Confidential Transport Canada reports predict little gain in Arctic shipping despite climate change that’s expected to see ice-free summer passage within 20 years. Two studies conclude the Northwest Passage will remain too risky and expensive to generate commercial traffic: ‘Insurance is costly’.
MPs will debate legislation to radically overhaul VIA Rail as the Crown passenger service braces for record deficits and cabinet prepares to appoint a new chair. The private bill would curb service cuts and permit employees to purchase VIA shares: “It would be a good first step”.
The Canadian Transportation Agency is ordering airlines to formally adopt family-friendly seating policies. The order, effective March 2, says carriers must take steps to seat parents and children together: “We put consumers first”.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is indicating support for a bill to appoint a new Inspector General to oversee the Canada Border Services Agency. The Senate bill, scheduled for hearings, would see a chief inspector granted broad powers to scrutinize the agency’s work: ‘We should be alarmed such powers are wielded by an agency with no independent oversight’.
Cabinet will enact a contentious union bill C-525 within five months by speeding legislative amendments to correct technical garbling. The Department of Labour said the bill must become law before a fall election: “It will come into force on June 16”.
Environment Canada is being sued after approving a scheme to sink a toxic warship in fish habitat. The department quietly issued a Disposal At Sea permit to a scuba diving society to scuttle HMCS Annapolis, a decommissioned destroyer, in a marine park in British Columbia: “This is costing a fortune”.
Railways may insert vague “surcharges” into shipping contracts that go to final arbitration, a federal judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of a Nova Scotia shipper overcharged by Canadian National Railway Co.: “We lost”.
Environment Canada’s refusal to target road salt as toxic will see wider use of the substance despite evidence of ecological damage, says a green manufacturer. Canadians use five to seven million tonnes of road salt each winter, primarily in provinces west of Manitoba: “There is nothing here”.
The first fungicide ever registered in Canada now faces a federal ban after sixty years of use. Health Canada proposes to begin phasing-out quintozene this year amid concerns it is environmentally toxic: “Even if you have it on the shelf in your garage you can’t use it”.
A federal rail and air regulator, the Canadian Transportation Agency, has been cited as “rigid”, “inflexible” and lacking common sense by a federal court. The stinging judgment came in an uncomplicated case involving a dog aboard an airplane: “Form took over substance”.
A Senate committee next month will take up clause-by-clause scrutiny of a bill to enact Canada’s first federal privacy protection for genetic testing. The proposal still faces “exaggerated” complaints from insurers, says its Liberal sponsor: ‘Everybody else says we need it’.
A Nova Scotia government department is charging $37 an hour to photocopy public documents under its Access To Information law. The charges come as MPs propose raising fees on all Canadians who ask to see federal records: “It’s just outrageous”.
Shared Services Canada claims it imposed a national blackout on all government employees’ access to Blacklock’s website as a “potential threat” to federal internet usage. The department invoked security in justifying its media ban, confirmed through Access To Information files.
“A potential threat to Government of Canada infrastructure was detected,” Ted Francis, Shared Services spokesperson, said in a statement; “The threat was subsequently rectified. Access to Blacklocks.ca was restored.”
The department manages telecom services for 43 federal departments with some 200,000 employees. Access records show IT staffers were specifically directed to block access to the website last August 22. The source of the request is censored in 218 pages of newly-released Access documents. The department also redacted all references to claimed cyber threats.
Blacklock’s publisher Holly Doan described the department claim as “nonsense”, saying the website at no time posed any threat to the integrity of government internet systems. “There were no viruses, no malware, no danger of any kind,” Doan said.
“To cast an accredited Canadian media website as some kind of voodoo security peril in the same league as industrial saboteurs and foreign hackers is ridiculous,” Doan said. “We report the news. Shared Services’ statement is at odds with the facts.”
Government IT security staff did not reply to repeated interview requests. Documents indicate the Blacklock’s ban was lifted the same day the publication filed an Access request for information on why the website was blocked.
“It Seems Odd”
The Canadian Association of Journalists urged cabinet to release details of the alleged threat used to justify the website blacklisting. “We’re concerned that a government department would block access to any media website at all,” said Hugo Rodrigues, association president.
“It seems odd that a publicly-funded department would restrict access to media,” Rodrigues said. “We do have freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Canada. There needs to be transparency and accountability. They need to supply some credible information to justify their action – and we don’t see that.”
Access files indicate Shared Services Canada repeatedly cited Blacklock’s in Cyber Brief bulletins distributed to IT staff. All the references were censored. Department officials had refused to say how many other websites it blocks, or why, or how many are published by Canadian media organizations.
“We do not comment on the specifics of methods used to protect the Government of Canada’s IT infrastructure,” said Marie-Helene Rouillard, a department spokesperson; “The Government of Canada is continuously working to enhance cyber security”.
The blacklisting appeared to violate the government’s own handbook on permitted use of federal computers. Government employees are permitted to “keep up-to-date with news and current events,” according to cabinet’s 2013 Policy On Acceptable Network & Device Use.
By Staff 
Two years after abolishing the penny, cabinet proposes to eliminate small benefits payments as an austerity measure. Authorities would not disclose the minimum value of payments that aren’t worth the trouble. It costs the treasury 82¢ to cut a cheque: ‘It’s a common-sense measure’.
Media disclosures of overseas sweatshops prompted a Department of Public Works inquiry on whether to require “ethical procurement” in federal contracting, records show. Department memos indicate news accounts of the fatal 2013 collapse of a Bangladeshi garment factory led regulators to examine the sourcing of apparel: “Protections do not exist in some offshore countries”
