Blacklock's Reporter

Environment Canada is being cited by industry, science and advocacy groups for failing to comply with its own standards.

Delegates to an Ottawa conference said the department had failed to meet its mandates. The criticism echoed a November 5 report to Parliament by the Commissioner of the Environment. The document warned policies were so weakly managed cabinet did not meet its legal obligations.

“One, the federal government needs to do its job,” said Avrim Lazar, retired CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada. “Two, there is a huge opportunity for a leadership model with the federal government for convening the interests in society to come up with collective solutions – and then listening to the solutions.”

Lazar, a former assistant deputy minister at Environment Canada, was speaking at a conference Conserving Canada’s Biodiversity: Connecting the Dots, organized by the University of Ottawa’s Institute of the Environment.

Environment Commissioner Neil Maxwell told the Commons in his Fall 2013 Report that regulators often failed to meet objectives under initiatives like the Species At Risk Act, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and parks management of natural areas.

“We aren’t meeting our own standards,” said Nik Lopoukine, International Union for Conservation of Nature’s former chair on protected areas; “You are leading by perception.”

An industry group, the Canadian Electricity Association, said enforcement of regulations is so inadequate that ecosystems are at risk.

“We are in agreement largely with the commissioner’s report,” Sandra Schwartz, association vice president of external relations, told the conference; “We are losing ground. The ecosystems are deteriorating and governments are not doing their job entirely – and industry requires government to do its job.”

Environment Canada, Parks Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were all cited by the commissioner for falling short of legal obligations.

Commissioner Maxwell, speaking to the Commons environment committee, said a current backlog of assessments under the Species At Risk Act, alone will take a decade to clear.

“I’d simply highlight the importance of getting those tools in place,” said Maxwell. “It is a concern that of the over 500 species at risk in Canada, at the moment only seven have the recovery strategy and the action plan necessary.”

By Kaven Baker-Voakes

Rideau Hall is refusing to say how much David Johnston gave to charity last year, though the Governor General is urging all taxpayers to donate more to worthy causes.

Johnston’s staff would not comment on which of Canada’s 85,000 federally-registered charities are supported by the Governor General and his wife Sharon.

“This information remains private,” Marie-Eve Letourneau of the Rideau Hall Press Office told Blacklock’s. Asked to confirm whether Johnston made a charitable claim of any kind on his 2012 tax return, Letourneau replied: “I will check and get back to you.”

Parliament doubled Johnston’s salary to $270,602 last January 1 after amending the Governor General’s Act to require that he pay federal tax.

Johnston has made charities a hallmark of his tenure as commander-in-chief. In a recent statement observing National Philanthropy Day, the Governor General described donations as a moral obligation: “There are those among us who give every day for no other reason than it is the right thing to do (original italics). With every moment of giving, they are changing lives.”

And in a Nov. 13 speech in Québec City, Johnston said that “giving has been in my life from the very start.”

“How can we get all Canadians to give?” he said; “One of the first instances of giving that I was exposed to came from my own family. My paternal grandparents were devout Methodists. They were also quite poor, and yet they donated the first 10 percent of their income to charitable causes.”

However Johnston has remained vague on his personal annual contributions. At the University of Waterloo, where he spent 11 years as president, third-party donors financed a David Johnston International Experience Award and the David Johnston Research And Technology Park.

In launching a national campaign My Giving Moment Johnston noted he and his wife had financed a Waterloo bursary in honour of his mother-in-law prior to his appointment as governor general in 2010.

Canadians’ contributions to charities have remained static at 5.7 million since 1990 though the number of tax-filers has grown from $17 million to $24 million over the same period, by federal estimate.

Parliament this year raised charitable credits for first-time donors in a bid to encourage giving. A previous credit paid 15 percent on the first $200 donated to a registered charity, and 29% on donations above $200.

The new so-called First Time Donor’s Super Credit pays 40% on the first $200, and 54% after that, but only as a one-time benefit for contributors who have not previously given to charity since 2007.

The Department of Finance projects the higher credits will attract 590,000 first-time donors.

By Tom Korski

The Canadian Transportation Agency has fined nine companies $117,000 in its first enforcement of regulations on full-fare disclosure.

The agency told Blacklock’s it also issued a total 117 formal notices for misleading advertising that concealed the full cost of travel. Offenders included most major airlines – including Air Canada, WestJet and Porter – and numerous travel websites.

New rules were enacted last Dec. 18 but not enforced till this past May to give promoters time to comply, regulators explained. “The agency worked with advertisers to assist them in understanding what they needed to do,” said Marine Maltais, agency spokesperson.

Companies to receive multiple warnings for separate violations were Air Canada; Air France; Porter Airlines; Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Downunder Travel; and flightcentre.ca.

“It appears the regulator is working hard,” said MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina, Ont.), New Democrat transport critic; “This is sending a signal out to industry to be honest and truthful in pricing.”

Agency rules require that all air fares advertised in Canada disclose the true cost of unavoidable taxes, surcharges or other fees, with exemptions for air cargo carriers; travel package promotions that include accommodation or entertainment; or contracted business-to-business travel services.

The largest fine imposed to date is $40,000 on the website itravel2000.com, which was cited for “lack of co-operation”, followed by flightcentre.ca ($21,000 in fines); Air China ($10,000); Corsair ($10,000); Etihad Airways ($10,000); Flightnetwork.com ($8,000); Bradley Air Services Ltd. ($8,000); American Airlines ($5,000); and Aerovias del Continente Americano ($5,000).

MP David McGuinty, Liberal transport critic, said the fines remain too modest.

“For a major international airline – without naming names – this is not a force at play to get them to cease and desist,” said McGuinty, MP for Ottawa South. “They are driving traffic to their websites, driving people into travel agencies; people are getting the bills and not realizing they were in fact lured in, effectively under false numbers.”

Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt did not comment.

Agencies given warnings but no fines by federal regulators included Amex Canada Inc., Searstravel.ca and the Alberta Motor Association.

“Unless there are consequences, different operators will continue to flout the rules,” McGuinty said.

The European Union enacted fare disclosure regulations in 2008, followed by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2012.

The complete list of advertisers warned over breaches of full-price disclosure regulations under the Canadian Transportation Act includes Aeroflot; Aerovias del Continente Americano; Air Canada; Air Canada Vacations; Air China Ltd.; Air creebec; Air Labrador; Air North Charter & Training; Air Pacific Ltd.; Air Tindi Ltd.; Air Transat A.T. Inc.; Alaska Airlines; Alberta Motor Association; Alitalia; American Airlines; Amex Canada; Aussie Travel; Austrian Airlines; Bains Travel; Bar XH Air Inc.; Bearskin Lake Air Service; Bel Air Travel Group; Bradley Air Services; British Airways; Brussels Airlines; Butte Travel Services Ltd.; Calm Air International; Canadian North Inc.; Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Cathay Pacific; Cheap Tickets & Travel Inc.; Cheapoair.ca; China Eastern; China Southern; Compagnie Nationale Royal Air Maroc; Compania Panamena de Aviacion; Condor; Corsair; Delta; Deutsche Lufthansa; Downunder Travel; Egypt Air; El Al Israel Airlines; Emirates; EPA Air Algéria; Etihad Airways; Eva Airways Corp.; Expedia; Finnair; flightcentre.ca; Flight Network; Flylink Travel Corp.; Gala Travels; Groupon Inc.; Hainan Airlines; Handa Travel Services Ltd.; Harbour Air Ltd.; Hawkair Aviation Services Ltd.;  Helijet International; Hume Travel Corp.; Icelandair; Island Express Air Inc.; ITravel 2000.com; Japan Airlines; Jet Airways (India) Ltd.; K.D.Air Corp.; Keewatin Air LP; KLM Royal Dutch Airlines; Korean Air Lines; LATAM Airlines; North Star Air Ltd.; Northwestern Air Lease Ltd.; Orca Airways; Pacific Coast Airlines Ltd.; Pakistan International Airlines Corp.; PAL Airlines; Pascan Aviation Inc.; Perimeter Aviation Ltd.; Polish Airlines SA; Porter Airlines; Qantas Airways; Qatar Airways; Red Tag Vacations; Royal Jordanian Airlines; Sata Internacional; Seaair Seaplanes Ltd.; Searstravel.ca; selloffvacations.com; Singapore Airlines Ltd.; Société Air France; South African Airways; Sunquest Vacations; Sunwing Airlines; Swiss International Air Lines Ltd.; Taca International Airlines; TAM Linhas Aereas; Thomas Cook Canada Inc.; Thunder Airlines Ltd.; Transportes Aéreos Portugueses; Transwest Air Limited Partnership; travelalerts.ca; targetvacations.ca; Travelocity Global; Travelzoo Inc.; Tripcentral.ca; Turkish Airlines Inc.; Virgin Atlantic Airways; Wasaya Airways Limited Partnership; and WestJet.

By Staff