Authorities propose more changes to aquaculture regulations after sanctioning companies’ use of chemicals, says the fisheries department. A review of federal rules follows a 23 percent decline in sales for the industry: ‘Hurdles prevent sustainable aquaculture development’.
Canada Revenue Agency has assigned senior managers to check documents after misplacing thousands of pages of records. Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault yesterday cited the Agency for “serious” problems in tracking tax files.
“We had a high number of missing records cases,” Legault told reporters. “More than half of those were valid complaints, leading us to ask the Agency to now certify they’ve taken all reasonable steps to search and find records.”
Under a 2015 Agency directive a senior manager – the assistant commissioner or director general – must personally certify that “all reasonable steps were taken to conduct relevant searches to identify and retrieve responsive documents” requested by taxpayers.
The policy followed a 2014 Federal Court case in which a judge cited tax authorities for concealing documents from a Sooke, B.C. taxpayer, Sandra Summers, despite three requests. Justice John O’Keefe ruled the Agency “consistently delayed disclosure of information, withheld information, destroyed information and misled the applicant as to what information was available.”
Summers had filed a 2012 Access To Information request for records after she was audited over claims of business losses the previous year. Only after Summers sued in 2013 did Canada Revenue conduct a top-to-bottom search for documents in her case and “discovered it had not destroyed records”.
Commissioner Legault in her Annual Report cited two other cases in which Canada Revenue disclosed 14,000 pages of documents after companies went to Court; and a taxpayer who received 57 pages of censored records and then received 57 more after an investigation was launched.
“Canada Revenue Agency has acknowledged to the Commissioner that it has a serious information management and document retrieval problem when it comes to identifying and retrieving records in response to Access requests,” the Report said.
In a string of unrelated incidents one official rated “embarrassing”, the tax department earlier admitted to losing tax returns, cheques, moving receipts, bank statements, audit files, permanent residency cards, marriage licenses and registered letters sent by taxpayers. Records obtained by Blacklock’s through Access To Information revealed cases in which taxpayers were charged late-filing penalties of up to $2,200 for returns the agency simply misplaced.
“I am very concerned,” one manager wrote in a July 13, 2012 email. “It is embarrassing to acknowledge that Canada Revenue Agency cannot trace their correspondence.”
“No, we have no procedures for logging correspondence,” another manager wrote in a July 9, 2013 memo. “From what I hear from my colleagues this type of thing seems to be happening quite a bit,” another wrote in a March 1, 2013 memo; “It really doesn’t make Canada Revenue Agency look very competent when we call the client a week after they sent something by Xpress Post saying we didn’t get it.”
The Agency processes more than 25 million tax returns annually, by official estimate.
By Dale Smith 
Legislation promised to repeal a 1920 ban on unions in the RCMP will maintain a ban on members’ political activities or public criticism of management, authorities confirm. The Mounties this year began compiling an electronic database of “problem” employees: ‘It restricts certain matters from being included in a collective agreement’.
Taxpayers misled by unscrupulous advisers are still liable for 50 percent gross negligence penalties for filing a false return, Tax Court has ruled. Identical judgments came in two separate cases involving claims for fictional business losses: “No one except the most unsophisticated, ignorant, naive and gullible could believe that”.
Cabinet will not meet a Supreme Court-ordered deadline to repeal a ban on unions in the RCMP. And even a unionized force will see enforcement of a strict Code Of Conduct that threatens officers with firing or demotion for criticizing management or engaging in political activities: “The devil is in the details”.
Cabinet is threatening to expand its blacklist of U.S. imports targeted with punishing tariffs in a cross-border dispute over meat shipments. Ministers acknowlege no trade retaliation action is likely, if at all, till 2016: “Free trade only works when everyone follows the rules”.
Parliament must restrict perpetual trademarking of common phrases under an obscure Canadian law, says a Nova Scotian whose complaint prompted a 2014 private bill on the issue. The Trademarks Act allows public institutions to claim monopoly rights to everyday words: “I don’t think that is fair, not in Canada”.
Cabinet must permit public input on licensing genetically-modified foods, says an advocacy group. The appeal comes as regulators consider approving the public sale of edible engineered salmon, a Canadian first: “There is almost a total lack of transparency”.
Final introduction of electronic petitions will see hundreds of thousands of Canadians gain input on public policy, predicts the program’s sponsor. The first e-petition followed two years’ worth of study by MPs: “This is more than free speech”.
TransCanada Corp. has relied on flawed data in touting the safety of its landmark Energy East project to pile Alberta oil to Saint John refineries, claims the Council of Canadians. The group said the original assessment omitted or understated health risks: ‘An explanation is needed’.
Cabinet hopes to avert a U.S. trade war but will press retaliatory tariffs if necessary in a cross-border dispute over meat labeling, says Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland. Processors have cautioned tariffs would see Canadian pay more for food: “We’re in their corner”.
Federal agencies can copy protected works after as few as 10 years, says a government attorney. The argument came in a landmark copyright dispute that saw millions of dollars’ worth of data sold by a federal board for as little as $150: “You can still own the house, but if the rules are that after five years some refugees can move in, then those are the rules”.
The fisheries department promises improved service on funding programs to restore habitat for sport fishing. It follows 2012 changes to the Fisheries Act that advocates said put species at risk: “It is much better that you don’t screw up habitat in the first place”.
Investors remain bound by tight deadlines in working up class action lawsuits against corporations accused of sharp dealing, the Supreme Court has ruled. In a divided decision, justices agreed some limits should apply on litigation: “The limitation period will help the defendants – the corporations, basically”.
The Liberals bring back the
long-form census.
A bizarre move.
Data collected may be helpful in
poverty reduction,
transportation improvement,
employment forecasting,
immigration planning,
city investment in schools, hospitals,
and overall, allow for
evidence-based policy making.
Other than that,
do we really need it?
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
