Police, fire and ambulance services face “a lot of work” in standardizing 911 calls following a critical telecom report, says a national advocate. A CRTC study concluded the emergency system is so uneven that regulators could not determine how much it actually costs: “A lot of work needs to be done.”
Shipowners warn of a winter-long legal battle over an obscure U.S. regulation. Washington’s Environmental Protection Agency has given St. Lawrence Seaway shippers till March 2014 to comply with a new rule on ballast: “We don’t have much time to get this resolved.”
Newly-released documents give a glimpse into one of the most tense job interviews in the country. Bank of Canada records disclose the grilling of candidates for the $431,800-a year governorship. The questionnaire was prepared by an Ottawa headhunting firm and disclosed through Access to Information.
The author, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition: “With the success of Robocalls, strategists may consider their next move: a free GPS to every Canadian. On Election Day, a built-in module would take over…”
Roy McMurtry is the judge who gave Canada gay marriage. He’s written his memoirs. Finally, Canadians are to learn the whole remarkable story of how the Ontario Court of Appeals overturned 137 years of family law. Unfortunately, they won’t hear it from Roy McMurtry.
A twelve-year legal battle over federal powers to search lawyers’ files is bound for the Supreme Court at last. Justices will hear an appeal on whether lawyers must submit to warrantless searches and keep records of clients’ ID: “This is a matter of significance.”
The Department of Finance is at a loss to explain how it mistakenly set a $30 million sugar tax, then withdrew it by special amendment. Canada’s largest sugar refiner said the tariff error would have disrupted a longstanding policy: “It didn’t make any sense whatsoever.”
The Department of Agriculture’s removal from meat inspection for the first time in 146 years should eliminate “confusion and finger-pointing” over food safety, legislators and analysts tell Blacklock’s: “There was plenty of blame to go around.”
Opposition MPs propose that parliamentary watchdogs gain new powers to subpoena documents and enforce regulations. It follows complaints by federal commissioners that legislation is weak and obsolete: “That’s the way to get the type of democracy we want.”
A Department of Finance error that meant a $30 million sugar tax is being remedied following appeals from industry. A trade group said a mistaken tariff hike on Brazilian imports would have forced the closure of at least one Canadian sugar refinery: “We would have been a casualty.”
Canada Post should revive its 19th century banking business as a means to bolster revenues, says an Ottawa think-tank.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives proposed the post office provide consumer financial services at its 6,500 retail outlets nationwide.
“The only two major countries that do not have postal banking services are Canada and the United States,” said researcher John Anderson, author of the study Why Canada Needs Postal Banking.
Canada Post declined Blacklock’s interview request.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers earlier proposed the corporation diversify its operations to include retail banking, similar to services provided by Swiss Post, Deutsche Postbank, Poste Italiane, Japan Post Bank, the Postal Savings Bank of China, and New Zealand’s Kiwibank.
Anderson noted Postal Savings Banks were a Confederation-era fixture of rural Canada from 1868 to 1968, when the post office disbanded the system.
“We had postal financial services for a hundred years,” said Anderson; “It’s something just about every other country has.”
The Centre for Policy Alternatives proposed that postal outlets issue low-cost credit and debit services and basic chequing accounts and savings deposits, particularly in rural areas with limited access to retail banking.
The study calculated 334 chartered bank branches have closed nationwide in the past decade, with only four provinces – Newfoundland & Labrador, Ontario, Québec and Alberta – seeing a net gain in branch networks since 2010.
“There is this idea that Canada Post has to concentrate on its core business – that we are only here to collect and deliver mail,” said Denis Lemelin, president of CUPW. “This is the idea that killed the postal banks in the 1960s.”
Canada Post has eliminated 4,750 jobs since 2006 through attrition amid declines in letter volumes.
By Kaven Baker-Voakes 
Government investment is “not the right approach” to resolving internet failings, says a Crown executive. A federal study warns direct federal competition to provide inexpensive, accessible broadband service would provoke an outcry from industry: “The private sector is the owner.”
The last decade has seen little real growth in federal public sector wages despite contrary claims, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Inflation and new hiring, not fat bonuses, were responsible for salary costs: ‘You hire a bunch and fire a bunch.’
Industry Canada lacks a “clear strategy” on internet policy but cannot serve millions of Canadians priced out of the market without offending industry, says a Crown study: “If left on its own, the fragmented environment in Canada will not align itself in a consistent fashion.”
Enbridge Pipelines Inc. has won intervener status in a gag lawsuit against the National Energy Board. Critics fear the decision will make the Federal Court case slower and more costly. Enbridge did not comment: “It will drive up the cost of this proceeding.”
