Canada Border Services Agency says it has enough funding to enforce a new anti-counterfeiting law despite budget cuts. A cabinet bill would require that border officers intercept knock-off goods, though the agency earlier said it found it a struggle to intercept narcotics: “This is a serious problem”.
Cabinet in a rare Sunday decree ordered railways to meet minimum weekly Prairie grain transport quotas all winter to the end of March. The order came just as previous tonnage rules were to expire: “It’s in everyone’s best interest”.
Finance Canada says despite millions spent it does not know many families have used a Children’s Fitness Tax Credit to enroll youngsters in sport for the first time. An official said it would be difficult to prove whether the credit changed lifestyles: “You spend a bunch of government money to have people do something they were going to do anyway”.
The impact of grizzly bears on mining and drilling is being researched by Environment Canada. The initiative comes amid concerns that British Columbia programs to protect grizzlies are inadequate; B.C. is home to the largest grizzly population in the country: “Undocumented killing remains a problem”.
A Prince Edward Island woman declared a “vexatious litigant” by the justice system has found no relief from the Supreme Court. The Charlottetown activist waged a decade-long quest to have the government refund her $50 driver’s license fee: ‘There were lengthy, confused ramblings’.
Newly-released records show cabinet cuts to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program came only weeks after government polling identified a public backlash against migrant labour. More than a third of Canadians surveyed wanted the entire program abolished; and 68 percent of Canadians said employers abused the plan: ‘Raise wages first’.
Two of the country’s largest cellphone companies face a class action lawsuit over nickel-and-dime charges on millions of customers, according to allegations. Bell and Telus are accused of rounding up cellphone billing minutes to charge seven million clients for time they never used: “Why?”
Parliamentary committees have passed a contentious amendment to federal law granting cabinet a veto over operations at Canadian airports. Industry executives cautioned the changes will see political meddling in management of airfields: “That seems rather quaint to say at this point”.
One year after cabinet’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, experts have told a Senate climate change forum new federal initiatives are needed to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Canada was the first signatory to the 1997 pact to revoke its endorsement, saving some $14 billion in penalties: “We need to make serious changes”.
The Commons finance committee has unanimously passed a federal ban on paper billing fees by telecom companies amid questions on why banks are exempt. Industry Minister James Moore said abolishing identical bank statement fees will require separate legislation: “It’s the dog that didn’t bark”.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is hiring consultants to study the viability of daily newspapers. Authorities ordered a $30,000 report on dailies’ content and viability: “Why don’t they just ask us?”
Two Conservative Senators who voted to kill union bill C-377 say the measure remains flawed, and ripe for constitutional challenge. The two were the only members of the government caucus to support a motion to strike the Conservative bill before Second Reading.
“It’s not constitutional,” said Senator Diane Bellemare of Alma, Que. “I think it will affect privacy and it’s not really well-balanced.”
Bill C-377 An Act To Amend The Income Tax Act compels unions to disclose senior officers’ salaries and benefits over $100,000 on a Canada Revenue website; as well as publish lists of assets and liabilities; contracts; loans receivable; time and money spent on organizing activities; and payments to members for pensions and health benefits over $5,000.
A motion to strike the bill as based on “erroneous principle” was defeated by the Senate’s Conservative majority on a 42 to 28 vote on Tuesday evening. In an interview, Bellemare yesterday said the bill sets a far-reaching precedent in government intrusion.
“If we were to investigate or oblige every organization that gets money from contributions that are tax deductible, then we would have a mass of institutions that would have the same obligations – including political parties,” Bellemare said.
Senator Nancy Ruth of Toronto, the other Conservative caucus dissenter, described C-377 as offensive to Canadians. “Unions play a very important role in Canada and in any labour market in the Western world,” she said. “I find this approach to perhaps modernize unions to not be the most effective way to go. I find it offensive, to tell the truth.”
‘Why Are Union Bosses So Afraid?’
The bill is now referred to hearings of the legal affairs committee chaired by Conservative Senator Bob Runciman of Thousand Islands, Ont., a former provincial solicitor general. Runciman in earlier debate complained of the influence of “big labour” and “union bosses” in election campaigns.
“Unions have channelled their resources – their members’ dues – into electing Liberal governments in Ontario,” he said; “It was no surprise that Ontario’s labour minister opposed Bill C-377 when it first came to the Senate, given that government’s quid pro quo arrangements with big labour.”
“I have no doubt that we will hear from the critics that union finances are already disclosed to members,” Runciman said. “But if their finances are already open and transparent, then why are union bosses so afraid of Bill C-377? They are against it because their claims of openness are bogus”; “The union bosses are against it because they don’t want people, including their own members, to know how they spend their money. If they don’t want to be accountable, they should give up their tax deduction.”
Runciman’s office yesterday said there was no chance the legal affairs committee would open hearings on the bill before Christmas. Parliament is scheduled to break for the holiday recess on December 12, and return in the last week of January.
Senate rules do not permit a private bill like C-377 to be fast-tracked through committee.
By Dale Smith 
Seal hunters are asking MPs to expand a security cordon around their annual harvest for fear media and protesters will use camera drones to take video and photographs. The Seals & Sealing Network said media scrutiny is stressful for hunters: “They cannot work as well when they have a camera filming them”.
Aquaculture fees are “not the right tool” to regulate the environmental impact of fish farms, says a federal official. A proposed fee schedule to take effect by year’s end will see British Columbia operators pay 10 percent of the cost of federal oversight of the industry: “The world needs fish”.
Canada Post reports another surprise quarterly profit, and says original forecasts of a disastrous drop in 2014 revenues appear unfounded. The Crown corporation estimated revenues on its core post office business increased $100 million since January to $4.5 billion to date: ‘They panicked and cut, cut, cut’.
