Parliament must have a national referendum on any meaningful changes to the Elections Act, MPs have been told. A University of Waterloo professor yesterday testified at Commons committee hearings that lawmakers should not have the last say on electoral reforms: “Parties have too much self-interest to be trusted”.
A federal judge has cited Transport Canada for sloppy work in enforcing its airport security program. The Court ordered regulators to reconsider the revocation of security clearance for a woman never convicted of any crime: “These errors are the result of a cursory and sloppy review”.
Unifor is challenging cabinet to enact a pharmacare plan. The 300,000-member union voted in convention in Ottawa for a “renewal” of medicare including universal coverage of essential drugs: ‘You can’t send them home and make them pay out of pocket’.
The finance department investigated a first-ever federal sugar tax before its 2016 budget, say Access To Information records. Finance Minister Bill Morneau asked staff for a briefing note weeks before a Senate panel recommended a tax on sugary drinks to curb obesity rates: ‘Other governments have tried’.
Parliament must reject a Pacific trade pact as a job killer that threatens Canadian industry, says the president of the nation’s largest private sector union. Cabinet has promised a parliamentary vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would lower tariffs on imports from 13 countries: “You’re wrong”.
“No dogs allowed” signs are not discriminatory, a tribunal has ruled. An Ontario lawyer challenged the signs as a breach of human rights law akin to notices prohibiting Jews from entering commercial buildings: ‘There is no announced intention to discriminate’.
A class action lawsuit against Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation is headed into its 17th year on appeal. The federal insurer is accused of spending a pension surplus as if the money was its own: “We say no”.
Defaults on small business loans have cost taxpayers nearly $180 million in the past four years, say Access To Information records. Cabinet in 2015 raised loan limits to allow businesses to borrow more under a government-guaranteed program: “Writing off of debts does not constitute forgiveness”.
Senators fear Health Canada is quietly shelving a landmark report on obesity that included sweeping proposals for regulatory changes. Cabinet in its first formal response to the landmark study thanked senators for “valuable” input, but committed to no immediate legislation: ‘We learn on Parliament Hill you can’t count on promises’.
A Canadian mine is rated one of the worst polluters in the industry with catastrophic arsenic levels, says new University of Ottawa research. Samples drawn from a lake bed near the abandoned Giant Mine in Yellowknife showed some of the highest arsenic levels recorded: “We are working to learn more”.
The fisheries department is expanding its drone fleet to survey marine mammals. Authorities would not say if the program is intended to offset more costly monitoring of the Atlantic seal hunt by the Canadian Coast Guard: “The machine is to be used during coastal surveys”.
I see you getting off your bike,
chaining it to a street sign.
What makes you think
this would prevent anyone
from stealing the sign?
(Editor’s note: Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Newly-enacted changes to federal pensions will cost more than $300 million this year and billions by 2020, says Canada’s Chief Actuary. A budget bill passed by Parliament June 22 lowered the age of eligibility for Old Age Security from 67 to 65: “This move goes against demographic evidence”.
Electronic voting is rife with errors and risk of outright fraud, say analysts. Elections Canada is proposing changes to federal law to permit use of encrypted computers at polling stations: “I am very leery of assumptions”.
The Supreme Court will not hear a challenge of federal regulations that require disabled air passengers travelling with attendants to pay two fares. A Vancouver woman appealed a WestJet order of one fare per seat regardless of medical necessity: “It’s disappointing for advocates”.
