The Federal Court of Appeal yesterday upheld an ethics ruling one advocacy group called a charade. The Commissioner of Ethics was sued over a 2016 decision allowing then-Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc to endorse a so-called “conflict of interest screen” over dealings with a New Brunswick millionaire: “They are a reasonable exercise.”
Environment Canada in a rare emergency order admits it miscalculated greenhouse gas emissions by more than a million tonnes. Staff blamed a faulty survey that would have seen Canada violate a treaty to cut emissions of a common coolant: “Immediate action is required.”
Conservative MPs are appealing this week for a Commons committee hearing to examine cabinet’s carbon tax and rebate program. “Action on climate change is not a gimmick,” Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters.
Cabinet says it has no plans to legislate an end to rotating Canada Post strikes now entering their second week. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has scheduled a series of one-day strikes in cities following unsuccessful contract negotiations: ‘We believe in collective bargaining.’
The Department of Finance is formally repealing part of the Income Tax Act already struck down as an unconstitutional speech gag on Canadian charities. “This is a huge victory for the charitable sector,” said an Ottawa group that successfully challenged the law in Ontario Superior Court.
The Commons transport committee has opened hearings on airport noise with a public appeal to curb night flights over sleeping neighbourhoods. Federal regulators take noise complaints from residents near train yards, but not airport runways: “I invite you to my home when we have night flights.”
The Senate languages committee recommends French-language federal ads be mandated in English newspapers, and unilingual Anglophone judges be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court. The proposals follow the Commons tabling of cabinet regulations mandating French service and signage at airports in every provincial capital: “We have heard the cries of Francophone communities.”
“We need to help immigrants,”
says Sylvain,
sinking his teeth
into a Double Angus Burger
he gets at Harvey’s.
“Agree,”
says Stephanie,
sipping Iced Mocha Latte
from Tim Hortons.
Anne joins them,
unwrapping the chicken donair,
tabouli, and baba ganoush
she gets at the Lebanese bakery.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Cabinet is mandating French signs and service at airports from St. John’s to Victoria. Airport managers have protested compliance will be difficult in cities with few Francophones: ‘It is a challenge to find bilingual people to work at Tim Hortons.’
Municipalities may enforce zoning bylaws against marijuana, a judge has ruled. The Ontario Superior Court decision is the first in Canada since cabinet legalized home cultivation of cannabis October 17: “Times have changed.”
Environment Canada yesterday defended its preoccupation with inspecting small businesses like dry cleaners for breaches of the Environmental Protection Act. “We know where they are,” an enforcement director told the Senate environment committee.
The Senate yesterday hurried final approval of a Pacific trade treaty after a week’s review and debate. The bill was signed into law within minutes of the final vote as senators vowed Canada must be among the first to ratify it: “It’s a treaty we can’t change anyway.”
The Department of Finance yesterday said it will conduct a 2019 review of risks to insurers and banks from a catastrophic earthquake. The famed 1906 San Francisco quake bankrupted twelve insurance companies: “So, piles of rubble, houses with mortgages and no insurance, and I gather the plan of financial institutions is to hope the government will bail it all out.”
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is suing federal prosecutors to save the company from a costly corruption trial. Conviction on charges unproven to date could see the nation’s largest engineering firm blacklisted from public works for 10 years. “They’re going to have to figure it out for themselves,” said Public Works Minister Carla Qualtrough.
Pay errors for federal employees as a result of the failed Phoenix Pay System total nearly two-thirds of a billion dollars, says the chair of the Commons public accounts committee. Nearly 6 in 10 federal employees, 58 percent, have seen paycheques garbled this year: “It’s getting worse.”
