Cabinet yesterday began the slow rollout of regulations to remove accessibility barriers in public services. Bill C-81 An Act To Ensure A Barrier-Free Canada passed Parliament two years ago but will not be fully enforced until 2040: “There’s a nebulousness attached to it.”
The Department of Environment that blacklisted plastic toys as toxic now seeks data on Canadians’ everyday use of toiletries and medicine cabinet items. The research is for “the purpose of protecting the environment and health and well-being of Canadians,” wrote staff.
The Senate proposes a 5.4 percent budget increase this winter, more than the rate of inflation. The hike would see the Senate cost almost $122 million next year, a record: “Those are big numbers.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday postponed a threatened national ban on sales of plastic forks and other goods until 2024 at the earliest. Plastic straws blacklisted as an environmental peril may still be sold under the counter at grocery and hardware stores, said Guilbeault’s department: “It’s not a silver bullet to ban, ban, ban.”
Public feuding over a six-figure salary paid to a small town doctor is the basis of a defamation case in an Ontario court. The Owen Sound, Ont. physician last year was among the highest paid public health officers in Canada, earning more than twice Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos: “Why not move to seven figures?”
The Department of Justice in a report complains “polygamy remains a crime” in Canada and that family law fails to recognize other “equally valid relationship structures.” The remarks are from a newly-published federal research paper: “Biases within the justice system need to be actively uprooted.”
Taxpayers are sharply divided over a federal bailout of Air Canada, says in-house research by the Privy Council Office. Critics questioned why Canadians should have to “assist a failing company.”
The Public Health Agency yesterday disclosed it monitored lockdowns by confidentially tracking 33 million mobile devices. Cell tower locators were used to “understand the public’s responsiveness during lockdown measures,” the Agency said: “The Agency collected and used mobility data.”
Attorney General David Lametti yesterday named another longtime Liberal Party donor to the bench. The Commons justice committee has declined to investigate Party vetting of judicial appointments: “Our justice minister is one of the most ethical, decent, honest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.”
The CBC in Access To Information memos questioned what MP Erin O’Toole’s election as Conservative Party leader “means for us.” O’Toole became the first Opposition Leader to advocate privatization of the English-language TV network: “Yes we are tracking.”
A long running dispute over whether banks can pull mortgages from marijuana users is finally headed to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The dispute dating from 2010 follows Scotiabank’s recall of a loan to a homeowner with a federal license to grow medical cannabis: “The Bank does not allow marijuana.”
Booksellers yesterday rated Jody Wilson-Raybould’s SNC-Lavalin exposé the bestselling Canadian political memoir of the entire year after two months on the market. The former attorney general wrote that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to “come clean” on dealings with the Québec engineering company: “Deny, delay and distract.”
A new federal law threatening ten years’ imprisonment for vaccine protestors is undemocratic, says a British Columbia senator. “Protest is one of the hallmarks of our democracy for unions and for different groups that want to put forward their views,” said Senator Larry Campbell: “Any time we limit this, we lessen our freedoms.”
Canadians want a tax on foreign offshore real estate speculators to be expanded, says in-house research by the Privy Council Office. The current tax, first of its kind, takes effect January 1: “Both foreign-owned summer homes and properties purchased primarily for use in Airbnb should be subject to the foreign buyers’ tax.”
Cabinet on Friday pushed final passage of a paid sick days’ bill through the Senate amid complaints of arm-twisting. Senators grumbled the Upper Chamber had become a rubber stamp. The Senate has passed every cabinet bill for 25 years: “I won’t say there was intimidation but there was pressure, and a lot of it.”
