Fewer than one-fifth of groups representing homeowners affected by Canada Post cuts have been contacted by the Crown corporation, research shows. Post management will begin eliminating doorstep mail delivery this October: “They didn’t consult at all”.
Another multi-million dollar charity fraud has unraveled in Tax Court. Canada Revenue revealed a church issued $3 million in faked receipts for parishioners. The Jesus Healing Centre acknowledged it falsified the accounts: “No sum ever approaching the $3 million was received”.
Telecom giant Bell Mobility is being ordered to pay thousands in damages after divulging a Manitoba cellphone customer’s PIN number and account history to an imposter. Federal Court concluded Bell breached the law by releasing the information, then waiting weeks to notify the account holder: “An unwarranted invasion of privacy occurred”.
A federal port authority is accused of breaching freedom of information laws with concealment of audited expenses. The Toronto Port Authority was named in a Federal Court action by the Office of the Information Commissioner in a case dating back five years: “I’d expect them to at least comply with federal law”.
Boat manufacturers are pressing Parliament to restore service cuts on the nation’s historic canal system amid sharp declines in traffic. Reduced hours followed a $29 million cut in Parks Canada’s budget two years ago: “What are the real savings?”
Changes to rules on migrant labour have left food processors and meatpackers scrambling to assess the impact on labour shortages, officials say. Foreign workers comprise one-tenth of the sector workforce: ‘The impact would be swift and severe’.
New research is planned on job prospects for workers in the nation’s original heritage industry, fishing. The Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters is commissioning a national study amid a 73% decline in the number of license holders in the past twenty years: ‘It’s a little grim’.
Contractors, restaurateurs and hotelkeepers in dozens of targeted Canadian cities face new restrictions on hiring migrant labour. Changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program would see a ban on hiring of new low-skilled migrants in metropolitan areas with a jobless rate of six percent or more: “Where is the shortage-of-labour strategy?”
Legislation mandating cuts in red tape is largely pointless say critics, noting it exempts the one department that generates the most paperwork — Finance Canada: “It is a staggeringly thin bill”.
Soap additives threaten fish and wildlife in the Great Lakes region, says an International Joint Commission official. Gordon Walker, Canadian commissioner, expressed alarm over the extent of damage from pinpoint-sized polyethylene microbeads: “We have got to get the message out”.
“Offensive” rewards-based credit cards are a subsidy for privileged customers that drive up all retail costs, a Senate panel has been told. The Retail Council of Canada said merchants charged high fees to process loyalty program cards must pass on costs: “I’m going to get hurt”.
The Federal Court of Appeal will hear arguments over long-fought royalty fees on internet webcasting. Re:Sound representing artists and labels is appealing a Copyright Board schedule that offered as little as 10.2¢ per thousand plays: “We have no choice”.
Rollerblading on the Plains of Abraham is no longer a federal crime. Cabinet approved new regulations that also decriminalized graffiti, skinny dipping and other misdemeanors on the site of the famed 1759 battle: “It is mostly dogs that are the problem”.
Parliament is passing into law an omnibus bill that expands the sharing of Canadians’ personal financial information amid warnings it may not be constitutional. The Senate voted 52 to 26 to give final passage to Bill C-31: “You can see why I have a certain distrust”.
Health Canada must curb its practice of granting “temporary” pesticide licenses for years, even decades at a time, says the Senate agriculture committee. The panel’s advice follows criticism over renewal of a license for a bee-killing pesticide under review since 2004: “We want to know the facts”.
