The Department of Natural Resources in a policy guide says homeowners must bring their properties “into the future” with a first-ever retroactive building code. The unpublished code to take effect by 2022 would cost homeowners up to $35,000, by official estimate: “Start adopting model energy requirements for existing homes.”
A federal agency mandated to promote “financial literacy” mistakenly claims Canadians need a bank account to cash a tax refund cheque. There is no such requirement under the Bank Act. The claim contradicted earlier statements by the same Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: “What if you don’t have an account?”
British Columbia’s highest court has upheld the Canada Labour Code firing of a call centre employee who blamed traffic for chronic lateness at work. The Court in a rare split decision ruled there are limits to excuses for tardiness: “Traffic was a bitch!!”
The RCMP spied on a former president of the Alberta Federation of Labour from as early as 1965, according to secret memos released through Access To Information. Police kept meticulous surveillance records on David Werlin, a 1990 candidate for presidency of the Canadian Labour Congress: ‘He makes frequent trips to Vancouver on CUPE business.’
A former government researcher alleges federal agencies concealed evidence of lead contamination from private homeowners in an Ontario community. The ex-staffer in a Federal Court lawsuit claims she suffered reprisal from management and was ultimately fired in 2017: “Management was concerned if residents were to be informed of contamination on their property they could sue.”
The Department of Fisheries is proposing first-ever national standards on coastal fish farms. The initiative follows a critical audit on environmental risks of salmon growers: “What are the gaps or weaknesses in existing management practices?”
About 20 percent of the nation’s roads are in poor or “very poor” condition, says a first-ever Statistics Canada infrastructure survey. Researchers did not estimate the value of unfunded repair bills facing taxpayers: “It may not ever be possible to eliminate the infrastructure ‘deficit’.”
The Department of Finance in a secret Access To Information memo proposes to widen its surveillance of cash transactions in Canada. Staff complained of gaps in reporting by auto dealers, auctioneers and others, and again suggested lawyers report cash dealings despite a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that the practice is unconstitutional: ‘The department is working toward next steps in due course.’
Alberta’s highest court has overturned a one-year license suspension for a dentist who called colleagues “veneer Nazis” who gouge the public. The self-described whistleblower criticized cosmetic dentistry as a “maze of slick marketing” with inflated prices: “Docs have dollar signs in their eyes and can be very smooth operators.”
Few Canadians ever consult federal travel advisories when flying abroad, says research by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Travelers were four times more likely to use Google than look up a government website: ‘They are vague and out of date.’
The Federal Court in an unusual case has rejected a claim of wrongful conviction. Advocates petitioned Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to reopen an investigation into a 1979 murder that saw one man jailed, and another claim responsibility in a deathbed confession: ‘He knew he was dying when he made his statement.’
Vancouver International Airport continues to have the longest lineups in the country, according to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. The agency in an Access To Information report estimated nationwide about 1 in 5 travelers complain they wait too long to pass through security: ‘Canadians already pay one of the highest aviation security fees in the world.’
Canadians last year spent $16.8 billion on patented medicines including drugs sold at higher prices here than in select European countries, a federal agency yesterday reported. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board described the growth in sales of high-priced drugs, those costing $10,000 or more, as “remarkable”.
Cabinet yesterday detailed new regulations to detain and deport foreigners with a marijuana conviction even after Canada legalizes recreational cannabis. Lawyers have warned of “severe immigration consequences” for people confused by the new marijuana law: “They could bar you for life.”
Canadians give the Department of Veterans Affairs a poor rating in caring for ex-military, according to in-house research. “There is a strong sense that Veterans Affairs Canada should be doing more,” wrote pollsters hired by the department.
