Blacklock's Reporter

Foreign ownership of farmland is not a threat and should not be federally-regulated, say Canada’s largest farm investment managers. The Senate agriculture committee is to report by June 30 on whether to monitor or restrict foreign investments in prime land: “Does it really matter who owns farmland in this country?”

The National Energy Board faces a lawsuit for denying compensation to an expert witness to appear at a regulatory hearing. The dispute is not uncommon, said West Coast Environmental Law: “You cannot engage in a meaningful way without going out of pocket.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs spent more than $150,000 to announce the reopening of regional offices, officials say. The offices were closed three years ago as an austerity measure: “That was part of our commitment.”

Vulgar emails are grounds for losing security clearance at Transport Canada, a judge has ruled. In a case the Federal Court called unfortunate, a 35-year pilot lost his livelihood for writing obscene emails to public agencies: “His language was graphic and unambiguous.”

Cabinet opposes a Senate bill mandating prompt payment to trades and contractors on public works. An official said the bill exceeds federal powers, though Parliament in 1935 passed legislation mandating payment of fair wages to contractors’ employees: “The feds can and should lead.”

MPs are pressing for details of a promised federal infrastructure bank. Members of the Commons transport committee yesterday complained the bank’s mandate and management remain unexplained despite a pledge of $35 billion in funding: “Who’s going to make decisions?”

Information on driver’s licenses is confidential and must not be disclosed even to a government agency trying to settle an inheritance, says a privacy commission. The ruling came in the case of a Saskatchewan trustee attempting to make a cash award to a mother’s lost son in Ontario: “It’s nuts.”

Federal food inspectors propose more deregulation of supermarket products under a policy that prompted an outcry in 2013. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it’s considering additional deregulation of standard container sizes: “The Agency doesn’t know what it is doing.”

Owners of a luxury Arctic cruise ship that ran aground on an uncharted shoal have lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit against federal agencies. The judgment follows a 2014 audit that complained of inadequate charts for Arctic mariners: “It would be impracticable to issue a new chart every time an existing chart had to be updated.”

Cabinet should defer any further credit curbs on homebuyers for at least a year, brokers yesterday told the Commons finance committee. Executives complained 2016 restrictions had a damaging effect on first-time purchasers: “We’ve never had this kind of pushback.”

Contractors denied prompt payment on public works face bankruptcy and costly court proceedings, the Senate banking committee has been told. Trades executives yesterday urged passage of a bill mandating payment within 30 days: “Many are 120 days late.”

Senators are seeking quick passage of a private bill to correct officious enforcement of the Customs Act by the Canada Border Services Agency. The bill follows an incident in which a U.S. angler was handcuffed after his small boat drifted into Canadian waters: “What were our CBSA officers doing?”

MPs have launched a study on the health impacts of pornography amid complaints the mandate appeared unwieldy, overly broad and unfocused. The review by the Commons health committee is the first of its kind in 32 years: “There’s a potential of boiling the ocean here.”

The cash-strapped Canadian Coast Guard should be managed as an independent agency, the Senate fisheries committee has been told. The appeal follows Access To Information disclosures the agency had to ration fuel due due to funding pressures: “We saw cuts.”