VIA Rail must pay $25,000 to an ex-porter fired for jostling with a passenger over a tip. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal cited the Crown railway for “engaging in a reckless discriminatory practice” because the former employee was diagnosed with depression: “Hard proof of discrimination is rare.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs saved $300,000 last year by denying tax-free allowances to aged WWII and Korean War veterans, according to records. Veterans in their 90s were rejected if their monthly income was as little as $200 higher than regulations permitted: “We made a solemn promise.”
Anti-semitism is more prevalent in British Columbia than neighbouring provinces though BC has so few Jews many residents would be unfamiliar with the community, says federally-funded research. Anti-Muslim sentiment peaks in Québec though the Muslim population is a fraction of Ontario’s: “It is media imagery that people react to.”
Cabinet yesterday disputed estimates a Clean Fuel Standard will quadruple the cost of the carbon tax to $200 per tonne, but would not divulge its own figures. Regulations will be detailed after the October 21 general election: “This is not some sort of election trickery.”
It is “too soon to tell” if cabinet’s promise of a statutory right to basic housing will address actual needs, advocates said yesterday. The Parliamentary Budget Office earlier disputed claims of any enforceable right to shelter: “Look, this is a symbolic right.”
A cabinet-appointed panel yesterday proposed a long recovery plan for a Crown corporation so badly mismanaged MPs suggested it simply close. The proposal follows disclosures of “jaw-dropping” misconduct at the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. of Winnipeg: “What an absolute mess.”
The Department of Public Works is proposing to give away surplus goods to charities instead of conducting daily auctions on a federal website. The proposal follows a 2018 audit that found federal agencies earned 61¢ on the dollar in the sale of used vehicles, equipment and other items: “Would donated items be resold?”
The Privy Council office spent nearly $25,000 polling Mexicans on a tentative trade deal. Only a fifth of Mexicans strongly agreed Canada is a trustworthy partner: ‘I don’t think anyone would appreciate Mexicans coming to Canada and opining.’
Municipalities may effectively ban the sale of marijuana with bylaws, the British Columbia Supreme Court has ruled. The decision, the first of its kind, upheld a 2017 West Kelowna bylaw that made it difficult for cannabis stores to get a license: ‘Criminal law may be one thing, but municipal law is another.’
Cabinet in a burst of appointments has named hundreds of job-seekers to federal posts at 63 federal boards and commissions, including former Liberal cabinet ministers. The number of appointments in the past nine weeks is more than 50 percent greater than those by the previous Conservative cabinet in the identical pre-election period in 2015: “Everything is always about partisanship for the members of the opposition.”
The federal Competition Bureau is reopening its 2004 investigation of one of the biggest privatizations in Western Canada’s history. The Bureau alleges Canadian National Railway breached a promise of “better service” when it took over publicly-owned British Columbia Rail fifteen years ago: “The Commissioner has reason to believe CN is not adhering to its commitments.”
Cabinet is delaying introduction of a costly Clean Fuel Standard until after the October 21 election. The regulation mandating more use of ethanol and biodiesel is forecast to spike fuel prices beyond the 12¢-a litre carbon tax on gasoline: “How many cents will the Clean Fuel Standard add?”
Taxpayers who suffer high-handed treatment by auditors should take their complaint to the Canada Revenue Agency’s ombudsman, says a federal judge. The decision came in the case of a tax-filer who said he was “maliciously berated” by Agency staff: “If the tax assessment is wrong, it does not matter if the process was flawed.”
A federal agency in a rare disclosure says it weighs the political “angle” before releasing records to MPs, media or members of the public. The note from Telefilm Canada was obtained under Access To Information: “This is the tip of the iceberg.”
A Newfoundland & Labrador labour board has upheld the firing of a crane operator who tested positive for trace amounts of marijuana. The board was told longtime cannabis users may suffer “residual impairment” days or even weeks after actual consumption: “There was a potential for a catastrophic result.”
