Cabinet is delaying introduction of a costly Clean Fuel Standard until after the October 21 election. The regulation mandating more use of ethanol and biodiesel is forecast to spike fuel prices beyond the 12¢-a litre carbon tax on gasoline: “How many cents will the Clean Fuel Standard add?”
Taxpayers who suffer high-handed treatment by auditors should take their complaint to the Canada Revenue Agency’s ombudsman, says a federal judge. The decision came in the case of a tax-filer who said he was “maliciously berated” by Agency staff: “If the tax assessment is wrong, it does not matter if the process was flawed.”
A federal agency in a rare disclosure says it weighs the political “angle” before releasing records to MPs, media or members of the public. The note from Telefilm Canada was obtained under Access To Information: “This is the tip of the iceberg.”
A Newfoundland & Labrador labour board has upheld the firing of a crane operator who tested positive for trace amounts of marijuana. The board was told longtime cannabis users may suffer “residual impairment” days or even weeks after actual consumption: “There was a potential for a catastrophic result.”
Even Parliament won’t hire veterans despite passing hire-a-vet legislation. Cabinet yesterday named a non-military appointee as Commons Sergeant-at-Arms, a $165,000-a year ceremonial post historically given to distinguished ex-soldiers: “We must do better and lead by example.”
Québec Superior Court has ordered Sunwing Airlines Inc. to trial on complaints it advertised “champagne service” without serving real champagne. Cabinet in 2015 amended the Trademarks Act to protect champagne as the sole property of winemakers from the Champagne region of northeast France: ‘It’s used in everyday language as a superlative.’
The Canada Revenue Agency in an Access To Information memo says it did not write off a penny in uncollected tax last year due to lost paperwork. Loss of files in-house prompted $109,849 in write-offs the previous year: “It was surprising.”
A human rights tribunal will investigate the complaint of a retail store employee fired after vaping marijuana during business hours. The British Columbia Tribunal rejected a management request to dismiss the case: “I informed her that smoking weed at work is still considered as being under the influence and that it has to stop.”
English-speaking federal employees should not be compelled to use French, a federal judge ruled yesterday. Compulsory bilingualism would be unfair to the majority of Canadians, 80 percent, that speak only one official language or the other, said the Federal Court: “The reality in many so-called bilingual environments is that the language of work is English.”
More than 120 Canadians, mainly teenage boys, have been hospitalized with fireworks injuries since 2011, according to new data from the federal Public Health Agency. Regulations forbid exploding golf balls, and limit the amount of fireworks people can store at home: “On the other hand, fireworks are a great Canadian tradition.”
Cabinet yesterday awarded nearly a half-million dollars to a newspaper lobby News Media Canada to spot “misleading or defamatory information” in election-year news coverage. The lobby’s largest member is Postmedia Network Inc., loser in a $650,000 defamation case: “Obviously people make mistakes.”
Environment Canada in an internal audit says it has no plan for checking whether recipients of green subsidies comply with federal agreements. More than a half-billion in subsidies were authorized last year: “There is a risk.”
Statistics Canada admits simple mistakes in its data tables, 47 pages’ worth in the past three years, according to a report to Parliament. Errors were minor and did not require any cabinet correction like a 2016 snafu by the Mint for depicting the wrong aircraft on a commemorative coin: “How many corrections have been made?”
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld an auditors’ decision to strip a psychic “spiritual centre” of its tax status as a religious charity. Courts have issued numerous rulings that narrow the definition of religious work worthy of tax credits: “Non-compliance was serious.”
Federal departments and agencies spent more than $2 billion in eight weeks this past spring on everything from party balloons to cable TV, according to newly-released accounts. Yearly “March Madness” sees managers rush to spend unused funds before the fiscal year expires at midnight on March 31: “I have been around long enough to see this.”
