Public servants in Nunavut are among the best paid in Canada despite high local unemployment, according to evidence in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit. More than 1 in 4 positions in the territorial service are vacant: “There is no shortage of job opportunities.”
Federal regulators say they have no data on the success or failure of a program to have cable providers offer $25-a month TV packages. One consumers’ group described the 2016 campaign for so-called “skinny basic” cable as a marketing ploy: ‘We do not have statistics.’
The Canada Revenue Agency in an internal audit admits it has no accurate reporting of how long taxpayers must wait in applying for relief from interest and penalties. The Agency receives more than 400,000 applications a year from taxpayers who seek help in hardship cases: “These recurrent problems create increased frustration for individual citizens.”
A stunt pilot has lost a long legal fight with Transport Canada over a fine for reckless flying. Regulators complained a YouTube video depicting a helicopter skidding past a pond hockey game breached Aviation Regulations: “Each of the players was an expert skater.”
A federal food safety ombudsman hasn’t filed an annual report in two years. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the office is still functioning, but simply stopped public reporting of its work: “It continues to provide administrative redress.”
Silver Dancers
of San Antonio Spurs
going home.
Gone
minimally-dressed young women
exciting crowds
and NBA players.
Gone
female bodies
pleasing sponsors
and club executives.
Cheer for that.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
A judge has thrown out a bid by the Canada Revenue Agency to search hydro customers’ accounts for evidence of tax avoidance. The Federal Court called it an obvious fishing expedition that breached the “right of everyone to be left alone by the state”.
Canadian diplomats contracted a U.S. video production company to save NAFTA talks with a YouTube video. The Canadian Embassy in Washington paid the equivalent of more than $600 per second to produce a short video promoting the 1994 trade pact as a job creator, according to records: “Good storytelling is becoming harder to find.”
A national radio panel has approved the use of a vulgar term for women. The Canada Broadcast Standards Council noted public acceptance of street language has evolved over the years: “Is this word no longer a censored word?”
Federal agencies have saved about $3,000 under a 2015 program to abolish penny-ante benefit cheques. The cabinet order followed a public outcry over the mailing of a 1¢ cheque to a war widow: “It was an insensitive bureaucratic screw-up.”
Transport Canada yesterday rejected any further research on school bus safety belts. The dismissal followed the accidental death of an Alberta schoolgirl, and a recommendation by U.S. safety investigators that all new buses be equipped with three-point shoulder and lap belts: “We just want all the facts laid out.”
The Department of Finance yesterday said it will not use cash transfers to penalize provinces that refuse to collect the carbon tax. Protests from Saskatchewan were prompted by earlier department memos that described carbon taxes as “an issue” in transfer payments: “If provinces do not collect carbon taxes, will they be penalized under the equalization scheme? No.”
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.”
