Calling the government to talk about employment insurance? You’ll likely be waiting more than 10 minutes to get someone on the phone.
Data tabled in Parliament show the average wait time on Service Canada’s 1-800 line last year was 719 seconds, or about 12 minutes, for anyone seeking EI information.
So far this year, things appear to be getting better. The average wait time in April was about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, figures show that callers seeking help with Canada Pension Plan and old age security waited an average of nearly three minutes last year. As of April, however, the wait times had gone up to about four minutes, or 253 seconds.
Harper defends trade-deal efforts
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will defend its supply management system for dairy and poultry while still pursuing one of the biggest trade deals in history. He made the comments after a government spokesman denied a Globe and Mail report suggesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership could destabilize the system that governs how dairy products and poultry are sold in Canada.
“I believe these negotiations are going to establish what will become the basis of the international trading network in the Asia Pacific. It is essential in my view that Canada be part of that — that the Canadian economy be part of that,” the prime minister said Thursday. “At the same time, we are working to protect our system of supply management and our farmers in other sectors.”
Information request unanswered for six years
It’s been said the wheels of justice turn slowly, and a new look at Canada’s creaky access-to-information system appears to bear that out. According to data, Justice Canada is the federal department with the longest running, active access-to-information request: an unfulfilled inquiry that dates back more than six years.
Under the Access to Information Act passed by Parliament, departments are supposed to respond to requests for government records within 30 days, although in practice long delays have become routine. Liberal MP David McGuinty placed a question on the House of Commons order paper seeking a list of the five oldest access requests in each government department, agency and commission.
Justice Canada, with two outstanding requests from 2009, including one from Jan. 23 that year, was the lead laggard – but hardly alone in having a docket of very slow responses.
Environment Canada, Finance, Health, Public Works, Parks Canada and the Privy Council Office – the bureaucrats who support the Prime Minister’s Office and cabinet – all show active access requests dating back to 2010, more than a year before the last federal election.
A host of outstanding requests from 2011 remain scattered across an even wider array of government departments.
Wynne documentary may yet be aired
TORONTO – A documentary about Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne that was shelved amid questions about its depiction of a provincial byelection may see the light of day after all. White Pine Pictures, the production company originally tasked with producing the project for TVO, says it’s wrapping up negotiations with a broadcaster to air the hour-long film.
White Pine says it expects to air the documentary in the fall, but did not indicate which network is willing to show it. TVO backed out of the picture last month citing concerns about its “editorial integrity” and the way a heated byelection in Sudbury, Ont., was being depicted.
Provincial police are investigating allegations that two Liberals, including Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, broke bribery and corruption laws by offering a would-be candidate a job or appointment to step aside for their preferred candidate. The Liberals deny the allegations.
– The Canadian Press
