Health Canada yesterday approved continued use by most farmers of three pesticides rated more lethal to bees than DDT. Regulators said limited restrictions on fruits and vegetables will be phased in by 2022 to save bees credited with billions in crop pollination: “This will stand.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs yesterday budgeted $1 million to plant trees honouring Canadian war dead. The spending follows a department audit that found long nursing home waiting lists for surviving WWII and Korean War veterans in their 80s and 90s: “Focus on care.”
An exasperated school bus driver who said he’d like to drop unruly boys off in the woods has been acquitted of uttering threats in Québec Provincial Court. Drivers typically work long hours for low pay, a Teamsters Union official earlier told the Commons transport committee: “They care about the children they are carrying.”
The Department of Finance in pre-budget surveys polled Canadians’ growing anger over gasoline prices. The department commissioned the research before its national carbon tax took effect April 1: “The costs would just be passed down to consumers.”
Federal staff confirmed more than 7,000 security breaches in the past two years involving classified or protected documents, records show. Fourteen cases involved political staff working for cabinet ministers. The largest number of breaches occurred in the office of then-Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc: “No employees have lost their security clearance as a result.”
The Commons last night by a vote of 194 to 91 rejected a bill mandating disclosure of “grassroots communication” by foreign-funded lobbyists. The bill’s Conservative sponsor said the intent was to target U.S. environmental groups opposed to pipelines and other projects: “It goes far deeper.”
Most Canadians surveyed are still wary of the Senate despite changes to appointments, says research commissioned by a Senator. Nearly half of people surveyed, 46 percent, had a negative opinion: “If your image is bad, it can affect how you carry out your job.”
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has struck punitive damages against the Canada Revenue Agency for malicious prosecution of a Nanaimo restaurateur. The Court ruled just because the business owner was acquitted of tax evasion was no reason to doubt auditors sincerely believed they had “circumstantial evidence” of wrongdoing: “This does not mean that conviction is certain.”
Cabinet yesterday defended an investigation of the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. political scandal by a team headed by a Liberal cabinet minister’s sister-in-law. “They feel, in their view, their independence has been preserved,” said Senator Peter Harder (Ont.), Government Representative in the Senate.
“How can Canadians take this investigation seriously?” said Senator Leo Housakos (Conservative-Que.). “For that matter, at this point how can Canadians take this government seriously?”
The Office of the Ethics Commissioner on February 11 said it would confidentially investigate claims senior Liberals sought to quash a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin on fraud and bribery charges to secure Liberal votes in Québec. The acting director of investigations is Martine Richard, sister-in-law to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
The Office on April 8 confirmed it was aware of the “potential conflict”, and that Richard recused herself from the investigation “in early March out of an abundance of caution” after the probe was underway.
“This is outrageous,” Senator Denise Batters (Conservative-Que.) yesterday told Senate Question Period: “In what world would it be appropriate that the sister-in-law of a senior cabinet minister, Dominic LeBlanc, be involved at that high a level investigating any Trudeau government minister or Prime Minister Trudeau?”
“The Ethics Commissioner’s Office itself has taken the appropriate steps – or steps they feel are appropriate,” replied Senator Harder: “The integrity of their Office and all its staff are accordingly also not suspect, in their mind.”
New Democrat MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.), the complainant who requested the Ethics Commissioner’s investigation in the first place, yesterday said he considered the probe pointless. “I was surprised and thrown off to find a cabinet minister’s sister-in-law is the chief investigator,” said Angus: “I do not have confidence. They cannot deal with the matter at hand.”
The Commons ethics committee yesterday rejected by votes of 6 to 3 two separate motions to interview witnesses named as lobbying for an out-of-court settlement on SNC-Lavalin’s behalf. The committee’s Liberal majority opposed hearings.
“I’ve been here 15 years and we’ve dealt with all kinds of smut and corruption,” said MP Angus: “This is a political crisis that is unprecedented. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Conservative MP Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.) said Canadians deserve some public investigation. “We haven’t heard from the one person in this entire continuing and ever-deepening scandal, and that is the Prime Minister himself,” said Kent: “There is ample reason to invite the Prime Minister first to remove all constraints on any of the potential witnesses, but to continue to look for the truth in this matter.”
The allegations to date have prompted the resignation of a former attorney general, the president of the Treasury Board, the Prime Minister’s principal secretary, and the Clerk of the Privy Council, the head of the federal public service.
By Staff 
Federal climate change regulations to be detailed in June will effectively double the price of natural gas, chemical manufacturers said yesterday. The industry based its calculations on data from the Department of the Environment: ‘It would be great to get transparency.’
Cabinet will privatize the federal agency responsible for airport security screening following years of complaints of poor service and long line-ups. Passengers should not see hikes in mandatory security fees of $15 for domestic roundtrip fares and $26 on international flights, said Transport Canada: “It is a big decision.”
Cabinet in a long-promised National Housing Strategy Act is declaring basic shelter a statutory right. Advocates had sought the designation in law: “Future governments would be essentially required to maintain ongoing support.”
Cabinet will mandate prompt payment to trades and subcontractors on most federal public works. The initiative follows the Senate’s 2017 passage of a private Conservative bill amid complaints of bankruptcy and blacklisting of contractors: “As a small business, not being paid on time is huge.”
A cabinet bill to restrict Pacific oil tanker traffic is discriminatory and should be amended or defeated, two provinces yesterday told the Senate transport committee. Critics noted the bill does not touch the majority of the country’s oil tanker shipments, in Atlantic Canada: “This has a gargantuan impact.”
A cabinet bill proposes sweeping changes to the Pilotage Act that regulates safe passage of vessels into Canadian harbours. Amendments follow a federal review that complained the Crown service is too costly: ‘Monopolies when left unchecked typically result in high prices.’
