Financial illiteracy is contributing to “worrying” over-spending by consumers, an advocacy group told MPs. The warning follows a federal study that found less than half Canadians surveyed could identify a credit report. Said one banker: “Some Canadians don’t understand what interest is.”
Decades-old government guidelines on coal deliveries are being withdrawn in a bid to keep up with the times, says the Canadian General Standards Board. Also lost to modernization are government standards for hickory axes, park wardens’ rabbit-fur hats and uniforms for elevator operators.
The nation’s central bank forecasts sluggish, steady growth for years to come, but warns of looming storms over household debt. The Bank of Canada revised its forecast for economic growth to 2.2 percent this year, from an outlook this past July of 2.1.
Canadians remain “energy pigs” in per capita fuel use though the country fares better when applying more selective statistics to international comparisons, says the government’s conservation czar. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Carol Buckley, director general of the Office of Energy Efficiency.
MPs are opening committee hearings on a private bill that would outlaw the bulk removal of boundary waters under threat of imprisonment and multi-million dollar fines. “Canadians need to know our water is not for sale,” said Conservative MP Larry Miller, the bill’s sponsor. “Water is not a commodity like coal or iron ore or oil.”
After a four-year absence an Ottawa version of Frank magazine famed for skewering politicians and pundits alike will soon resume spilling the capital’s secrets. The periodical’s colourful history included litigation involving a Quebec judge and CTV reporter who became satirical targets of the magazine.
Sweeping changes to federal loan guarantees for small companies smack of “bank-centric” adjustments that will cost entrepreneurs, says the nation’s largest advocacy group for small business. Changes permitting higher fees and rates on loans were detailed during Small Business Week.
Federal inspectors pledge to lay on extra “surveillance” of processing at a Brooks, Alta. slaughterhouse now reopened following the nation’s largest beef recall.
Florida is not a state that is “contiguous” with Canada, a three-judge panel of the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled. The judgment came in the case of an Employment Insurance claimant who insisted he was available for work while drawing benefits in the Sunshine State.
Contractors, cities and provincial governments face a longer wait as Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel ponders renewal terms of a promised new national public works program.
The current $33 billion program, Building Canada, expires in 2014. Consulting engineers, after lobbying on Parliament Hill, saw no indication of a quick response.
Significant changes to federal labour law have been inserted in a mammoth budget bill, including new rules on vacation pay and deadlines on wage complaints. “These specific amendments were not consulted on,” Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said in an interview. The omnibus bill rewrites ten sections of the Canada Labour Code.
In a bid that’s drawn protest from Canada’s largest puck manufacturer, Industry Canada is reviewing an application from a Toronto business to trademark the phrase “hockey pucks” on a line of cookies.
Existing eco-building codes are inadequate, obsolete, and have “a long way to go” in achieving promised efficiencies, says a builder who likened the codes to antiquated aircraft: “I personally would not want to fly in a plane that was built the way most buildings are built today.”
Claims that genetically-modified corn may be hazardous to health will “take time” to counter with scientific review, says a leading Canadian researcher. A French study concluded a Monsanto corn variety was linked to tumors and organ damage in laboratory rats, prompting a temporary ban in Russia and demands for restrictions in France, South Africa and other jurisdictions.
Legislation to enshrine vintage mail subsidies and revise a 73-year old definition of media for library purposes is due to pass Parliament. MP Merv Tweed, chair of the Commons’ transport committee, introduced the bill four separate times with all-party support.
