Cabinet will learn next week if the Senate can amend a $9 billion tax bill. Speaker George Furey is to rule on whether a Conservative majority on the Senate national finance committee was within its rights in amending the Liberal bill: “Rather than trying to destroy the bill, why not make it better?”
More than 60 percent of local authorities and residents affected by energy projects do not trust regulators, says new research. The data follow an acknowledgment by the National Energy Board that changes by the last Parliament compromised its work: ‘There’s a lack of confidence’.
MPs must pass a DNA anti-discrimination bill as is, the Canadian Medical Association has told legislators. Doctors yesterday told the Commons justice committee that delays or amendments will compromise patients: “That fear is very real”.
Cabinet will introduce promised reforms to the Access To Information Act within months, says Treasury Board President Scott Brison. Canadians will gain expanded access to records held by Parliament, courts and cabinet: “In 2017 we’ll have new legislation”.
An increase in Canada Pension Plan premiums will impact about 12,000 jobs in the short term, says a Department of Finance report. Officials said losses would be temporary and overtaken by employment gains in the long run: “It depends on employers’ attitudes’.
Conservative amendments to a tax bill that’s already taken effect are unconstitutional, says a member of the Senate national finance committee. Senators in a 9-3 committee vote made technical changes to a Liberal bill that has been in force since January 1: “Who are we to decide we just don’t like it?”
Cabinet is hiring private stenographers to monitor parliamentary committees. The Department of Indigenous Affairs is assigning contractors to provide quick summaries of comments within 120 minutes of Commons and Senate committee meetings: “I don’t think this has ever been done before”.
Energy giant Husky Oil Operations Ltd. is in court to block release of what it claims is confidential information by a federal agency. The Canada-Newfoundland & Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board earlier faced a similar lawsuit by another company, Suncor Energy Inc., over disclosure of public records: “I can’t say what we’re filing to protect’.
More than a third of businesses, 39 percent, would use Canada Post banking services if offered, according to federal research. A cabinet-appointed task force earlier rejected a revival of postal banks as unworkable: ‘Small businesses were most likely to express an interest’.
Health Canada proposes to ban a common pesticide as environmentally harmful more than 21 years after it was first licensed for sale. The chemical imidacloprid fails to meet safety standards, regulators said: ‘Continued high volume use is not sustainable’.
Cabinet will not release data on the financial impact of a 2018 carbon tax. Environment Canada had no response to a Commons inquiry for specific figures on the cost to families and industry, or the amount of projected tax revenues: “I have a sense it is a fait accompli”.
Insurers seek to voluntarily limit access to genetic tests in agreement with the provinces, industry executives yesterday told the Commons justice committee. One Liberal MP questioned the timing as Parliament considers a bill to protect DNA privacy: “You wait until we’re on the verge of passing a bill? That’s inexcusable, sir”.
Consumer groups fear auto lobbyists will rewrite a federal safety bill. The cabinet legislation would expand Transport Canada’s powers to recall defective vehicles: “Our government does not have a very strong record”.
Canadians have recovered from the 2008 financial panic but may not feel much better, says a University of Waterloo study. Researchers detailed a Wellbeing Index pointing to far-reaching effects of the recession: “People took a hard hit”.
Cabinet for the first time will regulate vaping under the Tobacco Act. A bill yesterday introduced in the Senate grants cabinet new powers to restrict advertising of electronic cigarettes, and the sale of vaping products to children: “It’s something that’s been asked for”.
