The nation’s largest commercial parking company is expressing frustration with on-off Finance Canada charges at hospital lots. The department repealed the GST on parking only months after introducing it: “The intent is to relieve basic health services”.
Public Safety Canada is reviewing calls by Unifor, the union representing armoured car guards, for standard oversight of the multi-million dollar industry: “There is nothing about training, types of weapons, size of the crew – nothing, zero”.
The billion-dollar Atlantic lobster industry is reaching out to U.S. counterparts for joint action in plotting recovery from disastrous prices: “We all depend on each other or we will all be out of business”.
A two-year lawsuit by a “busybody” litigant over rabbits confirms court injunctions must remain an extraordinary remedy in only serious cases, a legal analyst tells Blacklock’s. The complaint saw an Edmonton sue over a peculiar bylaw in another town.
VIA Rail will run its operating deficit this year to a record $321 million in what the rail workers’ union Unifor called an attempt to “manufacture a crisis”. The Crown-owned passenger rail service also warned of more cutbacks: “The goal here is to privatize the profitable parts”.
Senior employees at Agriculture Canada monitored an advocacy group the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network over its opposition to genetically-engineered salmon, according to memos released through Access to Information: “They seem to be overly worried about protest”.
An Agriculture Canada-subsidized review of grain transport must lead to improvements if railways are to keep pace with exports, say farm groups. Complaints follow passage of a bill that was supposed to improve rail service: “What we’ve seen isn’t good enough”.
A Health Canada agency is conducting special re-evaluation of 23 weed and insect-killing chemicals following a lawsuit by environmental groups: “If these are banned in Europe then they should be banned in Canada”.
Canada and the U.S. should quickly impose tougher standards for tank cars carrying flammable liquids, as well as adopt safer routing and better emergency response plans, warns the Transportation Safety Board: “Canadians have many reasons to be worried”.
Ottawa should cap the hiring of migrants, says a former senior Human Resources & Skills Development official. The ex-director general of policy research said it “should have been much harder” to hire temporary foreign workers in the last recession: “When the next recession occurs, Canada should be more careful”.
Meat inspectors and staff are seeking psychological counselling at a rate up to three times the federal average, according to new data. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported thousands of employees and their families sought counselling last year over job stress: “It’s a very dysfunctional organization”.
Smoking rates plateaued as Health Canada suspended anti-tobacco advertising, according to new research. The number of smokers in Canada is unchanged from 2011 and has seen no serious decline in years, according to a University of Waterloo study: “Canada used to be a world leader”.
National symbol or not, the National Capital Commission is hiring a government-paid trapper to control beaver near Parliament Hill. The Crown agency counts more than 1100 tree-gnawing mammals in nearby Gatineau Park, blamed for washed-out roads and damaged property: “You’ll never get rid of them”.
Municipalities are pressing Transport Canada to designate crude oil and ethanol as dangerous goods when shipped by rail, and shield cities from clean-up costs in case of derailments: “We need a system that deals with worst-case scenarios”.
The Prime Minister’s alma mater is cautioning against “optimistic projections” on resource revenue ahead of cabinet plans for a national balanced budget law. The University of Calgary said legislators as a rule should not count on sunny commodity price forecasts: “Booms and slumps have been very costly”.
