Blacklock's Reporter

Senators yesterday moved to end a filibuster over a contentious private bill to rewrite O Canada. The bill was introduced in the Senate June 6, 2016 but has yet to see a final vote over all-party opposition to gender-neutral lyrics: “Yea or nay, we must seize the day.”

A Conservative bill offering tax credits for owners’ restoration of heritage properties would cost up to $67 million a year, 20 percent more than originally estimated, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Witnesses yesterday told the Commons environment committee the bill would do little to help charities or low-income owners: “What is the best way to support heritage in Canada?”

The Department of Fisheries is taking the first steps to writing a standalone Aquaculture Act. The proposal follows a 2016 recommendation from the Senate fisheries committee to streamline a “mishmash” of regulations on fish farms: ‘It would be the first dedicated Act of its kind.’

Media, advocacy groups and lawyers yesterday faulted a cabinet bill on disclosure of records as so inadequate it “should be called the Guide To Keeping Secrets Act”, said one official. Witnesses told the Commons access committee the bill should be rewritten or withdrawn: “You give new tools to these officials and they will use it to the max.”

A federal insurer that protects bank customers’ deposits is raising its loss provision by 54 percent. The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation said the sharp increase was prompted by “probability of default” and other factors. Canada hasn’t seen a bank failure since 1985: “You have to be a little bit forward-looking.”

An Alberta tribunal has ordered a small business to pay $56,000 in damages for breaching the Human Rights Act in a conversation. The judgment, one of the largest of its kind, followed an unsuccessful job interview: “I should have had a witness there; it was my mistake.”

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.”

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.”