The Department of Justice admits it used misleading data to promote a crime bill targeting the mentally ill. “The research changed,” a department official told Blacklock’s. Attorney General Rob Nicholson cited the inflated figures in proposing a new criminal category: high-risk mentally ill who commit “brutal” crimes.
Raises in municipal police salaries are prompting fears of future layoffs as MPs examine the cost of keeping the nation’s streets safe. A federal agency forecasts police budgets will cost a record $17 billion within two years. “Don’t price yourself out of a job,” one Conservative MP told police.
The advocacy group Bad Science Watch is lobbying regulators to stop licensing homeopathic vaccine “alternatives” called nosodes. Federal policy allows the sale of “non-specific” homeopathic mixtures without evidence they’re effective. Neither Health Canada nor the Canadian Society of Homeopaths would take Blacklock’s calls.
Canada’s centuries-old seal hunt is being compared to asbestos mining as a doomed industry. “The secret is out,” said Ontario Liberal Senator Mac Harb; “It is over.” The Senate adopted a report advocating a cull of 73,000 grey seals in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Senators also recommended Canada develop Asian markets for seal products as pet food, and include seal oil in the Canada Food Guide.
A unique study has concluded over-fished species are more resilient than previously thought, but delaying remedies reduces the likelihood of recovery. The research spanned 153 species worldwide: “It should provide good incentive to take strong action even if politicians don’t want to do it.”
Federal inspectors confirm detectable amounts of a drug unfit for human consumption were discovered in ground beef sold in Quebec. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it did not warrant a consumer recall. The latest incident came as cabinet extended a probe into the biggest beef recall in Canadian history.
A federal agency has issued an unusual gunfire warning to mariners plying the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River system. Shippers were told to beware of gunshots, firecrackers and “crackling rockets” near Montreal as hydro crews battle nests of cormorants.
A bill to create a national day for Pope John Paul II is a step closer to becoming law. The measure passed the Commons heritage committee following an appeal from its Polish-born sponsor: “It’s not meant for Catholics, it’s not meant for the Polish — it’s meant for all Canadians.”
Canada is counting on the U.S. for help in a catastrophic oil spill, says the coast guard. Scrutiny of emergency planning follows a federal report that criticized preparedness for a tanker spill on the Pacific or Atlantic coasts: “What do we have in place? Do you think it is adequate?”
Health Canada is reviving its study of irradiated meat products with the blessing of the Consumers’ Association of Canada. Public wariness with the process earlier led a federal agency, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., to distribute free cookies made with irradiated flour in 1988.
Police are flaying a federal cyber surveillance bill, saying the legislation is “abysmally written” and must be redrafted to permit lawful access to internet accounts. Toronto and Calgary police urged MPs to start fresh with new measures to counter cybercrime: “We’ve got way more important things to do than find out who’s sending salacious messages to their girlfriend.”
Canada Post will meet costs amid “enormous strain”, but is detailing no new initiatives to counter future deficits. “We have a very competitive market,” one executive told a Senate committee. Canada Post’s union has proposed it branch into financial services like postal systems in Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
A Conservative senator is proposing creation of a new cabinet portfolio, minister of state for poverty reduction, to advocate on behalf of the nation’s “permanent economic underclass.” Cabinet currently includes ministers responsible for sport, seniors and science. “Poverty falls into a grey zone,” said Senator Hugh Segal.
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 
