Blacklock's Reporter

New federal taxes on sugar-laced drinks and bans on kids’ food ads are needed if Canada is to curb obesity rates, a Senate panel has been told. Renewed appeals for legislation follow Statistics Canada data that 62% of the country is overweight or obese: ‘It is more dangerous for children to eat junk food in front of the TV than it is to play in the park’.

The federal anti-terror watchdog has been cited by a judge for threatening a halal butcher with $178,000 in fines or imprisonment for helping customers send $50 payments to family overseas. Federal Court ruled the Financial Transactions & Reports Analysis Centre was arbitrary and unreasonable: “The number of ‘terrorists’ uncovered as a result of this program is very small if existent at all”.

The Commons has rejected a proposal to review a Northern grocers’ subsidy amid complaints of high retail food prices. Conservative MPs yesterday dismissed a motion to scrutinize the Nutrition North program: “What is the profit being earned?”

Drunkenness is no defence against arson, the Supreme Court has ruled. Justices in a unanimous 7-0 decision rejected the claims of a Brockville, Ont. man who said he was too drunk to realize he’d burned down his ex-girlfriend’s home: “It should not mitigate responsibility”.

A Commons bill would mandate a yearly statistical analysis of living conditions for people over 65. The proportion of pension-age Canadians is forecast to rise from 15 to of 24% of the country within a generation: “Canadians have a right to be worried”.

Canada should consider a universal pharmacare program though costs could run to billions a year, a Parliament Hill conference has been told. Delegates speaking to a Liberal Senate Caucus session said an aging Canada faces rising expenses of pharmaceutical drugs: ““It is just a question of how many billions”.

Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred is being taken to Federal Court by a Canadian company embroiled in a five-year trademark dispute with the big leagues. The commissioner’s office objected to use of “All Star Baseball” to sell video games: ‘It’s confusing’.

Onerous federal rules on interns may quash trainee programs, an employers’ group has cautioned MPs. Cabinet for the first time is citing limited intern protection under the Canada Labour Code: “There is a very important balance here”.

A private Conservative bill to repeal the little-used threat of jail for Canadians who refuse fill out census forms has failed in the Commons. MPs last night adjourned debate on the measure without allowing it to come to a final vote: “I would have thought the world had evolved”.

Less than a quarter of Canadians attend November 11 services despite millions spent on ads and promotions, says Department of Veterans Affairs research. The department’s in-house polling found most Canadians said they “participated” in remembrance by watching TV: “The results will help guide the department”.

A federal judge has upheld Transport Canada’s right to revoke airport security clearance for a flight attendant who’d worked in a biker bar. The ruling follows a series of lawsuits involving transport workers who lost their jobs on suspicion of criminality: “My client no longer gets to do the job she was qualified to do, and thoroughly enjoyed doing”.

Veterans’ groups are protesting a cabinet plan to honour War of 1812 casualties in the nation’s most revered hall of remembrance for war dead. Canadian veterans of the Vietnam War, who are disqualified from a similar tribute, said the decision smacked of a double standard: “I don’t understand this”.

An Arctic grocers’ subsidy is undergoing a promised review to find if discounts are benefiting consumers. The Department of Northern Affairs yesterday said it will contract a claims processor to randomly check subsidy payments: “The objective of the program is to pass the subsidy on”.

A federal employee mistakenly paid thousands of dollars in bonuses must return the money though it took the government seven years to notice the error, a tribunal has ruled. The dispute followed automatic payments to a former Department of Veterans Affairs manager of financial benefits: “It was most unfortunate”.