MPs last night voted 151 to 124 for Second Reading of amendments to the Public Service Labour Relations Act and Canada Labour Code. The vote came six days after the amendments were introduced under closure to limit debate: ‘It guts the right to collective bargaining.’
Canadian insurers are lamenting public indifference to earthquake perils, though the country has suffered only a handful of fatal quakes in the past 400 years. It follows a warning from regulators that a catastrophic seismic event would be a “significant threat” to many insurers.
A band of MPs is protesting an obscure procedural change they warn will limit the public’s ability to alter legislation in Commons committees. Three legislators petitioned committees to reject a government motion they said will gag opposition amendments to any bill: “We have a system that is rigged.”
A federal regulator reports a 28% increase in complaints against banks and other financial institutions, though fines for lawbreakers remain few and far between.
The Financial Consumer Agency received 5,634 complaints from the public last year compared to 4,410 the year before, according to accounts tabled in Parliament. Of 937 complaints deemed serious enough to raise questions of illegality, five resulted in actual fines – a conviction rate of 0.5 percent.
The agency refused to divulge the name of banks cited for breaches of consumer laws, citing privacy. “For reasons of confidentiality, the agency cannot provide additional or more specific details,” a spokeswoman said.
Most of the agency’s $13.26 million annual budget is paid by banks and financial institutions. Ursula Menke, the $266,000-a year commissioner of the agency, did not comment. Menke earlier told the Senate finance committee that “education” remained a key to sound consumer practices.
“There will always be a need to continue to educate,” Menke said.
The agency reported it typically takes 18 months to over two years to complete investigations of serious allegations involving breaches of federal law, regulations or codes of conduct.
“This raises many questions,” said MP Glenn Thibeault, New Democrat consumer affairs critic. “Who are they charging? Are the fines enough to deter institutions from doing it again?”
“When you start policing yourself and your investigations are confidential, how is the public supposed to know?” said Thibeault, MP for Sudbury, Ont.
The agency cited three specific fines:
The agency’s budget is funded 85 percent by banks, trusts and insurance companies, with a supplement of $2 million a year voted by Parliament.
By Staff 
Canada Revenue Agency is being cited for “disturbing” privacy breaches involving thousands of files. Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart reported the tax department failed to guard citizens’ personal information stored by the government: “It was perplexing.”
An anti-trust probe of hockey retailing has prompted a flurry of Federal Court hearings. Canadian Tire Ltd. is asking a federal judge for permission to attend questioning of its major suppliers as part of a year-long investigation of sports retailing: “Remaining competition is highly ineffective.”
Government MPs are opposing a bid to abandon 146 years of tradition by permitting Canadians to submit electronic petitions to Parliament. Members expressed unease with a New Democrat proposal to recognize internet petitions: “We should all tread very carefully with changes to our rules.”
Cabinet has failed to gauge the impact of unfair trade practices in promoting a “free” pact with Europe, say the nation’s milk and cheese producers. Dairy farmers and processors say Canada’s surrendered more market share than the U.S. or any E.U. nation: “We’re giving away some of our investment.”
Canadians may see simplified drug patent rules under a free trade pact with Europe, say the nation’s largest pharmaceutical associations. Generic and brand-name drug makers told Blacklock’s they anticipate the treaty will limit multiple lawsuits over patents: “The government has promised us…”
The Bank of Canada, responsible for monitoring the nation’s financial fitness, lost more than a million dollars a year operating a little-noticed Currency Museum, records show. The museum closed this year after running a $1.7 million annual budget with a staff of 24, including a $114,000-a year curator.
Big city mayors are appealing for renewal of $1.7 billion in yearly housing subsidies. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is petitioning cabinet to maintain funds due to expire with the completion of federal programs over the next five years: “We need governments to step up.”
Passport Canada is providing names, ages, addresses and other confidential data of 25,000 passport owners to a pollster, Blacklock’s has learned.
The agency proposes to randomly select thousands of citizens’ personal information for a winter-long survey on customer satisfaction. Passport Canada refused an interview.
“This troubles me,” said MP John McCallum, Liberal citizenship critic; “I think it is a bit much for the government to give this information to a polling company.”
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said it was unaware of the passport poll. In 2009 it cited the RCMP for passing thousands of names of registered gun owners to Ekos Research Associates Inc. for a similar client survey. The commissioner noted that polling was not unlawful, and Ekos was obliged to swear an oath of confidentiality. However the commissioner said authorities “could have done some things better” in assuring gun owners their privacy was protected.
Passport Canada’s marketing research follows a 38 percent increase in fees last July 1 to $120 for a standard passport. The agency proposes to “assess client satisfaction” through a $65,000 telephone survey of Canadians who received passports in the six months before the rate increase took effect.
Managers determined at least 25,000 passport holders must be contacted to find at least one-tenth who agree to a fifteen-minute interview.
“If I was called my first question would be, ‘How did you know I received a passport?’” said McCallum, MP for Markham-Unionville, Ont. “Why should they have that information about me? That would be my first reaction. It’s troubling that this information could be transferred to a polling company.”
Citizenship Minister Chris Alexander, the cabinet member responsible for the agency, was unavailable for comment.
Passport Canada said in a notice it would scan its files to find English- and French-speaking Canadians, male and female, aged 16 and over who received a passport between last January and June: “Citizenship & Immigration Canada will provide lists of names of clients.”
Managers noted they do not retain telephone numbers for passport holders, and that pollsters would be responsible for tracking down individuals’ contact information.
“Privacy protection is going to become a bigger and bigger issue as time goes by,” said McCallum, a former revenue minister. “With the power of technology, things that never used to be a challenge will be now.”
Passport Canada said in its notice that all Canadians who apply for travel documents implicitly agree to be contacted for “consultation about the serve they received”, but did not elaborate.
“It is anticipated to undertake surveys twice a year,” the agency said.
Passport fees were raised as a cost-recovery measure after authorities calculated they lost $4.59 on every passport issued.
Some 22 million passports are currently in circulation, by official estimate.
By Tom Korski
A judge is condemning frequent Federal Court appeals by Canadians who are “just fishing” for reasons not to pay taxes. The rebuke came in a case of a billion-dollar corporation that appealed and appealed after being assessed back-taxes by Canada Revenue: “There must be a ‘show stopper’ or a ‘knockout punch'”.
Oversight of all federal food inspection by Health Canada should eliminate “potential conflict” in enforcement, says a scientist who investigated Canada’s largest beef recall: “The minister of health has no interest in whether the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is doing well or not.”
The Department of Finance tried to dig up names of Canadian coffin-makers to justify a tax hike on caskets, newly-released documents show. The attempt came amid criticism of higher tariffs to be charged on goods from 72 countries and territories, including China-made coffins: “If there are no domestic producers, a tariff doesn’t make sense.”
