Statistics Canada will survey 50,000 families in the most intimate study yet on children’s health and lifestyles from eating habits to sex, home schooling and TV time. A pilot survey of children 12 years and younger is underway now, the agency said: “We need to understand this.”
Provinces should brace for more Mexican asylum seekers under new immigration rules that take effect today, says the Department of Immigration. Mexican nationals no longer require a visa to travel to Canada. The department estimated the change will cost all governments $61.7 million a year: ‘Claimants from Mexico may seek to exploit their new visa-free status.’
Parliament should promote a healthy national diet to curb obesity rates, a Liberal Senate Caucus forum has been told. Senators earlier approved a report proposing a tax on soda pop and other sugary drinks: “I think a tax needs a further push.”
Transport Canada for the fifth time in two years has been cited by a federal judge for improperly revoking airport security clearances. An Air Canada flight attendant with a “spotless record” was denied a security pass after RCMP questioned her husband’s business as a service manager for Harley-Davidson Canada: ‘It was a ‘maybe this or maybe that’ finding.’
The Commons public accounts committee has flayed a Crown corporation cited for poor management controls and ongoing deficits. MPs yesterday called the Atlantic Pilotage Authority an “old boys club” with directors’ conflicts of interest that are “almost incestuous”.
Cabinet will consider a CBC request to increase subsidies 35 percent on a promise to drop television advertising, says Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly. The CBC appeal follows a 69 percent decline in its TV ad revenues with the loss of lucrative NHL licensing rights. MPs protested any raise in CBC grants: ‘They blindsided everyone.’
Transport Canada is too close to auto lobbyists, says the Auditor General. Regulators privately consulted automakers on the cost and convenience of safety regulations without giving police, insurers or consumer groups the same privileged access, said an auditors’ report Oversight Of Passenger Vehicle Safety: “Manufacturers may have exercised disproportionate influence.”
A $9 billion cabinet tax bill has survived a Conservative challenge. Senate Speaker George Furey yesterday ruled senators could not now amend the bill originally passed by the Commons September 20: “Our power is limited.”
A National Research Council website to aid small business is strange, confusing and needlessly complex, says in-house research. The criticism is only the latest in a series of complaints over the Concierge program: “It’s all over the place.”
Regulators will examine the feasibility of installing black boxes on all commercial buses Canada-wide. A recommendation for mandatory data recorders followed a fatal 2013 bus accident in Ottawa that left six dead and 34 injured: “How long will it take?”
Cabinet is expected to set legal drug limits similar to alcohol-impaired driving standards under new marijuana regulations. The Department of Public Safety is surveying labs nationwide on their ability to process a flood of drug tests by police, employers and insurers: “This is a big problem.”
Cabinet is repealing a Conservative labour bill that curbed federal employees’ right to strike. The Supreme Court in 2015 struck down a similar Saskatchewan law as unconstitutional: “We are moving to repeal unfair changes.”
A federal labour board has upheld a penalty of two weeks’ pay for a Canada Border Services Agency guard who accepted free tickets to an Elton John concert in Lethbridge, Alta. The music-loving agent appeared on the concert Jumbotron wearing his government-issue ball cap: ‘This could be perceived as a bribe.’
The Commons has amended a bill to halt landfilling of mercury light bulbs. MPs yesterday approved at report stage a milder bill proposing that Parliament “identify” safe practices in disposing of hundreds of thousands of compact fluorescent bulbs: “It’s time we actually have the federal government asserting its power to regulate this toxin.”
Environment Canada will enact long-promised curbs on chemicals used in refrigeration and foam insulation in 2019. Regulators have examined hydrofluorocarbon limits for the past two years: ‘Without immediate action, emissions will increase.’
