Canada’s Olympic triathlon team, ranked one of the worst in the world, received $132,000 in grants before competing in the London Summer Games, according to new federal accounts. And horse riders with the equestrian squad received $213,600 in taxpayers’ funding before finishing 13th out of 13 in team jumping.
The finance department spent nearly $14 million on media advertisements promoting its last budget, according to new accounts. Authorities would not divulge ad spending for this week’s 2013 federal budget, to be tabled Thursday at 4 pm Eastern time.
Growing deficits in national funding for Legal Aid suggest deserving clients may be denied counsel, say analysts. New federal figures show that Canada-wide, expenditures reached $780 million last year while funding totaled $776 million.
New legislation to regulate service contracts on the nation’s largest transportation system represents an “odd” inability by industry to work out its own problems, says a Conservative MP. “How did we ever get to this point?”
The manager of a Yuk Yuk’s comedy club franchise has won a federal appeal over unpaid taxes after proving Canada Revenue failed to account for its math. A Tax Court judge threw out a $72,357 claim after concluding the Department of Revenue “failed to provide sufficient information.”
In a surprise move, managers of the St. Lawrence Seaway system hiked tolls 3 percent only days before the scheduled March 22 opening of the new shipping season. The increase follows a five-year freeze on charges for ships transiting through locks.
Regulators have given six months’ notice that all telephone service providers, including wireless companies, implement 911 service with locating technology. It may mean a “distinct surcharge” for wireless users, according to a federal report.
Canada faces a critical shortage of truck drivers that could impact whole segments of the economy, warn industry leaders. Trucking executives forecast a shortage of 25,000 drivers within seven years: “Immigration may solve the problem.”
An Alberta-based research company has applied to Industry Canada to trademark a computer system to “democratize” municipal politics: “If a city wants to know what people think about, say, a downtown arena, we can find out in a day.”
Canadian exports to the United States peaked as a share of the American market in 1996 and have been declining in importance ever since, according to a Washington study. The U.S. Congressional Research Service concluded Canada is ‘threatened’ by challenges including low investment in research.
Federal regulators propose yet more increases in user fees, this time on rates charged by railways to handle competitors’ cargo. It follows a host of fee hikes on industry including charges for inspecting medical devices, piloting freighters through the Great Lakes, and inspecting grain elevators.
A disturbingly large loss of bee hives is prompting federal reevaluation of some insecticide use, and first-time collaboration between farmers and beekeepers in monitoring the $151 million honey trade: “I call it the perfect storm.”
The military is conducting first-ever focus groups with women and minorities in a campaign to promote “self-identification” of employment equity groups in the army, navy and air force. The groups’ representation is far below the civilian workforce, though the military is subject to the federal Employment Equity Act.
An Ottawa think-tank proposes that Cabinet raise corporate income tax rates back to 2000 levels after years of reductions. The Centre for Policy Alternatives noted corporate rates, now 15 percent, are at a postwar low.
Federal regulators have approved construction of another massive transport terminal in the Montreal area. The Canadian Transportation Agency okayed construction of a $71 million intermodal terminal west of Montreal by a U.S. railway, with direct connections to the Port of New York-New Jersey.
