Private pension plans must budget for longer-living beneficiaries, says the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. The association said increased contribution rates for younger workers appear inevitable as seniors enjoy long, long retirements: “This will drive the cost of pensions”.
Health Canada is inching toward curbs on antibiotics in the food chain. It follows warnings from physicians that long-term misapplication of drugs to spur growth in livestock will have far-reaching effects on Canadians’ medical care: ‘These are fundamental life-saving tools’.
Tax Court has upheld a Canada Revenue curb on employees’ claims of travel expenses for work purposes. The judgment follows the defeat of a bill in the Commons that would allow employees to deduct travel costs: “Modern workforce reality causes frequent changes”.
The Supreme Court will rule on whether motorists in a civil class-action lawsuit can bolster their case with federal evidence from a criminal gas-gouging probe. Consumers seek access to Competition Bureau wiretaps used to pursue criminal complaints against fuel retailers: “These are highly private communications”.
Canada more than quadrupled its imports of shark fins as Parliament prepared to vote on whether to ban the delicacies, newly-released data show. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it is still considering restrictions on fins: “We are contributing to the demise of sharks”.
Canadians typically pay more than $1,000 a year for health care on top of tax-supported medicare and public insurance, according to Statistics Canada. The federal agency estimated out-of-pocket costs increased 2.9 percent annually: “Do I expect the trend to continue? Absolutely”.
The last remnants of the Kyoto Protocol have dimmed in a federal tribunal ruling. The judgment came in a dispute between defunct CO2 exchanges. Canadian investors had established private carbon markets in anticipation of a boom in cap-and-trade swaps in the 2000s: ‘There was no evidence of actual trades’.
The Supreme Court is due to hear a last appeal in a landmark thirteen-year legal battle over federal powers to search lawyers’ files. Accounts obtained by Blacklock’s indicate the litigation cost taxpayers $3 million to date: “Whether it’s time well spent is another question”.
Cabinet will permit unrestricted oil tanker traffic through the “critical habitat” of Pacific humpback whales with revisions to its Species At Risk Act. The habit includes shipping lanes targeted by the proposed Enbridge Inc. Northern Gateway Pipeline: “They want to get the show on the road with Enbridge”.
Veterans Affairs Canada is being cited by a labour adjudicator after docking an employee’s pay for time missed due to a volcano. The Public Service Labour Relations Board ruled the department’s action was “unreasonable”.
The Canada Border Services Agency promises honest reporting of wait times under its latest attempt to avert travelers’ delays. The agency previously admitted to under-reporting wait times through guesswork: “I assumed this was already taking place”.
Cabinet should order the routine release of most government data for public scrutiny, says an MP. Complaints over concealment of federal documents were up 9 percent last year: ‘We need to look at the law’.
It starts in telemarketing.
Computers with human-like capabilities
make automated calls to customers,
deliver messages with precise intonation,
use voice recognition to engage in a dialogue.
People can’t always tell
whether they’re talking with a person
or a machine.
It ain’t stopping there.
A day will come
when these devices
will control our governments,
lead our nation.
They will make decisions about natural resources
while turning a blind eye
to the fragility of the environment,
the needs of indigenous communities.
They will close libraries and let go of scientists,
downplaying the value of research, knowledge, data.
They will stand up in the House of Commons
to deliver prescribed answers
with little relevancy to the issue at hand;
then sit, smile,
accept the cheer of their caucus
with a nod of approval,
wait for the next question
to come from the other robot
right across the aisle.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
The Commons will debate a private bill proclaiming a National Garden Day each and every June.
The legislation would celebrate home and commercial horticulture across Canada, including one Prairie City where the growing season lasts just eight weeks: “Nearly everybody loves flowers. It makes people feel good.”
Transport Canada is being taken to Federal Court over its refusal to divulge even basic information about the country’s no-fly list. The department was cited for concealing records by the Office of the Information Commissioner: ‘You are denied on the basis of nothing that you can know about’.
