Crown prosecutors say they are not prepared for the impact of legal marijuana. “We’re doing the best we can,” one prosecutor yesterday told the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee: “Do we have enough on the ground for the coming into force of legalization? I don’t think we do.”
A Commons committee yesterday proposed granting a privacy ombudsman unprecedented new powers to pick and choose investigations, audit private companies, and impose five-figure fines for breaches of federal privacy law: “It’s important that I have these powers.”
Consumer advocates last night urged the Senate transport committee to quickly pass a federal passenger bill of rights. Canada is the only G7 country without statutory compensation owed travelers inconvenienced by flight delays, denial of boarding and lost luggage; “It is time we do better.”
The Commons health committee yesterday rewrote a tobacco bill to restrict advertising of vaping products. Amendments will send the bill back to the Senate for approval 17 months after it was introduced: ‘Clearly we don’t want to be promoting nicotine.’
A federal labour board has cited two female managers for concocting a workplace harassment complaint against a male employee. The unusual investigation comes as MPs study a cabinet bill mandating anti-harassment policies in all federally-regulated workplaces: “Have it your way.”
The Department of Finance cut its budget art spending more than 99 percent following criticism of six-figure imagery. Staff bought a single $575 stock photo of a family running through a field to illustrate its 2018 budget, Equality Growth: A Strong Middle Class.
“I cannot give you information on who the people are for privacy reasons,” said Terri Lynn Futcher, production manager for Kaspi Creative Inc. of Peterborough, Ont., the agency that licensed the photo through Getty Images. “I can tell you the photo was taken in Ontario; they are Canadian; and they are an actual family. They are a wonderful family and we shoot with them a lot.”
The finance department previously spent $176,339 on artwork for its 2016 budget, and $212,234 for the 2017 version. “Justin Trudeau’s election mantra was all about positivity, change and optimism for the future,” staff wrote in preparing the 2016 cover. “We want this budget cover to illustrate that feeling. In the past, budget covers looked staged and emotionless.”
Previous Conservative budgets depicted inexpensive stock photos. The department in 2016 hired a creative team to photograph models posing as a mother and daughter walking at the corner of Burrard and West Cordova Street in Vancouver. Blacklock’s earlier obtained details of budget art projects through Access To Information.
“We want them to look like an everyday family,” wrote the photo agency KBS Ltd. of Toronto; “On the 2016 cover we want to capture an aesthetic that is optimistic, bright and moving forward. Our subjects are looking away from the camera so our audience can feel as if they are part of the picture. Rather than simply being observers, the viewer is an active participant.”
The 2017 budget depicted four images of models including a photo of a young girl playing an air guitar intended to illustrate “fairness”, wrote staff. “Really like the air guitar; very dynamic shot, lots of potential,” wrote one employee with Finance Canada’s marketing division. “Love the little girl with the guitar. I think that’s our winner for the largest cover shot!” wrote another.
“I like the colour scheme,” wrote Natalie Rieger, senior marketing advisor for the finance department. “It’s fresh. I love where this is going.”
Other 2017 imagery included a photo of a woman in hiking boots posing with a cartoon laptop, intended to represent “innovation and skill”. An image of a boy holding a cartoon bridge illustrated infrastructure. The finance department had lengthy email exchanges with the Prime Minister’s Office on whether the model posing as the bridge boy should wear eyeglasses. “I vote glasses,” wrote an employee. “Put me on team hipster.”
A 2017 budget cover photo of a grey-haired man having his blood pressure checked was meant to symbolize “Strong Canada”, though one staffer described the senior’s facial expression as “quite unsettling”.
By Staff 
The labour department will spend $39 million a year on surprise inspections of employers who hire migrant workers, say budget documents. The program follows a 2017 audit that found weak enforcement of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program: “We have to end this.”
Airlines yesterday appealed for amendments to a first-ever passenger rights bill. Executives told the Senate transport committee that service standards for carriers should also apply to airport authorities, ground crew, security staff and air traffic controllers: “All these organizations should have the same requirements.”
Cabinet yesterday promised more employment insurance benefits and unspecified help for workers owed wages and benefits from bankrupt employers. The proposal follows the 2017 collapse of Sears Canada that left retirees and employees with a $266.8 million pension shortfall: “Sears employees were told to go to the back of the line.”
The premier of the Northwest Territories says a national carbon tax appears costly with no obvious plan to mitigate expenses. Environment Canada has named Arctic territories as a main beneficiary of its climate change plan: “Our Arctic is melting.”
Cabinet will spend an extra $41 million a year to have the Canada Revenue Agency answer the phone. The Agency estimates taxpayers now have a 50-50 chance of speaking to a live agent on their second or third attempt when contacting its toll-free call centres: “It is really, really bad.”
The Commons transport committee has passed a bill requiring owners of all large ships to carry wreck removal insurance. MPs rejected New Democrat and Green Party amendments to expand the bill to include virtually all commercial vessels: ‘People push the limits of the law.’
The Department of Finance anticipates revenue of at least $100 million a year from legalized cannabis, according to budget documents. Finance Minister Bill Morneau today said he would cap the federal share of marijuana tax gains, with most revenues earmarked for provinces: “The approach we’re taking on cannabis is very much about protecting Canadians.”
CBC ad revenues remain half what they were since the TV network lost NHL licensing rights, says the Crown broadcaster’s latest Annual Report. The CBC has asked cabinet for an additional $400 million a year in budget funding to offset the loss of advertising: “If you’re not informing and you’re not entertaining, people will go somewhere else.”
The Consumers’ Association of Canada says a federal bill mandating plain tobacco packaging is ineffectual federal overreach. Testifying at the Commons health committee, Association president Bruce Cran said the bill sets a “dangerous precedent for all consumers”.
