Ethics commissioner says Flaherty broke rules with radio licence letter

By The Canadian Press - Friday, January 18, 2013 at 10:04 AM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – The federal ethics commissioner says Finance Minister Jim Flaherty broke the rules by supporting the radio licence application of a company in his riding.

Mary Dawson has ordered Flaherty to refrain from writing such letters without first seeking permission from her office.

Flaherty and the Prime Minister’s Office had argued that the veteran cabinet member was merely helping a firm in his riding, as any MP should, by sending the letter of support for Durham Radio Inc. to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

In her order made public Friday, Dawson said Flaherty violated the Conflict of Interest Act as well as federal accountability guidelines for ministers.

“It is improper for you, as Minister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Greater Toronto Area, to have written a letter of support on behalf of a constituent to an administrative tribunal in relation to its decision making,” Dawson wrote in the order. Continue…

Flaherty: No consensus, but ‘modest’ CPP expansion possible

By The Canadian Press - Monday, December 17, 2012 at 4:26 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – There still isn’t enough support from the provinces to expand the Canada Pension Plan, but Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says there’s hope of “a way forward” provided the economy continues to grow.

Flaherty, who spent the day meeting with his provincial counterparts, says they agreed to establish a set of economic “triggers” based on GDP and job growth that would allow the pension plan to expand without endangering the economy.

“There’s no consensus on CPP expansion at this time,” Flaherty said. Continue…

Ottawa hikes contribution limit on tax-free savings accounts to $5,500

By The Canadian Press - Monday, November 26, 2012 at 10:28 AM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – Ottawa says Canadians will be able to be able to contribute an additional $500 a year on their Tax Free Savings Accounts starting Jan. 1.

That means Canadians can put in $5,500 a year, with any investment income earned not subject to taxation while it remains in the TFSA.

When the TFSAs were created in 2009, the government said it would index the contribution limit to inflation in $500 increments.

The Jan. 1 increase will be the first adjustment in the contribution limit.

The government says about 8.2 million Canadians have opened a tax-free account.

It says 2.5 million Canadians contributed the maximum $5,000 amount last year.

The auditor general on cyber security, veterans and national finance

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 11:32 AM - 0 Comments

The fall report of the Auditor General has been published here. In it, he covers, among other things, cyber security, veterans and the government’s fiscal projections.

While Finance Canada prepared a draft report in 2007 on the long-term fiscal sustainability analyses that the government committed to issuing that year, the analyses were not published; nor has any report on long-term fiscal sustainability been published since then. While long-term fiscal sustainability analyses have been regularly prepared since 2010, they have not been made public. This lack of reporting means that parliamentarians and Canadians do not have all the relevant information to understand the long-term impact of budgets on the federal, provincial, and territorial governments in order to support public debate and to hold the government to account. Many of the countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) already publish reports on their long-term fiscal positions.

The CBC looks at the cyber security findings. The Canadian Press looks at veterans and savings from changes to Old Age Security.