A B.C. group has lost a legal battle to overturn a Department of Fisheries policy attributed to “political lobbying”. The Federal Court of Appeal ruled a former fisheries minister was entitled to reject his own department’s advice under “political pressure” even if the decision broke precedent: “See the results of mixing fisheries management with politics”.
A Federal Court ruling is lifting a corner on confidential safety assessments by transport companies. A judge says Canadians may use Access to Information to obtain details of regulators’ views and opinions on company Safety Management Systems, though the systems themselves remain privileged: “Even we can’t see them”.
America must know it is “wrong-headed” in a lengthy dispute now before the World Trade Organization, says Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. He proposed Mexico follow a Canadian lead in drafting a blacklist of U.S. goods to face retaliatory duties in a dispute over meat labeling: ‘Spell it out’.
More cuts will leave hockey-less CBC a Toronto broadcaster with little distinctive national primetime programming, says an advocacy group. The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting said it learned from sources CBC executives will approve new regional cutbacks at a board meeting June 17: ‘It’s nothing short of breathtaking’.
A federal judge has thrown out the latest lawsuit by owners of Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge. Canada is subsidizing construction of a new public span to bypass the private toll bridge: “It is not unusual for them to go to court”.
Cabinet will approve subsidies for softball diamonds but is stripping environmental criteria from a grant program, documents show. The first infrastructure renewal contracts signed with provinces under Gas Tax Fund transfers remove all reference to environmental sustainability that had been central to the program a decade ago: “It doesn’t make much sense”.
Health Canada is ordering that all mechanically-tenderized beef be plainly labeled, along with mandatory cooking instructions, effective August 21. The change follows the nation’s biggest beef recall: “Canada had to do this anyway”.
Federal regulators face an “acid test” of whether Canadian royalties are competitive enough to justify expansion of internet radio services, says a copyright attorney. The Copyright Board after six years of study and review fixed royalty fees owed by internet webcasters to artists and record companies: “The rates are pretty low”.
Health Canada is detailing safety guidelines for cellphone use six weeks after a scientific panel discounted claims that radiofrequency levels pose a public risk. The limits mirror guidelines in the U.S., Japan and European Union: “The amount of worry that is being created doesn’t seem to be in line with the potential hazard”.
Finance Canada should top a 24% hike in tobacco taxes with new curbs on the sale of loose tobacco to the black market, says the Canadian Cancer Society. Cabinet in its 2014 budget increased the excise duty on cigarettes for the first time in twelve years: “Price is a huge predictor of tobacco use”.
Private owners of Canada’s biggest subsidized toll bridge will double their money after recovering all costs of construction this year, accounts show. The P.E.I. Confederation Bridge took in $96 million in tolls and subsidies last year under a Transport Canada contract: “Why wouldn’t the government just operate it themselves?”
Effluent from pulp mills is affecting reproductive organs in fish species, confirms Environment Canada. The federal survey of downstream impacts followed 1992 regulations requiring frequent monitoring of mill pollution: ‘What exactly is in the mill effluent?’
The Supreme Court is declining to hear a last appeal from investors of a charity scheme who were promised tax receipts financed by turnaround interest-free loans: “Canada Revenue Agency was extremely motivated to push this case forward”.
Cabinet killed Hockey Night In Canada at the CBC, claims a New Democrat MP. Legislators debating broadcast policy at the Commons heritage committee heard conflicting versions of the network’s loss of NHL broadcast revenues after a sixty-year monopoly: “I think it’s a management issue”.
Railways face six-figure fines for safety violations under a new Transport Canada schedule. The violations under the Railway Safety Act range from noise complaints to falsifying safety records: ‘It has the potential to be extremely damaging in the next election’.
