A national carbon tax would have to more than double the $50 rate fixed by cabinet if Canada is to meet greenhouse gas emission targets, researchers have told the Senate energy committee. A tax of at least $130 per tonne – the equivalent of an extra 22¢ per litre of gasoline – is likely required, officials said: “Not everybody can afford to just come up with that cash.”
The Canada Revenue Agency paid a pollster more than $47,000 to interview 67 poor people about how to file their taxes, according to records. The respondents were paid $90 to attend two-hour interviews, with the bulk of costs going to researchers: “Many of these individuals said they were not comfortable with numbers.”
A Court has ruled poor ratings by the Better Business Bureau are not defamatory. An Ottawa heating contractor sued the Bureau for giving him a D-minus rating on the basis of a single customer complaint: “It may be thought harsh.”
If you claim
All Lives Matter
you fail to realise
we’re talking Black Lives.
If you hire a guy
when any gender would do
you reinforce
the glass ceiling.
If you continue carding
and stop collecting racial data
you preserve
White Privilege.
If you accept a restroom for men
and a restroom for women
you uphold
the gender binary.
Social blindness
isn’t a sickness.
It’s a choice.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Unwitting bank customers have been reported to an anti-terror watchdog for trivial and even biased reasons, a University of Waterloo researcher has told the Commons finance committee. Grounds to report suspicious activity included customers who wore hoodies or sunglasses, or appeared Muslim: ‘I’ve worn a hoodie. I can assure you I’ve never financed terror.’
Parliament must ban home marijuana cultivation or face a confusing patchwork of local regulations, building owners yesterday told the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee. Landlords forecast numerous problems with cannabis legalization in condo buildings and apartments: “This is misguided.”
Records show newly-reopened regional offices of the Department of Veterans Affairs see as few as 1 to 5 walk-in visitors a day, including people picking up brochures. Cabinet reopened the offices last year following protests over Conservative closures: “They want a brochure, they want to understand a certain program.”
The Commons yesterday opened debate on a private Conservative bill mandating disclosure of all corporate loans and guarantees approved by the Department of Industry. The sponsor called it “unfortunate to have to introduce a bill for more transparency.”
The dormant Library of Parliament oversight committee yesterday sprang to life with agreement to hold public hearings on federal spending. Meeting for the first time in three years, the committee voted to question a Parliamentary Budget Officer who’s criticized government secrecy: “It’s about time.”
MPs yesterday questioned the scope of a Senate bill to restrict junk food advertising to children, including sports sponsorship. The legislation inspired by a 1980 Québec law would be far-reaching, said its sponsor: “Nobody spends money advertising broccoli and carrots.”
The Canadian Medical Association yesterday appealed to senators to raise the minimum age for legal marijuana use to 21. Parliament should also restrict cannabis advertising, physicians said: “What are you going to advertise? It’s not good for them.”
Directing government ad spending from Facebook to independent Canadian newspapers would burden taxpayers, says Treasury Board President Scott Brison. Cabinet dismissed publishers’ warnings the federal policy has driven local media to ruin: “Either way, the one who is losing is Canada.”
The Commons health committee yesterday endorsed pharmacare in principle, but cautioned a program may take years to enact. MPs criticized the current hodgepodge of provincial and private prescription drug plans as a “poor job”.
Cabinet will rewrite anti-spam rules following business complaints that 2014 regulations are onerous, vague and ineffective in combating malicious emails. “The more explicit the legislation and its obligations are, the more effective the Act will be,” said Industry Minister Navdeep Bains.
Cabinet yesterday finalized regulations allowing companies to forego individual notices to customers whose personal information is hacked or stolen. The rules take effect November 1: “To protect consumers, we avoid notifying consumers. It’s bizarre.”
