Regulators have okayed the removal of three lakes in two provinces to make way for open-pit mining projects, ruling the public will not be “affected” by the vanishing waterways. “The tailings left over will be managed in perpetuity,” said one environmental researcher.
Rising costs of cross-border trucking are so “drastic” they have the effect of a multi-million dollar tariff on goods shipped across the line between Canada and the United States, a first-ever federal study confirms. “Trucking companies and their customers are facing tough times,” warned an industry association.
National research shows that, in academic and legal professions, the proportion of Canadian women in senior positions declines as they follow their career paths. An example: some 50 percent of new members of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association are women, but they make up just 35 percent of members with five or more years at the bar.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is joining a global coalition of industry and environmental groups on sustainable production, in a move one federal analyst praised as a method to counter the “anti-technology agendas” of activist groups.
An Alberta inventor is patenting a locking device for bicycle seats after his own bike was cannibalized by thieves in Calgary: “It was a huge pain. I always wanted to invent this.” Estimates of bicycle thefts nationwide range as high as 200,000 annually.
Cabinet is lifting a ban on the sale of automatic firearms to Colombia though activist groups petitioned against the move, and a leading Canadian manufacturer of weaponry says it is at a loss to explain the policy change: “We never asked for a license to sell to Colombia; it’s just not part of our scene.”
Sky-high debt levels that have ballooned over the past three decades “have little to do with economics” or the recent recession and simply reflect new “social behavior,” accountants warn. Federal data show typical Canadians now owe more than they own.
Travel advertisers face maximum fines of $25,000 under new federal regulations on full price disclosure of air fares. “We are among the last countries to get on board,” said one industry association, noting the European Union and United States already enacted full-fare disclosure requirements to benefit travelers.
The Federal Court has ruled smokeless electronic cigarettes remain a licensed drug, citing medical evidence they deliver enough nicotine to alter brain waves and raise the heart rate. One importer unsuccessfully argued that e-cigarettes contained so little nicotine they were exempt from licensing.
China is to be stricken off an obsolete list of preferential tariff traders after running up an export surplus with Canada that is now into its third decade. The move will raise taxes on thousands of Chinese goods shipped to Canada, from cutlery and kitchen appliances to luggage, spices and even caskets.
Non-union contractors are hiring a public relations manager to foster “positive relationships with national media” in anticipation of a Parliament Hill showdown over unprecedented labour legislation. The public relations campaign comes as the Senate prepares for final debate on a bill that would force union organizers to publish their pay, activities, health benefits and other personal data on a federal website under threat of $1,000-a day fines.
Tax Court has clarified terms of a federal transit credit in the case of a commuter with a grievance amid “understandable” confusion. A judge disqualified a credit , though Court heard testimony that Canada Revenue had accepted similar claims in the past, and a Toronto-area transit system continues to mistakenly advise commuters the claim is valid.
A Manitoba inventor is applying to Industry Canada to patent a new musical instrument, an exotic guitar-shaped device made of spruce and maple wood and played with a bow: “People are interested because it is different.”
A federal agency has upheld Air Canada’s refusal to carry medical research primates as cargo amid widespread public protest. The Canadian Transportation Agency said the airline made a “rational business decision” after 47,000 Canadians petitioned the carrier to stop shipping lab monkeys.
Northern Ontario has become the unionized bank capital of Canada with federal certification of another branch, in Elliott Lake — an event so uncommon the Canadian Bankers Association says it has no data on the number of branches organized nationwide, though there are “not that many.”
