Environment Canada is researching the impact of toxic chemicals in aircraft manufacturing. The department is commissioning a first-ever study on the effect of plastic, rubber, electronics, paint and other parts used to produce airplanes: “We don’t have a problem with that.”
Canadian charities are questioning whether newly-detailed spam curbs will affect community programs. Industry Canada released final regulations on spammers following more than two years of drafting and revisions: “We’re still looking at the language.”
Cabinet is tightening sanctions on North Korea with a bizarre new list of embargoed items including lobster, yachts and fur coats. The Department of Foreign Affairs said forbidding trade in luxury goods will “reinforce the message” the Stalinist regime’s actions are unacceptable.
Regulators should enact zoning rules on offshore aquaculture and keep an eye on the Department of Fisheries for possible conflict of interest, says a Conservative senator assigned to a fish farm probe: “You have a large section geared to promotion of aquaculture, and down the hall they have an enforcement office on aquaculture. What does that suggest to you?”
The cash-hungry Department of Foreign Affairs is selling more foreign real estate – this time luxury homes in Washington, D.C. Properties to be sold include a multi-million dollar residence near Capitol Hill, and homes in an affluent suburb: “The neighbours will be happy.”
Industry Canada proposes maximum fines of $2000 for gas stations, storekeepers and other merchants who use dishonest weights and measures. One consumers’ advocate said the fines appeared pointless: “This is really more smoke and mirrors.”
The CRTC is ordering telecom companies to halt the removal of payphones until a federal study is complete. The action follows regulators’ refusal to let firms double charges to $1: “Payphones are a dying industry.”
Federal departments spend more than a million dollars a year on single-use bottled water, records show. However the budget is declining amid campaigns to curb the practice: “Why are we using plastic when we have perfectly good drinking water available?”
The Treasury Board is being ordered to pay unprecedented damages for “openly flouting” its own labour laws. A federal panel ordered the Board to compensate a group of Nova Scotia navy yard employees for recklessly violating legislation: “What do you expect — it’s the government.”
Katimavik, the former multi-million dollar youth service group once chaired by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, is surrendering its federal charter. The youth service group is now reduced to two paid employees, and quit its charter under a law reserved for companies stripped of assets: “We’ll be back”.
Rising utility rates have prompted a Canadian manufacturer to patent a $2000 home water recycling system that inventors claim may reduce consumption 30%. It follows Environment Canada reports that homeowners here use more fresh water, and pay less for it, than most other countries: “We see trends”.
Complaints over complexity of the tax system are prompting accountants to appeal for the first review of tax policy in nearly fifty years. The Certified General Accountants Association urged that Finance Canada begin to simplify its system used by 25 million tax filers: “We haven’t even started.”
Federally-sponsored research says Canada has the planet’s sweetest water supply due to municipalities’ failure to remove micro-pollutants. Artificial sweeteners from processed foods, toothpaste and other products are being flushed through water treatment systems: ‘It’s the highest level that has been found in the world so far’.
Cabinet has hiked spending on war monuments by more than 60 percent in the past six years, according to newly-released accounts.
Budgets for statues, cenotaphs, obelisks, memorials and other monuments top $18.5 million. Heritage Minister Shelly Glover did not comment.
Figures don’t include the cost of a new War of 1812 statue to be installed on Parliament Hill: “I think it is almost to the point of being obsessive.”
A “union boss” bill to repeal the decades-old membership card system used to certify bargaining agents is “unbelievable”, says the Canadian Labour Congress. The legislation endorsed by the Department of Labour would make it easier to decertify unions representing more than one million workers nationwide.
