Canada Revenue Agency managers routinely gathered to watch daytime television during office hours and were never required to account for the time, according to testimony at a federal labour board hearing. Blacklock's Reporter says sports events, especially hockey and soccer, were favourites.The revelation came during a complaint hearing involving a $71,000-a-year officer who faced a one-day suspension after setting up an antenna so staff could watch a World Cup soccer game. While management claimed he violated the agency’s Code Of Integrity And Professional Conduct, the suspension was overturned after evidence showed that watching sports in the boardroom was common practice — even encouraged by senior officials..One CRA manager testified that televisions were often set up during major sporting events, including Olympic hockey, and that both employees and managers were free to drop in to watch. The practice, she said, was openly sanctioned at headquarters.The case resurfaced questions raised in 2013 when MPs discovered the CRA had spent $439,000 on new televisions, the second-largest expense of its kind among federal departments outside of the CBC. At the time, then-NDP MP Charlie Angus blasted the purchase, saying Canadians were being shortchanged while bureaucrats enjoyed taxpayer-funded perks.“The government tells Canadians the cupboard is bare, yet we see enormous amounts of spending inside the bureaucracy that never makes it to front-line services,” Angus said.
