⚡ Rubbish Plan
- Twelve of 18 mayors in the Pontiac have voted to give $120,000 to Deloitte to create a waste-to-energy incineration. The plan envisions a $450 million plant that would burn garbage to create electricity. The plant would need 400,000 tons of garbage per year. The Pontiac region currently produces about 5,000 tons annually. The region says that it will ask areas like Pembroke, Renfrew County, and Ottawa for their garbage. Ottawa just approved paying $8 million per year to ship its garbage to a private landfill. (Dylan Dyson at CTV)
⚕️ Federal Public Employees
- The new extended health care package for Federal employees is going so poorly that a Parliamentary committee is looking into the fiasco. The standing committee on government operations and estimates is looking into how the change to Canada Life Assurance Company last July for 1.7 million public employees and retirees has gone so wrong. (CBC)
Some examples from only this week: - Public employees complain that they have been waiting months for reimbursements. (Catherine Morrison in the Ottawa Citizen)
- A public service employee with gastroparesis – which paralyzes the intestines and requires her to survive on formula through a tube – has had her post Canada Life claims denied as not covered. (Kimberley Molina at CBC)
- After a child was brain damaged after nearly drowning, items that were formerly covered by her parent’s previous insurer like feeding equipment, a wheelchair, a medical bed, and an airlift are being denied by Canada Life. (Kimberley Molina at CBC)
💸 Lansdowne 1.0
- New calculations show that the payout to the City for the first Lansdowne deal will be reduced by a further $55.4 million. The deal, which lasts until 2052 was originally expected to pay the City $544.7 million but after yearly losses it is now down to $270.6 million. (Arthur White-Crummey at CBC)