Shortages of skilled workers remain chronic in the biotech sector despite a five-year plan to hire more talent, a national study shows. Fully 33% of Canadian companies say they can’t get the workers they need despite foreign recruitment: “It is clear reality exceeded expectations.”
Canadian debt is “not sustainable” and threatens to sink provincial programs for future generations, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. The dire forecast came in an “illustrative scenario” that projected spectacular growth in borrowing or dire cuts in services.
Expanding a federal fitness tax credit to benefit older adults would cost taxpayers as much as a quarter-billion dollars, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office. The calculation came at the request of a Conservative MP: “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
The RCMP face another federal lawsuit over alleged workplace dysfunction, this time in a case detailing what one judge called the force’s “dim” grievance procedure. The lawsuit is the first of its kind since Parliament passed a bill granting new powers to fire or demote members.
Canada Revenue stands to gain hundreds of millions of dollars with an increase in penalties on delinquent taxpayers. Yet an analyst tells Blacklock’s that interest rates on late accounts remain so low they’re a mere cost of business for scofflaws: “Why don’t we just delay?”
Federal regulators are being warned Great Lakes habitat faces “significant risk” from as few as twenty Asian carp. Research suggests existing measures to prevent the invasive species underestimate the threat: “There really is a big risk.”
In a further sign of a slowing economy, traffic through one of the world’s busiest shipping routes has tumbled nearly a tenth so far this year. The St. Lawrence Seaway confirms it is operating below half-capacity and so far is not on pace to meet its cargo targets: “We will have a strong push.”
Health Canada faces formal notice that it violated federal law by re-registering an insecticide it acknowledges is “highly toxic” to bees. Advocates are requesting a review of the impact of more than a decade of the chemical’s use: “You don’t register products when you don’t know the environmental effects.”
A bill to alter 172 years of practice in plainly publishing federal regulations is expected to be resurrected when Parliament resumes Oct. 16, says the opposition. Government authorities have refused all interview requests on the little-noticed Bill S-12: “The public has the right to know.”
The Transportation Safety Board reports “very troubling” safety practices involving the transfer of oil rig workers off the Newfoundland coast. In one incident, a charter helicopter company erased its cockpit recorder: “This is protected information.”
Consumers are “heading towards the status quo” on telecom service and pricing following the registration of bidders for new wireless spectrum, analysts tell Blacklock’s. Fifteen firms registered to bid for new bandwidth.
A call for mandatory compensation for air travellers with a grievance is back before Parliament seven months after MPs voted it down. The bill would provide up to $1,000 for flight cancellations and disruptions: “We are getting thousands of emails.”
Fish farmers are appealing for an aquaculture policy amid claims their industry breaches federal law. Cabinet faces allegations it’s permitted “harmful alteration” of habitat under the Fisheries Act: “We don’t have aquaculture legislation.”
Canadians will see a return to “normal” interest rates by 2017 and should anticipate numerous tax increases by the provinces, says a Conference Board of Canada analyst. The board projected a 4% Bank of Canada rate by 2017: “How are we going to react?”
A landmark case on RCMP pay, the right to association, and Parliament’s authority to break its word is now headed to the Supreme Court. The dispute involves a 2008 rollback of $30 million in pay hikes for the Mounties: ‘This is substantial interference.’
