Barely 1 in 100 Canadians surveyed are concerned with cabinet priorities on pipelines and free trade, according to government data. Research commissioned by the Department of Natural Resources showed Canadians are more likely to care about corruption, Senate abolition and the environment: “There was little or no awareness”.
A constituency poll by a cabinet minister confirms widespread resistance to any new tax to fund the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The survey results were reported amid new CRTC research showing record numbers of viewers are quitting network TV, period: “Change is upon us”.
Cabinet must show vigorous leadership in adapting to climate change and the risk of extreme weather, says a former federal environment commissioner. Scott Vaughan told an Ottawa climate conference the need was dramatized by disastrous 2013 flooding in Calgary and Toronto blamed for four deaths and $7.2 billion in damage: “We need transformational thinking”.
A simple adjustment in fees at national parks may help prevent millions in environmental damage, a University of Guelph research paper proposes. Groups contacted by Blacklock’s praised the idea. Parks Canada refused an interview: “It is certainly worth testing”.
Nine-figure quarterly profits for the nation’s two largest railways are angering shippers after a winter-long wrangle over inadequate service. Both CN Rail Co. and Canadian Pacific reported gains in net revenues at the same time service complaints prompted new federal legislation: “Competition is absent”.
Canada lacks the “political will” to vigorously pursue commercial fraud, says the former counsel for a now-disbanded Bre-X class action lawsuit. The long-lived litigation over the 1997 fraud has ended after Ontario Superior Court concluded there was little money left to recover on behalf of swindled investors: “Everybody was happy to go along with it”.
Environment Canada confirms a 32-year delay in meeting its target of making the nation PCB-free.
The department yesterday declined interviews on further postponement of its deadline for elimination of electrical equipment with polychlorinated biphenyls.
Cabinet originally pledged in a 1979 Action Plan to phase out all PCB electrical transformers, circuit breakers and other equipment by 1993, then extended the deadline to 2014.
It is now postponed till 2025 for utilities and manufacturers: “People complained”.
Cabinet is rewriting Fisheries Act rules to sanction pesticides for aquaculture operators. The Department of Fisheries declined an interview on amendments that lift a federal ban on chemical use in fish habitat: “This has been a longstanding issue”.
Forty-eight municipalities have passed resolutions opposing Canada Post plans to abolish home mail delivery. The post office will eliminate doorstep service to 5 million homeowners beginning this October: “The outrage is still there”.
The nation’s first regulations on Islamic food processing are being introduced. Muslims are forecast to outnumber Anglicans within fifteen years: “All slaughtering is by knife and not automation, carried out by a practicing Muslim who says a prayer while facing East”.
Nearly ten months after the deadly Lac-Mégantic wreck, Transport Canada proposes new restrictions on tank cars involved in the fiery derailment that killed 47 people. The Minister of Transportation yesterday issued a series of orders that comply in part with recommendations from federal safety investigators: “It’s unreasonable that it took them so long”.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff are raising red flags over job assignments they say will result in weaker consumer protection. The Agriculture Union pointed to reduced monitoring of honest weights, product labeling and verification: “It’s basically a free-for-all”.
The Canada Border Services Agency says global warming will turn the Arctic into an undefended haven for smugglers. The agency in a confidential report advocated stepped-up patrols in northern Canada in anticipation of new waves of contraband including human smuggling: “Organized crime has attempted to access the Canadian Arctic”.
A federal bill extending plant breeders’ royalties grants corporations “more control over Canada’s food system”, says the United Church. In a policy statement the church condemned Bill C-18 for ratifying new international regulations protecting breeders. Canada and Italy are the only G7 countries to withhold ratification to date.
Airlines are appealing for time in complying with new standardized rules on baggage handling and check-in. The Canadian Transportation Agency ordered new regulations to take effect October 1: “This does not seem onerous”.
