Blacklock's Reporter

An Access To Information memo warns of mayhem under a federal plan to convert 493,000 employees’ email accounts to the same suffix, canada.ca, including employees with identical surnames. The Government of Canada employs hundreds of Taylors, Wangs, Singhs and other staff with soundalike names: ‘There are 10 Alain Tremblays. How will the public distinguish which Alain they want to send a message to?’

A Canada-U.S. plan to smooth cross-border trade and travel has seen such lengthy delays 22 percent of program funding went unspent last year, records show. The Beyond The Border Action Plan was announced in 2011 on a promise to harmonize regulations: “It’s just layer upon layer of bureaucratic challenges”.

A party of snowmobilers has been fined $8,700 for running out of bounds in in a national park. It is one of the steepest penalties imposed to date, though the National Parks Act sanctions fines up to $25,000 for a first offence: “We have national parks and we need to protect them”.

Millennials require plenty of praise and “want fun” at work, says a Treasury Board recruitment report. The document released through Access To Information also lamented younger workers – those under 37 – are distrustful of hierarchy and expect speedy promotions: “Hiring is on the upswing”.

Canada Post spent more than a quarter-billion dollars on a plan to abolish home mail delivery, says a federal report. Management did not report the spending in financial accounts to taxpayers, or disclose it to MPs: “To spend $240 million on a failed program is disastrous”.

MPs returning to the Commons September 19 are being asked to pass a private bill observing food waste awareness. Some $27 billion worth of food is pointlessly spoiled each year, according to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture: “The average household throws out five pounds of food every week, worth about $12”.

A bill granting thousands of dollars in federal tax savings to small business owners, farmers and fishermen has been reintroduced in the Commons. The legislation extends capital gains exemptions on owners’ sales of family businesses to children and grandchildren: “We are going to see significant transfers of assets in the tens of billions”.

Most federal farm subsidies are now paid to million-dollar companies, says Department of Finance research. The richest growers also accounted for most production, according to a memo released through Access To Information: ‘The trend is expected to continue’.

Cabinet will introduce legislation next month to raise mandatory Canada Pension Plan premiums 20 percent on a promise of expanded benefits for retirees. MPs on the Commons finance committee said taxpayers have too little information on what the program will cost: “This is a very, very long-term thing”.

Zealous enforcement of library rules may be rude but not racist, a tribunal has decided. The judgment came in the case of a Black library user told he couldn’t have a book or free photocopies: “I can’t comment on any of this”.

Humans are not inherently destructive of the environment, says a University of Waterloo case study. Researchers credited thousands of years of First Nations settlement on the British Columbia coast with improving natural habitat: “It’s a really incredible situation”.

Parliament must simplify and strengthen anti-piracy enforcement, says a lawyer for Apple Inc. The iPhone giant has filed a federal lawsuit against a Chinese-Canadian storekeeper over the alleged import of counterfeit Apple products: “Legislation alone doesn’t work well”.

Canadians rate a carbon tax the last option cabinet should consider in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says in-house government research. Newly-released data showed the public is also unaware of federal emissions targets: “Change is difficult”.

A pension shortfall at Canada Post accounts for some 90 percent of all deficits in Crown plans, says a finance department memo. The secret report released through Access To Information said the post office has “reached the limit” in deferring pension payments, and described the funding issue as a crisis: ‘Deficits continue to pose challenges’.

Failure to prosecute SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. for illegal political contributions lets the company “off the hook”, says an advocacy group. The country’s largest engineering firm similarly won a 2015 reprieve from a federal contractors’ ethics blacklist despite corruption charges: “It shouldn’t be allowed”.