Canadian engineers have won a Federal Court case against one of the world’s biggest auto parts makers in a dispute over a noun. Continental Teves Inc., a German multinational, tried and failed to challenge the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers over a slogan on brake parts: “This is important.”
Transport Canada is facing demands from municipalities that it respond to safety recommendations from its own advisers in the aftermath of the Lac-Mégantic disaster. Canadian mayors and councillors said the department must address “previously identified safety deficiencies” in the wake of 47 deaths.
A national study suggests a link between air pollution and appendicitis, with physicians appealing for greater awareness of health and environmental issues. Research indicates rates of the illness appear higher in cities with the worst air, from Vancouver to Halifax.
Federal authorities reject nearly a quarter of Canadian employers’ applications for one of the most popular categories of foreign workers — nannies. Newly-released records of the Department of Human Resources indicate in a single year 24% of applications were dismissed.
A plan to restore St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario water levels to a more natural pattern may reverse 1957 management practices that resulted in lost wildlife and recreation. But commercial users caution predictive water levels are crucial to shipping: “It’s impossible to please everyone.”
New University of Ottawa research is raising questions over what Canadian corporations learned from the panic of 2008. A study of blue chip companies found only “minor” evidence of greater risk disclosure after the meltdown: “Are they aware of the increased risks?”
The office of a federal food ombudsman is appealing to “let people know we’re here” after receiving few complaints in its first year of operation. The Complaints & Appeals Office established by the Canadian Food inspection Agency said it received a total 82 contacts in its first twelve months of operation.
Scientists are re-examining the impact of farm chemical run-off amid the unexpectedly large growth of the toxic scum of algae bloom in Lake Erie. Researchers contacted by Blacklock’s confirmed the algae bloom is larger than anticipated: “What’s going on in Lake Erie is about agriculture.”
“Have things really changed in Canada, as pundits would have us believe?” It is an arresting question. Pundits depict politics as a nerve-grinding game of perpetual playoffs, with winners and losers, dynasties and disasters, a tense battle of strategy and scouting. As if.
A Health Canada review of meat irradiation for consumer safety is expected to take at least a year, though the technique was endorsed as “particularly effective” by investigators of the biggest beef recall in Canadian history. E.coli poisonings affect thousands of consumers each year, by federal estimate.
A federal judge has rebuked an Alberta taxpayer for a “reprehensible” scheme to claim a loss on a business that never existed. “The victims in this case are Canadian taxpayers,” a judge wrote in the case of an Edmonton woman who claimed six-figure losses from a phantom enterprise.
Spending on research and development by the nation’s post-secondary institutions has barely kept pace with inflation, new figures show. The weak performance preceded cuts in federal tax credits for scientific investment: “Canada’s relative position as a share of GDP is deteriorating.”
More than a decade after calling the safety measure “unwarranted”, the Department of Transportation is now ordering all railways to lock unattended locomotives. The order is contained in an emergency directive following the rail disaster at Lac-Mégantic, Que.: “That’s why we have a government; we need regulation.”
34 federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Finance, are withholding information needed to review budget estimates, says a federal watchdog. The Parliamentary Budget Officer named the scofflaw agencies it said had missed two deadlines to documentat the 2013 budget.
A federal anti-trust agency has dismissed complaints of unfair trade practices by Visa and MasterCard. The finding follows a three-year probe: “There is an issue here and it should be addressed by regulation.”
