Transport Canada can withhold port employees’ security clearance on hearsay, a federal judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of a Port of Vancouver electrician denied clearance on unproven allegations of wrongdoing: “It puts applicants in a difficult position”.
Senate Conservatives will take a “very close look” at Liberal repeal of two labour bills, says a senior lawmaker. Conservatives retain a seven-vote majority in the Senate.
“The Liberals are not even giving these bills a chance,” said Senator Don Plett (Conservative-Man.). “If this was six years down the road and the big union bosses had issues, I’d say we’d be more open to it.”
Cabinet introduced Bill C-4 An Act To Amend The Canada Labour Code to repeal two Conservative bills enacted in 2015. Bill C-377 mandates disclosure of confidential union finances on a government website; and Bill C-525 abolishes the card-check system for union certification in federally-regulated industries in favour of secret balloting, and decertification on the votes of as few as 40 percent of employees in a union local.
“I have not changed my opinion on these bills,” said Plett. “Clearly these bills are intended to help the little guy, and I believe our party did just that – helped union members. And the Liberals want to help the union bosses.”
“I don’t know that I want to speculate on what we will do with these bills,” Plett said. “We will review every piece of legislation. What we’re going to do is give this a very close look. We’re not making any blanket statements. It wouldn’t be fair. The Senate doesn’t work that way.”
Current standings in the Senate are 45 Conservatives; 28 Liberals; ten independents including seven Conservative appointees; and 22 vacancies. Cabinet is expected to name five new Liberal appointees to fill a portion of the Senate vacancies by February 29.
“We hear horror stories about what’s going on with the big union bosses,” Plett said. “I have had one of them look me in the eye and say they would do everything in their power to make sure Conservatives were not elected in 2015. How democratic is that?”
Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk said repeal of the two bills is necessary. “They were originally not formulated in accordance with democratic principles of consultation and need,” Mihychuk said. “These were political instruments to attack the labour movement. We are going to reset a fair and balanced platform and move from there.”
Mihychuk earlier told reporters all Conservative labour measures are under review. Bills passed by the previous government included repeal of the 1935 Fair Wages & Hours Of Labour Act that required federal contractors publish all wage scales; provide minimum time-and-half pay for overtime; forbid discrimination in hiring; guarantee wages of all employees of subcontractors in case of default; and submit records to labour department inspectors.
A 2013 omnibus budget bill also amended the Public Service Labour Relations Act to give cabinet “the exclusive right to determine whether any service, facility or activity of the Government of Canada is essential because it is or will be necessary for the safety or security of the public or a segment of the public.” Union executives opposed the measure as an unconstitutional infringement on the right to strike, noting previous governments had negotiated terms of which employees would be designated as “essential”.
By Tom Korski 
Air Canada is seeking a federal order to halt public release of its compensation schedule for passengers stranded by flight cancellations. A passengers’ advocate who obtained the data gave it to reporters: “There are no nuclear secrets here”.
The Department of Public Safety says it can’t commit to restore funding for a prison addiction research centre, the only facility of its kind. Newly-released accounts show cabinet cut funding by $2.2 million – 38 percent more than originally claimed – even as it drafted a Drug-Free Prisons Act: “It could be that it was politically driven”.
Canada’s wind turbine promoters must be nice to neighbours if the industry is to expand, says University of Waterloo research. Noise complaints earlier prompted thousands of Health Canada questionnaires: “It’s a part of daily life”.
Canada Revenue Agency has lost again in its three-year legal battle with an oil company over a lost letter. A federal judge ruled ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp. is entitled to ask the Agency to reconsider a reassessment over millions in unpaid oil royalties: “The Minister owes a duty of fairness to all taxpayers”.
The National Capital Commission
wants to develop LeBreton Flats:
9.3 hectares between the downtown core,
the War Museum, and the
river.
They call on the world’s best
to reimagine this exceptional site,
bring design excellence and animation,
create a point of civic
pride.
A year goes by.
Two proposals submitted:
one from an Ottawa team, one from
Gatineau.
The other world’s best
appear to have ignored this golden
opportunity.
They may have been busy with the
Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project in
Manhattan,
Changi International Airport in
Singapore,
or the Ferrari World indoor theme park in
Abu Dhabi.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Conservative senators are being pressed to block repeal of two key labour bills, 377 and 525, passed by the last Parliament. Cabinet yesterday introduced legislation to revoke the bills that made it easier to decertify union locals, and required disclosure of confidential labour records: “It repeals the good work that we did”.
Government spokespeople who talk to reporters must speak slowly, as if addressing small children, and avoid facial expressions that look bad on TV. The tips are contained in a fisheries department manual obtained through Access To Information.
“An audience can tell if you’re bored, upset or uncomfortable,” says the department manual Meeting The Media: A Guide For DFO Spokespersons. “Try to remain as neutral as possible in your demeanour no matter how aggressive the questioning may become.”
“Slow down, as if you are addressing a classroom full of students,” the manual says. “This deliberate pacing will help make the delivery clear and allow you time to think in complete and quotable sentences.”
Officials were also instructed to remain stone-faced and keep their hands by the sides, especially on TV: “Crossing your arms can appear defensive; clenched jaws and darting eyes are a sign of nervousness; exaggerated hand movements are a visual distraction; loss of eye contact with the reporter shows discomfort”; “Uncomfortable body language comes through loud and clear to a television viewer,” the manual says.
The federal government spends $229 million a year on “communication services”, according to the Department of Public Works, including money spent on polling; focus group research; advertising; and staffing communications departments with spokespeople.
Guide describes media as puzzling and dangerous: “The world of newspapers, radio and television is a mystery to many people,” the manual explains. “It’s even more confusing today with the addition of web news services, blogs and growing international media focus on department activities.”
“Only a few gifted communicators can meet the media with little or no preparation,” Guide continues. “Department spokespersons cannot afford to take that chance”; “Spokespersons are always on their toes.”
Other tips included making frequent use of the word “again” to “add emphasis”; “never run”; never use the pronoun “I”; never speculate; “keep your cool”; “Make clear you have time to take only a few questions”; never use jargon in emails; and never trust reporters who claim a confidence.
“Remember, you are always on the record even before a so-called formal interview has taken place!” the manual warns. “Carefully compose your answers as though every word could end up in a news story, and avoid adding any unnecessary shorthand or chit-chat”.
“‘Off the record’ at one time meant that information could be conveyed to a reporter anonymously,” it says. “Today this practice doesn’t really exist. Assume you are always on the record.”
By Staff
Nearly 7,000 federal operating agreements for social housing lapsed to the end of 2015 including 827 last year, according to new data. Housing advocates have appealed for a renewal of subsidies for non-profit and co-operative housing corporations: “These are real people with real kids”.
Environment Canada is updating its national freshwater quality index for the first time in more than a decade. It follows private research that found scores of unmonitored chemicals in Canadians’ drinking water: “The current index doesn’t tell you what’s wrong”.
Cash-strapped VIA Rail is in the “early stages” of contract talks with employees including review of the Crown railway’s pension liabilities. VIA reported a record $317.1 million deficit in 2014: ‘There are cost pressures on our bottom line’.
A DNA privacy bill has passed Second Reading in the Senate amid appeals to protect employees and insurance policyholders from discrimination. Lawmakers referred the Liberal bill to hearings of the human rights committee: “It’s unconscionable”.
Lawyering fees are ballooning to rates so “disturbing” that courts are inaccessible to all but corporations and wealthy Canadians, says a senior judge. The remarks came over six-figure claims for costs in a routine appeal in a civil case: “When a client asks his lawyer the time of day he doesn’t need to be told how to build a watch”.
The fisheries department cut funding for scientific research by as much as 18 percent in the past decade, new accounts show. Cuts included reductions in programs on fisheries protection and management.
“That’s serious, and it reduced their capacity,” said MP Kennedy Stewart, New Democrat science critic. “There really are no better teams of scientists anywhere in the world than people who work in fisheries, yet the department is not funding these people to do basic research.”
“It is really strange,” said Stewart, MP for Burnaby South, B.C. “I think this deserves clarification from the Minister.”
Financial records tabled in Parliament at Stewart’s request indicate the department’s funding for “fundamental research” fell from $317 million a year in 2007 to as little as $259 million by 2013. Funding last year was $272 million. Major cuts included the 2014 closure of Nova Scotia’s Mersey Biodiversity Facility, and New Brunswick’s St. Andrews Biological Station, the nation’s first federal marine research centre dating from 1899.
Other reductions included a $7.6 million cut to research on integrated fisheries management; $4.7 million to oceans management; $4.1 million to hydrographic products and services; $3.9 million to fisheries protection; and $3 million to the department’s sustainable aquaculture program.
“The cuts to science have been huge,” said Dr. Susanna Fuller of the Ecology Action Centre. “One of the impacts we have seen in the Atlantic region is the move to multi-year assessments.”
“Instead of a stock assessment every year there is a stock assessment every five years,” Fuller said. “That means you can’t do adaptive management, and you can’t look at stock on a year-to-year basis. There is no way to make science-based decisions on that basis.”
Other cuts included $373,000 to research on aquatic animal health; $275,000 in reduced funding for biotechnology; and $245,000 less for management of species at risk.
“I think a big piece is the complete lack of inclusion of climate change science into fisheries stock assessments,” Fuller said. “In Canada, we have no integration of impacts of climate change or ocean acidification on our fish stocks – whereas south of the border, in New England and Washington State, they have had commissions on ocean acidification and the impact on fisheries. They have a plan.”
The fisheries department, asked in Parliament whether it would restore all funding to previous levels, replied in an Inquiry Of Ministry: “Not yet determined.”
By Kaven Baker-Voakes
