More than a quarter of Canadians, 27 percent, say they’ve driven under the influence of cannabis, according to federal research obtained through Access To Information. The findings should prompt cabinet to delay a bill to legalize marijuana, said an MP: ‘The mixed messages are troubling.’
Environmental groups are rated more trustworthy than pesticide manufacturers or the Minister of Health, says an in-house federal study. Nearly a third of Canadians surveyed, 30 percent, said they had no confidence in the agency responsible for monitoring pesticides: “They tended to focus on the negative.”
The Liberal chair of the Commons finance committee is questioning a budget proposal to perpetually increase user fees by the annual inflation rate. Automatic revenue gains strip incentives for government to become more efficient, said MP Wayne Easter: “That’s one of the problems I have with this approach.”
The Canada Revenue Agency spent the equivalent of more than $400,000 apiece on political audits of the Canadian Council of Churches and other charities, data show. One MP said the costly investigations looked like a witch hunt: “They wanted to put these people out of business.”
Blacklock’s pauses for the Victoria Day holiday with best wishes to subscribers and friends. We’re back tomorrow — The Editor.
It was a fairy tale game.
The Icelandic soccer team
beat England at the
2016 European Championship.
Some speculate
how the Nordic nation celebrated.
Nine months later,
a surge in baby deliveries
is reported by
Reykjavik hospitals.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
An Access To Information memo says federal agencies have simply ignored a 2004 law requiring transparency on user fees. A former MP who wrote the Act said non-compliance was inexplicable: “How can you not comply with an Act of Parliament?”
Canadians will pay more for home heating, driving and air travel under a federal carbon tax, says a Technical Paper. Only “certain farming activities” – not specified – will be exempt from the tax. Environment Canada said details will be spelled out in pending legislation: “Canadians across this country support action on climate change.”
MPs yesterday made short work of a Conservative bill on border regulations prompted by an international incident. The Commons took just 36 minutes to approve the bill in principle at Second Reading and refer it to committee: “Canadians are kind, welcoming and fair; we are not aggressors.”
A former Parks Canada CEO says zoos and aquariums help bring Canadians back to nature. The retired executive appealed to the Senate fisheries committee to be wary of a bill banning the sale and breeding of whales in captivity: “They can ignite that spark and excitement in young Canadians to care for nature.”
In an unprecedented lawsuit, a former Conservative attorney general is challenging a decision of the Ethics Commissioner. Under federal law, the Commissioner is shielded from criminal or civil court action: “We have an ethics czar.”
MPs last evening voted 212 to 79 to restore card checks in certifying new unions in federally-regulated industries. Liberals cut short debate on the motion out of fear of a Conservative filibuster: ‘It would never see the light of day.’
MPs last evening by a vote of 216 to 67 rejected a New Democrat bill to mandate labeling of genetically-modified foods. Twenty Liberal MPs supported the private bill: “It seems so clear to so many people that this would be easy to do.”
Parks Canada says it’s issued national directives to staff after an internal audit found numerous irregularities in contracting. Members of the Senate environment committee cited a “culture of sloppiness” at the agency: “Everyone knows what the rules of the games are.”
A Senate bill to ban the sale and breeding of whales in captivity would devastate Canada’s largest private aqua theme park, say operators of Marineland. The Niagara Falls, Ont. park is home to 50 whales and five dolphins: “Can you tell me how much money you make?”
