Conservatives and New Democrats are endorsing a bipartisan Senate bill to ban shark fin imports. The Commons came within five votes of passing such a ban in 2013: “We have to close up an obvious loophole in the law.”
MPs yesterday rejected a bill to privatize the CBC. The Conservative sponsor said the vote was unsurprising, but part of a long-term strategy to eliminate $1.1 billion in subsidies for the Crown broadcaster: “Break the taboo around discussing this subject.”
Canadians fear a weak economy is about to worsen, according to in-house research by the Department of Finance. Nearly a third of people surveyed, 29 percent, said they were afraid a friend or relative would lose their job within six months. The bleak prognosis was the worst since the 2008 recession: “Most people felt things would get worse.”
Environment Canada says a secret memo warning of a $300 per tonne carbon tax is hypothetical. Staff testifying at the Senate energy committee said they were unaware of the federal document, published by Blacklock’s March 29: “So, the question is — ?”
A biologist associated with the Vancouver Aquarium says captive whales provide useful cost-effective scientific research, despite critics’ claims. A member of the Senate fisheries committee questioned whether whales enjoy it: “If you take a being out of their family or pod, they will suffer.”
Canadian researchers at the University of Waterloo are joining a transatlantic study on the impact of fertilizer runoff on water quality. Seepage of farm chemicals is blamed for algae bloom, a toxic fish-killing scum: “We are all risk averse.”
Statistics Canada is still threatened by political interference under a cabinet bill claimed to guarantee its independence, says a chief statistician who quit the agency in 2010. One Liberal MP told the Commons industry committee he now questions labour stats in his home riding: “I’ve always been suspicious.”
Health Canada is proposing to gauge the cumulative effects of multiple pesticides under the Pest Control Products Act. Regulators called it an “emerging area of science”, though environmental groups said it’s been a legal requirement for more than a decade: “Slowness, incredible slowness.”
At the construction site of the
new Champlain Bridge,
pre-fabricated sections
are laid down, put together
to connect between
people, communities, cities.
At the Breitbart site,
pre-fabricated news items
are laid down, put together
to break any bridge between
nationalities, ethnicities, religions, opinions.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Taxpayers have a right to probe details of a $372.5 million federal loan to Bombardier Inc., say senators. The Senate last evening opened debate on a Conservative motion for first-ever parliamentary scrutiny of Bombardier subsidies: “We’re talking about public money here.”
Health Canada faces trademark lawsuits if it attempts to mandate plain packaging of tobacco, say cigarette makers. A cabinet bill introduced in the Senate would sanction an Australian-style law requiring that all tobacco be sold in a plain brown wrapper: “We have the right to use our trademarks.”
A Senate panel has voted to issue the nation’s only Canada 150 medal, citing popular demand. The Department of Canadian Heritage cancelled plans for its own commemoration, though predecessors issued jubilee medals dating from 1869: “It is inexplicable.”
Only a third of Canadians, 37 percent, say Environment Canada’s climate change plan is on the right track, says in-house research. The survey avoided mention of a carbon tax: “Results suggest that Canadians may not respond as favourably to specific measures.”
Chemical manufacturers have paid as little as 16% of the cost of registering pesticides, new data show. A Health Canada fee increase on the industry took effect April 1: ‘They will now pay a greater share of this cost.’
A group attempting to unionize RCMP officers says a members’ pay hike is no substitute for collective bargaining. Cabinet yesterday approved a total 4.8 percent increase, the first in three years: “This doesn’t even come close.”
