Canada’s patchwork of private drug plans will leave Canadians with less coverage and more regional disparities, cautions a new study. A report by the Institute for Research On Public Policy said provincial drug plans are inconsistent and vary widely by cost: ‘These may not be the improvements people are looking for’.
A senior Conservative MP says federal management of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program has been questionable, and lamented the “abysmal history” of authorities in picking “business winners”. The deputy government House leader wrote his complaints in a letter to cabinet, released through Access To Information: ‘I question how bureaucrats determine a business need’.
Parliament last evening agreed to proclaim a national commemoration day for an individual for only the third time in Canadian history. MPs voted to declare Lincoln Alexander Day to honour a former labour minister. The two previous honourees were John A. Macdonald and Wilfrid Laurier: ‘He was mystical, magical’.
A federal judge has cited RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson for pandering to “gossip” in disciplining a longtime member of the force. The ruling comes as cabinet enacts new legislation granting the commissioner greater powers to discipline members: ‘The RCMP does not like to be challenged’.
A Mulroney-era solicitor general says he can’t remember ordering a federal spy agency to put political opponents under surveillance. Secret files indicate cabinet had agents spy on unions, peace groups and critics including the Council of Canadians in the 1980s: “What business is it of the state?”
Environment Canada is hiring consultants to standardize weather data under a long-term plan to compile more accurate measures of snow and rainfall dating back nearly two centuries. The department noted the “high impact” of even tiny variables due to climate change: “Snowfall is ludicrous; we still use a ruler to measure the snowpack”.
The Commons is to take up debate on a private bill to ban oil tanker traffic off the northern coast of British Columbia. The proposal follows disclosures that Environment Canada is quietly conducting “legally defensible” research on the impact of an oil spill in the region: ‘The process is dysfunctional’.
Canada lacks clear regulations on radioactive radon gas and fails to take the health threat as seriously as other nations, says the Canadian Environmental Law Association. Researchers urged that cabinet promote a $3,000 tax credit to refit homes subject to poisoning: “We don’t need to be arguing on the science”.
The Supreme Court yesterday heard appeals in a case of misleading media reports blamed for a dramatic plunge in a drug company’s stock values. Canada remains the only G8 country without federal securities regulation: “It’s pretty new”.
Cabinet secretly ordered spy surveillance of political opponents in 1985 on suspicions that Communists infiltrated an anti-free trade group, newly-released records show. The Council of Canadians, founded by publisher Mel Hurtig, was placed under subversion watch. Council members included MPs and author Pierre Berton. Other groups blacklisted included CUPE, the United Food & Commercial Workers, and labour federations in two provinces: “It’s unbelievable”.
Canada Border Services Agency says it has enough funding to enforce a new anti-counterfeiting law despite budget cuts. A cabinet bill would require that border officers intercept knock-off goods, though the agency earlier said it found it a struggle to intercept narcotics: “This is a serious problem”.
Cabinet in a rare Sunday decree ordered railways to meet minimum weekly Prairie grain transport quotas all winter to the end of March. The order came just as previous tonnage rules were to expire: “It’s in everyone’s best interest”.
Finance Canada says despite millions spent it does not know many families have used a Children’s Fitness Tax Credit to enroll youngsters in sport for the first time. An official said it would be difficult to prove whether the credit changed lifestyles: “You spend a bunch of government money to have people do something they were going to do anyway”.
The impact of grizzly bears on mining and drilling is being researched by Environment Canada. The initiative comes amid concerns that British Columbia programs to protect grizzlies are inadequate; B.C. is home to the largest grizzly population in the country: “Undocumented killing remains a problem”.
A Prince Edward Island woman declared a “vexatious litigant” by the justice system has found no relief from the Supreme Court. The Charlottetown activist waged a decade-long quest to have the government refund her $50 driver’s license fee: ‘There were lengthy, confused ramblings’.
