Health Canada is refusing comment on a report contradicting official findings on pesticides in unusual consumer products. Authorities declined Blacklock’s interview request on research by Greenpeace. It found toxic chemicals in randomly selected Chinese herbal products were nearly eight times in excess of World Health Organization standards: “We were shocked.”
The Department of Health says it is slowly, surely compiling a database on tonnes of pesticides used in Canada almost seven years after manufacturers were ordered to provide sales data. Nearly 4 in 10 companies initially failed to comply with the regulation: “It takes a while.”
The Canadian Transportation Agency is for the first time assigning single members to hear disputes, saying it anticipates so many new complaints it must cut the size of panels to meet its workload. The agency, which once assigned three-member panels to investigate disputes, said even two-member panels are too costly: “A lot of judges sit alone and still make good decisions.”
Only weeks after unveiling a wireless code that “puts consumers first”, Canada’s telecom regulator faces a lawsuit by some of the nation’s biggest wireless providers. The code, to take effect Dec. 2, would limit cellphone contracts to two years without cancellation penalties, and cap roaming charges.
Documents indicating cabinet awarded a large pay raise to the head of a panel studying the contentious Northern Gateway pipeline are not a bonus but a typo, officials say. Cabinet minutes indicated Sheila Leggett received a 15 percent pay hike as vice-chair of the Calgary-based National Energy Board. However, staff said the order was an unusual mistake when contacted by Blacklock’s.
The only lab in Canada to test for so-called fish flu has been stripped of its certification by the World Organization for Animal Health, Blackock’s has learned. Authorities confirmed the only Canadian lab of its kind, the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, lost its certification as a testing facility for infectious salmon anaemia.
Industry Canada has released details of its proposal for transfer of wireless spectrum amid industry complaints of ambiguous wording. One telecom giant complained of “hypothetical” terminology in the proposal.
The Department of Finance is withholding dozens of documents on the question of whether to sell the public insurer, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation. A request for department records under the Access to Information Act concerning any privatization of the insurance business saw 83 of 122 pages censored.
Advocacy groups are pressing cabinet to approve more lower-cost generic products – not drugs, but pesticides. Farmers say regulators should speed approval for generic chemicals: “Like with prescription drugs, generics should be able to enter the market.”
Official figures on auto sales are distorting underlying issues still plaguing the industry, analysts tell Blacklock’s. Canadian auto sales jumped 19% to $82.6 billion last year, according to new federal data. But investment in the industry lagged far below a pre-recession peak: “We have to remain competitive.”
A Canadian manufacturer is suing the government for allegedly using substandard flags on the Peace Tower, federal courthouses, even soldiers’ caskets — all in violation of a 1985 law. Regulations forbid any Crown agency from using flags that fail to meet exacting standards: “This is what we are supposed to be proud of.”
Insurer Great-West Life has been handed a victory by the Supreme Court in the case of a policyholder denied a claim for incorrectly filling out a questionnaire. The Court decided not to hear further testimony in the case of the Manitoba woman who told Great-West she had never been to counseling, though she’d seen a psychiatrist 23 times.
Canada Geese face a bigger bird hunt after being tagged as a nuisance by federal regulators. Environment Canada, mandated to protect the geese by law, says it will ease hunting limits on the iconic birds it blames for causing “a variety of conflicts with humans” — like killing lawns.
Municipalities say they are having difficulty calculating critical figures following changes to the way Statistics Canada collects information. Local authorities said new methods leave officials with little data on Small Town Canada: “More than 1,000 communities do not have results.”
A computer glitch that saw Statistics Canada publish garbled data sent staff scrambling to correct the typo, according to Access to Information records. The federal agency mistakenly published the wrong numbers for 20 minutes on its website as the nation’s stock markets prepared to open.
