Transport Minister Marc Garneau yesterday would not confirm cabinet is drafting back-to-work legislation to end a national rail strike. Parliament forced an end to six previous rail shutdowns dating from 1950: “We are convinced there is a solution.”
Cabinet yesterday said it will not rewrite two contentious energy bills passed by Parliament last June 20. One measure is currently the target of a constitutional challenge in the Alberta Court of Appeal: “Look, the legislation is now in force.”
Federal judges have sharply criticized the Office of the Information Commissioner for a ten-year delay in processing an Access To Information complaint. “The administrative procedure in question constitutes a gross and outrageous abuse,” said the Federal Court of Appeal.
“It is undeniable the file should have been resolved in a much shorter time,” Justice Marc Nadon wrote on behalf of the Court. “I can only conclude the lack of diligence on the part of the Commissioner has resulted in the Access To Information regime being brought into disrepute.”
The Court cited extraordinary time spent managing a request for safety audits at Air Transat Inc. An unidentified applicant sought the data from regulators in 2005, and complained to the Commissioner in 2006 when records were withheld by Transport Canada. The Office of the Commissioner completed its investigation in 2016. Staff told the Court the case was complex.
“Complexity of the case cannot justify the ten-year delay,” wrote Justice Nadon: “The interest of the company in the pursuit of the case does not override the negative effects suffered by Air Transat and the Access seeker.”
Federal agencies do not comment on litigation. The Court noted three Information Commissioners came and went as the Air Transat case lingered with investigators.
“Delays are endemic across the Access system,” Commissioner Caroline Maynard said in 2018 testimony at the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee. Maynard took office after the Air Transat report was completed. “I receive 2,400 complaints per year on different interpretations of the law, and in half of those cases I conclude the exclusions and exemptions mean the institution has not complied with the legislation,” said Maynard.
The Air Transat case involved auditors’ findings of a 2003 pilot project that saw the airline become the first to introduce a so-called Safety Management System. All major commercial airlines are now required to draft risk management plans under Canadian Aviation Regulations.
The original request was for 653 pages of records. Air Transat and the Department of Transportation sought to block the release of all data, claiming commercial confidentiality. The Federal Court of Appeal rejected the argument.
“I am unable to understand how and why its disclosure would likely cause alleged harm to Air Transat,” wrote Justice Nadon: “It is difficult to accept that a report more than fifteen years old” – it was written in 2003 – “can be of serious interest to the competitors of Air Transat.”
Justice Nadon said the decade spent on the Air Transat complaint caused airline lawyers to “repeat the work already done many years ago”, including tracking down former employees.
By Staff 
VIA Rail in Access To Information records indicates one commuter train ran late 173 business days in a row though management claims on-time performance of seventy to eighty percent. The Crown railway yesterday did not comment on its definition of punctuality: “Passengers want to be on time.”
The Department of Public Works yesterday placed a rush order for new windows at the Supreme Court of Canada, though the building will undergo a billion-dollar refit in 2023. The Court did not comment: “We like working here.”
Transport Minister Marc Garneau yesterday predicted a quick end to a three-day national strike at Canadian National Railways. “We think there is a possible solution,” said Garneau: “I’m not going to predict whether it’s hours, days.”
A federal review of the Broadcasting Act must address industry complaints over the CBC and Canadian content rules, says an Access To Information memo from the Department of Heritage. “The Canadian broadcasting system continues to experience significant disruption,” wrote staff.
The Competition Bureau yesterday would not disclose total cost of its failed anti-trust investigation of the Vancouver Airport Authority. Expenses included $1.32 million in legal costs paid to airport managers falsely targeted with anti-trust allegations: “Who did what?”
Environment Canada has pressed a $100,00 fine against a First Nation for breach of federal green laws. Saskatchewan’s Big River First Nation pleaded financial hardship, though Court records showed it had a surplus of $1.2 million: ‘$100,000 would not cause hardship.’
New Democrats yesterday vowed to oppose any measure to speed back-to-work legislation to end a national rail strike. The walkout by 3,200 Teamsters is the first to confront a minority Parliament in forty-six years: “These workers have serious concerns.”
A spiritual healer with a federal charity has been fined $29,000 for practicing medicine without a license. The Québec church remains listed by the Canada Revenue Agency as a registered charitable organization: “I feel it. There is really something happening.”
Auditors have uncovered common breaches of federal contracting rules by the National Research Council. Favoured contractors received work without having to bid for it, including six-figure deals divvied up in small, piecemeal invoices in an improper practice called contract splitting: “One of the central principles of federal contracting is openness.”
A homebuyer who blamed new federal mortgage rules for knocking eighteen percent off the value of his house has lost a claim for damages in Ontario Superior Court. Cabinet from 2016 introduced credit curbs on mortgage buyers: ‘It was the height of the local real estate boom.’
Canadian drug dealers have become a top source of global marijuana shipments since Parliament legalized cannabis in 2018, says Department of Public Safety research. Black market dealers now ship tons of marijuana annually: “Canadian vendors are willing to ship anywhere in the world.”
A dramatic increase in RCMP disability claims is due in part to tinnitus, says federal research. Mounties’ disability benefits will cost nearly a half-billion dollars a year by 2023: “Hearing loss is the most prominent medical condition among released members.”
