Blacklock's Reporter

The Senate has passed into law a bill that puts the Atlantic seal hunt under media quarantine. The vote followed disclosures a pro-hunt group received nearly a million dollars in cash grants to boost flagging markets for seal products: “This is a somewhat timid bill I would say”.

Canada Post will become a taxpayers’ burden despite a large 2014 profit and record financial turnaround in the first quarter of 2015, claims a senior executive. A post office vice president said deep service cuts remain necessary: “We have more outlets than McDonald’s and Tim Hortons”.

The government aims to collect more than $20 million a year off foreign air travelers under a new visa scheme, records show. The electronic program will impact 7 in 10 airport visitors to Canada, though authorities admit they don’t know how it will affect tourism: “This is something that was done in haste”.

Two Conservative senators have proposed a fatal amendment to Bill C-377 that would exempt provincial and municipal unions from having to divulge confidential data. The surprise tabling was introduced last night as the Senate opened final debate on the bill: ‘This will go in front of the Supreme Court, you can be sure of that’.

Climate change poses a heat risk to sub-Arctic Canada, says the Department of Health. Regulators awarded a six-figure contract to train physicians, nurses and health inspectors on coping with extreme heat: “This is the future”.

Censorship of 19th century documents by a provincial government agency is drawing protest from researchers and historians. A British Columbia rule, the first of its kind, compels Canadians to get a court order to see public records dating from the 1880s: “This is very, very, very odd”.

A federal search of the Arctic for 19th century English shipwrecks has led to another mystery — the actual cost of the expedition. Cabinet will not disclose how many millions were spent by the army, navy and Coast Guard, according to accounts tabled in Parliament: “It’s pretty disappointing”.

Cabinet has quietly passed a new order making it easier to fire or re-hire its Veterans’ Ombudsman. Amendments to 2010 rules repeal a condition granting the ombudsman a minimum five-year term on appointment: “I’m concerned”.

MPs have agreed to tweak the Commons code on conflict of interest but concede more work is needed on legislators’ ethics. The 41st Parliament saw two Commons resignations over irregularities: “There’s still a lot more to do”.

The RCMP is compiling an electronic database of “problem” employees. The program comes just five months after the Supreme Court ordered the Mounties to repeal a 1920 ban on unions: “To be sure there has usually been grumbling”.

Health Canada aims to cut Canadians’ sugar consumption 30 percent with a quarter-billion dollar revision to food labeling. The department proposes long-promised reforms – but only to take effect in 2022 or so: “Sugar is in most of the foods we eat everyday”.

Conservation groups should seek corporate sponsorships to save threatened species, says an Environment Canada official. The appeal follows a confidential Parks Canada plan to have oil and gas companies sponsor activities in national parks: “He who pays the piper calls the tune”.

Marketing executives are accused of misleading lawmakers in opposing a national ban on TV food ads that target children. Lobbyists were cited for “bafflegab” at Senate obesity hearings after claiming a 35-year Québec ban has been ineffectual: “I am a bit skeptical of the industry”.

A 21-year old free trade pact with Mexico has yet to produce expected results, says a Senate study. Canada’s bilateral trade with Mexico remains less than half the traffic with Michigan, according to Statistics Canada: ‘It has yet to reach its full potential’.