Anti-trust investigators are expanding a probe of two of the nation’s largest retailers for alleged breach of the Competition Act. Federal lawyers want to question current and former employees at Sears Canada and Hudson’s Bay Co. over sales practices: ‘The strategy is known as high-low pricing’.
A federal board faces a second lawsuit from an offshore oil company over release of records through Access To Information. A judge earlier upheld the ability of the Canada-Newfoundland & Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board to disclose contested documents to the public: “The law is clear”.
Federal courts for the second time in three months have dismissed dubious claims of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome by government employees. The latest judgment came in the case of a Mountie who complained of stress after being reprimanded for drinking: ‘The RCMP is not prevented from applying discipline’.
The go-ahead for a class action lawsuit will determine the legality of millions paid by Canadians for courier brokerage fees, say consumer advocates. United Parcel Service Canada Ltd. challenged the lawsuit against mandatory fees for eBay buyers and others who ship goods from the U.S.: “We get calls every day”.
The public works department has quietly shelved a three-year program to abolish paper cheques. Staff confirmed a scheme to force all Canadians owed tax refunds, pensions or benefits to submit their bank account data to the government is ended: “They put it in there when no one was looking”.
Industry is seeking answers from Finance Canada over promised tariff breaks for food processors and manufacturers. The department has withheld details of the cross-border tax cuts pledged in the March 22 budget: “A careful analysis would be necessary”.
Telecom companies are not necessarily subject to human rights complaints from customers, judges have concluded. The Supreme Court declined to hear any further appeal in the case involving a blind Winnipeg subscriber who complained of discrimination: “Back to the drawing board”.
A retiree who claimed disastrous penny stock investments as business losses has seen his write-offs dismissed by Tax Court. A federal judge cautioned against throwing “good money after bad” in the stock market: “The business plan was to act on tips”.
Foreign investors from China, the U.S. and other countries own 10% of condominiums in downtown Toronto and 7.5 percent in Vancouver, says CMHC. Claims of even lower rates of foreign ownership in suburbs are contradicted by earlier research from a federal anti-money laundering agency: “We are facing housing supply issues”.
The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from a longtime RCMP officer denied promotion over malicious gossip. A federal judge earlier criticized the RCMP Commissioner for acting on rumours in the case: “The Commissioner is king”.
The Canada Revenue Agency is suing the nation’s largest bank over a $15,500 tax claim. The cost of the federal lawsuit is expected to exceed any court award. The action follows a 2014 internal report that concluded the tax department is “good at simple things”.
Canadians under 35 are wealthier than any previous generation with a net worth of almost $93,000, says the Department of Finance. A confidential memo cautioned the other shoe will drop as millennials face longer, costlier retirements later in life: “The 2008 recession did not seem to affect much”.
A federal agency has drafted plans for research on payday lending, the first study of its kind since Parliament delegated enforcement of usury laws to the provinces in 2007. The Financial Consumer Agency described borrowers as “fairly transient” and the working poor: “People are borrowing out of desperation, not convenience”.
Health Canada must not restrict the sale of electronic cigarettes as a nicotine substitute for smokers, says a legal scholar. The Canadian Medical Association has advocated a ban on nicotine vaping, and MPs have proposed first-ever regulations of the product: “As e-cigarettes have become more popular smoking rates have gone down”.
A British Columbia contractor faces a conditional jail sentence and six-figure fine for tax evasion, one of the largest penalties to date since federal auditors launched a 2013 probe of local building permits: “Permits prove to be an excellent source of information”.
