Federal inspectors have failed to halt the spread of an invasive beetle blamed for billions in tree damage, and now headed west of the Great Lakes. Authorities said winter cold appeared to have no impact on the emerald ash borer, first detected in Windsor, Ont. in 2002: “It was just a matter of time”.
Lawmakers should review the conduct of an anti-terror watchdog repeatedly cited by federal judges for arbitrary enforcement measures, says a senior Conservative MP. The appeal follows a judgment won by an Ontario realtor who said his business was ruined by over-zealous officers of the Financial Transactions & Reports Analysis Centre: “They wanted to make an example of me”.
Health Canada will not ban the non-medical use of antibiotics in food production after a decade of review. The department instead proposes restrictions that “do not represent as dramatic a change” as decades-old bans introduced in Europe.
MPs are seeking action on Fisheries Act reforms after regulators skipped a June deadline on promised amendments for habitat protection. The Commons fisheries committee adopted a motion to spell out the review of legislative changes by January 30, 2017: “They gutted the Fisheries Act”.
Preventing poverty is no charity, a federal judge has ruled. The Court of Appeal dismissed a three-year challenge by a New Brunswick group stripped of its tax status for providing families with low-cost credit counselling: “It will require an Act of Parliament”.
A Blacklock’s report has prompted cabinet to revise an order for a commemorative Royal Canadian Mint coin. Cabinet yesterday acknowledged the all-Canadian tribute to veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic depicts an aircraft that was neither built nor flown in combat here: “Delete ‘Canadian-made'”
Cabinet yesterday tightened technical regulations impacting a federal anti-terror agency, but stopped short of halting arbitrary fines for minor breaches of the law. Federal judges have cited the agency for random penalties on small businesses: “I don’t want to be negative, but…”
Health Canada in 2017 will require mandatory reporting of drug shortages by pharmaceutical companies. Amendments to Food & Drug Regulations mirror a 2014 New Democrat bill defeated in the Commons: “It’s a victory for patients”.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is proceeding with promised tariff cuts – on broom handles. Cabinet yesterday disclosed a short list of new tariff-free imports pledged in the March 22 budget: ‘The objective is to help Canadian manufacturers’.
A federal initiative to harmonize labeling of hazardous chemicals, underway for five years, has seen the first regulations detailed. The program won’t be fully enacted till 2019: “There is a long transition period for this”.
The defence department is contracting for mass credit checks on all 90,000 civilian and military staff, the largest background check of its kind. The defence employees’ union called it an invasion of privacy: ‘We have members who peel potatoes; they’re going to sell secrets?’
Health Canada has lost a bid for blanket immunity under the Privacy Act for alleged breaches of personal information on 43,000 people. The Federal Court of Appeal said the department should face claims of liability over what staff dismissed as a paperwork error: “That is nobody’s business”.
A federal anti-terror agency has been cited in Court for the second time in weeks for arbitrarily fining businesses. The latest ruling followed a seven-year court battle by an Ontario realtor: “We are left in the dark”.
The federal Public Health Agency will spend nearly a million dollars on spot tests for contaminated meat at supermarkets in three provinces. Authorities said the audit was not intended as a check on slaughterhouse inspectors: “The Americans have been in the business of collecting this data for a while”.
Cabinet is expressing wariness over the constitutionality of a DNA privacy bill, says its Commons sponsor. The worry came as author of the bill, Senator James Cowan (Liberal-N.S.), was cited by the American Society of Human Genetics for his advocacy against genetic discrimination: “This is a real problem”.
