Environment Canada proposes more research on links between air pollution and related deaths. The department is commissioning new studies on the “relationship” between common pollution sources like industry and traffic, and mortality: “We have so much information on this it seems like someone wants to avoid the question”.
The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from a frustrated job-seeker who complained of cronyism in government hiring. Justices granted costs but would not consider allegations that public service employment is discriminatory: “It’s not surprising”.
The jobless rate in Regina has hit an historic low for any Canadian city with virtual full employment for every worker, according to new federal data. Unemployment in the city is at 2.8 percent, tying the previous record set by Calgary in the winter of 2006: ‘It’s all good’.
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Environment Canada is conducting a “legally defensible” study on the potential impact of a disastrous oil spill off the northern coast of British Columbia. The research comes four months after cabinet approved an Enbridge Inc. proposal to ship Alberta bitumen by tanker from Kitimat, B.C. on assurance it’s safe.
“The government is now admitting to what we all know: there will be a spill,” said Nathan Cullen, New Democrat MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C. “The arrogance of this is incredible to me.” Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq did not comment. The mayor of Kitimat declined an interview.
The $6 billion Northern Gateway project would see oil sands bitumen piped 1,200 kilometres from Bruderheim, Alta. to Kitimat for loading at a tanker terminal. Documents reveal Environment Canada last year began research on “oil spill contamination of shorelines” typically found in northern B.C., and now seeks technical expertise to complete the work by 2016.
“The objective of this work is to deliver both operational guidance and scientific information that is legally defensible and credible,” the Department of the Environment wrote in a notice A Meso-Scale Study Of The Chemical Fate, Penetration & Retention Of Diluted Bitumen & Diluents On Experimental Marine Shorelines Representative Of Northern British Columbia. The research will “examine several specific topics related to the environmental impact and detection of diluted bitumen on marine shorelines typical of those found in northern British Columbia”. Researchers will:
Recalls The Exxon Valdez
Cabinet approved the Northern Gateway project June 17 amid protests and litigation from First Nations and environmental groups. Government members have repeatedly insisted the venture is safe. “We have been clear,” B.C. Conservative MP Mark Strahl yesterday told the Commons; “Projects will only proceed if they are proven safe for Canadians and safe for the environment.”
Strahl, MP for Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, B.C., would not speak to reporters outside the Commons.
“Stop this madness,” said Cullen. “The government was willing to approve this pipeline without knowing what a spill of diluted bitumen will do to the coast of B.C. They are putting our livelihoods on the line without an inkling of the impact of what they’re proposing.”
Cullen earlier introduced a private bill C-628 An Act To Amend The Canada Shipping Act to ban large commercial tanker traffic off the northern B.C. coast. The most recent British Columbia marine oil disasters were the 2006 sinking of the ferry Queen Of The North with 1,800 barrels of oil aboard, and a 1988 wreck of the barge Nestucca that spilled 7,000 barrels of oil on Vancouver Island’s shores.
“Bitumen sinks,” Cullen said in an interview. “It’s much more tenacious in the environment, much more toxic and impossible to clean up. Thirty years after the Exxon Valdez spill you can scrape a few rocks off the beach and oil water will still be found.” The 1989 spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound cost some $3.5 billion in clean-up costs, legal fees and court settlements.
The federal cabinet earlier lifted a liability cap on compensation from tanker spills under the Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund. The previous cap fixed compensation for a catastrophic spill at a maximum $1.36 billion. Recovery costs would now be fully met by the Government of Canada and financed by fees on oil shippers.
By Tom Korski 
Cabinet will not amend a drug recall bill despite protests from pharmaceutical companies, says Health Minister Rona Ambrose. The Minister accused the industry of taking advantage of existing regulations on the recall of unsafe medication: ‘It’s easier to recall a bag of potato chips’.
Some 20 people have been tested as potential Ebola carriers nationwide, says the Public Health Agency of Canada. Officials testifying at Senate hearings boasted of the agency’s prowess in confronting “trends and threats”, earning a rebuke from one Senator who pointed to misplaced priorities: ‘Obesity is a bigger danger; have you thought about that?’
A Commons bill to put a federal spy agency under scrutiny may be killed on a technicality. MPs were told the Liberal bill may breach a House rule: “A Speaker’s bias is not to limit debate”.
Parliament should study the feasibility of reviving a mandatory licensing fee on TV households to help finance public broadcasting, says the Canadian Media Guild. The Guild represents 4,500 CBC employees: “It’s a great idea”.
A bill to sanction minimum jail time for very drunk drivers has passed the Commons on Second Reading. The measure won all-party support amid concerns over piecemeal amendments to the Criminal Code: ‘We are amending it with one-off private members’ bills’.
A celebrated scheme to have businesses file electronic tax returns is rated a failure by Canada Revenue Agency consultants. The agency’s own research shows most Canadians have not heard of the program – it was launched eight years ago – and many are wary of paperless transactions with the tax department: ‘Many were surprised to learn this has existed since 2006’.
The government watchdog Financial Consumer Agency of Canada issued fewer than 10 penalties on banks last year for violating federal regulations and codes, the equivalent of less than 1 percent of consumer complaints it investigated. The agency draws 85 percent of its budget from banks and insurers: “It doesn’t work”.
A government bill to jail contraband tobacco traffickers has hit amendments in the Senate amid concerns it will incite First Nations “unrest”. Liberals proposed to effectively hoist the bill pending talks with Aboriginal groups: “Why do they continue to do this?”
The Department of Fisheries is accused of failing to enforce its own laws in guarding habitat from aquaculture operators. A Great Lakes association told the Senate fisheries committee that trout farms are permitted to dump tonnes of waste in apparent violation of the Fisheries Act: ‘It’s like 16,000 hogs defecating into the bay’.
Bitcoin has made no new friends in the Senate, where the chair of the banking committee lamented losing 23 percent in six months after buying bitcoin as a test of the pseudo-currency: ‘It cost $100 and is worth $76.89 – if you can find a buyer’.
