Tax auditors are widening a dragnet of alleged secret, untraceable payments from drug manufacturers to Canadian pharmacists, including bonuses paid by travellers’ cheques. The Canada Revenue Agency named another ten companies in Federal Court documents, asking that a judge compel the firms to identify payments and who received them: ‘We will co-operate’.
The Canadian Armed Forces has failed to meet its own employment equity quotas, concluding minority groups consider military life a “last resort”. The research comes eight years after commanders set an equity goal of 9 percent in the army, navy and air force: ‘They didn’t immigrate to join the military’.
The anti-trust Competition Bureau is launching a wide investigation of grocery wholesaling, alleging that supermarket giant Loblaw Companies Ltd. pressed suppliers to “protect its grocery retail margins” at consumers’ expense. Loblaw Co. declined an interview: ‘I believe Loblaw may have engaged in restrictive trade practices’.
Canada has lost almost ten million acres of prime farmland since 1971 due to urban sprawl and development, says Statistics Canada. The agency noted losses of 541,000 acres in the period from 2001 to 2011, alone: ‘It is lost forever’.
Bauer Hockey Corp., largest manufacturer of hockey helmets in Canada, has been ordered to pay $500,000 over misleading claims its gear might protect players from concussions. The order followed an investigation by the Competition Bureau: ‘We prefer to avoid costly litigation’.
Federal contractors are being questioned on whether uniforms and garments sold to the Government of Canada are made by child labour or sourced from offshore sweatshops. Public Works Canada is surveying suppliers on “ethically responsible practices” in filling federal orders: ‘Canadians expect this’.
The Senate denies slowing hearings on a bill to outlaw insurance companies’ use of genetic information. A Senate committee has held just two hearings on Bill S-201 in the past five months: “Scheduling is being considered”.
Climate change will likely benefit Canadian farmers with an extended growing season and more precipitation, says the Department of Agriculture. Authorities in a confidential document Crop Sector Foresight Exercise said climate change will likely result in better harvests and more varied crops. The paper was released through Access to Information: “How do we use the climate we have to the fullest?”
A federal judge has voided a professional association’s copyright and trademark, saying they could not be used to punish competitors from practicing their trade. The ruling ended a two-year feud between rival denturists’ associations: ‘The court does not condone threats’.
Cabinet is being asked to delay a $23 million tourist fee program scheduled to be introduced in 2015. Tourism executives appealed for postponement of the Electronic Travel Authorization program that would see air passengers denied boarding without a mandatory $7 background check: “It could have a chilling effect”.
Canada’s traffic fatality rate is up amid concerns legislators continue to resist regulatory changes that would save lives and avoid injuries. The number of injury accidents totaled 122,140 in 2012, according to newly-published Transport Canada data: “We’re stuck in a mindset that accidents just happen”.
Canada Post’s abolition of home mail delivery breaches terms of its government-given monopoly on mail delivery, critics charge in Federal Court documents. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers and a coalition of plaintiffs are asking a judge to quash plans to eliminate doorstep mail delivery to 5.1 million homes nationwide: ‘It has duties’.
A continental regulator, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, is drawing jeers from advocates over its failure to answer allegations that British Columbia salmon farming violates the Fisheries Act: “These things get dragged out”.
Parliament would see a new Inspector General appointed to oversee all work of the Canada Border Services Agency under a proposal pending in the Senate. The bill’s sponsor said a cabinet-level appointee is needed to scrutinize the agency’s work: “These people have been operating without oversight”.
Montréal is in decline as a working city with its per capita GDP showing the sharpest drop of any municipality its size, new federal data show. The city’s rate of economic output now ranks lower than Winnipeg, Saskatoon or Victoria: “It is a measure of productivity”.
