The Department of Finance has formally apologized for mistakenly doubling taxes on credit unions. Senior officials told the Commons finance committee they were sorry for the mistake, which required an Act of Parliament to remedy: “We do apologize for that error.”
Agriculture Canada is keeping an eye on railways’ performance in shipping the first bumper crop since Parliamentary passage of a rail service reform bill. The department said it is “closely monitoring” the shipment of this year’s Prairie harvest following complaints of haphazard service: “They know we are watching.”
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz says the notion of retirement is now so vague he has acquaintances working past 65 to meet expenses. Poloz told a Senate committee he’s concerned by trends in the nation’s aging population: “I too know people who have decided to stay in the workforce longer than they originally planned.”
Federal staff acknowledge landmark revisions to labour laws were written without consulting any business, union or legal analyst. Critics caution the amendments upset decades-old policies on right-to-strike and workplace safety: “It seems kind of a curious way to make policy.”
The Department of Fisheries is levying $815,000 in new fees on B.C. aquaculture but stopped short of proposing national legislation to standardize fish farming practices across Canada. The drafting of a fee schedule followed years of study: “How are we supposed to make any progress on the real issues?”
Transport Canada is ordering railways to publicly report shipments of dangerous goods through towns and cities. However more substantial amendments to the Rail Safety Act are still awaiting the outcome of a probe of the Lac-Mégantic wreck, said the transport minister: “I expect we’ll talk about it some more.”
Social Development Minister Jason Kenney says cabinet is “giving people the shelter they need”, but would not commit to renewal of subsidies for 200,000 low-income households. Advocates caution that tenants may face eviction without federal support of below-market rents: “Are we going to tackle this problem?”
A Euro trade pact is needed to stem a 20% decline in transatlantic seafood exports, the Fisheries Council has told MPs. The industry group called the tentative agreement “a game-changer” for producers of B.C. salmon, Prairie pickerel, and Atlantic shrimp, lobster and mackerel: “Right now we’re not in the game.”
Industry Minister James Moore is silent on withering criticism from business over a federal anti-counterfeiting bill. Executives and attorneys told a Commons committee the legislation is so clumsy it would be simpler for property owners to buy counterfeiters’ goods and destroy the shipments: “I just don’t have any comment on that right now.”
Environment Canada is being cited by industry, science and advocacy groups for failing to comply with its own standards.
Delegates to an Ottawa conference said the department had failed to meet its mandates. The criticism echoed a November 5 report to Parliament by the Commissioner of the Environment. The document warned policies were so weakly managed cabinet did not meet its legal obligations.
“One, the federal government needs to do its job,” said Avrim Lazar, retired CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada. “Two, there is a huge opportunity for a leadership model with the federal government for convening the interests in society to come up with collective solutions – and then listening to the solutions.”
Lazar, a former assistant deputy minister at Environment Canada, was speaking at a conference Conserving Canada’s Biodiversity: Connecting the Dots, organized by the University of Ottawa’s Institute of the Environment.
Environment Commissioner Neil Maxwell told the Commons in his Fall 2013 Report that regulators often failed to meet objectives under initiatives like the Species At Risk Act, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and parks management of natural areas.
“We aren’t meeting our own standards,” said Nik Lopoukine, International Union for Conservation of Nature’s former chair on protected areas; “You are leading by perception.”
An industry group, the Canadian Electricity Association, said enforcement of regulations is so inadequate that ecosystems are at risk.
“We are in agreement largely with the commissioner’s report,” Sandra Schwartz, association vice president of external relations, told the conference; “We are losing ground. The ecosystems are deteriorating and governments are not doing their job entirely – and industry requires government to do its job.”
Environment Canada, Parks Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were all cited by the commissioner for falling short of legal obligations.
Commissioner Maxwell, speaking to the Commons environment committee, said a current backlog of assessments under the Species At Risk Act, alone will take a decade to clear.
“I’d simply highlight the importance of getting those tools in place,” said Maxwell. “It is a concern that of the over 500 species at risk in Canada, at the moment only seven have the recovery strategy and the action plan necessary.”
By Kaven Baker-Voakes 
Virtually all telecast blackouts of pro sports would be outlawed under proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Act. The Commons saw introduction of a private bill to forbid TV blackouts of any sporting event from a subsidized venue: “We’ve already paid for it.”
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has quarantined two Atlantic fish farms and ordered the destruction of thousands of salmon to stem an infectious virus. Up to 3,700 tonnes of fish will be destroyed to stop the spread of infectious salmon anaemia.
A Euro trade pact may have unintended consequences, says the nation’s largest private sector trade union. Executives of Unifor told MPs procurement rules could cost local suppliers as contracts are put to transatlantic tender: “It’s the first bilateral trade agreement that binds our provinces, territories and municipalities.”
Drug companies must notify Health Canada of production shortages or pay $10,000-a day fines under a private bill introduced in the Commons. The legislation follows a 2012 slowdown at a generic drug factory that led to rationing of painkillers and antibiotics: “There is not really any accountability.”
Rideau Hall is refusing to say how much David Johnston gave to charity last year, though the Governor General is urging all taxpayers to donate more to worthy causes.
Johnston’s staff would not comment on which of Canada’s 85,000 federally-registered charities are supported by the Governor General and his wife Sharon.
“This information remains private,” Marie-Eve Letourneau of the Rideau Hall Press Office told Blacklock’s. Asked to confirm whether Johnston made a charitable claim of any kind on his 2012 tax return, Letourneau replied: “I will check and get back to you.”
Parliament doubled Johnston’s salary to $270,602 last January 1 after amending the Governor General’s Act to require that he pay federal tax.
Johnston has made charities a hallmark of his tenure as commander-in-chief. In a recent statement observing National Philanthropy Day, the Governor General described donations as a moral obligation: “There are those among us who give every day for no other reason than it is the right thing to do (original italics). With every moment of giving, they are changing lives.”
And in a Nov. 13 speech in Québec City, Johnston said that “giving has been in my life from the very start.”
“How can we get all Canadians to give?” he said; “One of the first instances of giving that I was exposed to came from my own family. My paternal grandparents were devout Methodists. They were also quite poor, and yet they donated the first 10 percent of their income to charitable causes.”
However Johnston has remained vague on his personal annual contributions. At the University of Waterloo, where he spent 11 years as president, third-party donors financed a David Johnston International Experience Award and the David Johnston Research And Technology Park.
In launching a national campaign My Giving Moment Johnston noted he and his wife had financed a Waterloo bursary in honour of his mother-in-law prior to his appointment as governor general in 2010.
Canadians’ contributions to charities have remained static at 5.7 million since 1990 though the number of tax-filers has grown from $17 million to $24 million over the same period, by federal estimate.
Parliament this year raised charitable credits for first-time donors in a bid to encourage giving. A previous credit paid 15 percent on the first $200 donated to a registered charity, and 29% on donations above $200.
The new so-called First Time Donor’s Super Credit pays 40% on the first $200, and 54% after that, but only as a one-time benefit for contributors who have not previously given to charity since 2007.
The Department of Finance projects the higher credits will attract 590,000 first-time donors.
By Tom Korski
