Transport Minister Marc Garneau says there is nothing “sneaky” in executive powers sanctioned in a bill restricting Pacific oil tanker traffic. Bill C-48 An Act Respecting The Regulation Of Vessels allows cabinet to grant waivers to a tanker moratorium: “We’re not going to be talking about sneakily trying to develop tanker traffic.”
An RCMP union already the subject of a 15-year court battle is mired in another legal quandary. Québec organizers say they may challenge a federal Act that does not give consideration to French-speaking Mounties: ‘We just want to have a voice.’
The National Research Council says introduction of a retroactive energy code in 2022 could cost homeowners up to $35,000. Enforcement will be up to provinces, researchers told the Senate energy committee: “I don’t want to put fear in people’s minds.”
A Liberal MP is uneasy with a federal proposal to give cabinet new powers to bypass public scrutiny in drafting regulations. A parliamentary committee was told the proposal is so broad it leaves Canadians at the mercy of “the machine”: “The machine always wins, and the citizen always loses.”
MPs have rejected a bill to exempt the national carbon tax from the GST. One legislator estimated the treasury will collect more than a billion a year from the tax on tax: “That is a significant amount of additional GST revenue.”
Conservatives are looking to the Senate to block or amend a cabinet bill repealing a ban on recreational marijuana. The Commons’ Liberal majority is expected to pass the legislation within days: “Quite frankly, it’s a mess.”
The Commons transport committee will hold hearings to examine VIA Rail’s proposals for a multi-billion dollar refit. MPs approved a New Democrat motion to “conduct a study on Canada’s requirements for passenger rail services.”
I’ve heard
humans and bananas
share fifty percent
of their genome.
Little wonder
you treat a prostitute
like a banana.
Peel,
eat,
throw away what’s left
for others to step on.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Bombardier Inc. is in Federal Court to block disclosure of taxpayers’ subsidies. Bombardier attorneys have waged a six-year campaign to withhold details of funding for the company under a now-disbanded Department of Industry program: “I was concerned then and I’m much more concerned today.”
MPs are questioning whether to wind up a Crown corporation so dysfunctional it failed three audits and fired its CEO. Members of the Commons public accounts committee yesterday cited “jaw-dropping” misconduct at the agency: “This is a Crown agency. Wow.”
The Commons industry committee will vote to hold hearings on development of a national steel policy. Steelmakers blame cheap state-subsidized imports and weak procurement policies for Canada’s declining share of world production: “Is Canada going to be in steel?”
Anti-spam legislation has failed to combat malicious emails, MPs yesterday told hearings of the Commons industry committee. A statutory review of the 2014 law is expected to result in amendments: “Everybody has told us it is way too broad.”
The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled union organizers have no automatic right to hold jobsite walkthroughs or meetings during business hours. The ruling followed complaints from a Health Canada manager that discussion of union business made staff “emotional” and talkative.
The Department of Natural Resources has completed a confidential analysis on potential “negative economic impacts” of the national carbon tax on forest products companies and other sectors. Staff yesterday would not release the study. Forestry mills put costs at up to $275 million a year: “For some mill operators it will have a significant impact.”
The Department of Public Works proposes to waive prosecution of corporate criminals as too costly and time-consuming. Federal agencies earlier dismissed sanctions against Canada’s largest engineering firm for offshore bribery and illegal campaign contributions: “I don’t want a bureaucrat to simply be able to cut a deal behind closed doors.”
