Uninsured homeowners with mortgages and lines of credit must have a minimum 35 percent paid-up equity in their property, Canada’s chief bank inspector said yesterday. Rules targeting more than $200 billion in outstanding loans will take effect next year: “A portion of principal payments will go towards reducing their overall mortgage amount until it is below 65 percent.”
Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier yesterday acknowledged the value of taxes owed but never collected is billions more than originally claimed. Legislators have spent six years prodding the Canada Revenue Agency to calculate the so-called “tax gap.”
The Canadian Pacific Railway could not fully comply with a federal vaccinate mandate and keep the trains running safely, according to labour board records. The CPR said full compliance would “place the critical operations of the railroad at risk.”
The Bank of Canada warns of “downward pressure” on suburban homes following above-normal price gains in the past three years. “A shift in relative prices could be especially problematic,” wrote researchers: “Prices in the suburbs could face downward pressure.”
The Canada Border Services Agency identified “privacy risks” in a biometric scheme to track air travelers, according to records. It involved a little-known pilot project run through a single airport last year: “Privacy risks and their proposed mitigating measures were identified.”
A champion poker player beat the Canada Revenue Agency in Tax Court. A judge has ruled Jonathan Duhamel, first Canadian to win the World Series of Poker, did not have to declare winnings as taxable business income: “The ability to produce a gain in the game of poker is unpredictable.”
“Negative perceptions” threaten a drab seabird that remains unloved compared to Newfoundland and Labrador’s famed puffin, says a federal study. The Department of Environment paid researchers $39,105 to survey Newfoundlanders’ emotional reaction to the “dirty,” “stinky” Leach’s Storm-Petrel compared to the popular puffin: “Seeing puffins made them feel happy, compassionate, excited.”
Canadians writing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have a five percent chance of getting a reply, records show. The Privy Council Office explained the Prime Minister gets a lot of junk mail: “Almost every day as Prime Minister I learn new things.”
School trustees were entitled to suspend or fire teachers even if vaccine mandates were not medically justified, a labour arbitrator has ruled. The decision came in the case of an Ontario school board that disciplined 52 elementary teachers who declined to show proof of vaccination: “There is no dispute that none of the provincial or public health authorities required or specifically recommended the board make vaccination mandatory.”
Few Canadians, only two in a hundred, turn to CBC-TV for informative documentaries, says in-house federal research. The low viewership follows the launch of a CBC corporate plan to put “the audience at the heart of everything we do.”
Voters in Calgary and suburbs will send two more MPs to Parliament under a redistricting proposal detailed Saturday, the largest gain of any city in Canada. A Federal Boundaries Commission noted Calgary’s population grew ten percent over the past decade: “All the existing electoral districts have been changed.”
Half of foreign college and university students in Canada are in the workforce, says federal research. The new figures follow a proposal from members of the Commons industry committee to lift a cap that limits foreign students to part time work: “International students have become an integral part of the labour force.”
The Department of Environment is tracking the location of more than 715,000 Canadians who downloaded what ex-Minister Catherine McKenna once called a “super cool” weather app, records show. Staff said they also collected users’ email addresses but insisted the data scoop complied with privacy law: “Oh yes!!”
Members of the Senate communications committee are demanding cabinet spell out regulations under a YouTube bill that passed the Commons Tuesday by a 208 to 117 vote. Senators balked at demands they first pass the bill and see details later: “It will affect potentially every single Canadian who uses the internet.”
Parliament yesterday gave speedy passage to a cabinet bill to close the “extreme intoxication” defence. The cabinet bill was prompted by a Supreme Court decision six weeks ago: “It is our duty as parliamentarians to move quickly to solve problems.”
