Government underspent on war graves

OTTAWA - Veterans Affairs spent millions less than it budgeted for maintaining war graves last year in cemeteries like those in Italy visited recently by Julian Fantino, a report reveals.

The departmental performance review of the memorial and cemetery maintenance program shows just 2,500 of 7,000 grave markers were properly maintained last year.

Fantino, the Veterans Affairs minister, is under fire for attending Second World War commemorations in Italy last week while controversy raged in Ottawa about his department's treatment of veterans seeking mental health benefits.

RCMP Failed To Track Internal Misconduct For Years

The head of the RCMP admitted that Canada’s national police force neglected to keep tabs on hundreds of cases of serious misconduct committed by Mounties across the country for years.

Commissioner Bob Paulson acknowledged that an access to information request by CBC News inadvertently revealed that not even senior leaders in the RCMP could say with confidence whether incidents of misconduct that include assaults, impaired driving, and fraud were a problem in the force.

XL Foods takes 'full responsibility' for meat recalled for E. coli

XL Foods Inc. says it is taking full responsibility and pledged to regain the trust of consumers as a massive recall of meat intensified today.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz repeated that the Alberta company's plant, where the E. coli contimination occured, won't reopen until he and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are assured it is safe.

The company issued a statement Thursday following further grilling of Ritz in the House of Commons by opposition MPs who accused the agriculture minister of withholding information from consumers.

Questions grow over why Ottawa didn’t act as fast as U.S. on unfit meat

The Alberta beef packer at the centre of a massive recall is taking full responsibility for the tainted product, as questions mount over why Canadian officials let the company’s plant operate for two weeks after the U.S. deemed the meat unfit to cross the border.

XL Foods, which has been relatively quiet amid the E. coli outbreak, issued a statement on Thursday that stopped short of an apology. The company acknowledged its food-safety practices were “not enough” and said it would work with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to strengthen them.

Ottawa picks up only fraction of G20 tab sought by Toronto businesses

The federal government is paying out less than $2-million in compensation to Toronto businesses affected by the 2010 G20 meetings, a fraction of the $11-million requested.

Normal business life in downtown Toronto essentially shut down during the summit as protesters moved in to fill the largely deserted streets. Some protesters vandalized storefronts, leaving owners to ask Ottawa for compensation.

New statistics tabled in Parliament this week reveal that Ottawa received 367 claims for compensation, totalling $11-million. However only 149 claims have been paid, for a total of $1.9-million. A total of 166 claims were rejected.

A further 47 claims have been deemed eligible, but have not been paid yet because the claimants have not signed a required waiver. The government’s guidelines for compensation indicate that recipients of federal compensation must sign a waiver “releasing the Government of Canada from any liability in relation to the implementation of the Extraordinary Security Measures.”

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Source: Globe&Mail 

On World Suicide Prevention Day, Inuit leaders talk about the lack of support

Inuit and non-Inuit alike marked World Suicide Prevention Day on Parliament Hill on Sept. 9 with an urgent message to government to take action against the crisis facing Inuit communities, where the suicide rate is 11 times higher than that in the rest of Canada.

The major message was that a lack of support services in the north is leading to a huge number of Inuit, especially youth, taking their own lives. This marks the 5th year in a row that this day has been marked on the Hill by Inuit looking to draw attention to the decimation taking place in their communities.

Mary Simon, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), one of the six national Inuit or Aboriginal organizations putting on the event, talked of her personal experience with her niece's suicide in March this year, and how these suicides affect everyone due to the small size and close-knit nature of Inuit communities.

She also focused on the need to implement mental health support in their communities: "It's a day where we recognize suicide prevention. So typically I would come here ... and encourage people to get more involved, sort of the pro-forma type of speech. But today, I wanted to speak about how I felt about it, as an individual and as a leader that's been dealing with mental health issues since I became president of ITK and trying to increase the support that people need in the north to address their issues."