The Canadian Revenue Agency

requested information from regular taxpayers ‘more quickly … than it did with other taxpayers, such as international and large businesses, and taxpayers with offshore transactions.’ Auditor general Michael Ferguson

Auditor general Michael Ferguson was critical of the Canada Revenue Agency in his fall report.

NEW PLANES, NO PILOTS

Canada’s $500-million purchase of used CF-18 fighter jets from Australia will be hamstrung by the ongoing problem that the Air Force does not have enough pilots to fly them or technicians to keep them in the air. The military has warned the government about this for years.

THREATS TO EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES

About half of Canada’s diplomatic corps works in places where there’s danger from terrorism, espionage or armed conflict. Spot-checks of Canada’s missions abroad found security plans lacking, from outdated or nonexistent threat assessments to missing or broken equipment.

HERITAGE BUILDINGS UNPROTECTED

Three federal bodies that are responsible for more than twothirds of our historic structures don’t have adequate plans to protect them. National Defence, Fisheries and Oceans, and Parks Canada don’t even have a handle on what buildings they own, let alone resources and strategies for conserving them.

HIGH-SPEED RURAL INTERNET IN LIMBO

Governments have talked for years about extending broadband internet to almost every inhabitant of Canada but with no budget to put behind a plan, none has ever been developed. Rural and remote areas risk being left behind by the digital economy.

PAROLEES AREN’T GETTING OUT ON PAROLE

A shortage of communitysupervision options means that federal inmates who are entitled to parole aren’t getting out because there’s nowhere approved for them to go. Sometimes the delays stretch into months.