Canada’s railways are citing excess regulation over a long-promised bill that subjects them to federal arbitration and six-figure fines on service commitments to commercial customers. “A lot of hard work went into this,” said one farm group that pressed for the reforms for years.
An old-age pensioner has won a Federal Court case against cabinet after losing $5,000 in benefits over an honest mistake on an application form. A judge found “no apparent rationale” for refusing benefits to an eligible pensioner over a paperwork error. “There are broad implications here,” said the advocacy lawyer who won the case.
Warmer weather may extend the shipping season on the St. Lawrence Seaway. The system’s traditional Christmas closure is now proposed for extension into January: “If it makes commercial sense and if there is enough cargo, we would be open to that.”
Long-awaited legislation to hold railways to service standards under threat of six-figure fines is being introduced just days before Parliament’s scheduled winter recess. The measure would allow commercial shippers to seek binding arbitration in service disputes.
New emission standards will cost Canadian car and truck buyers an extra $145 on average by 2017 under compliance with US regulations. Costs of technology are expected to increase more than tenfold by 2025. Yet federal regulators say resulting fuel efficiency will see drivers recoup costs within three years: “It makes sense.”
The head of a federal foundation that lost 19 percent of its parliamentary endowment, then struggled to recoup the money, is advising charities to reassess risks of funds invested in the stock market.
A show ‘n tell bill requiring that union organizers detail their pay, activities, health benefits and other personal data is likely headed for court, labour officials say. “This bill will not stand up to legal challenge — that is almost certain,” said Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress. “I think the government already knows that.”
An Alberta inventor is patenting a new device to force compliance with road safety laws that forbid Canadian drivers from texting or using handheld cellphones: “There are not enough police to enforce these rules.”
The Canadian Bar Association is urging that Parliament withdraw an entire bill, C-43, that grants cabinet new powers to restrict visitors and deport immigrants. Advocates said the measure strips non-citizens of basic rights of appeal for minor criminal offences.
Canada has decreed 2013 as the Year of Korea at the same time as free trade talks between the countries have apparently stalled. One of Canada’s largest exporters says lack of agreement with South Korea could cost producers here a fortune: “It would be devastating.”
Manufacturing has officially been eclipsed by the retail trade as the top employer in the country’s industrial heartland, figures show: “You can’t base an entire region’s economic development on shopping malls.”
A federal foundation is pleading for help after suffering disastrous stock market losses that cost nearly one-fifth of its parliamentary endowment, then replacing its entire team of fund managers: “It felt like a crash.”
A BC-based firm a with a billion-dollar investment in Egypt is appealing to the Prime Minister’s Office to ensure its assets are protected by “rule of law” amid civil unrest overseas: “We want to make sure the Canadian government is aware.”
A former chief scientist of fisheries is “appalled” by cuts to 7 of 9 research libraries, rated by the government as “one of the world’s best collections” on ocean sciences in a department founded in 1867.
Canada is claiming victory in a long, costly meat war with the United States that is estimated to have cost the economy more than $600,000,000 annually. One industry group marked the end of “years of expensive, time-consuming challenges and litigation” with the US.
