RCMP members, like children, require swift discipline when they “mess up,” says a senior officer. Superintendent Michael O’Rielly told a Senate committee that police require new legislation: “When my children mess up, it is no good for me to wait…” Critics say a police disciplinary bill now before the Senate is unconstitutional.
A think tank is defending its arithmetic after claiming all taxes cost families – even charges that “indisputably” do not, say members of the Commons finance committee.
The Fraser Institute, in a report it described as a revelation, concluded the tax burden on individuals has risen 1,787 percent since 1961.
“These are taxes that people pay,” said Charles Lammam, co-author of the report Taxes Versus The Necessities of Life.
The report concluded an “average Canadian family” pays 43 percent of its income in taxes to municipal, provincial and federal governments.
However, Lammam acknowledged the figures include all revenues collected by all governments, including fees that corporations pay to use public resources and utilities.
“It’s pretty clear that people pay taxes,” said Lammam. “A corporation is a piece of paper; it’s made up of individuals.”
The Fraser Institute calculation includes royalties for drilling publicly-owned oil, stumpage rates for cutting trees on public timberlands, broadcast license fees for using public airwaves, patent filing fees, pilotage tariffs on foreign shipowners, commercial waste disposal charges and other taxes that governments count as revenue for public benefit.
“It would be more responsible if they did not include taxes like natural resource royalties,” said MP James Rajotte, chair of the Commons finance committee.
“Royalties for Alberta oil indisputably help families in Alberta,” said Rajotte, Conservative MP for Edmonton-Leduc; “If you’re going to calculate taxes on the average family, you have to look at what families actually pay. An excise tax on a litre of gas that’s collected at the pump is distinct from a royalty on oil.”
In a news release, the Fraser Institute reported its “Canadian Consumer Tax Index tracks the total tax bill of the average Canadian family.”
MP Peggy Nash, vice-chair of the finance committee, noted the index included a 15 percent income tax on Canada’s largest corporations.
“If you’re going to have a discussion about tax policy, you really have to separate out income taxes, sales taxes and corporate rates,” said Nash, New Democrat MP for Parkdale-High Park, Ont. “I haven’t always agreed with the methodology used by the Fraser Institute.”
By Staff 
Health Canada confirms it will ban the sale of magnets sold as desktop novelties following incidents of children swallowing the items. A Canadian Medical Association report identified dozens of incidents involving the magnets, many requiring surgery on youngsters.
Environment Canada will permit horizontal oil drilling and seismic exploration at Sable Island National Park Reserve, calling it a “deal breaker” with petroleum giant Exxon Mobile. Industrial activity poses “no risk” to the park or its famed wild ponies, the environment minister says.
In an estimated million-dollar operation, the Department of Human Resources has retrieved thousands of data storage devices used by employees. It follows a mass privacy breach. The ministry rounded up and destroyed 15,600 USB keys and 159 portable hard drives used by staff, documents show.
Transport Canada is being pressed to develop a national air policy. It follows a Senate report that concluded costs are driving millions of Canadians to use U.S. airports. “Our airports and airlines are being priced out of the market,” said the chair of the Senate’s transport committee.
Environment Canada will not divulge records on dozens of major aviation fuel spills. The department rated the spills large enough to prove “harmful,” but withheld details. Blacklock’s asked for data as the government moved to keep aviation fuel off a Toxic List that would more tightly control its production, storage and transport.
Canada Post is resigned to a $9 million loss on library services amid Conservative grumbling over its priorities. Postal managers are withdrawing their opposition to a bill that enshrines 19th century subsidies on interlibrary loans: “Perhaps Canada Post could look toward the top of their pyramid to find the money to pay for this,” said one Conservative.
A federal agency admits it used gift shop surveys and Grade 7 student questionnaires to justify its $1.3 million ad budgets. The National Battlefields Commission cited the selective data in telling Parliament its marketing was 93% effective. Heritage Minister James Moore declined comment.
U.S. regulations on ship ballast threaten the viability of a new Canadian fleet of Great Lakes freighters, say owners. Vessels must be equipped with ballast treatment equipment, a measure intended to keep invasive species out of the lakes: “This is a game changer.”
Federal research confirms the old adage: if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. A Statistics Canada study proves hours spent at work are not a factor for people attracted to volunteerism: “It’s not the amount of time people spend at their job.”
The beer trade is crediting Department of Finance policy with promoting microbreweries, but says the industry overall remains unfairly taxed compared to winemakers. The analysis followed new data showing the value of beer sales has declined from a 50 percent market share to 44 percent in the past decade.
A federal labour board has exonerated three Canada Border Services guards who carried loaded handguns into a tavern. The guards were docked a week’s pay for wearing holstered weapons while enjoying 2-for-1 wings night at a saloon called the Rock Bottom Bar & Grill.
A reform bill that provoked hot debate over a rail “duopoly” has cleared the Commons’ transport committee without amendments sought by industry critics. It followed 10 weeks of study, and testimony from one railway executive who lamented: “We just can’t service everybody at once.”
Suicides in Canada’s military are most likely to occur in two specific months of the calendar, according to five-year data from the defence department. Analysts noted the figures did not include returning reservists who have retired from their units: “We need to determine if there are patterns.”
