The Canada Border Services Agency searches thousands of iPhones, laptops and other electronic devices annually, say Access To Information records. A disproportionate number of inspections occur in British Columbia. The Agency did not explain why: “These are personal things.”
Small business start-ups create more than a quarter-million jobs a year but suffer a high attrition rate, says new Department of Industry research. Data show 30 percent of new retailers and 33 percent of restaurants fold within three years: “If a business starts small, its potential for future growth is very limited.”
Cabinet will again delay enactment of a new food safety law until 2019, nearly seven years after Parliament passed the bill. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency did not account for the unusual delay: ‘It’s highly complex, to say the least.’
Health Canada proposes to more than double fines for improper pesticide use after concluding current penalties are too paltry. Fines on corporations for very serious violations of federal law are as little as $4,000: “That’s really concerning.”
The Government of Canada spent more than a million dollars on the malicious tax prosecution of a family-owned restaurant, say Access To Information records. Department of Justice spending totaled $946,622. It did not include the cost of an ongoing appeal of a Court ruling that cited auditors for “high-handed, reprehensible and malicious” conduct: “A million dollars is an awful lot of money to spend on a court case.”
A labour arbitrator has ordered Canada Post to compensate rural and suburban mail carriers for pay inequity. Canada Post was found to pay rural carriers – mainly women – $15,000 to $20,000 less per year than male counterparts for comparable work: “Okay, let’s test this.”
Federal consultants propose a ban on new suburban development within 300 metres of rail lines. Authorities said 1,252 people have been killed or seriously injured on the tracks in the past decade: “The numbers speak for themselves.”
The Commons has rejected a private Conservative bill to compel Industry Canada to disclose terms of all taxpayers’ loans and guarantees to private corporations. Federal aid for business totals $5.5 billion this year, by official estimate: “My God.”
A small federal agency hired consultants to design a staff questionnaire on personal health, according to records. Employees suggested free gym memberships and a shorter work week: “They will be more productive and happier.”
Legislators are demanding the Auditor General name names following a critical review of the Phoenix Pay System. Lawmakers in the Commons and Senate seek the identities of three executives in the Department of Public Services blamed for “incomprehensible” failures expected to cost taxpayers $1 billion: “Why the double standard?”
The Commons agriculture committee yesterday warned the national carbon tax may put growers at a competitive disadvantage, though farm fuel is already exempt from forecast hikes of 12¢ a litre for gasoline and 14¢ for diesel. The Department of Agriculture in Access To Information memos calculated the tax would cost farmers up to $3,705 a year without the exemption: ‘Now all people are going to be asking for a break.’
The federal Department of Justice is suing to overturn a labour arbitrator’s ruling over the closure of a Saskatchewan Crown corporation. An arbitrator on April 27 ordered back pay and damages to former employees of a provincial bus company: “It’s strange.”
Liberal MPs on the Commons industry committee yesterday rejected hearings on cabinet’s decision to nationalize the Trans Mountain pipeline. “It’s not our issue,” said one MP.
Health Canada yesterday said it will not oppose continued use of a neonicotinoid pesticide as a farmers’ seed treatment. Regulators proposed a gradual phase-out of imidacloprid sprays as environmentally risky: “The problem is it doesn’t go far enough.”
The current Copyright Act leaves Canadian creators with the shortest term of protection in the G7, music publishers yesterday told the Commons heritage committee. The industry asked MPs to extend copyright from 50 to 70 years following the death of a creator: “We are behind.”
