Soda pop, chocolate milk and other beverages laced with added sugar must be taxed to offset obesity-related medicare costs, says a Senate report. Legislators also called for plainer labeling of processed food ingredients, and endorsed a national ban on children’s food advertising already proposed by Health Canada: “There is an obesity crisis in this country”.
Natural Resources Canada warns of more catastrophic wildfires following 2015 disasters that destroyed 9.8 million acres of forest. The department in a ministerial memo cited fire as an “increasing threat”.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency denies budget cuts impacted its work despite a U.S. audit that found nearly a million pounds of meat were rejected at the border as contaminated. The audit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture was conducted in 2014 but only disclosed this past January 20.
“There are no outstanding issues,” said Barbara Jordan, Agency vice-president of policy and programs. “There never was any impact on trade. The final audit report confirms that Canada’s meat, poultry and egg inspection systems are equivalent to the United States’ inspection system.”
The audit by the U.S. Food Safety & Inspection Service noted that of 2.3 billion pounds of Canadian meat and poultry shipped across the border over an 18-month period, a total 907,000 pounds were rejected due to listeria or fecal contamination.
American inspectors had “major concerns in regard to the adequacy of the CFIA inspection verification procedures for its zero tolerance verification activities in two audited establishments,” the U.S. Service wrote; “FSIS also questions the adequacy of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency verification procedures.”
The audit of nine Canadian processing plants was conducted between May 28 and June 13, 2014. The processors were not named.
Budget cuts at the inspection agency averaged up to $55.7 million a year at the time, according to newly-released Treasury Board accounts. The union representing inspectors also obtained a 2015-2016 Corporate Business Plan that detailed plans for an 18 percent reduction in meat and poultry inspections.
“It’s not a surprise,” said Bob Kingston, national president of the Agriculture Union that obtained the plan through Access To Information. “You will see the deficiencies described were not related to missing technology; they’re related to not having enough people to carry out the tasks they’re saying are required.”
“None of this surprises us,” Kingston said. “We’re hoping this might wake them up to the importance of getting those positions filled so that they can deliver on their mandate.”
Business Plan indicated funding for meat and poultry inspection was to be cut from $191 million a year to $156 million by 2017, with a reduction in staff from 1,812 employees to 1,539. “The Agency will assess the level of resources required for these initiatives,” Business Plan said.
“The new CFIA food program is designed to direct resources to the areas of highest risk across all food commodities,” Business Plan said; “Overall Agency resources decrease from 2013 to 2018 primarily due to various savings initiatives that focus on back office efficiencies and administrative changes that do not impact frontline services or food safety, and the sun-setting of resources for various initiatives under the Food Safety Program.”
American inspectors also audited egg processing plants, noting Canadian exports to the U.S. totalled 19.6 million pounds over an 18-month period. Only 60 pounds were rejected at the border “for reasons other than food safety”, the U.S. audit said.
The Consumers Council of Canada yesterday said in a commentary the audit raised legitimate worries over food safety. “Canada’s system of food safety has been undergoing a sea-change in approach to oversight and enforcement,” the Council wrote. “The voice of Canadian consumers in that process, through organized institutionally-capable representation, is weak. Canadian consumers think consumer groups have resources to act for them, which they simply do not. Canadian public policy has neglected this problem.”
“Industry and the objectives of governments — whether defined by special interests, ideology, fiscal or bottom-line objectives or unintended sloth, permeate the food safety system,” the Council wrote.
By Dale Smith 
A federal labour board has ordered reinstatement and $25,000 in damages for an angry Transport Canada engineer fired for slapping his supervisor. Spiteful management appeared to go out of its way to needle the man, an adjudicator ruled: “Two cubicle neighbours heard the slap and loud voices”.
Consumer advocates are protesting a federal proposal to restrict complaints against airlines. The Transport Canada report appeared to target groups including one Halifax-based advocate who filed 14 complaints in three years.
“When I look at how bitterly Air Canada and Air Transat have complained about me, I take this as a compliment,” said Dr. Gabor Lukács of the group Air Passenger Rights. “It means I’ve done a good job. How many consumer advocates get targeted to the point they want to change the law?”
The statutory review of the Canada Transportation Act recommended regulations be rewritten to limit complaints to individuals personally affected by service issues. Lukács filed 14 complaints on behalf of passengers denied boarding, refused compensation for delays and other grievances at Air Canada, Air Transat, British Airways, Delta, Porter Airlines, SkyGreece Airlines, Sunwing Airlines Inc., United Air Lines and WestJet.
Lukács has also acted as lead plaintiff in twelve separate court applications against airlines and regulators at the Canadian Transportation Agency. “Those people who were there had absolutely no qualifications or expertise in consumer issues, especially not in air passenger rights,” he said.
The review by former industry minister David Emerson lamented the current complaints-based system at the Agency. “The status quo is untenable,” Emerson wrote in his report Pathways: Connecting Canada’s Transportation System To The World. “It creates higher transaction costs and uncertainty for carriers; a lack of consistency, transparency and predictability for passengers; and an overload of complaints by a very small number of well-meaning and highly motivated individuals seeking to strengthen passenger rights one case at a time, in the absence of a strong industry-wide code.”
Lukács was not cited by name. The Consumers’ Association of Canada said the call for restricting advocacy complaints was surprising. “I’m absolutely astounded to find this,” said Bruce Cran, Association president.
“They want to eliminate the people that do the most for consumers – the consumer advocates and groups that identify problems and take them up and make legal challenges,” Cran said. “It’s a further demonstration of the anti-consumer attitude that the Agency has had.”
“It’s very disconcerting to have this happen,” said Cran. “I’m very impressed that someone like Dr. Lukács is there to take on the airline structure and passenger rights, and now they want to cut that off and they want to cut us off, because we’re the only other group that ever speaks on this issue in any fashion.”
Pathways did recommend that Parliament adopted a uniform Passenger Bill Of Rights mandating compensation for passengers who suffer flight delays, lost luggage, denial of boarding and other service disruptions. MPs have repeatedly rejected the proposal, though the Transportation Agency notes Canada remains the only industrialized country without such a bill.
The Transport Canada report also urged that regulators compel Canadian airlines to disclose confidential data on flight delays and other service issues, similar to a U.S. requirement of the Bureau of Transportation. The Transportation Agency estimates it receives only a fraction of actual complaints – fewer than 400 a year at Air Canada and WestJet, though the airlines carry some 40 million passengers annually.
By Dale Smith
Federal climate change targets lack a fulsome explanation and regulatory detail, say advocates. An Environment Canada Strategy For Canada 2016-2019 was deemed weak and vague: “There needs to be a lot more detail here”.
Cabinet says Canada should ratify a European trade pact as is, despite worries over the impact on contractors. Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said she could find no valid criticism of the 2013 agreement: “All that remains now is signing”.
One of the nation’s largest food processors faces a Federal Court lawsuit alleging breach of the Competition Act. Kraft Canada Inc. is accused of selling “100% Parmesan cheese” that includes edible cellulose manufactured from wood chips: “Such products are not in fact 100% Parmesan”.
The Commons will vote in principle next week to quash two Conservative labour bills targeted for repeal. The March 7 vote follows debate that saw opposition MPs make 62 separate references to “union bosses”.
Canada will end a culture of “secrecy” with proposals to force disclosure of public records withheld by cabinet and parliamentary institutions, says Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault. The Treasury Board has proposed expanding powers of the Access To Information Act this term: “There’s a lot of secrecy”.
Parliament’s failure to pass DNA privacy legislation has fostered public fear over misuse of genetic testing by employers, says Canada’s chief human rights commissioner. Two bills prohibiting unauthorized use of DNA data lapsed without coming to final votes in 2015: “It is now time to do so”.
Wrecked and abandoned vessels have become a significant environmental risk, says the Canadian Coast Guard. Parliament for the second time in two years has seen introduction of a bill to federalize derelict ships and boats: “We start to incur costs”.
The Prime Minister
wants to sell the world
Canadian resourcefulness.
His way of showing others
we have something
they don’t.
Now he discusses with his cabinet
– and the provinces –
how best to ship this unique commodity:
down south through Keystone XL,
westward through the Northern Gateway,
or to the Atlantic Provinces through the Energy East
pipeline.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Parliament should enact a first-ever passenger bill of rights for air travellers, says a cabinet-commissioned report. Advisors also urged that airlines be compelled to disclose confidential data on flight delays, lost luggage, denial of boarding and other service complaints: “Let’s get on with it”.
Cabinet should privatize federally-regulated airports and ease foreign ownership rules on airlines, says a Transport Canada review. The two-year study also proposed the government phase out millions in airport rents: “Why am I paying so much for my airline ticket? Why can’t I get more competition?”
