Airlines may now impose perpetual fuel surcharges on travellers following a new ruling by federal regulators. The Transportation Agency ruled it will no longer “closely monitor” airline fees now that carriers are required to disclose full-fare prices under threat of $25,000 fines.
Canada is “looking at all our options” in a threatened tariff war with the United States over meat labeling, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz tells Blacklock’s. The U.S. has till May 23 to dismantle a discriminatory regulation that’s estimated to have cost Canadian producers $5,000,000,000.
Doctors are appealing for sweeping federal restrictions on non-essential use of antibiotics. The Ontario Medical Association reported common use of antibiotics in livestock now endangers “one of the most fundamental and life-saving tools in medicine.”
Departing Governor Mark Carney cut Bank of Canada full-time staff by 7 percent while hiring more contract employees and summer students, records show. The central bank hired some 300 students and temporary employees last year: “Everything we do affects the confidence that Canadians have.”
A federal pledge to enact a “world class tanker safety system” is largely confirmation of practices already underway save for the appointment of an expert committee, say analysts. Cabinet named three members to a Tanker Safety Expert Panel to monitor the sector.
A foundation created in memory of a House speaker and First War combat veteran has wound down. Organizers cited declining interest in the work of the foundation, created in 1980 to honour the contributions of a parliamentarian who spent 50 years in public life.
The Department of Public Safety spent nearly $8 million on an ad campaign that most Canadians never noticed, or were unlikely to heed before Google, according to officials’ own survey. The campaign was supposed to promote emergency preparedness: “It’s a joke.”
Regulators warn a fixture of suburbia, the attached garage, may pose an “uncertain” public risk of illness from benzene poisoning. The Department of Health proposed first-ever federal guidelines on benzene, linked to leukemia.
Canada’s 2012 Olympic rowing teams cost taxpayers $1,202,900 in grants, according to newly-released federal accounts. It was the largest block of grants to any Olympic athletes under a federal program to subsidize “excellence in sport,” according to the department that runs the program.
Canada’s Olympic triathlon team, ranked one of the worst in the world, received $132,000 in grants before competing in the London Summer Games, according to new federal accounts. And horse riders with the equestrian squad received $213,600 in taxpayers’ funding before finishing 13th out of 13 in team jumping.
The finance department spent nearly $14 million on media advertisements promoting its last budget, according to new accounts. Authorities would not divulge ad spending for this week’s 2013 federal budget, to be tabled Thursday at 4 pm Eastern time.
Growing deficits in national funding for Legal Aid suggest deserving clients may be denied counsel, say analysts. New federal figures show that Canada-wide, expenditures reached $780 million last year while funding totaled $776 million.
New legislation to regulate service contracts on the nation’s largest transportation system represents an “odd” inability by industry to work out its own problems, says a Conservative MP. “How did we ever get to this point?”
The manager of a Yuk Yuk’s comedy club franchise has won a federal appeal over unpaid taxes after proving Canada Revenue failed to account for its math. A Tax Court judge threw out a $72,357 claim after concluding the Department of Revenue “failed to provide sufficient information.”
In a surprise move, managers of the St. Lawrence Seaway system hiked tolls 3 percent only days before the scheduled March 22 opening of the new shipping season. The increase follows a five-year freeze on charges for ships transiting through locks.
