Department of Health research says Canadians want more data on added sugars as regulators revise the benchmark Canada Food Guide. A department report was silent on proposals for a national sugar tax: ‘Canadians want more information about sugars and how to reduce consumption,’
Transport Canada proposes that 12,000 railway employees and shippers’ staff take anti-terror training. The last incident of enemy sabotage against a Canadian railway occurred in World War Two: “Transportation of dangerous goods by rail is vulnerable to misuse or sabotage by terrorists.”
The Canada Border Services Agency was the target of 29 racial profiling complaints in 2016, according to Access To Information records. All but four were dismissed as unfounded. The Federal Court this year upheld a complaint against the Agency: “You fit the profile.”
The National Research Council warns ratepayers face billions in utility repairs due to climate change-related rainfall. Municipalities are unprepared, researchers wrote: “Storm water and drainage systems are already failing.”
Statistics Canada says the average child draws 24 percent of daily calories from sugar. New data were reported as Parliament considers a bill to prohibit junk food marketing to children under 17: ‘The average Canadian teen consumes over half a litre of sugary drinks per day.’
Tuberculosis rates
continue to decline.
Except among two groups.
The first,
newcomers from developing countries
where
access to health care is limited,
diagnosis delayed,
treatment unavailable or unaffordable.
Where poorly ventilated and
overcrowded housing
favour the spread of infection.
Where hunger and malnutrition
weaken the immune system.
Where education on
risk factors and prevention
is lacking.
Where HIV is prevalent.
The second, Inuit.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
The Senate energy committee yesterday warned Canadian drivers face extraordinary difficulty in meeting cabinet’s climate change targets. It “is going to be a huge challenge”, senators wrote: ‘If all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships were to disappear, we would still fall far short.’
A Department of Public Safety report says the public has been misled over the size of Canada’s illegal marijuana market. Researchers said police grossly inflate the value of drug seizures, and that regulators have no data on how much or how little cannabis Canadians actually use: “What is the issue that’s trying to be solved?”
Parks Canada could become only the third agency ever to lose UNESCO heritage status for failing to care for cultural property, says a United Nations official. Cabinet has yet to answer a UN report critical of development at Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park: “A World Heritage Site could lose its status. It has happened.”
The Senate social affairs committee has approved a ban on kids’ advertising over the protests of restaurateurs and food makers. The Conservative bill would restrict marketing of junk food to Canadians under 17: “We will need to spell out what unhealthy means.”
Internal polling by the Department of Natural Resources shows Canadians have more trust in environmental groups than the federal oil and gas regulator, the National Energy Board. The data follow an advisory panel report citing complaints the Board is secretive and industry-friendly: ‘Addressing public confidence is critical.’
MPs yesterday passed a bill to proclaim November 11 a legal federal holiday despite protests from the Royal Canadian Legion. Advocates said it is purely symbolic: “When can this quit?”
The Senate yesterday passed a bill to proclaim Charlottetown the birthplace of Confederation. Third Reading came amid historic quarrels over the founding of the nation: “Charlottetown is not the actual birthplace.”
The Senate has passed into law a bill to discourage unsafe disposal of millions of compact fluorescent bulbs with toxic mercury. Some 1,150 kilograms of mercury are landfilled each year, by official estimate: “Municipalities deal with the garbage.”
A federal judge has ruled against a British Columbia helicopter pilot responsible for a YouTube stunt. Transport Canada complained the staged video depicting a chopper skidding past a pond hockey game breached Canadian Aviation Regulations: “Hockey players could have been hit.”
