Federal regulators have failed to adequately monitor potential health risks posed by unsafe cosmetics, says the Commissioner of the Environment. Auditors said Health Canada should gain new powers to order the recall of products and monitor counterfeits: “They are generally a very low-risk category”.
MPs last night passed a bill sanctioning unions in the RCMP, but too late to meet a Supreme Court deadline. Cabinet warned of confusion over multiple bargaining agents attempting to organize 18,000 Mounties: “Delaying the passage of this legislation is problematic”.
Cabinet will not support passage of a Senate bill on independent oversight of the Canada Border Services Agency. Public Services Minister Ralph Goodale yesterday said the bill was well-intentioned but untimely: “I cannot support the detail at this time”.
The Commons is signalling support for a private bill mandating first-ever national standards on disposal of mercury light bulbs. Regulators in 2014 promoted the sale of mercury-laden fluorescent bulbs without accounting for safe disposal: ““I asked what the regulations are for end-of-life mercury bulbs. I was shocked to hear there were none”.
More than a quarter of telemarketers nationwide have not registered with regulators, says CRTC research. And 90 percent have not subscribed to a Do Not Call List though the program is in its eighth year: ‘It’s a clear picture of the scope of telemarketing in Canada’.
Conservative MPs are appealing to cabinet to apply for a Supreme Court judgment on interprovincial trade barriers. It follows a New Brunswick court ruling that struck down a ban on the cross-border transport of beer: “This started in the 1920s”.
Nearly two million painkillers were stolen or disappeared from pharmacies and distributors over a fifteen-year period, new Health Canada records show. The chair of a Senate committee that examined prescription drug abuse proposed an immediate freeze on sales of Oxycodone: “It’s tragic”.
One of the nation’s leading architects says he will appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary to block a condo development on Indigenous lands near Parliament Hill. Douglas Cardinal called the Ottawa River development the product of 150 years of Canadian apartheid: “The lower courts don’t want to hear my voice as an Indigenous person”.
Most Canadians — including veterans – ignored a costly “call to action” ad campaign and skipped 2015 Remembrance Day ceremonies, new data show. The Department of Veterans Affairs outspent nearly every other federal agency’s ad budget in encouraging Canadians to observe Veterans’ Week; ‘This will assist in adjusting future media strategies’.
A railway employee who cited discriminatory benefits under the Canada Labour Code has lost a bid for a Supreme Court appeal. Justices declined to hear the woman who complained she would have received more generous benefits under Québec law: “We need a legislative amendment”.
Landlords are forbidden by federal law from swapping blacklists on problem tenants, says the Privacy Commissioner. The order followed a two-year investigation involving a 2,000-name “bad tenant” list shared by members of an unidentified landlord association: “These operators went too far”.
A watershed moment
in Canada’s history:
Justin Trudeau
approaches a group of MPs
on the House floor.
What happened next is vague; consensus
nowhere to be found.
Some claim it was a brutal attack
by an male PM,
launching a Taekwondo-style elbow strike
to the ribs of an unsuspecting female MP
while possibly holding a Kalashnikov under his jacket,
ready to be pulled.
Others, who analyzed the video frame by frame,
swear Trudeau was the victim of that MP,
who barbarically hit his arm with her chest,
aiming to end the Sunny Days of a sitting prime minister
the way only a wicked opposition member could
conspire.
If there was ever a need for a national inquiry,
this may be it.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
The tax department must simplify paperwork for the majority of Canadians who are functionally illiterate, says Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier. The Canada Revenue Agency did not substantiate the Minister’s claim, contradicted by 30 years of federal literacy research: “When these people receive documents they are not able to understand what is written”.
Fresh oil leaks from a shipwreck that changed maritime law cost the Canadian Coast Guard more than $1.4 million dollars last winter, newly-released records show. Authorities said they could not recoup the taxpayers’ charge from a shipping fund prompted by the 1970 sinking of the tanker Arrow: “The company that owned the ship no longer exists”.
Federal regulators propose a top-to-bottom review of rules under the Transportation Act. The pledge comes two months after the Canadian Transportation Agency reversed itself on regulations governing licensed airlines: “Keep a close eye on these people”.
