The Senate yesterday passed an auto safety bill that allows manufacturers to negotiate out-of-court settlements over defective vehicles. Transport Canada has not launched any prosecution against an automaker since 1993: ‘The Act today does not provide Canadians with the same protection as Americans.’
Dozens of unfair labour practice complaints followed 2015 passage of a Conservative union bill, says the Canada Industrial Relations Board. Senators yesterday opened hearings on repeal of the bill mandating secret ballots for union certification in federally-regulated workplaces: “It did have an impact.”
Cabinet has gone too far in tightening restrictions on first-time buyers, says the nation’s largest private mortgage insurer. The finance department should “take a pause” before enacting any new curbs to cool speculation in hot markets, the Commons finance committee was told: “Study the impact.”
Publishing open court records on a for-profit website is a breach of privacy law, says a federal judge. The decision followed more than 200 complaints against a Romanian website that republished Google-searchable records from Canadian courts and tribunals: “The decision kind of muddies things.”
Most Canadians surveyed expect Parliament to regulate TV food ads targeting children, says the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The group cited private polling data that 70 percent of Canadians believe advertising is excessive and unhealthy: “Canadians want something done.”
Public Safety Canada has no reliable estimate on the scope and cost of organized crime, says new research. Ad hoc estimates put revenues in the tens of billions: “Organized crime remains underreported.”
The Senate has voted in support of a Canada 150 medal honouring Indigenous peoples as creators of a “better Canada”. Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly last year vetoed plans for a commemorative medallion marking the 2017 sesquicentennial: “What are we ashamed of?”
Federal agencies cannot define “green jobs” though they’ve promised to create thousands of them, says an Access To Information memo. “What is a green job?” said the 2016 report to the Minister of the Environment.
The Commons last night approved legislation to halt landfilling of mercury light bulbs within three years. The private bill passed without dissent after MPs deleted a requirement that Environment Canada mandate a safe disposal program on the provinces: “The bill provides guidance.”
Federal regulators know of at least 47 cases of lost or stolen radioactive devices since 2013, says the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The “sealed sources” including gauges and meters containing radium, cesium, strontium and other materials: “Cesium is particularly long-lived and extremely dangerous if it is released.”
Parks Canada faces a $50,000 federal lawsuit by an ex-manager who alleges discrimination on the basis of bilingualism. The retired executive claims he was denied French training, then demoted: “He felt hopeless and betrayed.”
Federal agencies must review the impact of aquaculture on one of Canada’s iconic wild fish species, say MPs. The Commons fisheries committee yesterday said coastal fish farms may threaten Atlantic salmon. MPs also urged a government cull of grey seals in the name of conservation: “We were not going to tiptoe around the issue.”
Dozens of allegations of fraud in civil service exams have been investigated by the Public Service Commission since 2015, say Access To Information records. At least seven cases were referred to the RCMP. The disclosures follow Court documents indicating at least five percent of applicants cheated in one Transport Canada exam: ‘We have turned the other cheek time and time again.’
Canadians have lied on Census forms in protest over intrusive questioning, says a Conservative MP. Cabinet questioned the claim as the Commons took up Second Reading on a bill amending the Statistics Act: “They told me they were lying.”
Less than a third of new junior executives hired by federal departments are able to complete their work during business hours, says a survey. The questionnaire was completed by $120,000-a year managers: ‘Challenges are faced in their new executive role.’
