The Senate is reviewing the CBC for the second time in eight years amid complaints of elitism and inadequate news coverage. Quebec Liberal Senator Dennis Dawson, sponsor of the probe, complained of an “intellectual class” in Toronto and Montreal that monopolizes public broadcasting, he said.
Industry groups are protesting an Alberta MP’s claim that Canadian business is uncompetitive and marks up prices 100 percent. The complaints came as witnesses appeared to testify at the Commons finance committee on budget provisions: “I was shocked.”
Cabinet broke the law in its drive to cut costs at the Canadian Border Services Agency, says a federal panel. The Treasury Board was found to have violated labour legislation as it searched for ways to save $58 million: “This is very, very troubling.”
Federal meat inspectors are enforcing new rules on burger safety. It comes as a Department of Agriculture panel continues a closed-door probe of the biggest beef recall in Canadian history. Inspectors urge prompt reporting of “unusual” patterns of E.coli contamination.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is urging its 84,000 members to lobby MPs over amendments to legislation that will bar disclosure of senior public employees’ salaries. Cabinet amendments would conceal large six-figure payments: “We are just getting scandal after scandal.”
Cruise ships can dump more than 100,000 litres of waste water every day under new Transport Canada regulations intended to curb pollution at sea. The department acknowledged its regulations were “minimal.” The transport minister would not take Blacklock’s questions.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has issued its first fines under a fare disclosure law. The regulations were introduced five months ago. One travel agency was fined $40,000 for repeated violations despite a formal warning: “I’d say this gets their attention.”
Canada’s investment in research and development is rated “poor” and has been in decline for more than a decade, says a federal panel. The Science, Technology & Innovation Council ranked Canada behind Slovenia and Estonia in spending on R&D: “We are falling dramatically behind other countries.”
Environment Canada despite intense lobbying is restricting its mandated use of renewable fuels as too costly. The regulation will save consumers, truckers and industry the equivalent of $14.7 million a year. One MP called the promotion of corn-based biofuel a “disguised subsidy for corn growers.”
The Consumers’ Association of Canada, the oldest advocacy group of its kind, has had its charitable status revoked by Canada Revenue. An official called it an orderly reorganization of the group, founded in 1947. The association is credited with helping create the federal Office of Consumer Affairs: “Those were the good old days.”
Ratings on the provinces run from A to D in a national report on standards for migrant labour. The study by the Canadian Council for Refugees follows a federal crackdown on abuses of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Canadian employers filled 202,510 jobs with migrant labour last year.
Thousands of now-qualified immigrants, mainly young and old, will be barred from entering the country under new regulations proposed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The new rules take effect in 2014. Authorities said they were intended to weed out immigrants challenged by “integration.”
In a mix-up dubbed a “zombie file” that refuses to die, a federal lawyer says marketing boards that monopolize trade in farm foods in Canada are improperly collecting fees without authority. Farm boards nationwide are collecting funds they’re not entitled to, including a Prince Edward Island agency that’s acted without authority for more than 20 years.
A federal safety panel is urging Transport Canada to quickly enact regulations requiring that small commercial aircraft carry flight recorders. The Transportation Safety Board said the lack of cockpit recorders is hampering investigations, including a fatal 2011 Yukon accident that remains unsolved.
It’s the actual gift, not the thought that counts, in a Tax Court ruling that dismissed claims of charity by an Ontario taxpayer. A judge described as “vague and implausible” the claim of $10,198 worth of undocumented gifts in kind to one of Canada’s 85,000 federally-registered charities.
