Confidential records show Finance Canada dismissed warnings its changes to a bank ombudsmen system would mainly benefit bankers. The government’s own Financial Consumer Agency cautioned the proposal would weaken consumer protection: “We are the worst of the worst”.
Cabinet has approved new funding for Ukraine following foreign aid grants last year that ran to nearly half the amount they gave Haiti. Foreign Minister John Baird said most of the new aid, including a grant to the National Bank of Ukraine, is coordinated through the IMF: “It’s not just a matter of writing a blank cheque”.
The Department of Fisheries says it will not sanction any “taxpayer-funded buyout programs” to aid the $1 billion lobster industry hit with declining prices: “We need to sit down with these people for God’s sake”.
Cabinet is being pressed to amend rules that charge migrant farm workers for Canadian benefits they can never claim. The United Food and Commercial Workers said minimum-wage fruit pickers and other migrants are paying more than $20 million a year in EI premiums though they’re disqualified from benefits: “It is outrageous”.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a key case of an attorney who claims client privilege in withholding financial data from Canada Revenue. The Alberta lawyer argued tax authorities had no right to identify his clients or know how much they were billed: “It’s potentially a really important case”.
The Senate will debate a proposal to strip Heritage Canada of its multi-million dollar plans for the nation’s 150th anniversary. The initiative follows department proposals to emphasize wartime exploits, including the obscure 1866 Fenian Raids and lost battles of WWI: “That is not the function of a government institution’.
Cabinet has decreed a permanent secrecy oath for thousands of government employees, including retirees who worked for now-disbanded organizations: ‘It puts pressure on whistleblowers’.
A federal law deemed a “critical impediment” to aquaculture by the Department of Fisheries has been assigned to Environment Canada. The transfer is seen as a step to legalizing fish farmers’ use of pesticides under controls similar to crop sprays: “We’re taking pragmatic steps”.
The Official Language Commissioner has been cited by MPs for embellishing a report to Parliament. Legislators said Commissioner Graham Fraser had “no evidence” to substantiate his claim job cuts affected francophone language rights: “He admits it is a hypothesis only”.
The Transport Safety Board after seven years has finalized regulations to simplify accident investigations, including confidentiality of witness statements. The rules were first proposed in 2007: “There are a lot of steps involved”.
Insurers are monitoring Health Canada’s planned privatization of medical marijuana production following a court judgment on stolen cannabis.
Judges dismissed a homeowner’s claim for full replacement costs of stolen marijuana plants as too peculiar to qualify as personal property: ‘This is a new business’.
A federal panel has cited a drug manufacturer for overcharging on medicine for multiple sclerosis patients. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board complained of a 20% price hike over seven years: “What do you know?”.
Cabinet is being pressed to release the text of a South Korean trade pact that industry groups say holds promise and peril for Canadians. The treaty lowers tariffs on forestry, farm and fish products, but gives Korean manufacturers greater market access on autos and appliances, and allows Korean bids on federal contracts over $100,000: “The devil’s in the details”.
Natural Resources Canada is attempting to find some industrial use for tens of thousands of ash trees devastated by an Asian beetle. Researchers will run tests to determine if dead trees can be converted into fertilizer, or fuel for thermal power plants: “There is a potential market”.
Fishermen are closely watching an April deadline for permanent adoption of a policy on owner-operators that promotes independent harvesters. It follows a 2012 scare that the Department of Fisheries would permit processors to buy up licenses: ‘That is extremely worrisome’.
