The Supreme Court will hear a key challenge on oil and gas fracking. Justices agreed to weigh the case of an Alberta landowner who claimed EnCana Corp. poisoned her well by pumping toxic chemicals into groundwater: “This is a critical issue”.
A bid for mandatory audio and video recorders in all rail locomotive cabs will be formally studied by Transport Canada and federal crash investigators. The Teamsters union representing crews has cautioned recorders may be misused to spy on employees: “That is not an argument I find persuasive”.
A motion to regulate billions in credit card fees charged to merchants and restaurateurs has lapsed in the Commons. Conservative MPs said they would not support fee caps, though one caucus member accused credit card issuers of near-extortion: ‘This is plain wrong’.
Auditor General Michael Ferguson is imploring MPs to heed his recommendation that regulators curb non-medical use of antibiotics. The Public Health Agency must provide leadership, the auditor told MPs: “There is currently no national strategy in place”.
Federal regulators are doing “solid” work on pesticides despite complaints chemicals have been licensed for years without risk assessments. The praise from the Commons health committee followed the first statutory review of regulators in seven years: “Is this the way to run a railroad?”
The government is dismissing a Commons bill that would cut the size of cabinet by one-third as an austerity measure. Canada has one of the largest federal cabinets in the democratic world at 39 members, including two ministers responsible for finance and two more for multiculturalism: “More focus, less process”.
RCMP management is attempting to stonewall a historic union drive despite a Supreme Court ruling, says a group attempting to organize the Mounties. Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney declined to comment: “They should be fair”.
A Commons committee has passed a bill proposing new enforcement on illegal fishing amid complaints that regulators have no estimate of the size of the black market. MPs on the fisheries committee endorsed the bill that sets $500,000 fines for importing or processing unlicensed fish: ‘We can’t know what we don’t observe’.
One of the country’s largest Catholic school boards is opposing a bill to designate November 11 a legal holiday. The Commons veterans affairs committee was told schoolchildren belong in class on Remembrance Day: “I don’t know what we’re trying to achieve here”.
Arctic development can’t be mandated around “conference tables in Ottawa”, says an analysis by the Conference Board of Canada. The report follows a ruling by the Northwest Territories Supreme Court that Parliament may have breached constitutional rights with a 2014 bill on development permits: “Think twice”.
A federal labour board has been ordered by the courts to reconsider a claim of mental distress by a public employee driven to tears by her dysfunctional workplace. Court heard conditions were so bad the woman barricaded herself in the office: ‘There was stress beyond all thought’.
Canada’s chief statistician is endorsing a Conservative bill repealing the threat of jail for people who submit false information in government surveys. Wayne Smith said the sanction was rarely sought, and only in “very unusual” circumstances: ‘It’s unreasonably harsh’.
Food giant McCain Ltd. is suing federal inspectors to prevent disclosure of trade secrets, attorneys say. The company seeks to block disclosure of confidential inspection reports from McCain’s flagship potato factory in New Brunswick: ‘They are the primary inspection tool’.
Management at the Canada Border Services Agency has still not streamlined its billion-dollar computer systems for monitoring cross-border traffic, says a federal review. The Auditor General said the agency has failed to complete an overall plan that avoids costly duplication: “It’s typical”.
The Canadian-led Arctic Council failed to play a leadership role on climate change, says research co-written by a former chair of the Canadian Polar Commission. Analysts said the international panel mandated to promote Arctic issues has fallen short in promoting cooperation on global warming and other issues: “The Arctic Council can’t accomplish what people expect”.
