A DNA anti-discrimination bill faces amendments in the House of Commons. MPs last evening expressed support for the bill but signaled passage will be slow: “It’s vitally important that we get the details right”.
Transport Canada is challenging VIA Rail’s do-or-die claim it requires billions in new investment. The department is hiring consultants on whether a VIA proposal to build its own passenger service track in Ontario and Québec is even necessary: “Who is going to pay for it?”
Growth rates for mid-sized businesses are “anemic” and fewer companies are being created, cautions the federal Business Development Bank. The agency cited new research indicating more legacy enterprises are also getting smaller: “It’s a struggle”.
Parks Canada is reviewing a list of 65 new nominees for UNESCO World Heritage status even as the agency is accused of failing to protect one site already designated. Access To Information records indicate Canadians nominated scores of candidates for UN designation as “unique or exceptional”.
Liberal MPs yesterday moved to kill a private bill advocating a 49 percent tax cut on small distillers. Legislators said the proposal would correct unfair taxation on spirits compared to beer and wine: “We have grave concerns”.
Parliament should enact an Aquaculture Act to correct a “mishmash” of regulations on fish farmers, says the Senate fisheries committee. Cabinet has not committed to legislation: “It would foster public confidence”.
Workers must wait generations to reap maximum benefits from a cabinet proposal to expand the Canada Pension Plan, the Commons finance committee has been told. Finance Minister Bill Morneau acknowledged workers now 16 would have to make decades’ worth of contributions to see the maximum return: “You’re correct”.
Cabinet should mandate surveillance recorders in rail locomotives so long as employee privacy rights are acknowledged, says the Transportation Safety Board. The transport minister said the proposal, including amendments to legislation, will be considered: “Unions have some concerns”.
Industrial employers have won the right as intevenors to join an Alberta challenge of random workplace drug tests. The Supreme Court ruled three years ago that random testing was unjustified: “Employers are intervening in order to try to influence how that case is now interpreted”.
Canadians emailing federal employees should first consult a government directory to avoid misdirected messages, says Shared Services Canada. The agency has been warned of inevitable confusion as it standardizes all email addresses, even for staff with identical names: “This remains an important initiative”.
One of Canada’s largest corporate fish farmers has received millions in federal funding to limit use of chemicals in ocean salmon pens. An environmental advocacy group questioned the funding for Cooke Aquaculture, which reports annual sales of nearly $1 billion: “This is a significant public investment”.
A Prince Edward Island grandmother has won a small claims fight with City Hall that went all the way to the provincial Supreme Court. The plaintiff represented herself at trial after being unable to find a lawyer who would take the case: ‘One lawyer wanted a $5,000 retainer’.
A young woman
forced to walk to work
after a driver
kicked her off the bus.
Her shirt was too revealing,
showing midriff.
Meanwhile, the prime minster
is spotted shirtless again.
In public.
Admired, midriff and all.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Infrastructure Canada will not disclose traffic data used to justify a multi-billion dollar taxpayers’ investment in a new cross-border bridge. U.S. data indicate traffic at the Windsor-Detroit crossing has declined by nearly 2 million vehicles a year since 2007: “The information is considered commercially sensitive”.
A new $21 million-a year electronic visa fee is not intended as a money-maker and will operate at cost, says the Department of Citizenship. The visas, affecting 7 in 10 foreign travelers to Canada, take effect September 30: “There will be no burden”.
