Significant changes to Canada’s labour law whipped through a House committee in mere minutes amid concerns MPs had no time to summon expert testimony on the bill’s impact. The measures rewrite ten sections of the Canada Labour Code, granting new powers to federal inspectors to dismiss employee complaints deemed “frivolous.”
Canadian Pacific Railways claims incompetent employees have put the public “at risk,” threatening to fire anyone who fails to put in “a fair day’s work,” according to a blistering management letter obtained by Blacklock’s. Disclosure of the letter prompted a demand that Parliament investigate the allegations public safety has been jeopardized by CP workers.
Federal consumer product safety inspections have dropped 60 percent since Parliament enacted a new safety law, even though the government hired more inspectors. The Consumers’ Association of Canada called the decline “absolutely astounding.”
Parliament is reviving debate over targeted sodium reductions in packaged foods, complete with tobacco-like warning labels on salty processed foods. Bill C-460 would force manufacturers of high-sodium foods to warn buyers they run the risk of hypertension, heart attack and stroke.
Canada’s trade department faces allegations of unfair trade practices by a small Ottawa company that has successfully petitioned for an inquiry into the case. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal will investigate whether the department ran unfair bids on a staffing contract.
An Ontario man is applying to the Department of Industry to trademark a phrase popularized by sidewalk musicians and talent-night impersonators nationwide.
One of Canada’s most successful start-ups says patent fees for first-time applicants are too high and should be reviewed. “When our company was five or 10 people,” a Desire2Learn executive told MPs, “there would not have been the $8,000 or $10,000 or $12,000 sitting around to file a patent.”
A media think-tank is undertaking a national study of “digital citizenship” in the largest survey of its kind in eight years, after warning MPs a “culture of fear” now blankets internet policy.
Federal agents face a “Herculean challenge” in enforcing Do Not Call regulations on offshore companies charged with multiple violations, a legal analyst says. Two South Asian companies face more than half a million dollars in telemarketing fines, uncollected so far by the CRTC.
The National Gallery of Canada is being summoned to a trade tribunal over complaints of bungled terms in an $8.7 million contract to repair leaks in the art museum’s iconic Great Hall skylight. The gallery “is taking this complaint seriously,” it told Blacklock’s.
Dentistry students pay the highest tuition in the country, an average $16,024 a year, according to federal figures. Students at medical school paid the second-highest rates. “Our tuition fees where they are highest could act as a deterrent,” said the Association of Faculties of Medicine.
A federal panel deleted ornamental pumpkins from taxpayers’ subsidies under its $54 million food-to-the-Arctic program, but okayed subsidies for Cheez Whiz, records show.
Security technology at federal airports is now so user-friendly operators can be taught to use sophisticated scanners in less than a half-day, says a federal contractor chaired by a former commissioner of the RCMP.
Industry Canada has patented a broom predicted to revolutionize world curling following secret research at the University of Western Ontario. A co-inventor told Blacklock’s the device can improve amateur curlers’ accuracy by up to 20 percent.
MPs meeting behind closed doors have voted not to extend hearings on food safety legislation that contemplates a sweeping reorganization of federal inspection practices. Industry groups and opposition MPs had appealed for time to review amendments to the Safe Food For Canadians Act, already approved by the Senate in the midst of the biggest beef recall in Canadian history.
