Cabinet in a rare Christmas dismissal has ousted the president of a Crown corporation. One staffer yesterday said employees were celebrating the termination of the $175,000-a year CEO: ‘I was brought in to clean up the mess.’
Provincial liquor board monopolies have a right to charge markups, a Court of Appeal has ruled. One small distiller challenged a 140 percent markup on whiskey as an unconstitutional tax: “It just doesn’t make sense.”
An obscure and uninhabited Atlantic island deserves federal protection, says a senior Liberal MP. Cabinet is being petitioned to have a scenic Nova Scotia island declared Canada’s 55th National Wildlife Area: “It’s a Canadian treasure, completely original.”
Legislators desperately need accurate data on the rising cost of crime and courts, says a Department of Public Safety report. Costs in Canada are estimated among the highest in the industrialized world outside the U.S.: ‘Concerns about sustainability of Canadian justice system programs and services have emerged.’
Federal agencies need better information on youth unemployment, says a cabinet-appointed panel. The complaint echoes a 2014 recommendation from the Commons finance committee for improved labour market information for young job-seekers: “Young people often don’t know where or even how to find work.”
Federal agencies are again delaying release of data pointing to the failure of a voluntary Sodium Reduction Program intended to save billions in medicare costs. A 2016 deadline to have food processors cut the salt yesterday passed without comment: “Our plan was to release all the data in the fall.”
Canadians have appealed to the public works department to use its imagination in refitting a landmark heritage building that’s cost taxpayers millions. The department purchased the 1932 U.S. Embassy at the foot of Parliament Hill for $4.5 million in 1999. It’s sat empty ever since: ‘How about the world’s largest suggestion box?’
The Department of Canadian Heritage sought help from Google Inc. on ways to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017. Staff contacted Google nine times in the past year, according to records tabled in Parliament: ‘We asked how a Google brand study could work for Canada 150.’
A Crown corporation spent more than $6 million promoting its “brand image” after 72 years in business, say Access To Information files. Expenses included $20,750 in ads for Ottawa Senators home games: “The level of awareness is pretty small.”
More than a quarter of telecom customers in some provinces suffer “bill shock”, says new federal research. And most Canadians are still unaware of a process introduced nine years ago to handle consumer complaints, according to a CRTC study: ‘Improvements could be made.’
About 3 percent of registered charities benefit from a multi-million dollar tax credit for donations of corporate shares, new accounts show. The measure was intended to help charities “respond to the needs of Canadians,” according to the Department of Finance.
The fisheries department plans to take 38,000 aerial photographs in a survey of Atlantic Canada’s harp seal population. Researchers have chronicled a sharp rise in the number of seals since the export market for pelts collapsed under a 2009 European Union ban: “It’s important to have good science.”
Drug-impaired driving is commonplace and considered by many to be risk-free, warns Health Canada research. The findings follow $136,242 focus group studies in four Canadian cities: “If we don’t have roadside tests to screen for this, it’s going to go crazy.”
The immigration department is complaining of scams involving a new $7 electronic visa imposed on overseas travelers to Canada. The department said it knew of unauthorized brokers charging air passengers 10 times the value or more to “process” claims: “Some have paid $85.”
VIA Rail must mandate a policy that passengers wearing perfume or cologne move at a seat mates’ request, say federal regulators. The scent-free order was issued by the Canadian Transportation Agency: “It would not intrude on these passengers’ lives.”
