The Supreme Court has sidestepped an appeal from an animal lover who waged a legal battle for the right to feed wild bears. Authorities in Seguin Township north of Toronto filed an injunction to halt a local man from putting out bear food in violation of a local bylaw: “Bears are highly intelligent”.
Cabinet has quietly approved a million-dollar tariff break for the auto industry amid complaints of “boutique” tax treatment of industry. The Department of Finance repealed a 6.5 percent tariff on auto gaskets. Authorities would not name who lobbied for the tax break: ‘These just make life more complicated’.
National airports face increased costs for security and screening. Transport Canada ordered managers at 89 airports to conduct their own anti-terror security training and “risk assessments” subject to federal audits: “It’s self-regulation to a certain degree”.
The Supreme Court is staying out of a land squabble that sheds light on sky-high property values near booming Regina. A developer offered nearly $2,000 an acre for farmland earmarked for subdivisions with potential profits of more than $100 million: ‘It was very desirable’.
Nearly a year to the day of the Lac-Mégantic disaster, Transport Canada is introducing new regulations on the shipping of dangerous goods by rail. New rules require more disclosure of toxic cargo, more recordkeeping, and more safety features on new tank cars.
Yukon doesn’t have provincehood but is now responsible for its own sewage. Cabinet transferred regulation of wastewater to the territory, where one municipality earlier admitted to dumping raw sewage into the Yukon River: “There would be slight cost savings for the federal government”.
More than 4 in 10 Canadians worry the economy will sink in the next twelve months, according to in-house Department of Finance research.
Unemployment was rated the biggest single threat to the economy. The disclosure follows new Statistics Canada data showing unseasonal declines in key industries.
Researchers in a $135,000 department study cautioned Canadians are growing wary of the national outlook and anticipate no improvement in the months ahead: “How worried are you?”
Cabinet has enacted a law banning bulk water exports just as several American states grapple with extreme drought. The Transboundary Waters Protection Act rewrites sections of a 1909 treaty to restrict exports from cross-border basins: “Who knows what the future holds”.
A Parks Canada repeal of service cuts on its historic canal system is drawing praise from boaters who lobbied against reductions. The agency released new data confirming a sharp drop in traffic that prompted protests to the Prime Minister’s Office: “The implications were not thought out”.
Nova Scotia, one of the biggest coal-burners in Canada, has won a waiver from federal greenhouse gas regulations. The province was granted a cabinet exemption till 2030 to self-regulate emissions from its coal plants: “The job just doesn’t get done”.
Three years after its approval by cabinet, a panel of transportation managers has convened its inaugural meeting. The Commodity Supply Chain Table had been promised in 2011: “It has taken three years to get action on this one”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is attempting to explain its purchase of a luxury diplomatic residence in a Miami suburb where celebrity neighbours include A-Rod and Jeb Bush. Disclosure of the country club estate comes as authorities attempt to sell foreign property under an austerity order from the Department of Finance.
“It is a very pricey location,” said Audrey Ross, a Miami realtor; “This is a great address. It’s a very luxurious lifestyle for foreign nationals.”
Louise Léger, chief of the Canadian consulate in Miami, did not reply to Blacklock’s interview request. Asked if she had lived in the multi-million dollar home, Léger did not comment. In an earlier foreign ministry commentary Léger said her duties in Florida included “sharing Canada’s story of sound fiscal management”.
Léger is a career diplomat and former Canadian ambassador to Costa Rica posted to Miami as Consul General in 2009, according to records. That same year, the property was purchased in Coral Gable’s Country Club district for $1.9 million. The consulate leases office space in a downtown Miami tower a 20-minute drive from the suburban getaway.
The home at 3801 Riviera Drive features seven bedrooms; six bathrooms; a swimming pool and a municipal tax bill of $28,000 a year. Neighbours in Coral Gables included Pulitzer Prize-winning humourist Dave Barry; NBA executive Pat Riley, president of the Miami Heat; disgraced Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez; and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who sold his comparatively modest $775,000 Coral Gables home last year.
“Riviera Drive is one of the top three streets in Coral Gables,” said Ross. “Beautiful neighbourhoods; the most expensive homes in Dade County are here; gated communities; some of the best private schools in south Florida.”
Authorities in Ottawa said they considered the lavish home, now listed for immediate sale, as a necessary purchase for taxpayers: “At $1.9 million the price compared favourably with other shortlisted properties with asking prices between $2.2 million and $2.7 million,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said; “It was close to the Chancery for access in an emergency.”
Realtor Ross said the Government of Canada picked a good time to sell the house: “The market is very active at the moment,” she said. “We have an influx of Venezuelans coming here at the moment. Miami is on everybody’s radar.” List prices in Coral Gables, Florida’s self-described “City Beautiful”, currently average $2.1 million.
Cabinet in a March 29, 2012 budget notice said diplomatic residences abroad would be sold to reduce costs. Confidential records show the foreign ministry was spending $208 million a year on real estate at the time.
Documents indicate in the year immediately preceding the austerity order, the department bought $178.3 million in new diplomatic properties abroad including $15.6 million in real estate in Bogota, Boston, Port-au-Prince and Prague; and $28 million in new purchases in Mexico, Pretoria and other cities.
Records also show two-thirds of foreign missions sold to date went to bargain hunters, selling for less than their appraised value, including a $26 million mansion in Dublin that went for $17 million; and a heritage home used by a former Buffalo, NY trade commissioner that sold last year at a $1.2 million loss.
By Paul Delahanty 
New federal rules on earthquake protection are “overkill”, says the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Insurers said a requirement they set aside billions in additional reserves in anticipation of disastrous quakes in B.C. and Québec will impact consumers.’Two simultaneous earthquakes are unlikely’.
Cabinet is approving new issues of collector Royal Canadian Mint coins in an order dealers caution may help sink the market. The secretive order allows the Mint to strike a new $1,250 coin and a $1,000 issue: “They are sucking out the value for collectors”.
A Supreme Court judgment upholding union rights by Walmart employees may be a hollow decision, a legal analyst tells Blacklock’s. The retail giant was found in violation of the Québec Labour Code for closing its Jonquière store after workers certified a bargaining agent: “If you unionize, you lose”.
