Newly-released records show cabinet cuts to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program came only weeks after government polling identified a public backlash against migrant labour. More than a third of Canadians surveyed wanted the entire program abolished; and 68 percent of Canadians said employers abused the plan: ‘Raise wages first’.
Two of the country’s largest cellphone companies face a class action lawsuit over nickel-and-dime charges on millions of customers, according to allegations. Bell and Telus are accused of rounding up cellphone billing minutes to charge seven million clients for time they never used: “Why?”
Parliamentary committees have passed a contentious amendment to federal law granting cabinet a veto over operations at Canadian airports. Industry executives cautioned the changes will see political meddling in management of airfields: “That seems rather quaint to say at this point”.
One year after cabinet’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, experts have told a Senate climate change forum new federal initiatives are needed to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Canada was the first signatory to the 1997 pact to revoke its endorsement, saving some $14 billion in penalties: “We need to make serious changes”.
The Commons finance committee has unanimously passed a federal ban on paper billing fees by telecom companies amid questions on why banks are exempt. Industry Minister James Moore said abolishing identical bank statement fees will require separate legislation: “It’s the dog that didn’t bark”.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is hiring consultants to study the viability of daily newspapers. Authorities ordered a $30,000 report on dailies’ content and viability: “Why don’t they just ask us?”
Two Conservative Senators who voted to kill union bill C-377 say the measure remains flawed, and ripe for constitutional challenge. The two were the only members of the government caucus to support a motion to strike the Conservative bill before Second Reading.
“It’s not constitutional,” said Senator Diane Bellemare of Alma, Que. “I think it will affect privacy and it’s not really well-balanced.”
Bill C-377 An Act To Amend The Income Tax Act compels unions to disclose senior officers’ salaries and benefits over $100,000 on a Canada Revenue website; as well as publish lists of assets and liabilities; contracts; loans receivable; time and money spent on organizing activities; and payments to members for pensions and health benefits over $5,000.
A motion to strike the bill as based on “erroneous principle” was defeated by the Senate’s Conservative majority on a 42 to 28 vote on Tuesday evening. In an interview, Bellemare yesterday said the bill sets a far-reaching precedent in government intrusion.
“If we were to investigate or oblige every organization that gets money from contributions that are tax deductible, then we would have a mass of institutions that would have the same obligations – including political parties,” Bellemare said.
Senator Nancy Ruth of Toronto, the other Conservative caucus dissenter, described C-377 as offensive to Canadians. “Unions play a very important role in Canada and in any labour market in the Western world,” she said. “I find this approach to perhaps modernize unions to not be the most effective way to go. I find it offensive, to tell the truth.”
‘Why Are Union Bosses So Afraid?’
The bill is now referred to hearings of the legal affairs committee chaired by Conservative Senator Bob Runciman of Thousand Islands, Ont., a former provincial solicitor general. Runciman in earlier debate complained of the influence of “big labour” and “union bosses” in election campaigns.
“Unions have channelled their resources – their members’ dues – into electing Liberal governments in Ontario,” he said; “It was no surprise that Ontario’s labour minister opposed Bill C-377 when it first came to the Senate, given that government’s quid pro quo arrangements with big labour.”
“I have no doubt that we will hear from the critics that union finances are already disclosed to members,” Runciman said. “But if their finances are already open and transparent, then why are union bosses so afraid of Bill C-377? They are against it because their claims of openness are bogus”; “The union bosses are against it because they don’t want people, including their own members, to know how they spend their money. If they don’t want to be accountable, they should give up their tax deduction.”
Runciman’s office yesterday said there was no chance the legal affairs committee would open hearings on the bill before Christmas. Parliament is scheduled to break for the holiday recess on December 12, and return in the last week of January.
Senate rules do not permit a private bill like C-377 to be fast-tracked through committee.
By Dale Smith 
Seal hunters are asking MPs to expand a security cordon around their annual harvest for fear media and protesters will use camera drones to take video and photographs. The Seals & Sealing Network said media scrutiny is stressful for hunters: “They cannot work as well when they have a camera filming them”.
Aquaculture fees are “not the right tool” to regulate the environmental impact of fish farms, says a federal official. A proposed fee schedule to take effect by year’s end will see British Columbia operators pay 10 percent of the cost of federal oversight of the industry: “The world needs fish”.
Canada Post reports another surprise quarterly profit, and says original forecasts of a disastrous drop in 2014 revenues appear unfounded. The Crown corporation estimated revenues on its core post office business increased $100 million since January to $4.5 billion to date: ‘They panicked and cut, cut, cut’.
One of the country’s largest media publishers has been hit with a $28,000 judgment over trademark infringement. A Federal Court judge cited Black Press Group Ltd. for a copycat publication that violated an Alberta company’s trademark: ‘They kept on using it’.
Cabinet will not reopen energy regulatory hearings to the general public despite clashes over a British Columbia pipeline project, says the Minister of Natural Resources. Greg Rickford reaffirmed only Canadians “directly affected” by projects should be permitted at hearings of the National Energy Board: “There will always be a difference of opinion”.
A contentious Conservative labour bill C-377 last evening survived its first test in the Senate on word the government aims to pass it within sixty days. Senators voted 42 to 28 to reject a motion to defeat the bill. Two Conservatives supported the motion declaring it “erroneous” and unconstitutional: Nancy Ruth of Toronto and Diane Bellemare of Alma, Que.
“It needs to be stopped,” said Senator Elaine McCoy, Independent Progressive Conservative of Calgary who sponsored the motion; “It’s a question of who is going to be the champion in the Conservative caucus. I don’t know who’s willing, but you saw two people stand up – and I did no lobbying.”
“I don’t know the appetite yet for a flat-out mutiny,” added McCoy, a former Alberta labour minister. In an interview, McCoy said she was advised by Conservatives that C-377 must pass this winter: “I was told by their House leader they want to get this through by February.”
Senator Yonah Martin of Vancouver, Conservative deputy leader in the Upper House, did not comment.
Bill C-377 An Act To Amend The Income Tax Act compels unions to disclose senior officers’ salaries and benefits over $100,000; as well as all lists of assets and liabilities; loans receivable; time and money spent on organizing activities; and payments to members for pensions and health benefits over $5,000. The records would be published on a Canada Revenue Agency website.
The bill passed the Commons in 2012 but was thwarted in the Senate six months later when a majority of legislators, including Conservative dissenters, allowed amendments that stripped the bill of its provisions. “It was the one time I’ve seen any kind of backbone in the Conservative caucus,” McCoy said.
The bill was revived October 29 in the Senate, where Conservatives hold a 23-vote majority.
Called A Bid To Intimidate Unions
McCoy said the bill sets a precedent in mandating disclosure of personal information for any Canadian who receives a tax deduction. “It pulls down one of the bulwarks of our privacy protection,” the Senator said; “If a union claims tax deductions, taxpayers are then entitled to detailed personal information. If that is the case, why wouldn’t taxpayers then be entitled to know the same details about their neighbours or local businesses?”
McCoy’s motion proposed the bill be dismissed “because it is based on an erroneous principle, namely that a tax deduction mandates public disclosure of private information; and it is ultra vires the authority of Parliament.”
“I still think it’s a thinly-disguised way of intimidating another voice that is anticipated to be out of sympathy with the Conservative message,” McCoy said.
The bill now proceeds to a repeat of 2013 Senate hearings that saw the measure criticized as unconstitutional by five provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Québec, Ontario and Manitoba. The Canadian Bar Association also expressed “serious reservations” on C-377, calling it a bid to “directly target activities protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”.
Insurers, pension fund and mutual fund managers also objected to the measure, citing onerous requirements to track benefits paid to millions of enrollees based on their union affiliation.
By Staff
An Ottawa think tank accepted funding from the tobacco industry to finance, in part, a seminar on Aboriginal tobacco smuggling. The Macdonald–Laurier Institute acknowledged a portion of its budget is financed by cigarette manufacturers, but declined to name the amount: “I didn’t organize the panel”.
Canada Revenue was bilked of some $4.7 million in fraudulent claims under a crude tax dodge detailed in court documents. A Vancouver accounting firm is accused of forging millions of dollars in fake charity receipts and selling them to clients at 8¢ on the dollar: “I find it implausible”.
