A court ruling over data seized from a Canadian internet server is worrying, say privacy advocates. Police could launch a “fishing expedition” through encrypted BlackBerry messages, acknowledged an Ontario Superior Court judge: “A large quantity of data was collected”.
Insurance policyholders with ambiguous contracts are entitled to the benefit of the doubt in appealing claims, the Supreme Court has ruled in a contractors’ dispute. The judgment came in the case of an Edmonton building owner denied coverage over a costly window-cleaning error: “Many Canadians can relate”.
Authorities in 1976 suspected at least one member of a visiting USSR hockey squad was a KGB agent, but praised the Soviets for good sportsmanship. The spy hunt is cited in partly-declassified files released through Access To Information: “There was something of an infatuation with old Canadian stars”.
Liberal MPs are promoting a bill to honour the Canadian seal hunt amid the broadcast next week of a new documentary critical of the annual kill. Discovery Channel on September 22 will televise Huntwatch, produced by organizers of the International Fund for Animal Welfare: “We know it’s a controversial harvest”.
One of the nation’s last surviving music publishers has won a copyright case on sheet music 95 years after Parliament outlawed copying of songs without owners’ permission. The case followed a year of litigation in Federal Court: “People think, ‘Oh, well, if I just make one copy, what’s the problem?’”
A federal judge has blocked the firing of an RCMP constable who admitted having sex on duty. The Mounties’ handling of the case was unfair, the Court ruled: “They routinely make these types of errors”.
CBC management sold airtime to a telecom firm cited for misleading advertising, though the Crown broadcaster banned numerous other sponsors. The public network has refused ads paid by environmental groups, Campus Crusade for Christ and an anti-tobacco message by the Access To Media Education Society: “One would assume there is a consistent policy”.
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’.
