Federal research shows nearly half of young Canadians surveyed, 47 percent, used electronic cigarettes at least occasionally. The number of tobacco users nationwide is 18 percent. A first-ever bill to regulate vaping is pending in the Commons: “It is cool or trendy.”
The Federal Court says it destroyed audio tapes of hearings in apparent breach of Federal Court Rules. The digital recordings were of courthouse conferences on Blacklock’s claims against Crown agencies for breach of the Copyright Act. Administrators earlier admitted an unidentified person used a courthouse computer to edit Blacklock’s Wikipedia page.
“It would be inappropriate for the Attorney General to comment in the matter as it is before the courts and the Attorney General is a party,” said David Taylor, director of communications for Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Andrew Baumberg, counsel for the Federal Court, earlier said officials kept 100 percent of records. “The general principle is one of retention in perpetuity,” said Baumberg. “The rules provide some exceptions.”
Blacklock’s requested audio recordings of case management teleconferences from January 23, March 6 and May 12 in which lawyers for the Attorney General sought to defer trials on ongoing copyright infringements, and Case Management Judge Mireille Tabib quit the proceedings.
The Court Registry initially said records were not immediately available due to absentee staff and “poor quality” of the audio, then acknowledged tapes had vanished.
“For digital audio recordings made by the Registry, the current practice is to keep all recordings,” said Baumberg. The Court counsel cited Federal Court Rules section 21, “The administrator shall keep all records necessary for documenting the proceedings of the Court.”
The Court Registry declined an interview. Baumberg yesterday confirmed records were deleted. Baumberg said at least one audio tape was “overwritten”.
Also Made Wikipedia Edits
Lawyer Stuart Rennie of Port Coquitlam, B.C., a specialist in records management, said Canadian authorities are typically cautious in preserving records. “In general, Canadians are very reluctant to destroy records,” said Rennie, a member of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators.
“In my experience, there is even reluctance to destroy ‘transitory’ records – an email to arrange a meeting, for instance,” said Rennie. “Each court has its own practices. I do know it is common practice for retention schedules to be kept.”
The Courts Administration Service earlier launched an internal investigation after an unknown person used a courthouse computer to edit Blacklock’s Wikipedia page in 2016. An unidentified staffer made the entry last December 21, within minutes of a Court ruling that ordered Blacklock’s to pay $65,000 in costs in a copyright lawsuit against the Department of Finance.
Daniel Gosselin, chief of the Administration Service, said staff were forbidden from using Court computers or government internet servers to edit Wikipedia pages. “CAS takes the impartiality of the Courts very seriously,” Gosselin earlier wrote.
“Please note the Courts Administration Service has not authorized any of its employees to edit the Blacklock’s Reporter Wikipedia page,” wrote Gosselin; “This is an internal matter and, accordingly, will be dealt with internally.”
By Staff 
The Department of Finance spent $59,331 on focus group interviews that asked Canadians, “What keeps you up at night?” Respondents said they worried about losing their job, and Donald Trump: “Finance Canada wanted to get a clear and current sense of the evolution of the public mood.”
The Department of Natural Resources is investing in a gaming program complete with prizes to “engage Canadians” on fuel conservation as they face a national carbon tax. One MP described the project as a money-wasting scheme: “A potential game would need to be fun.”
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce yesterday in a report urged Parliament to spend more on roads and other basic infrastructure. Researchers cited data that Canada’s three largest cities suffer gridlock that has sent average commute times up to an hour-and-a-half: ‘They are really strangling themselves.’
A federal judge has faulted Transport Canada for revoking a longtime employee’s security clearance on innuendo and a flawed RCMP report. The Federal Court ruled the department went too far in punishing a nine-year employee with a spotless record: ‘To put it bluntly, we don’t know why.’
A Senate committee chair says the public expects Health Canada to honour its promise to restrict junk food advertising to children. A department Access To Information memo indicates staff proposed to defer regulations for fear of industry lawsuits: “What is Health Canada’s position?”
An Alberta company has filed a federal lawsuit against the Government of Canada and three provinces for mass expropriation of copyright data. Geophysical Service Inc. identified Crown agencies that gave away millions’ worth of company work, or sold it for as little as $759: “It is unbelievable.”
Restaurateurs are condemning the federal Competition Bureau for an unsolicited proposal to boost food trucks. The industry says it was neither consulted nor advised of the agency’s report: ‘I find this a little hard to swallow.’
The Federal Court of Appeal in a far-reaching judgment has ruled workplace health and safety enforcement may apply off an employer’s property. The rare split decision followed an appeal by mail carriers: “The fact there was a dissent does raise the ante.”
Environmental groups have won a Federal Court ruling against Health Canada and four chemical companies over pesticide safety. The Court rejected the department’s bid to dismiss without trial a claim that regulators unlawfully licensed pesticides: “It’s a big victory.”
Cabinet is expanding post-secondary grants to students by $138.6 million a year after citing rising defaults under its repayable Canada Student Loan program. Write-offs of unpaid loans cost $354.4 million in the past two years: “I hope we’re not going to see the write-offs increase as we expand the grant system.”
Transport Canada in a climate change forecast predicts severe damage to northern roads and airfields, fewer snow days in Québec and more wildfires and drought on the Prairies. Average temperatures have increased 1.5° since 1950: ‘Disruptions could become more frequent in the future.’
Health Canada is quietly shelving a 2015 promise of strict regulation of food ads targeting children. The department in Access To Information memos said it was wary of a court challenge by industry.
“The proposed policy would ideally have the following elements: it would be backstopped by legislation or regulation to ensure compliance while giving flexibility to get industry buy-in, which would minimize the risk of a lengthy court challenge,” said a department memo Updates On Healthy Eating Initiatives.
The department said it must “bring together health stakeholders and industry to negotiate graduated levels of marketing compliance.” A statutory ad ban would only be enacted “should we not see progress”.
The memo was written for a 2016 meeting of staff from Health Canada and the Department of Agriculture, at the same time a bill was introduced in the Senate advocating a strict, statutory ban on junk food marketing. The health department in a 2015 Ministerial Mandate letter promised it would be “introducing new restrictions on the commercial marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children, similar to those now in place in Québec.”
Québec’s 1980 Consumer Protection Act – the only legislation of its kind in Canada – prohibits all TV marketing to pre-teen viewers. The law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1989. Health Canada did not explain why it feared a court challenge of similar federal legislation.
Staff instead are “proposing a collaborative model to restrict advertising ‘unhealthy’ food and beverages to children,” said the memo. Regulators acknowledged junk food marketing is pervasive and unhealthy.
“Ninety percent of foods advertised to children are high in salt, sugar or fat, and low in fibre, including fast food items, soft drinks, breakfast cereals, sweets and chips,” wrote staff. “Food advertising aimed at children directly affects their food preferences, consumption patterns and food purchase requests.”
“There is growing concern in Canada and internationally about the negative impact of marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages on children’s nutritional health,” said the memo. “Marketing is powerful. Modern marketing is sophisticated and uses powerful psychological approaches that are designed to appeal to children’s emotions.”
“Why Is Industry Targeting Children?”
Childhood obesity rates have tripled since 1980, according to the Canadian Medical Association. One advertiser, McDonald’s Canada, targets campaigns to reach between 75 and 90 percent of households nationwide, according to company filings in a 2012 trademarks case. The company sells $140 million worth of Big Macs each year in Canada, by official estimate.
Senate Bill S-228 An Act To Amend The Food And Drugs Act would prohibit advertising of “unhealthy foods” that is “directed primarily at children” under 17. Definitions of unhealthy products, and details of any ban on TV marketing and sports sponsorships, would be determined by regulation within two years of the bill’s passage.
“Either we take action now or taxpayers will need to pay increased health care costs in the future,” Senator Nancy Greene Raine (Conservative-B.C.), sponsor of the bill, earlier told the Senate. “Canada is facing a crisis with the rising rates of obesity that are impacting the lives of our children.”
Greene Raine estimated food manufacturers and retailers spend more than $1 billion a year in marketing food to children under 13. “Why is industry targeting children?” said Greene Raine; “There is no doubt that marketing to kids is working, and also that children are strong influences in the choices made by parents.”
The Senator’s bill is currently awaiting Third Reading. Cabinet had promised to introduce its own legislation this term.
“Part of my main mandate was to address healthy food for kids,” Health Minister Dr. Jane Philpott told reporters last October 6, two weeks after her department wrote its memo. “This is absolutely something that will be part of the whole package of issues we are going to be addressing.”
By Tom Korski
A federal judge has ruled a grieving widow who forgot to claim survivor’s Canada Pension Plan benefits will not get retroactive payments. The claim was worth about $13,000: “She had been unable to manage the paperwork.”
