Cabinet faces its first Senate challenge to a major bill after lawmakers vowed to amend legislation allowing RCMP to unionize. Even the Senate sponsor of Bill C-7 described the measure as flawed: ‘It continues the paramilitary mindset of the RCMP’.
Regulators should “protect passengers” from random airport improvement fees, says the author of a statutory review of the Canada Transportation Act. Airport authorities collect millions in fees without scrutiny, said former industry minister David Emerson: “Fees have been growing with mad abandon”.
Health Canada is hiring contractors to again study the vaping market more than a year after a Commons committee voted for quick regulation of e-cigarettes. The department said research would not be examined till 2017: “We need to move on this as rapidly as possible”.
Most government employees surveyed say they fear reprisals if they disclose wrongdoing, and are “skeptical” of reforms nearly a decade after Parliament enacted a protection law. One whistleblower called the protection regime pathetic: “You’re in the wrong jurisdiction”.
The Minister of Revenue says cabinet must “humanize” the tax department, but would not commit to returning billions owed eligible pensioners who forgot to apply for benefits. Unclaimed benefits are worth $1.02 billion a year, by official estimate: “We are talking about some of the poorest, most disadvantaged people”.
The Commons last night voted 170 to 136 to pass legislation that shields Air Canada from liability over illegal job cuts. A lone Liberal MP opposed the cabinet bill: “Our first responsibility is to our constituents”.
Authorities cannot account for a dramatic decline in tobacco tax revenues collected by the Canada Border Services Agency. Tax collections fell by nearly $200 million last year due almost entirely to a 13 percent drop in one Québec port. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said he was unaware of the figures, obtained through Access To Information: “That has to raise some red flags”.
The St. Lawrence Seaway must be widened if it’s to remain competitive, says the author of a Transport Canada statutory review. The 1959-era Seaway operates shipping locks about half the size of those in a refit Panama Canal: “The Seaway needs to be significantly upgraded”.
A federal airport security agency rated so inefficient it should be disbanded is appealing for a second chance to improve service. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority is blamed for long airport waits and expensive fees for travelers: ‘There is near-universal condemnation’.
Canadians’ economic well-being has stagnated since the 2008 recession, says research by an Ottawa-based think tank. The Centre for the Study of Living Standards said most households are no better off than they were eight years ago: “We haven’t seen any improvement in living standards”.
The CBC poses unfair competition to local newspapers by giving away subsidized digital content, say publishers. The Crown broadcaster has admitted its cbc.ca website operates at a loss: “We should be concerned”.
An underground tax protest movement is now so pervasive notaries are advised to carefully check documents they’re asked to certify. Canada Revenue Agency has recorded more than 20 convictions involving the internet-fueled “natural person” movement: “This falls into the level of insanity”.
A Conservative bill to boost tax credits for charitable donations would cost 70 percent more than sponsors claimed, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Credits originally estimated to cost $1 billion a year would actually reach $1.7 billion, and nearly $2 billion a year by 2020: “Two billion dollars is a big cost”.
The National Research Council this July will begin work on climate change amendments to the National Building Code. It follows a 2015 report from the Standards Council of Canada that warned climate change poses a serious risk to schools, hospitals and other public buildings: “We believe in a whole-of-government approach”.
Employers need more “stopgap measures” to ease 2014 restrictions on migrant hiring, says the Hotel Association of Canada. Operators said they’re unable to find Canadians willing to work for wages averaging more than $16.50 an hour: “There’s nobody there”.
