MPs have given the Canada Border Services Agency a June 30 deadline to comply with a critical audit. The Commons public accounts committee says it wants answers on management deficiencies including an obsolete computer system: “We’re actually going to check”.
Extreme drunk drivers would face more severe penalties under a Conservative bill introduced in the Commons. It is the second private bill on impaired driving introduced in the past five months: “These people need to be taken off the road”.
Employers are pressing for details of a proposed hire-an-immigrant system intended to match skilled foreign employees with unfilled Canadian jobs. The Expression of Interest program is to launch next winter though questions remain: “There’s a sense of urgency”.
The Department of Fisheries is monitoring the reopening of an Atlantic fishery amid concerns for the salmon population: “Those species have been living together for centuries”.
A lone Conservative MP joined Opposition members in supporting a failed anti-corruption bill affecting mining and energy companies. MP Stephen Woodworth said the bill was worthwhile even if the rest of his Conservative colleagues opposed it: “I don’t see any reason to wait on a government bill”.
CBC supporters are accused of deflecting blame for the network’s troubles on federal lawmakers. The advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting in a fundraising letter accused cabinet of scheming to “kill” the Crown broadcaster as CBC management announced hundreds of job cuts: “Shameful”.
A new bill would veto CPP payments for reasons unrelated to an applicant’s qualifications. A Conservative MP proposed to deny CPP death benefits to claimants who kill their benefactors. The bill follows years of study by regulators: “I don’t think this is very controversial”.
Media should get their facts straight on climate change, says a former Environment Canada official. Dr. Gordon McBean told reporters that newsrooms must focus on decades of scientific research confirming global warming: “There is no question”.
Parliament has failed to budget anywhere near the actual cost of cleaning up contaminated industrial and military sites, a federal report shows. The Budget Office said environmental damage from Yukon to Labrador will reach $3.9 billion and is growing annually: “We know that they exist”.
The Senate has passed a bill to end a 173-year tradition of publishing new regulations for public scrutiny. Critics cautioned the legislation will allow cabinet to rewrite rules without plainly disclosing their scope and impact: “This is death by a thousand cuts”.
The Commons has passed a bill that would make it easier to decertify unions at airports, railways, marine shippers and other federally-regulated workplaces: “I have to wonder about the real motivations behind it”.
MPs are appealing for an extension of the April 30 tax deadline. It follows Canada Revenue’s closure of its entire electronic filing system over security fears. Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay noted she has yet to file her own tax return: “They can’t even get that right”.
Poor ratings at CBC-TV make subsidies a hard sell, a Senate committee has been told. The remarks followed an ACTRA appeal for more CBC support: “Unfortunately ratings are the only thing that we have”.
The nation’s postmasters are questioning whether federal cuts will lead to privatization of Canada Post. The Postmasters and Assistants Association in a report noted new cuts follow little-noticed service reductions in many rural districts: “Canada Post doesn’t seem to be big on consultation”.
The federal anti-trust agency says it would consider a code of conduct on the grocery trade. The remarks by Commissioner of Competition John Pecman follow approval of billion-dollar corporate mergers in food retailing: “This requires new oversight”.
