Federal carbon tax rebates should be income tested, the Canadian Public Health Association said yesterday. Taxpayers rich or poor will receive identical rebate cheques this year in four provinces without a carbon tax: ‘It is a wasted rebate for people that don’t need it.’
The Commons ethics committee yesterday voted to summon Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould for questioning over cabinet’s plan to monitor foreign and domestic “disinformation” this election year. Gould on January 30 announced surveillance of Facebook posts, online news coverage and editorials: “The government seems to have announced it on the fly.”
Parliament could cut 1 in 4 federal regulations without any impact on Canadians’ health or safety, business advocates yesterday told the Commons industry committee. A 2015 red tape reduction bill was “too narrow and needs to be expanded”, said the Canadian Federation of Independent Business: “The system rewards regulators for being regulation makers.”
Liberal and New Democrat MPs yesterday proposed Parliament create a Special Committee on Animal Rights. The proposal followed testimony at the Commons justice committee on a cruel practice called trunking: “We can see a government piece of legislation that implements much broader reforms.”
Cabinet yesterday introduced a bill to appoint a Commissioner of Indigenous Languages. Ancient languages and dialects are most common on the Prairies, where the number of Cree speakers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan outnumber francophones by 69 percent: “We should have done it before.”
A Public Health Agency of Canada panel recommends municipalities talk to their lawyers before fluoridating the water supply. Mandatory fluoridation “raises ethical concerns” though it’s been commonplace in Canada since 1945, said a report: “The legal validity of such a policy is a distinct question.”
Cabinet in an Access To Information memo has cautioned a $15,000-a week federal panel reviewing the Broadcasting Act to “avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest”. Four of seven panelists are current or former lobbyists.
The Department of Health proposes a breath mint giveaway to lower smoking rates among young Canadians. In-house research described the promotion as appropriate and useful: “Participants suggested a host of additional promotional items including fidget toys.”
The Federal Court of Appeal in a rare 2-1 split decision says Canadian Pacific Railway must compensate a shipper for loss of service due to fire. The amount of compensation was not disclosed: ‘It establishes a level playing field despite the near-monopoly power a railway may exert.’
Cabinet yesterday rejected any blacklisting of the country’s largest engineering firm from bidding on public works. Three former executives with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. have pled guilty to offences in the past six months: “They continue to get huge federal contracts.”
The Department of Industry in an internal memo claims taxpayers turned a 25 percent profit on subsidies to Bombardier Inc. The claim was cribbed word for word from a Bombardier news release. Staff did not comment: “The facts speak for themselves.”
Federal departments have continued to award millions in contracts to SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. even as former company executives pled guilty to wrongdoing, including payment of $109,616 in illegal cash contributions to Liberal Party organizers. Smaller contractors have faced blacklisting under a Government-Wide Integrity Regime: “I think this is ridiculous.”
Government agencies last year spent 80 times more ad money with Facebook than daily newspapers in Canada. The Treasury Board defended the practice even as cabinet contemplates a costly bailout of dailies: ‘The picture is not a pretty one.’
The Commons has given Second Reading to a Senate bill banning the capture of live whales for display. Cabinet hasn’t issued a whale license since 1992, when teams captured belugas at Churchill, Man. for display at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. They died: ‘We want to get this passed into law.’
Federal agents have dropped a seven-year battle with a charity falsely accused of misusing donations for political purposes. The collapse of the government case follows a 2018 Ontario Superior Court ruling that prompted amendments to the Income Tax Act: “It’s a huge victory.”
