Farm groups and transport companies are protesting tougher animal welfare regulations, the first revisions in 40 years. Nearly 1.6 million poultry and livestock die in transit each year in Canada, by official estimate: ‘It’s very akin to human beings traveling.’
Air Canada is doing its best to comply with the Official Languages Act, say executives. Cabinet is reviewing a proposal to fine the carrier over service complaints involving lack of bilingual staff: “It’s really hard to find people who are bilingual.”
Smoking rates have plateaued at more than five million Canadian tobacco users, by official estimate. New data by Statistics Canada followed more dramatic declines in the last decade: “There is a long term trend.”
Cabinet will increase unspecified business fees and mandate inflationary hikes in charges every year after, say 2017 budget documents. The Department of Finance did not detail the program: ‘It is likely to make it worse, not better.’
A federal labour board has ordered a diligent public employee fired for allegedly cheating on a civil service exam to be reinstated. Investigators had claimed the woman’s work was improbably thorough: “It can be explained.”
Unions will gain rights to intervene in cross-border trade disputes, says cabinet. Labour has sought amendments to the Special Import Measures Act allowing unions to file unfair trade complaints: “Unions have the right to participate.”
An information commissioner has upheld a complaint over $2.50 in excess charges for processing an Access To Information request. Disputes over fees to obtain public records are “a permanent point of tension,” said Saskatchewan’s commissioner.
VIA Rail has won a three-year federal funding commitment to cover ongoing deficits. The Crown railway’s operating shortfall, currently $280 million a year, is projected to continue for at least another decade as management attempts to revamp the service: “Why can’t VIA make money?”
Canada’s first government bond program sold directly to consumers is ending in its 100th year. The Canada Savings Bond introduced as a patriotic loan program in 1917 is no longer worthwhile, said the Department of Finance: ‘I remember a woman who subscribed for a $1,000 bond and had it framed.’
Cabinet is abolishing a costly tax credit rated a failure despite billions in expenses. The 15 percent Public Transit Tax Credit will end effective June 30: “There has been a lot of debate over how useful it is.”
Federal contractors should be covered by whistleblower protection, the Commons committee on government operations has been told. Witnesses yesterday complained of an active federal blacklist of contractors who report wrongdoing.
“The system is set up to attack the whistleblower,” said Don Garrett, owner of D.R. Garrett Construction Ltd. of Hope, B.C. “There’s a 3-D process: it’s deny, delay and eventual destruction of the whistleblower, and I’ve lived it.”
MPs are conducting a statutory review of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, the first since the law was introduced in 2007. Limited protections under the Act do not apply to federal contractors or 895,000 employees who work in federally-regulated industries – both deficiencies that should be corrected, witnesses said.
“I have lost my bonding status and my business is bankrupt,” said Garrett, a longtime plumbing contractor who complained the Department of Public Works concealed evidence of hidden asbestos on a 2008 job at the Kent penitentiary in Agassiz, B.C. “I was put out of business by the federal government,” he said.
“I was treated as a problem,” said Garrett, who said his company was placed on an “unofficial blacklist” after he challenged authorities. “Every effort was made to deny what happened and to punish me,” he said; “Where do I turn to now?”
Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West) described Garrett’s account as a “horror story”; “How do we protect private contractors working for the government so they can blow the whistle without having their lives ruined or seeing their companies blackballed?” said McCauley.
Duff Conacher, co-founder of the advocacy group Democracy Watch, gave MPs a 21,000-name petition appealing for whistleblower protection for contractors, federally-regulated employees, the RCMP and military. “Everyone needs to be protected including suppliers to the government,” said Conacher.
“Such protection is needed, not just for public sector workers but federally-regulated employees,” said Conacher; “You cannot have open government if whistleblowers are not protected fully and effectively.”
Conacher complained under the current Act there are no financial penalties against wrongdoers, and no method to name offenders. “You can hide people who are employed by the public who have done wrong,” said Conacher. “That’s just a bad idea.”
MPs have heard repeated testimony describing the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner as weak, indifferent and ineffectual. The Office was earlier cited by the Federal Court of Appeal for breaching a whistleblower’s right to procedural fairness. The ruling came in the case of a Department of Employment claims investigator fired after complaining staff were awarded bonuses to disqualify legitimate employment insurance applications.
By Tom Korski 
Canadian steelmakers say cabinet must account for carbon emissions in combating the dumping of subsidized steel from polluting Chinese mills. Executives yesterday told the Commons trade committee a federal carbon tax would put Canadian plants at even greater disadvantage: “What happens with our competitors in China?”
Ninety percent of Syrian refugees let into Canada are unemployed, by official estimate. Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said provinces must meet welfare costs for Syrians unable to find work: “Now there is a problem.”
Canadian cyber security enforcement is weak and police are considered ineffectual, says a Department of Public Safety report. The review of public and industry comments recommended stricter laws: ‘There is a lack of faith in law enforcement.’
Air Canada is in Federal Court to block release of what it claims are confidential records under the Access To Information Act. The case follows a 2015 lawsuit by Porter Airlines Inc. to prevent Transport Canada’s publication of safety audit reviews: “This is a highly competitive industry.”
