Agriculture Canada has denied chicken farmers’ application to create a national marketing board for pullets. The Pullet Growers of Canada expressed disappointment with the veto. Young chicks remain the only birds in the poultry system that are not under supply management: “We have come too far to just give up”.
The Supreme Court will decide whether the country’s most profitable toll road can reach beyond bankruptcy to collect a debt. Justices agreed to hear an appeal in the case of a truck driver told he must settle nearly $90,000 in unpaid tolls with interest or be refused a vehicle permit: “In human terms it’s very real”.
Cabinet is acknowledging for the first time the post office actively studied reviving its Postal Savings Banks before abandoning the plan for service cuts and 35% rate hikes. Studies showed comparable electronic banks like ING and PC Financial saw larger profit margins than regular banks, even through the recession: “It analyzed and looked at all of the options”.
Quiet amendments to auto safety regulations that permit cabinet to change rules without public input are more “efficient”, says Transport Canada. The little-noticed change permits cabinet to rewrite regulations under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act without advance notice to consumer groups, industry or the public: “We want to remove red tape”.
Heritage Canada should be removed from its lead role in planning the nation’s 150th anniversary amid an apparently narrow focus on military themes, critics say. However one official said the department was doing an “okay job” in preparing for the 2017 sesquicentennial.
Cabinet’s vaunted cap on domestic wholesale roaming charges will not likely result in actual benefits for customers, the Senate communications committee has been told. It follows release of a report that calls for a new approach to the telecom industry: “That’s up to the wireless companies to do that”.
Marijuana increases risks of lung cancer, memory loss and may even lower IQ in heavy users, the Commons health committee has been told. Health Canada officials and expert witnesses said smokers, especially young Canadians, should be advised of the drug’s risks: “What we’re hearing now would shock Canadians”.
Shippers are appealing to MPs for protection from railway demands that they pay more for liability insurance on chemicals, fertilizers and other dangerous goods. Executives say demands from railways are arbitrary and disruptive, and appear to discriminate against certain industries: “It’s not even a hidden agenda — they are quite open about it”.
Parks Canada reports hundreds of facilities in its care are in “critical” condition including a historic 1846 tower and artifacts of the Northwest Rebellion. The agency in a report to Parliament acknowledged 503 of its properties are rated “critical”, another 2400 are in “poor” shape: “They can’t find money to preserve these national treasures”.
Health Canada has paid out more than $84 million in compensation to aquaculture firms to destroy diseased fish, officials disclosed.. Authorities identified seven outbreaks of disease at fish farms since 2012: “It is recognized that this approach is not sustainable”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has bought more real estate than it’s sold in three of the past four years despite a promised campaign to get rid of foreign holdings. New land buys topped $178 million since 2011 amid a cabinet pledge to sell, sell, sell: “It’s a scramble”.
Local TV losses have more than doubled, according to the latest industry figures compiled by the CRTC. Local ad revenues fell 1 percent last year; national advertising revenues were down 5 percent: “Production in Canada cannot be solely based on private financing”.
Proponents are resigned to defeat of a Supreme Court bilingualism bill but predict the language requirement will be law some day. The 41st Parliament again failed to pass legislation that all Court appointees be fluent in English and French. The measure has been before the Commons since 2008: “I feel sad”.
A federal scheme to monitor travel plans of all international airline passengers may be delayed. Citizenship & Immigration Canada suggested the complex program announced as a security precaution in 2011 will not be in place as planned next year: “It is on the books”.
Cabinet has poorly managed the federal prison system, says the Auditor General. Researchers found the Correctional Service over-estimated its prison population, then over-estimated savings from prison closures, then over-crowded prisons in the Prairies and Ontario while B.C. penitentiaries were under-capacity: “The theme really is that planning was not adequate”.
