The consequences of an unaccountable government:
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday expressed irritation when asked why he reversed three years’ worth of interest rate cuts. “There’s no immediate benefit of raising interest rates,” Macklem told the Commons finance committee after Conservative and Liberal MPs alike opposed the October 28 increase: ‘Explain to small business owners why the decision was made because I’m having a hard time explaining it to them, okay?’
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Conservative MP Jamil Jivani has asked the ethics commissioner to consider the relationship between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Telesat Corporation CEO Dan Goldberg following the awarding of a $2.3-billion military satellite deal.
The letter, posted online, argues that Goldberg and Carney have a relationship dating back two decades, that has included running a marathon together in London, and more recently, Goldberg attending the swearing in of Carney's cabinet.
It says Goldberg moved to Ottawa in 2006 and soon after met Carney, who was a senior official at the Department of Finance. The two have been described as "good friends" multiple times, publicly, and neither have denied they are close personal friends.
Telesat is not listed on the prime minister's ethics screen, which includes 103 other companies.
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Nolan Quinn announced last month that he had engaged KPMG to audit the sector following concerns about rising usage in the Ontario Student Assistance Program. Preliminary findings from that audit alarmed the government enough to refer the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police.
But Quinn does not intend to make those findings public, he said.
“Ultimately, we want to keep ensuring that the confidentiality of that audit is taking place, but we will act accordingly with the results of that audit,” Quinn said after question period.
A spokesperson for Quinn later said that they will “consider” releasing information from the audit if it doesn’t compromise a potential police investigation, a potential future auditor general investigation, “or the ministry’s efforts to obtain evidence, recover funds and hold bad actors accountable.”
(Sidebar: so, never.)
Quinn has previously said that the preliminary findings include concerns about “common ownership, the involvement of immigration services firms and co-location between private career colleges and immigration recruitment or immigration services firms, inadequate student validation and verification of course enrolment and outcomes, and unusually high concentrations of OSAP applications submitted from the same geographic locations.”
Career Colleges Ontario has been warning the government for years about OSAP activity at a small number of schools.
Ministry documents filed in court about two schools show the government has received tips alleging that recruiters are applying for OSAP on students’ behalf, and that thousands of applications came from a single IP address. The schools have denied allegations of wrongdoing.
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