Discovery of genetically-modified wheat supposedly removed from the North American market is renewing debate over controls on unapproved products. The Oregon case follows a similar Canadian incident involving modified flax seed discovered nine years after it was ordered destroyed.
Parliament faces a pushback from business ratepayers over continued federal aid for municipalities. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, in a new report and Commons testimony, depicted large cities as unaccountable and bloated with billion-dollar payrolls.
The Canadian Museum of Civilization has suffered large deficits on foreign exhibitions, including $463,000 lost in displaying imperial Chinese artifacts, new accounts show. Disclosure of the deficits came as MPs voted to refocus the museum on Canadian stories.
Two tobacco smugglers who sued the revenue department for return of cash they claimed fell from the heavens have lost their case in Federal Court. A judge dismissed the claim by a couple found driving with $3,300 in bootleg tobacco and $11,775 bundled in twenty-dollar bills, telling police “ça tombe du ciel” (“it fell from the sky”).
Cabinet is concealing details of far-reaching trade talks even from industry insiders forced to sign confidentiality agreements. In a process one MP dubbed “a farce,” the Dairy Farmers of Canada confirmed they were denied access to technical texts in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks despite receiving secret briefings. “Listen, we’re down to the most sensitive negotiations,” Trade Minister Ed Fast told Blacklock’s.
Canada’s telecom regulator is urging industry to address one of the most persistent consumer complaints – how to cancel a contract. Complex rules and terms, rarely standardized between companies, can “leave a consumer frustrated,” acknowledged one association.
A long-awaited Senate report is urging more action to rescue the nation’s billion-dollar lobster industry. The Senate fisheries committee proposes a renewed federal program, due to expire in 2014, that budgeted more than $50 million for license buy-backs.
Seven percent of foods randomly tested by federal inspectors violated Food and Drug Act regulations on colouring and industrial dyes, including cheddar cheese.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency would not name the cheese it tested, or what action was taken, but said results were obtained at a federal laboratory in Longueil, Que.
The agency yesterday reported its audit of everyday supermarket items found most dyed products fell within acceptable limits. Of 100 foods sampled, seven contained either excessive levels of colouring, or industrial dyes not allowed under the Food and Drug Act.
Three of the suspect foods were Canadian-made: cheddar cheese, horseradish with beets, and dried papaya.
Others were U.S.-made chicken tandoori seasoning, and lumpfish; Belgian almond paste; and curing powder produced in Thailand, used to preserve meats.
“With increasing multiculturalism and market globalization, consumers can find an ever increasing array of processed foods available at retail,” the agency wrote in its report Food Colours Used in the Production of Manufactured Foods; “Exposure to food colours has likely increased as a result.”
Dyes and colouring are regulated for purity, toxicity and potential allergic reactions. The agency noted U.K. research has suggested a link between food colouring and Attention Deficit Disorder in children, but added: “This area of research is controversial and the evidence corroborating this claim is not concrete.”
By Staff 
The Supreme Court is being drawn into Senate debate over a contentious labour bill. Opponents of legislation that compels unions to publish confidential data urged the Department of Justice to test its constitutionality: “It is mind-boggling.”
From fishing boats to carcinogenic chemicals, federal agencies are taking years, even decades to correct regulatory mistakes despite the risk of lawsuits. “It’s a scary prospect,” Senator Bob Runciman told Blacklock’s; “We see files that have been around for twenty, thirty years.”
Coal plants granted clean-air exemptions face more stringent emission targets under a private bill. Green Party leader Elizabeth May proposed to waive a grace period for coal plants to comply with Environment Canada targets: “A 50-year wriggle room for any coal-fired power plants is outrageous.”
Money cannot buy success in health care, according to a national analysis by the Conference Board of Canada. The study concluded cash alone did not buy A-grade medicare across the provinces, and concluded Canadians “spend too much for what we get” overall, said an analyst.
A Conservative MP accuses cabinet of trying to “gut” a disclosure bill on public service salaries. Brent Rathgeber said proposed amendments are cause for “mistrust and suspicion,” and subject senior public servants to less scrutiny than $10,000-a year contractors.
Canadians have set a record for electronic filing of tax returns, saving the treasury the $3.50 cost of processing each paper form, says the Canada Revenue Agency. Taxpayers filed more than 1,000,000 electronic returns in a single day, a record: “Canadians are moving into the electronic realm.”
Parliament is being warned a “Trojan Horse” labour bill is illegal and will be struck down by the courts if passed.
Bill C-377 that compels unions to disclose confidential data violates 146 years of Canadian practice, a constitutional expert told a Senate committee studying the measure.
“If Bill C-377 is passed by Parliament it will be declared unconstitutional and of no force and effect by the courts,” said Professor Bruce Ryder, of the Osgood Hall Law School faculty.
The Senate committee on trade and commerce opened hearings on the private Conservative bill that already passed the House of Commons on a 147 to 135 vote last Dec. 12.
“For once we have someone say outright it will be unconstitutional,” said Senator Larry Campbell (Liberal-B.C.). “The person who says it comes with very high qualifications. I just do not think this dog will hunt.”
Campbell continued, “It is our role to ensure that we do not pass laws that are unconstitutional; that is the difficulty that we are having here.”
The Act To Amend The Income Tax Act (requirements for labour organizations) requires that all unions publish senior officers’ salaries and benefits; lists of assets and liabilities; loans receivable; time and money spent on organizing activities; members’ pension payments over $5,000 and other data, under threat of $1,000-a day fines.
“It feels like it is using the Income Tax Act as a Trojan Horse to regulate unions,” testified Prof. Ryder; “The unprecedented detail of the disclosure obligations it places on labour organizations – and only on labour organizations – connects to no discernible tax policy issue or objective.”
Ryder noted that under the 1867 Constitution Act most labour issues are under provincial, not federal, jurisdiction.
“I am here to share the bad news that Bill C-377 is beyond the legislative jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada,” Ryder told senators.
In an interview, Ryder told Blacklock’s he considered it a “flawed bill” and poorly-drafted.
“The issue that stands out so starkly is this singling out of labour organizations for unprecedented scrutiny and an extraordinary degree of disclosure,” said Ryder; “I find it almost implausible.”
The Senate committee heard testimony that implementing the bill would cost the Canada Revenue Agency $11 million, with ongoing expenses of $2 million a year to collect and publish the financial accounts of the nation’s 14, 577 union locals.
By Tom Korski
