Cabinet should expand a Pacific coastal oil tanker ban, witnesses have told the Commons transport committee. The bill codifies a voluntary ban adopted following the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound: “Our citizens deserve equal protection.”
Members of the Senate banking committee yesterday faulted the Canadian Bankers Association over a breach of customers’ data provided to Equifax Inc. Credit records on 8,000 Canadians were hacked: “How do you regain my trust?”
Elections Canada says it will comply with an Alberta order that strikes a 143-year requirement that all candidates for Parliament post a cash deposit. The Court of Queen’s Bench said the law breached Canadians’ Charter rights: “Elections Canada implements the decisions of the courts.”
Canada’s anti-spam law infringes on free speech and should be amended, the Commons industry committee was told yesterday. MPs will rewrite the 2014 law that sets broad restrictions on unsolicited email: “It does not distinguish between one-off emails and bulk emails.”
Executives with eBay Canada Ltd. are appealing for a hike in the GST-free rate for cross-border goods. Canadian retailers have denounced the proposal as an incentive to “literally shop anywhere else”.
Senators are questioning delays in Health Canada’s enactment of a drug safety bill passed in Parliament in 2014. The department earlier met with lobbyists to discuss a proposal to “reduce the burden” on drug companies: “Parliament passed this legislation without a dissenting vote.”
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld dismissal of a whistleblower’s complaint of government wrongdoing. The ruling follows a Common committee report that legislation on protecting employees from reprisals is so flawed it requires major revisions: “The Act has pretty much been a disaster.”
Conservative MPs yesterday joined Unifor and the Teamsters in opposing a cabinet bill to exempt railway crews from federal privacy law. One MP warned of “unintended consequences” that compromise Canadians’ rights: “There are privacy laws in this country for a reason.”
New Statistics Canada Census data show residents in 10 cities pay close to or more than 30 percent of their income for housing. The 30% threshold is cited by regulators as a benchmark on basic affordability: “They have to live somewhere.”
Industry Minister Navdeep Bains says cabinet has no plans to rewrite federal bankruptcy law to secure employees’ pensions. Members of three parties in the House, including a Liberal backbencher, have proposed reforms prompted by the impending closure of Sears Canada: “The government has to look at it.”
British Columbia’s information commissioner says a revised federal Access To Information Act imposes so many restrictions on access it is “ironic”. Witnesses at the Commons access committee criticized the bill for prescribing new ways to conceal records: “Most of the Act is focused on exceptions to access.”
The Department of Finance took eight months to release uncensored climate change documents to federal auditors. Staff had refused to release records on tax credits and bonuses paid to oil and gas companies, and unredacted environmental assessments: “It was only this past Friday that Finance Canada gave us the other information that we asked for.”
A federal agency faulted for levying random fines increased its collections 79 percent last year, according to records. The Financial Transactions & Reports Analysis Centre was cited in four court judgments for imposing arbitrary penalties on scofflaws: “I simply cannot tell how the director calculated the base figures.”
Cities say a federal proposal to mandate energy refits of existing homes, apartments and commercial buildings is news to them. The Department of Natural Resources is drafting the code to be introduced in 2022: “It’s not the first time we are left scratching our heads.”
Teamsters say they will take Transport Canada to court if regulators proceed with plans to exempt train crews from federal privacy law. A cabinet bill would mandate video and voice surveillance of locomotive crews: “It’s ridiculous.”
