWA — A parliamentary committee studying Canada’s slumping media industry will reportedly call for a five per cent tax on broadband Internet services to boost a sector struggling to adapt to technological changes and evolving consumer habits.

The Globe and Mail, citing Liberal and opposition sources, says the new levy is at the core of a majority report of the Canadian Heritage Committee to be released today.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the report is not yet public. The tax would be on top of sales taxes you already pay.

Let’s tackle Canada’s terror funding problem

June 11, 2017

There’s one big “root cause” of terrorism that doesn’t get as much attention as it should in Canada. That’s money.

As we embark on another round of conversations about tackling extremism and terrorism in the West – tragically spurred by a series of attacks on the occasion of Ramadan – we have to look at all the options on the table.

Some cynics and liberal naysayers will tell you there’s nothing much that can be done. We just have to learn to live with the occasional terror attack as the new normal. That’s nonsense.

Lack of whistleblower protection has Canadian government missing out on billions

June 5, 2017

One of the leading experts on whistleblower protection law in the United States says that Canada’s “backwards” regulations may be allowing “corruption to flourish” and is causing the government to miss out on “billions of dollars in compensation.”

Stephen Kohn is a Washington, D.C.-based attorney and author of nearly a dozen books on whistle-blowing, including the upcoming “The New Whistleblower’s Handbook.”

Kohn says there is a dearth of protections for workers who put their jobs and reputations on the line to reveal misconduct.

As it stands, Ontario is the only province with a paid whistleblower program. In successful cases, it offers individuals between five and 15 per cent of sanctions, or up to $5 million, for information that led to a prosecution.

Crackdown on government abuse worth the cost

June 5, 2017

FRAUD, abuse and errors in government programs had a cost of $136.7 billion in 2015, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In a nation where $2.8 trillion in annual assistance is paid out, that 95.6 percent accuracy rate is not good enough.

A crackdown is long overdue, and some states are showing how to address the problem.

Canada on Track to Collect $9.6 Billion in Offshore Tax Evasion Cases

June 2, 2017

The Canadian government is revamping its advance income tax rulings process and restricting access to its voluntary disclosures program to better address tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, the country’s national revenue minister said.

Improvements to the Canada Revenue Agency’s audit process for multinational and large businesses, together with funding commitments of more than C$1 billion ($740 million) to fight tax evasion, are expected to help recover more than C$13 billion in taxes owing in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2017, National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier said June 1.

Chinese lawsuit alleges multi-million dollar Canadian immigration scam

May 26, 2017

A case of alleged immigration fraud is now headed to the Yukon Territory Supreme Court in Whitehorse.

The plaintiffs are Chinese companies, Ningbo Zhelun Overseas Immigration Service Co. Ltd., and Mega International Labour and Immigration Services Inc. (Mega)

Eleven defendants are named including USA-Canada International Investment Inc. (UCII), Tzuchun (Joyce) Chang, Yukon Resources Investment Inc., and the Elite Hotel and Travel Ltd.

It’s not a carbon tax, it’s a ‘behaviour-changing measure’: government officials

May 18, 2017

The Liberal government today released the carbon-pricing scheme it will impose on any province or territory that, by spring 2018, doesn’t have its own comparable scheme in place.

As of today, 97 per cent of Canadians live in provinces that either already have a price on carbon pollution, or are planning and working toward it, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said Thursday.

The three per cent of Canadians left out of that equation are in Saskatchewan – the one province that continues to hold out on signing on to the Trudeau government’s climate change plan.

Don’t be duped by Trudeau’s carbon pricing plan

May 18, 2017

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon pricing plan released Thursday by Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna is a political fraud.

It will not achieve the government’s promised industrial greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2020 or 2030.

It will increase the cost of living for Canadians, adding hundreds of dollars to their annual household bills, year after year.

The plan says that by 2022, we will be paying an estimated 11.6 cents more per litre of gas alone, solely due to carbon pricing.

Canada’s border stations letting vehicles through without required inspections, audit shows

May 16, 2017

Canadian border officers have been allowing people into the country at land crossings without conducting the necessary checks, the auditor general has revealed.

Auditors reviewed a sample of 19 million vehicles that entered Canada over a 12-month period and found anomalies in 511,000 cases.

When auditors drilled down to a small 66-vehicle sample, they found 38 cases where border officers didn’t scan or manually enter information from traveller documents.

Auditors figure two per cent of those 19 million vehicles didn’t go through the required inspections.

“Since each vehicle could contain more than one individual, this meant that more than 300,000 individuals likely entered the country without a full inspection,” the audit says.

Bullying, harassment thrive at RCMP, watchdog says in calling for major reforms

May 15, 2017

Bullying and harassment remain serious problems within the RCMP and only major changes to the way the police force is run will make a difference, says a national watchdog.

In a report Monday, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP said the force lacks both the will and the capacity to address the challenges that afflict its workplaces.

The commission urged the government to usher in civilian governance or oversight for the paramilitary-style police force.

A second federal report released Monday, a review by former auditor general Sheila Fraser of four harassment lawsuits from female members, also called for substantial reforms.