One of the nation’s largest air bases reports hundreds of bird strikes involving military aircraft. CFB Comox, B.C. is going to lengths to avert collisions with flocks of gulls and other birds: “Wildlife management is about out-smarting the wildlife”.
The government’s largest copyright complaint has expanded with another lawsuit against a federal agency. A Calgary firm, Geophysical Service Incorporated, accuses Natural Resources Canada and others of doling out its copyright maps to competitors: “We would not comment while it is before the courts”.
Environment Canada is easing bag limits on the country’s namesake geese cursed by farmers and groundskeepers alike. The agency will also review hunting regulations every two years instead of one to save money: “Environment Canada is a pale shadow of its former self”.
A developer stung by an unusual court order for suing his own lawyers over and over again has lost a bid for one final appeal. The Supreme Court upheld a declaration the executive cannot sue his former attorneys at will: “The fact that he’s alleging conspiracy is not determinative”.
Passport Canada has been rebuked for acting as police, prosecutor and judge in the case of a citizen stripped of his travel documents without cause. Federal Court sharply criticized the Crown agency for imposing a five-year passport ban on a Toronto man never charged with any crime: “The director did not have the authority”.
The CRTC will spend at least $362,000 a year monitoring which TV and radio programs Canadians follow, or just happen to overhear. The regulator is contracting BBM Canada for research using meters that monitor every broadcast: ‘They want to know how Canadians are consuming media’.
The nation’s largest commercial parking company is expressing frustration with on-off Finance Canada charges at hospital lots. The department repealed the GST on parking only months after introducing it: “The intent is to relieve basic health services”.
Public Safety Canada is reviewing calls by Unifor, the union representing armoured car guards, for standard oversight of the multi-million dollar industry: “There is nothing about training, types of weapons, size of the crew – nothing, zero”.
The billion-dollar Atlantic lobster industry is reaching out to U.S. counterparts for joint action in plotting recovery from disastrous prices: “We all depend on each other or we will all be out of business”.
A two-year lawsuit by a “busybody” litigant over rabbits confirms court injunctions must remain an extraordinary remedy in only serious cases, a legal analyst tells Blacklock’s. The complaint saw an Edmonton sue over a peculiar bylaw in another town.
VIA Rail will run its operating deficit this year to a record $321 million in what the rail workers’ union Unifor called an attempt to “manufacture a crisis”. The Crown-owned passenger rail service also warned of more cutbacks: “The goal here is to privatize the profitable parts”.
Senior employees at Agriculture Canada monitored an advocacy group the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network over its opposition to genetically-engineered salmon, according to memos released through Access to Information: “They seem to be overly worried about protest”.
An Agriculture Canada-subsidized review of grain transport must lead to improvements if railways are to keep pace with exports, say farm groups. Complaints follow passage of a bill that was supposed to improve rail service: “What we’ve seen isn’t good enough”.
A Health Canada agency is conducting special re-evaluation of 23 weed and insect-killing chemicals following a lawsuit by environmental groups: “If these are banned in Europe then they should be banned in Canada”.
Canada and the U.S. should quickly impose tougher standards for tank cars carrying flammable liquids, as well as adopt safer routing and better emergency response plans, warns the Transportation Safety Board: “Canadians have many reasons to be worried”.
