Parliament should amend bankruptcy law to protect retirees’ pensions ahead of other creditors, advocates have told the Commons finance committee. Pension losses in the 2017 bankruptcy of Sears Canada have prompted three separate bills in Parliament to shield retirement benefits: “We will see this happening time and time again.”
Legal marijuana growers warn pending taxes are so steep the industry cannot compete with price-cutting by drug dealers. Industry executives told the Commons finance committee they face an “immense cost burden” once cannabis is legal October 17: ‘It’s a cascade of taxes.’
The Department of Public Works yesterday said it would begin compiling a list of women-owned firms for preferential treatment in contracting. The year-long pilot project, starting with catering services in Atlantic Canada, is intended to “support socio-economic objectives”, wrote staff.
A senior manager is suing the Department of National Defence alleging unfair treatment on a staff complaint. The manager was cited for wrongdoing but never given a chance to face her accuser, according to a Federal Court claim: “You have a right to see a disclosure.”
Environment Canada yesterday ordered years of water sampling to monitor the spread of toxic mercury in northern waterways. The program comes a year after cabinet ratified a United Nations treaty on mercury: ‘Do we have the tools in place?’
Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has ordered MPs to stop using lobbyist-paid interns in their Parliament Hill offices. Use of free labour sponsored by corporations is a breach of the Conflict Of Interest Code, wrote Dion: “They are not volunteers.”
The Federal Court in an unusual ruling has cited a government agency for stealing a private company’s trademark. The Ontario Ministry of Energy ignored repeated warnings and mistakenly claimed it couldn’t be sued for adopting a 2013 slogan, “empower me”.
The Department of Natural Resources has awarded $1.4 million in climate change funding to a supermarket chain. The grant follows similar funding earlier awarded to corporations including Sears Canada and McDonald’s: “It just so happens to be located in a Liberal Minister’s riding.”
Foreign tourists don’t come here for the food though fish and game are nice, says a Department of Industry report obtained through Access To Information. “We can’t be everything to everybody,” said a research study. The department has tried since 2017 to develop an all-Canadian cuisine as a tourism draw: “It’s easy to find McDonald’s.”
Most businesses don’t understand a federal “Innovation Superclusters” program and question its usefulness, says in-house research by the Department of Industry. Canadians said they’d never heard of the plan detailed in cabinet’s 2017 budget: ‘They did not understand what a supercluster was.’
Cabinet proposes to give itself broader powers to award billions in federal contracts without competitive bidding. The Treasury Board is increasing by 60 percent the maximum value allowed on sole-source contracts, the biggest increase in 22 years: “Departments were strongly in favour.”
A federal agency will not use SWAT team tactics to enforce a cabinet bill on accessibility complaints, says the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The bill allows for spot inspections of federally-regulated businesses to ensure they do not discriminate against the disabled: “It’s less a SWAT team and more an inspector.”
Environment Canada promises to reform its chemicals inspections program, but not until 2020. Auditors cited the department for spending more time auditing small businesses like dry cleaners than large industrial polluters: ‘Priorities were not based on risks to human health.’
We’re grateful this holiday to friends and subscribers for your support as Blacklock’s embarks on a seventh great year of independent, all-original Canadian journalism. On behalf of reporters and contributors, please accept our thanks.
Costly to keep the pandas
in Toronto Zoo.
$3 million shelter renovation
plus
$2.6 million annual maintenance, including
$150,000 insurance
$238,000 staffing
$550,000 food flown in from Memphis
$1 million hosting fee to China.
Now they reside in Calgary Zoo
at even greater cost.
$30 million habitat and infrastructure.
State-of-the-art enclosure
– 21,000 square feet of indoor-outdoor space –
featuring a waterfall, lush vegetation,
both heated and cooled rocks
for utmost comfort.
In the back, a nursing den
in case of pregnancy.
Fresh food from the mountains of China
– nine varieties of bamboo –
flown in twice a week
for $1.5 million annually.
Hosting fee
grows to $1.4 million.
Meanwhile at Canada-U.S. border crossings,
asylum seekers from Haiti and Nigeria.
They cause a housing crisis,
says Ontario Premier.
We should not pay for that situation,
says Ontario Social Services Minister.
We have no more room for migrants,
says Toronto Mayor.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
