The Supreme Court has rejected a claim of privacy by a Canada Revenue employee who wanted to prevent her union from calling the house. Justices in a 5-2 ruling said the auditor was not entitled to withhold contact information while enjoying union benefits: “It’s an important decision”.
VIA Rail must spend the $10 million required to save a New Brunswick track and assure the future of its Atlantic passenger service, say Opposition MPs. However the Crown railway warned it has no budget to buy the line: “John A. Macdonald’s national dream of passenger train service from coast to coast will be over”.
Veteran Affairs
is closing 8 offices.
On the positive note,
WWI is commemorated
in an extraordinary display
of a majestic, illuminated sculpture
made of 100 blocks of ice
right here at Confederation Park,
the most prestigious spot
for winter art
in the National Capital.
Bring your camera, family and friends;
it’s a must-see centrepiece
of Ottawa’s 2014
Winterlude.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday). 
The Competition Bureau is clearing the way for a key merger in hockey retailing. The agency last night ruled a Canadian Tire takeover of a major rival does not violate anti-trust laws, though it leaves the retailer in control of a thousand stores.
Airline passengers are not getting the “security” they’ve paid for at Canadian airports through a security surcharge that’s become a federal money-maker, say union executives. Profits from the fees are to increase ten-fold by next year: “This is a tax on the flying public”.
Cabinet has misrepresented the number of sick days federal employees take, according to Parliament’s Budget Office. Authorities dismissed claims a typical government worker takes 18.26 paid sick days annually, noting the actual number is far lower: “It’s really unfortunate”.
A bill to extend tax credits to tradespeople who move for work may become law in time though MPs killed it by a 149 to 126 vote, says its New Democrat sponsor. An all-party Commons committee had endorsed the plan to ease local labour shortages: “This is a mom and apple pie initiative”.
Dairy farmers and processors warn they face a “giant wave” of subsidized imports under a Canada-E.U. trade pact. European cheese makers stand to gain thousands of tonnes of new tariff-free sales: “We could see a giant wave of cheese coming across the water into our market”.
9 in 10 government scientists caution federal cuts have gone too far, according to a pre-budget survey by the Professional Institute of the Public Service. Pollsters questioned scientists in fisheries, agriculture and the Canadian Space Agency: “I can relate to what these scientists are saying”.
A Commons committee has voted to speed passage of a Conservative bill that makes it easier to decertify unions. The government majority vetoed five days of hearings on Bill C-525, limiting expert testimony to a few hours: “This is a sham”.
A senior Environment Canada official says the department has never heard of proposals for aquaculture legislation, despite years of appeals by fish farmers, critics and lawmakers. The remarks came at a Senate committee now studying regulation of the sector: “I’m not aware of what that proposal is at all”.
Public Works Canada proposes to spend another $72.9 million on a heritage building that’s been under near-continuous renovation for years. The department is hiring consultants to oversee a six-year refit of the Gothic East Block, including repairs to earlier fix-it jobs: “I do have concerns that the money’s being spent wisely”.
The CBC faces “doomsday” with the loss of hockey revenues to Rogers Communications Inc., a Senate committee has been told. The public broadcaster stands to lose half its ad budget: “The ratings are atrocious and the revenues aren’t there”.
Industry Canada is proposing a new policy on unsightly wireless towers two years after Parliament rejected an identical initiative, and a full year after municipalities and the telecom industry penned their own solution to the issue: “Ironic”.
Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers are too old to keep vital St. Lawrence River shipping open in extreme conditions, says an industry group. The complaint comes as the Coast Guard prepares to increase 2014 service fees on a “full cost” basis following next week’s federal budget: “The Coast Guard has not been a model of efficiency”.
