Home builders are appealing to the Commons finance committee for changes to GST on new construction. Taxes and development fees account for more than a fifth of home prices in some markets, contractors said: “That’s an exorbitant level”.
A bill mandating a national call-before-you-dig system has been reintroduced in the Senate. The U.S. adopted a similar program 11 years ago: “It’s very effective”.
Plans are drafted
to shape Ottawa for the next 50 years.
The National Capital Commission
wants federal sites to become
“better integrated with their context”,
and
“more closely linked to the urban fabric of the community”.
I wonder which neighbourhoods
they consider ideal
for such organizations as
Canada’s spy agencies,
Correctional Service Canada,
or the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Health Canada was warned of strong consumer “pushback” before approving first-ever retail sales of genetically-modified fish, new records show. The department’s own research indicated consumers did not want the product, and questioned whether Health Canada was a credible regulator: “The negative reaction was so strong…”
A San Francisco-style earthquake in Canada is a “peak peril” that could threaten the viability of some insurers, says Superintendent of Financial Institutions Jeremy Rudin. The regulator in 2015 raised minimum quake reserves for insurers by $3 billion: “We should talk about earthquakes”.
A private Liberal bill in the Commons would criminalize animal cruelty. The legislation does little to protect truckloads of livestock and poultry freighted daily in Canada, said the Federation of Humane Societies: “This is about ending animal abuse, not animal use”.
A CBC newsroom assistant who claimed discrimination after failing a French test has lost a bid to appeal to the Supreme Court. Justices declined to hear the case: “Not every unfairness is discriminatory”.
Canada’s second-largest airport is accused of breaching the Competition Act following a two-year probe of airline catering contracts. Anti-trust investigators yesterday referred allegations against the Vancouver Airport Authority to the federal Competition Tribunal: ‘It engaged in conduct that constitutes an abuse of a dominant market position’.
Cabinet will struggle to meet climate change targets even if car buyers quadrupled the number of electric vehicles on the road, says the Conference Board of Canada. The forecast follows federal Access To Information documents that confirmed most Canadians couldn’t buy an electric car even if they wanted one: “There’s a limit”.
Cabinet has no data on the economic impact of legalizing marijuana, or the effect on school performance, insurance claims or organized crime, says the Department of Public Safety. Liberals have pledged to legalize cannabis use this term: “We’ve been wondering what the plan is”.
Publicly-traded companies must file diversity reports on appointments of directors and senior management under a new cabinet bill. The legislation stopped short of capping directors’ benefits proposed in a private Liberal bill introduced in the Senate: “Let’s put competent people on boards”.
A Health Canada scientist fired for breaching a “duty of loyalty” after publicly commenting on federal policy has been ordered reinstated by a labour board. A second researcher similarly disciplined lost a bid for reinstatement: “They ended up paying with their careers”.
A bipartisan Senate bill proposes to ban food and beverage marketing to children under 13. The sponsor, Senator Nancy Greene Raine, said national regulation is needed to restrict manipulative ads targeting minors: “Canadians expect us to enact laws that protect our children”.
Regulators must be careful in licensing the sale of so-called “Frankenmeat” developed by genetically blending different species, says a cattle industry group. MPs yesterday opened hearings on first-ever federal licensing of an engineered species, made-in-the-lab salmon: “You have to be very vigorous”.
Railways would be subject to first-ever environmental assessments under a private bill introduced in the Commons. The New Democrat bill would see rail freighting of dangerous goods regulated by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act: “Rail is under-regulated”.
