Cabinet proposes to close a 1.4-gram loophole in the Tobacco Act it says has been exploited by industry to peddle cigars to children. Health Canada detailed amendments to fix legislation it originally passed six years ago: “It doesn’t go far enough”.
Once, behind the deli counter,
there was a 4-foot salami.
The centrepiece of the display.
Little changed
when the first customer
asked for eight razor-thin slices
for a sandwich.
Still larger than life.
Another customer
took another few slices.
This one wanted twelve
to send with her kids
to school.
That one, thirty for a party.
One even ordered a-pound-and-a-half
for a corporate luncheon.
I see where the salami used to be.
Only the tail end is left;
a shadow of its former glory.
Customers ignore it,
look for another chunk to sink their teeth into.
Once, in the heart of Ottawa,
there was an Experimental Farm.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Frequent flyers are most likely to be dissatisfied with the airport experience, according to research by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. The agency said “target customers” – Canadians who fly more than 11 times in a two-year period – are likelier to grumble over security lineups: ‘It doesn’t make any difference’.
An Alberta company has lost a bid for exemption from federal trucking regulations though its delivery vehicles cross provincial boundaries. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case from the firm fined $10,000 for breaching the Motor Vehicle Transportation Act: “Even for constitutional lawyers it’s not clear-cut”.
Cabinet hints it will appeal a court ruling that it may have breached constitutional rights with a 2014 bill on territorial development permits. The ruling by the Northwest Territories Supreme Court halts enforcement of a bill earlier praised by the Prime Minister’s Office as a “notable achievement”: “It defies logic as to why Canada proceeded in this way”.
Nearly a third of Canadians surveyed say they are victims of financial fraud, says research by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada. The group said the high rate suggested many offences are never reported to police: “Not everybody puts up their hand”.
Anti-spam regulators are threatening a Canadian company with a $1.1 million fine, the largest ever filed. In an unusual notice, the Canadian Radio Television & Telecommunications Commission failed to detail the extent of the breach of regulations, and suggested the company may not have to pay any fine at all.
“Why are they issuing this?” said communications lawyer Daniel Glover, partner with McCarthy Tetrault LLP of Toronto; “It is harder to tell, as you would be able to in a court or other tribunals.”
The CRTC did not explain. In a notice, it said that Compu-Finder Ltd. of Québec will be fined $1.1 million for contravention of anti-spam rules on four occasions over a two month period in 2014. The commission said the company repeatedly sent unsolicited emails to prospective clients. Compu-Finder has 30 days to reply or petition the CRTC for a settlement. Compu-Finder describes itself as an executive training firm offering management courses with “access to new fields of knowledge”. The company did not reply to an interview request.
“Why is the CRTC issuing this fine? What has been done that’s wrong?” said Glover. “You need to get an appreciation of how this regulatory agency is acting under anti-spam legislation. It’s a huge penalty and I don’t see a decision associated with it.”
Anti-spam regulations follow passage of Bill C-28 An Act To Promote The Efficiency & Adaptability Of The Canadian Economy signed into law five years ago. Industry groups have complained that regulations appear so complex they may trap unwitting offenders.
“The issue for people who are trying their very best to comply with the anti-spam law is, what went wrong here and how is the regulator interpreting the law?” Glover said. “What can we do to avoid being in this position? Those questions are not answered in a press release.”
“Normally when you have a fine of that size you will see a public decision setting out all the background and considerations that led to a finding of a violation, and what precipitated a fine of that magnitude,” said Glover; “The government is framing this legislation in a way that is respectful of the value of freedom of expression. There are many people who believe it does not do that.”
The anti-spam law targets unsolicited appeals from companies but with numerous exemptions, including messages to existing clients; warranty, bank and legal notices; and responses to emailed enquires. New regulations detailed January 15 also restricted installation of software on computers, cellphones and tablets without owners’ consent, though attorneys said it was not clear if vendors like telecom companies using third-party download platforms such as BlackBerry World or Apple Store would be in violation of the law.
One law journal in 2014 cast the anti-spam law as unconstitutional: “It encroaches upon constitutionally-protected speech, and it does so in a non-minimally impairing way,” concluded an essay in the John Marshall Journal Of Information Technology & Privacy Law.
By Kaven Baker-Voakes
Canada’s North faces “catastrophic” damage to roads and utilities due to climate change, says a Standards Council of Canada report. The document proposing new standards on municipal drainage systems follows earlier studies that warned of building collapse and crumbling airfields related to global warming: “The costs would add up very quickly”.
The budget for a signature war memorial project has been cut 10 percent on warnings that money is tight. The funding for a new visitor centre at Vimy, France was announced with fanfare two years ago: “Funding is limited”.
Parliament should appoint a federal advertising commissioner to monitor millions in spending on government promotions, say Liberal MPs. The caucus estimated federal ads have cost nearly $750 million since 2006: ‘There are images of happy people’.
The federal Business Development Bank has been ridiculed for dubious use of funds after unwittingly granting a six-figure loan to a drug front. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation yesterday cited the bank for public waste, first disclosed by Blacklock’s: “The government managed to invest in a business which actually turned out to be profitable”.
Northern telecom rates costing up to seven times the price of internet service for southern subscribers have been ordered reduced by broadcast regulators. Northwestel, a subsidiary of Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., must lower rates by 10 to 30 percent: “The CRTC is actually living up to its promise”.
The government predicts a ‘soft adjustment’ in housing prices but is wary of high costs in select cities and record levels of household debt, says the federal mortgage insurer. Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. wrote the forecast in a confidential memo to the Department of Finance: ‘We are concerned’.
Attorneys in Alberta are appealing a court judgment upholding contentious roadside suspensions of accused drunk drivers. The RCMP and federal Department of Justice are already the subject of a Federal Court lawsuit alleging the practice is arbitrary and unfair to innocent motorists: ‘People may plead guilty simply to regain their license more quickly’.
Appointment of a new federal advisor on mining ethics is largely pointless and fails to address larger issues of corporate responsibility, critics say. The position of Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor had been vacant for more than a year: ‘It’s like having a judge with no powers’.
