“Have things really changed in Canada, as pundits would have us believe?” It is an arresting question. Pundits depict politics as a nerve-grinding game of perpetual playoffs, with winners and losers, dynasties and disasters, a tense battle of strategy and scouting. As if.
A Health Canada review of meat irradiation for consumer safety is expected to take at least a year, though the technique was endorsed as “particularly effective” by investigators of the biggest beef recall in Canadian history. E.coli poisonings affect thousands of consumers each year, by federal estimate.
A federal judge has rebuked an Alberta taxpayer for a “reprehensible” scheme to claim a loss on a business that never existed. “The victims in this case are Canadian taxpayers,” a judge wrote in the case of an Edmonton woman who claimed six-figure losses from a phantom enterprise.
Spending on research and development by the nation’s post-secondary institutions has barely kept pace with inflation, new figures show. The weak performance preceded cuts in federal tax credits for scientific investment: “Canada’s relative position as a share of GDP is deteriorating.”
More than a decade after calling the safety measure “unwarranted”, the Department of Transportation is now ordering all railways to lock unattended locomotives. The order is contained in an emergency directive following the rail disaster at Lac-Mégantic, Que.: “That’s why we have a government; we need regulation.”
34 federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Finance, are withholding information needed to review budget estimates, says a federal watchdog. The Parliamentary Budget Officer named the scofflaw agencies it said had missed two deadlines to documentat the 2013 budget.
A federal anti-trust agency has dismissed complaints of unfair trade practices by Visa and MasterCard. The finding follows a three-year probe: “There is an issue here and it should be addressed by regulation.”
Industry Canada loans and grants to corporations have cost taxpayers billions though subsidy rates have declined since the 1980s, according to a think tank. The Fraser Institute calculated subsidies totaled $22.1 billion since 1961: “This is a lousy way to spend tax dollars.”
A confidential report for the Department of Public Safety contemplates federal regulation of the internet, likening computer networks to “the American Wild West”. The report said internet control “enhances its value to the community.” No public official would comment.
An advocacy group claims widespread opposition to new legislation giving cabinet authority to direct union contracts at Crown corporations. Opponents predicted the rules will turn CBC into “the kind of thing you would associate with Russia”.
A federal department has compiled a blacklist of nearly 100 Canadian companies it suspects are fronts for the “sex trade”. Authorities confirmed the existence of the list to Blacklock’s, and acknowledged the information was never shared with law enforcement: “There is a significant concern.”
Household composing is at a postwar high with a majority of Canadians now sorting organic waste, according to federal data. Yet analysts noted rates vary widely by province, and the nation ranks poorly compared to other industrialized countries: “Canada doesn’t have a national strategy.”
Advocates are appealing for changes to federal regulations that permit livestock to be shipped in blistering heat without water for days at a time. Authorities confirmed there is no requirement to prevent the transport of animals in temperatures above 30 Celsius: “Behaviour that causes needless suffering is unacceptable.”
A judge has dismissed a challenge to one of the most famous trademarks in the nation. Federal Court gave a final “no” to a six-year campaign by an Ontario man to sell Asian food under the registered name “McDimSum.” McDonald’s Canada, which fought the application, would not take Blacklock’s questions: “We don’t traditionally comment on these.”
A federal judge has criticized Canada Revenue Agency for failing to get “clued in” to its own tax regulations. But the court could give only sympathy to a B.C. woman “flabbergasted” after the government failed to return $90,200 she mistakenly mailed the tax department: “I don’t think a human being ever looked at those returns.”
