Hello,
An internal review of federal contracting has found nearly $5-million in fraudulent billing by three private subcontractors, prompting the government to refer the cases to the RCMP.
The government has also announced a new Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance and tightened conflict-of-interest rules for public servants.
The fraudulent billing was uncovered through a mix of tips and advanced data analytics, the government said, adding that today’s announcement is the first wave of what is expected to be a series of discoveries related to fraudulent billing cases.
Officials said the review also found that between 2018 and 2022, three IT subcontractors fraudulently billed on contract work with 36 separate government departments and Crown Corporations.
Full story here by Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Bill Curry and Parliamentary Reporter Kristy Kirkup.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you're reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY'S HEADLINES
Bank of Canada sees conditions for rate cuts this year, according to deliberation summary: The summary of discussions ahead of the latest rate decision also finds some disagreement among members of the bank’s governing council on the likely timeline for proceeding.
Motion on Israel-Hamas war will have consequences for asylum seekers in Gaza, Miller says: Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the amended motion could make it harder for people seeking asylum in Canada to get out of Gaza.
Fired Winnipeg scientists use pseudonyms in China as RCMP probe continues: Canadian citizens Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng, who were escorted out of the Level 4 biosafety lab in Winnipeg in 2019, are working in China and at times are using aliases. Story here.
Presentation of Newfoundland and Labrador budget postponed after protest: Premier Andrew Furey, responding to the demonstration about the province’s fishery being over-regulated, said today the budget will be presented once it’s safe for staff to enter the provincial legislature, adding that he hoped that would be Thursday.
On Brian Mulroney’s birthday, members of the public continue to pay their respects: Members of the former prime minister’s family were in a ballroom across the street from Parliament Hill today for a second day to receive condolences from visitors. Today would have been Mulroney’s 85th birthday. He died on Feb. 29. Story here.
Globe journalists Robert Fife, Steven Chase win Canadian Hillman Prize: Fife and Chase won in the print/digital category for their work exposing political interference by China in Canadian elections.
Ugandan, Ghanaian LGBTQ+ activists urge Ottawa to step up action against homophobic laws: Activists are urging the federal government to push back more over homophobic legislation in Uganda and Ghana.
Plans for Ontario legislature renovations delayed, minister says: Work to renovate Ontario’s legislature is still in relatively early planning stages, but it has already seen “a touch” of a delay, the minister in charge of the $1-billion-plus undertaking says in a CBC report.
TODAY’S POLITICAL QUOTES
“Today I am announcing that if Trudeau does not declare today an end to his forthcoming tax increases on food, gas and heat that we will introduce a motion of non-confidence in the prime ministry.” - Pierre Poilievre, in a speech to caucus today about the scheduled federal increase in carbon pricing.
“On the La Presse caricature, it is unacceptable to bring back antisemitic tropes and allusions like that. It is distasteful and exactly the wrong thing to do particularly in these times. It is a good thing that it was pulled. It is a good thing they have apologized, but it never should have happened in the first place.” - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, arriving for Question Period, speaks today on a cartoon in La Presse that, the CBC reports, has been taken off the publication’s website.
“I believe that artists have kind of a privilege. They go much further than we might like it. I am not in favour of the message of this cartoon, but I am not in favour of calling cartoonists and saying, `Oh. This is wrong.’ I am not in favour of politicians doing that. If I thought it was OK to say things against cartoonists, I might have made a few phone calls in the last years.” - Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet on the La Presse cartoon.
“Nobody likes me” - Liberal MP John MacKay, explaining today that he did not have a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly on an NDP motion on the Israel-Hamas war.
THIS AND THAT
Today in the Commons: Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, March 20, accessible here.
Deputy Prime Minister’s day: Private meetings in Ottawa, and Chrystia Freeland also attended the Liberal caucus meeting.
Greek prime minister visits: Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Greece, will visit Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto this week. The Globe’s Eric Reguly interviews Mitsotakis ahead of his visit.
Commons committee highlights: Defence Minister Bill Blair and Caroline Xavier, who is the chief of the Communications Security Establishment, are scheduled to appear before the national defence committee on supplementary estimates, the formal process in which Parliament approves government spending. Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Treasury Board President Anita Anand were scheduled to appear before the government operations committee on supplementary estimates. Immigration Minister Marc Miller was scheduled, later this afternoon, to appear before the immigration committee for a briefing on the temporary immigration measures initiated because of continuing conflicts in Sudan and Gaza.
Senate committee highlights: Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne was scheduled to appear before the banking committee as it studies Bill C-34 on amending the Investment Canada Act. Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath is among the witnesses appearing before the transport committee as they study the impact of climate change on critical infrastructure in the transportation and communications sectors. United Nations Ambassador Bob Rae was scheduled to appear before the foreign-affairs committee during their study of foreign relations and international trade.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Justin Trudeau participated virtually in the Summit for Democracy 2024, where he delivered remarks and promised more than $30-million for new projects to strengthen democracy in Canada and elsewhere. Later he attended the caucus meeting and Question Period.
LEADERS
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a news conference on Parliament Hill ahead of Question Period.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre invited the media to attend a speech he delivered to the Conservative caucus meeting.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May participated in the House of Commons sitting.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, attended the NDP caucus meeting and participated in Question Period.
THE DECIBEL
On today’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, justice writer Sean Fine explains the details of the case of a man who was recently granted full parole after being jailed for murdering the parents of a former NHL goalie. The Decibel is here.
BOOKS
Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Four finalists have been named for the prize, awarded annually for an exceptional book of literary non-fiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers. The winner, announced May 7, will receive $25,000. The nominees are:
Not Here: Why American Democracy is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself, by Rob Goodman. (Simon and Schuster).
Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial, by Benjamin Perrin. (Aevo UTP)
Canada: Beyond Grudges, Grievances and Disunity by Donald J. Savoie. (McGill-Queen’s University Press.)
The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, by Astra Taylor. (House of Anansi Press.)
Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast by John Vaillant. (Knopf Canada)
New Trudeau book on the way: Veteran Parliament Hill journalist Stephen Maher says he has a new history of Justin Trudeau’s government coming out on May 28. The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau is described by publisher Simon and Schuster as the story of the government’s triumphs and failures based on interviews with Trudeau and more than 200 insiders.
TRIBUTE
Yves Michaud: The fiery Quebec nationalist whose eclectic career included being a journalist, a politician, a diplomat, a wine merchant and a shareholders’ rights activist died Tuesday, aged 94.
Roy McMurtry: Steve Paikin of TVO remembers McMurtry, one of only two Ontarians who served as both attorney general and chief justice of the province’s highest court.
OPINION
The federal budget has been too late for too long
“This is more than a plea for organization for the sake of being organized (though that would be a plus). The drift of federal budgets into March, and now past the start of the fiscal year, undermines the ability of parliamentarians, and Canadians, to scrutinize the government and hold it to account. And it’s part of a pattern of the Liberals’ cavalier attitude toward the role of Parliament in controlling the nation’s purse strings – the reason for Parliament existing in the first place.” - The Globe and Mail Editorial Board.
The Supreme Court of Canada went viral for what it didn’t say about ‘a woman’
“The outrage spread quickly. Why would the Supreme Court of Canada rule that the word “woman” is confusing – and that the phrase “person with a vagina” should be used instead? It wouldn’t, of course. It didn’t. Still the outrage spread. The idea that the Supreme Court would issue a decision that advocates replacing the word “woman” was widely ridiculed. It is ridiculous – so ridiculous you’d think the outraged people would check to see if it happened.” - Campbell Clark.
On the carbon tax, the opposition’s cynicism neatly coincides with the public’s
“As the carbon-tax death march staggers forward – the Liberals under Justin Trudeau pressing grimly on, while swarms of premiers peck out their eyes – it falls to a wayward journalist to muse: what if? What if the Liberals had taken direct responsibility for the carbon tax from the start, instead of wasting years trying to inveigle the provinces into imposing it for them? What if they’d implemented it as advertised – as a replacement for a slew of costly, ineffective regulatory and subsidy schemes, rather than a supplement?” - Andrew Coyne.
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Ian Bailey