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By: Staff Writer

Posted: 10/12/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

StatsCan chops surveys

OTTAWA -- Statistics Canada, already reeling from the long-form census debacle, is chopping at least five surveys after being ordered to find $7 million in savings.

The beleaguered agency plans to drop a pair of environmental surveys, a health report and two sets of business statistics, along with other measures to meet budgetary demands from the Conservative government.

"If we keep going down this path ... we are at serious risk of eroding the quality of our statistics to unacceptable levels," Munir Sheikh, then chief statistician, warned in a May 31 letter to Treasury Board weeks before he quit his post over the long-form census controversy. The letter, along with other documents outlining the StatsCan budget crunch, were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

Appointments probed

OTTAWA -- The Public Service Commission is investigating 13 appointments made by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, some involving its most senior officials.

The investigations were sparked by a 2009 audit that found serious flaws in the Ottawa-based IRB's hiring practices.

The PSC is probing whether the 13 appointments were based on merit and followed "guiding values" laid down in the Public Service Employment Act.

FAS on agenda

VANCOUVER -- Too many people who were brain damaged in the womb when their mothers drank alcohol are ending up in the justice system, and lawyers and judges say it's time to reconstruct the system.

Now, advocates are hoping the government will finally act when Justice Minister Rob Nicholson meets with provincial justice ministers this week in Vancouver.

Nicholson told a Canadian Bar Association in August that the matter is on the agenda at the meeting.

-- From the news services

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 12, 2010 A10

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