Ottawa school board passes sweeping changes
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustees voted 9 to 3 to approve French immersion and English in most schools. As the CBC's Natalia Goodwin reports, alternative schools were not saved.
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Vancouver Sun
34 minutes ago
- Vancouver Sun
Feds awarded ArriveCan firm nearly $100 million in contracts, despite issues: AG report
OTTAWA – Another report, this time from Auditor General Karen Hogan, blames the federal government for repeatedly violating procurement policies by awarding dozens of contracts to the IT company that built the ArriveCan application. The auditor general found that 31 federal organizations issued 106 contracts worth approximately $92.7 million to GCStrategies from April 2015 to March 2024. About $64.5 million was ultimately paid out by the government according to the report. Over that period, the Canadian Border Services Agency gave four contracts worth $49.9 million to GC Strategies, while the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation gave one contract worth nearly $12,000. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. But Hogan also found that in 54 per cent of contracts examined, federal organizations had evidence to show that all services and deliverables were received and in 46 per cent of contracts examined, they had little to no evidence that deliverables were received. 'Despite this, federal government officials consistently authorized payments,' reads the report. The AG underlined that federal government officials are required to certify that all services and deliverables in the contract were received prior to release of payment to a contractor. Evidently, it was not always the case. 'There are no recommendations in this report because I don't believe the government needs more procurement rules,' said Hogan on Tuesday. 'Rather, federal organizations need to make sure that the rules that exist are understood and followed,' she added. Moreover, about a fifth of the contracts the auditor examined showed a lack of documentation on file that showed valid security clearances for contract resources. Hogan noted that organizations 'frequently disregarded government policies in this area.' For instance, it included not having records showing who performed the work, if they had the required experience and qualifications, and what work was completed. Federal organizations are required to monitor the work performed by contractors. GCStrategies is an Ottawa-based staffing company in the information technology that provided the feds with 'services that included technology support.' However, the contractor that received about a third of ArriveCan funding was found to be a two-person shop. Their work with the feds led to 'multiple' RCMP investigations last year , and an exceptional reprimand from the speaker of the House of Commons when the company's co-founder Kristian Firth became the second private citizen and first in 111 years to be called on the floor of the House. He had to go through this extraordinary procedure because he had previously failed to answer questions on his role in the ArriveCan debacle. ArriveCan was the mobile app the federal government required returning travellers to use at points during the COVID-19 pandemic to monitor COVID testing, quarantine plans and vaccine status. Hogan had previously found costs for the app had ballooned to roughly $60 million and that the app's development showed 'a glaring disregard for basic management and contracting practices.' Last year, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) suspended the security clearance of GCStrategies. This suspension prohibited the company from participating in all federal procurements with security requirements, and existing contracts were cancelled. Then last Friday, PSPC announced that 'the company is ineligible from entering into contracts or real property agreements with the Government of Canada for seven years.' According to the AG, no new contracts were awarded to GCStrategies in the last fiscal year. More to come… National Post atrepanier@ Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what's really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers Sign up here. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here .
CTV News
36 minutes ago
- CTV News
Ottawa Catholic School Board eyes $16 million in new expenditures as OCDSB looks for $20 million in cuts
Math will be on the agenda tonight for Ottawa's two largest school boards, as the 2025-26 budgets are presented to trustees. While trustees at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board have been told they will need to find $20 million in savings to balance the books, the Ottawa Catholic School Board's budget for the new school year will include $16.8 million in 'new permanent and one-time enhancements' using operating surpluses and reserves. A report for the Ottawa Catholic School Board meeting shows the board will receive $797.8 million in grants and operating revenues for the 2025-26 school year, and the preliminary expenditures are $786.6 million. Staff recommend the board add another $10.5 million in permanent expenses to the 2025-26 budget using the grant and operating revenues, and $6.3 million in one-time expenditures using the accumulated surplus. The $16.8 million in additional spending includes $9 million for staffing salaries and $4.3 million in enhancements. According to the report, the $4.3 million in new 'non-salary expenditures' includes $375,000 for AI softwares, $500,000 for school budget increases to address inflationary budgets, $500,000 in one-time cash to support school initiatives, $500,0000 for furniture and equipment, and $500,000 to refresh sports and arts equipment in schools. The board will use its accumulated surplus to fund $2 million in investments in skills trades initiatives, a $2 million investment in inclusion and well-being through the Lens of Deep Learning and $1 million for play structure renewal. Staff say the board 'enjoys a healthy balance,' and there is 'sufficient' funding to fund 'valuable system needs.' The Ottawa Catholic School Board budget calls for 5,606 staff members, including 4,559 teachers, in 2025, up from 5,339 employees in 2024. Ottawa-Carleton District School Board The draft budget for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) will be tabled tonight, with trustees warned they need to find $20 million in savings to balance the books. Trustees have already approved a plan to cut more than 150 teaching and administrative positions. Staff have said the OCDSB is facing multi-million-dollar cost pressures, including $20 million to support the maintenance of underutilized schools, $16.8 million to cover costs for replacing staff and $12 million in inflation pressures. The Ministry of Education is investigating the OCDSB's finances.
CBC
42 minutes ago
- CBC
Asked about the U.S., Supreme Court of Canada chief justice says rule of law is 'under attack' worldwide
Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's contentious relationship with parts of the American judiciary, Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Richard Wagner said Tuesday "the rule of law and judicial independence is under attack" around the world. Speaking to reporters at his annual news conference on Parliament Hill, Wagner said if a government attacks the media, judges, lawyers and universities — as Trump and his associates have done in recent weeks — there's a good chance it's "a dictatorship" and an "autocratic government." Wagner said Canadians must be "prudent" and preserve their institutions, including a judicial system where rulings are respected by elected officials. "We have to be careful, but be optimistic as well. "In Canada we have a strong legal system," he said. "We have to defend those institutions. We should not take anything for granted." Wagner said, throughout his cross-country travels, "everybody asks me the same question" about whether what's going on in the U.S. courts system will bleed over into Canada. What's different in Canada, Wagner said, is that the "main stakeholders" here "respect separation of powers and judicial independence and are happy to live in a country where the rule of law will prevail." "Canada is not a superpower. But it is a democratic superpower. In this country, the rule of law is non-negotiable," he said. In his second term as president, Trump is pushing an ambitious but constitutionally dubious agenda that has been held back by some judicial rulings. The president has slammed some judges on social media — complaining about a "radicalized and incompetent court system" in one recent post — and threatened others with impeachment or removal from office. When one federal judge ordered a temporary halt to the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members, Trump said it was the actions of a "radical left lunatic of a judge, a troublemaker and agitator" who should be off the bench. In hundreds of cases before the U.S. court system, judges have delayed or stymied his efforts to close some federal agencies, pursue mass layoffs of federal workers, block foreign aid, end birthright citizenship for people born on American soil, deport undocumented migrants and slap tariffs on countries such as Canada. After the U.S. Court of International Trade struck down parts of Trump's tariffs regime, saying the president overstepped his constitutional authority by imposing sweeping levies on global goods, one of his top advisors, Stephen Miller, said, "The judicial coup is out of control." Trump has had some legal victories, especially at the U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three justices appointed by him. Late last month, the top court let Trump's administration revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants living in the United States, bolstering the Republican president's drive to step up deportations. A Trump official said that ruling was "a victory for the American people."
