A new slate of pandemic support programs is provided for in government bill C-2, introduced Nov. 24 in the House of Commons by Finance Minister and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland. More targetted that the government’s initial round, which cost $289 billion to the end of last month, the new initiatives, which Freeland said should be “the final pivot” in the COVID-19 campaign, are estimated to cost $7.4 billion by early May. [node:read-more:link]
Nineteen months after launching an inquiry into thousands of complaints from airline passengers claiming they were wrongly denied compensation for delayed flights, the Canadian Transportation Agency has bounced the issue back to the airlines. The inquiry focused on 567 of thousands of complaints but the CTA now says the carriers should reconsider their initial responses. [node:read-more:link]
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada says that an undetermined amount of pandemic economic support funds evidently was diverted by organized crime. FINTRAC says that in the early stages of the CERB, criminal organizations had filed multiple applications with stolen identifies and in at least one case used social media to recruit persons to cash the benefit cheques. [node:read-more:link]
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has flatly dismissed the possibility of reinstating a rebate program for buyers of electric vehicles that the previous government had implemented. “I'm not going to give rebates to guys that are buying $100,000 cars — millionaires," he said even though his own government is counting on rising EV sales to help curb emissions and other provinces’ have rebate programs. [node:read-more:link]
Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Minister Carla Qualtrough saays that while details of the proposed Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit are still being ironed out, it would apply only to applicants whose workplace is subject to a complete provincial or territorial lockdown. She also said it applies to workers who are ineligible for Employment Insurance or those who are eligible but not for the same period [node:read-more:link]
A House of Commons committee is suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic has disclosed flaws in the unemployment insurance system, saying in a June 17 report that EI “no longer reflects the realities of today's labour market.” The committee chairman says that when the pandemic erupted, “the system didn't have a chance of covering off the people that were thrown out of work through no fault of their own.” [node:read-more:link]
Facebook has ended nearly three years of legal wrangling over its use of facial recognition software by settling out of court for $550 million. Plaintiffs, citing an Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, argued that they had not given “explicit consent” for Facebook to collect their personal data. [node:read-more:link]
The huge numbers of employees working from home due to COVID-19 concerns, away from their employers’ IT resources, evidently are being targeted anew by fraudsters. False messages about employment insurance claims or from bogus health-related companies and government agencies are being used to steal personal data or to spread malware. [node:read-more:link]
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit is being extended yet again in preparation for the transfer of most CERB claimants onto a revamped Employment Insurance program, beginning 27 September. Three new temporary benefits are also being established, including a form of paid sick leave, and the total projected cost of the revised program over the next year is at least $37 billion. [node:read-more:link]
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit is being extended yet again in preparation for the transfer of most CERB claimants onto a revamped Employment Insurance program, beginning 27 September. Three new temporary benefits are also being established, including a form of paid sick leave, and the total projected cost of the revised program over the next year is at least $37 billion. [node:read-more:link]
Finance Minister Bill Morneau has announced that he would table the minority Liberal government’s first budget on Monday 30 March. [node:read-more:link]
A quorum of approximately 30 Members of Parliament are being back to the House of Commons 24 March for a brief sitting to adopt a package of emergency measures designed to address the economic impact of COVID-19. [node:read-more:link]
Military spouses and common-law partners are the focus of a Department of National Defence initiative designed to open up opportunities for employment in the federal public service overall. The new initiative builds on an existing platform designed to identify openings within DND. [node:read-more:link]
The Canada Revenue Agency has been reporting more than 600,000 Canadian bank accounts to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in each of the last two years despite the fact that they fall below the mandatory reporting level of US$50,000. The reporting system is designed to address tax evasion. [node:read-more:link]
The Bank of Canada opted today to keep its benchmark interest rate at the record-low 0.25 per cent which has prevailed since March 2020. It explained that the COVID-19 response “continues to require extraordinary monetary policy support” and that the rate is unlikely to change until possibly the latter half of 2022. [node:read-more:link]
