The Bank of Canada has won a five-year court battle challenging its practices under a 1934 law. A federal judge struck down a lawsuit to force the Bank to issue interest-free municipal loans, though the provision remains on the books: ‘They make a claim of conspiracy’.
Canadians consume hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of snack foods and sugary beverages, according to figures detailed in a trademark dispute. The disclosures precede a long-awaited Senate report on obesity and processed foods: ‘Industry’s self-regulation is insufficient’.
Health Canada practices in licensing pesticides have put human health at risk, says the Commissioner for the Environment. Julie Gelfand yesterday said regulators have been too slow in assessing the safety of farm chemicals already approved for sale: “There is risk to human health”.
The heritage department should recast plans for Canada’s 150th anniversary after marking French colonial conquest of First Nations as a milestone in Indigenous history, says a Liberal MP. A department guide rated Samuel de Champlain’s travels among the Huron as an Aboriginal achievement: “Indigenous history started when Champlain showed up”.
The Department of Citizenship has successfully challenged an immigration board ruling that white South Africans be granted refugee status in Canada. The board concluded a Caucasian family that fled to Alberta deserved sanctuary under the Immigration & Refugee Protection Act: ‘They were targeted by criminals for being white’.
The Senate has given approval in principle to a bill honouring the annual seal hunt, set to get underway next month. Senators said the observance will counter “hurtful” boycotts of Canadian seal products: “It’s part of my daily diet”.
Cabinet will not explain why it granted a waiver to the country’s largest engineering firm from being blacklisted over a 2014 bribery scandal. The public works department had vowed to suspend any contractor implicated in fraud or corruption: “The department is unable to discuss specifics”.
Retailers are appealing to MPs to reverse tariff hikes that will see Canadians pay $1.1 billion more for imported goods by 2018. Hidden duties on products like footwear are now worth twice or three times the GST, says the Retail Council of Canada: “They’re now seriously out of alignment”.
A long-awaited federal review of the Canada Transportation Act may not be revealed for months, says Transport Minister Marc Garneau. The statutory review was delivered to cabinet before Christmas: “It will be pretty important”.
Shortages of affordable urban homes have put thousands of Canadians on lengthy waiting lists for social housing, MPs have been told. Advocates asked for continued subsidies even as mortgage aid for co-op housing boards expires: “The needs are great”.
Regulators should standardize guidelines for recycling tons of dead car batteries, says an international panel. Canadian imports of dead batteries doubled in eight years: “Canada and Mexico treat this as hazardous waste”.
Transport Canada failed to enforce its own safety regulations at Sunwing Airlines Inc., says a federal judge. The Court ruled inspectors may have jeopardized safety with a 2013 order on emergency procedures at the airline: “You hold people back!”
MPs should beware of any universal pharmacare program, says the Canadian Pharmacists Association. The group’s lobbyist disputed drug cost warnings by a federal agency, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, and said universal coverage would cost billions: “We’re talking about pharmacare, not pharma cost”.
Cabinet confidentially cut funding for meat inspections, ice patrols and federal research on prescription drug prices, say newly-released accounts. It took four years and a federal court ruling for the Treasury Board to detail billions in program cuts enacted in 2012.
“Our work was hampered,” said Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Fréchette. “We operate with data and information. If you don’t have it, we don’t go anywhere. The bottom line is, we need data and information.”
The Treasury Board released details of cuts to 485 federal programs – some known, others concealed – that were enacted in 2012. The Budget Office went to Federal Court in 2013 after departments failed to disclose all financial records.
The cuts totaled $4.4 billion in the period from 2012 to 2014. “I hope now that if this government is open and transparent, this will not happen again,” said Fréchette. “I always told requesters I would never abandon the work.” Cuts detailed for the first time included:
Other cuts included $819,000 at the Hazardous Materials Information Commission; elimination of a $950,000 Parks Canada teacher curricula program; $428,000 in cuts to anti-spam enforcement by the Canadian Radio Television & Telecommunications Commission; a reduction of $374,000 from a national price check program by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board; and a cut of $200,000 a year at the Canadian Police College.
“The previous government cut by stealth,” said Treasury Board President Scott Brison. “They refused to provide to Parliament, to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, to Canadians very important information about their fiscal plans.”
A federal judge in 2013 dismissed the Budget Officer’s lawsuit on a technicality, “non-justiciability”, but noted under the Parliament of Canada Act the officer is owed “free and timely access to any financial or economic data in the possession of the department”. Parliament’s library committee that oversees the Budget Office subsequently passed a 2015 resolution noting, “The House has never set a limit on its power to order the production of papers and records.”
“These were decisions by the previous government,” Brison told reporters. “The first step we’ve taken is to actually make them public”; “The fact it’s been four years demonstrates how wrongheaded the previous government was to try to keep this information.”
Accounts confirmed several federal programs were eliminated altogether, including a First Nations Statistical Institute; the Katimavik youth exchange program; and an Emergency Management College.
Also cancelled was a Fire Protection Program at the Department of Human Resources; the Canadian Tourism Commission’s membership in the United Nations World Tourism Organization; a Canada-Australia Exchange Program; a $305,000-a year Public Service Innovative Management Research Fund; and operations of two National Film Board theatres in Toronto and Montréal.
By Staff 
The chair of the Senate energy committee is scrutinizing a critical audit of federal regulators. Senator Richard Neufeld, former British Columbia energy minister, demanded “further explanation” of an audit that cited the National Energy Board as inefficient and inadequate: “This is paperwork”.
