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”.
A new cabinet proposal to phase out traditional coal-fueled electrical plants by 2030 will cost thousands of jobs, say industry supporters. Coal fires 13 percent of Canada’s power generation, by official estimate: “This decision is going to have a big impact”.
Policing costs are unsustainable and “increasingly difficult to justify”, says a Department of Public Safety report. The research follows Statistics Canada data that spending on law enforcement has nearly doubled since 1993: “I’m paying a $92,000-a year cop to stand on a corner directing traffic”.
Parliament must find some compromise on restoring habitat protections under the Fisheries Act, MPs have been told. Farm and environmental groups yesterday appealed to the Commons fisheries committee to protect waterways without inconveniencing landowners and municipalities: “If you really want to get an argument going with a farmer, come in with a clipboard and a bunch of regulations”.
The Canada Revenue Agency is back in Federal Court to expand its investigation of citizens named in the Panama Papers. Government lawyers seek a Court order for records belonging to a realtor allegedly named in the documents: “The Agency is becoming a lot more aggressive”.
A federal judge has ruled China-made steel products transshipped through other countries are not necessarily subject to anti-dumping charges. The ruling comes as the Commons trade committee schedules hearings on trade practices by Chinese steel mills: “That’s not a fair market”.
Cabinet is again examining Australian-style limits on foreign real estate buyers. A Department of Finance memo noted both countries have seen large increases in urban home prices due in part to non-resident buyers: ‘We are tasking Statistics Canada to develop a set of options for gathering data on foreign homebuyers’.
