A federal arbitrator after five years of litigation has upheld the firing of a Canadian Pacific Railway engineer who derailed a locomotive while under the influence of cocaine. The railway cited the case as an argument for random workplace drug tests in Canada: “I am appalled.”
A homeowner described as the last man in Ontario with a dial electrical meter has lost a final challenge of the province’s Smart Meter program. Scofflaws opposed the digital meters as a nuisance, health hazard and invasion of privacy: “What’s the point?”
Federal executives billed taxpayers more than $135,000 this year for airline tickets that were never used. Tammy Clifford, vice-president at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, charged $7,121 for a business class flight to Brussels that she later cancelled: “Transportation shall be based on cost.”
Catholic charities plan an all-party election debate, the largest of its kind, on campaign platforms “from a Catholic perspective”. The event follows a 2018 Court ruling that upheld charities’ ability to engage in political activities under the Charter Of Rights: “Citizens should be mindful of the right and also the duty to use their free vote.”
The Department of Fisheries in a redacted secret memo indicates a proposal to ease the “administrative burden” for fish farming corporations was a last-minute addition to federal plans. No reason was given: “The department doesn’t know.”
Any re-elected Liberal cabinet might introduce a national guaranteed income program, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told a campaign meeting. The program would cost more than $43 billion a year, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office: “That might be one of the solutions.”
The Green Party platform if enacted in any minority Parliament would raise taxes by nearly $60 billion a year, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Green proposals include new taxes on soda pop, banks and their customers and employers and workers paying Canada Pension Plan premiums: “The platform is a blueprint.”
Limits on jury selection passed by Parliament June 20 following the Colten Boushie case have survived their first challenge. “Gut feeling” is no reason to disqualify a person from serving on a Canadian jury, ruled Ontario Superior Court: ‘It is not transparent.’
The New Democrat Party yesterday proposed a fifteen percent tax on foreign buyers of homes and condos nationwide. The tax similar to measures adopted by legislatures in British Columbia and Ontario would cost more than $300 million next year, said the Parliamentary Budget Office: “We’ll take real action.”
Reviving a 2009 Conservative Party tax credit for home renovations would cost nearly $2 billion, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Canadians spend more than $44 billion a year on home improvements, by official estimate: “It doesn’t take much.”
The People’s Party has won a second Federal Court ruling against a British Columbia businessman who claimed to invent its name. The Party dismissed legal challenges as “frivolous and weak”.
The Canada Revenue Agency says it will take no questions over next steps in a $595 million media bailout despite a cabinet pledge that “everything will be transparent”. Publishers are seeking quick payment of payroll rebates before the October 21 election: “If this was supposed to be open and transparent, I don’t think that happened here.”
The Liberal Party yesterday said it will exceed greenhouse gas emission targets though its current plan is 36 percent short. Cabinet was silent on a June 13 pledge it would never raise the 12¢-a litre carbon tax on gasoline: “The planet is burning.”
The Department of Immigration had staff monitor and analyze MP Maxime Bernier’s Twitter feed for “some indication of public sentiment” on immigration, according to Access To Information records. Bernier’s People’s Party proposes to cut immigration levels by 24 percent next year: “Top comments express wonder and concern.”
The Parliamentary Budget Office yesterday calculated a Conservative Party proposal to roll back 2018 tax increases on small business and sole proprietors would cost $532 million next year. Farmers, restaurateurs and others had protested the hikes: “It’s very unfair.”
