Excise taxes on tobacco declined 6 percent last year though the number of smokers in Canada remained static at 5.3 million casual and daily users. It was the second annual decline in three years. The Customs & Immigration Union said data point to a growing black market: “The government should pay attention.”
The Department of Fisheries yesterday introduced regulations limiting public access to marine mammals like whales and dolphins without a federal permit. New rules exempt Atlantic seal hunters. The initiative follows complaints of harassment of whales by tour boaters and jet skiers: “Their presence is causing chaos”.
The Department of Social Development has subsidized bocce courts, ukulele lessons and Chinese opera under a seniors’ aid program, accounts show. Funding for the New Horizons For Seniors program will total $49.3 million this year, a 45 percent increase from 2014: “Politicians do this because seniors vote.”
The Federal Court of Appeal in a win for Canadian steelmakers has rejected a challenge of anti-dumping duties by Asian exporters. The Court said Chinese-made steel pipe transshipped through other countries could not evade duties: ‘It’s important to look behind the transactions.’
MPs cannot accept sponsored summer barbecues from lobbyists, the federal ethics commissioner has ruled. The directive followed one MP’s request to have Enbridge Inc. help with costs of a grill fest: “This opinion is not limited to Enbridge.”
A territorial tribunal has awarded $5,000 in damages to individuals forced to take food vouchers instead of welfare cheques. The ruling comes as federal regulators consider reforms to a $98.7 million-a year Arctic grocers’ subsidy: “The policy was based on generalization and stereotypes rather than facts.”
The CBC has under-reported TV losses by 20 percent, according to new federal filings. Financial data contradict 2016 testimony of the Crown broadcaster’s chief editor at the Commons heritage committee: “It is reporting significant losses for its conventional television services.”
One of Canada’s largest law societies is intervening in a court case over archival records linked by conspiracy theorists to the 1963 Kennedy assassination. The Québec bar association said the challenge raises important questions affecting all solicitors and clients: “We are intervening on the principle.”
Fewer than 1 in 10 Canadians speculated in bitcoin even as the pseudo-currency soared in value, says a Bank of Canada report. While the number of bitcoin owners doubled in Canada – from 2.5 to 5 percent – the gain was “not significant”, said bankers.
A cabinet forecast of 80,000 new jobs under free trade with Europe appears reliable. A former Liberal deputy chair of the Senate banking, trade and commerce committee had disputed the claim as far-fetched: “We need to have an assessment of these trade deals.”
The Canada Revenue Agency forecasts a ten-fold increase in the number of cannabis wholesalers by 2023. The estimate is detailed in a rush order for excise tax stamps for recreational marijuana to be legalized October 17: “This is a new market.”
Payment of a yearly bilingualism bonus to federal employees has cost almost $2 billion since cabinet first proposed to eliminate the benefit in 1982, says a federal report. Cabinet has repeatedly attempted to repeal the bonus worth $800 a year to staff that speak French and English: “It has never been increased.”
A Commons committee is demanding legislation guaranteeing prompt payment to small suppliers and contractors on public works. Cabinet has shelved a bill passed by the Senate in 2017 that would give contractors a right to demand payment for work without fear of being struck from the bidders’ lists: “Not being paid on time is huge.”
A Court has faulted a Halifax college for recruiting foreign students on a vague promise they’d obtain federal work permits. The college should have told the truth though it “would not have been an effective recruitment tool”, wrote the Court.
Please note Blacklock’s is pausing for a short recess this week, with warmest wishes to readers and sponsors. We’re back Monday the 9th — The Editor….
