The number of Canadians on Old Age Security has increased 40 percent since 1997, reports the Chief Actuary. The growing number of pensioners prompted a Senate call to reconsider lowering of the age of eligibility to 65: “Will we have enough money?”
A Canadian town famed for historic architecture has won a costly lawsuit over municipal heritage designations. St. Marys, Ont., featured in the CBC-TV series Murdoch Mysteries, won the three-year court battle launched by a disgruntled building owner: “The Town did everything right”.
An Alberta penny stock executive has lost a bid for a Supreme Court appeal on whether local securities regulation is lawful. Canada remains the only G20 country without federal securities regulation: “This issue has been mooted in Canada for at least 70 years”.
Canada may need a carbon tax of $50 a tonne and more if climate change targets are to be met, says a cabinet memo obtained through Access To Information. The memo cited research that lowering greenhouse gas emissions will require more vigorous policies than seen to date: “Efforts would have to start immediately”.
An aging movie theatre has been designated a National Historic Site as “one of the first” built in Canada to screen talking films. It wasn’t. Parks Canada yesterday declined to disclose research substantiating the claim. Other fake federal historic sites include a purported 17th century explorers’ campsite, and a farmer’s field where Champlain allegedly lost his astrolabe: “Remarkable”.
A federal judge has dismissed a refugee claim by a white South African family. The Court ruled there is no legal basis for any claim the country’s white minority requires protection from state persecution: “These are clear, unambiguous findings”.
Federal inspectors have failed to halt the spread of an invasive beetle blamed for billions in tree damage, and now headed west of the Great Lakes. Authorities said winter cold appeared to have no impact on the emerald ash borer, first detected in Windsor, Ont. in 2002: “It was just a matter of time”.
Lawmakers should review the conduct of an anti-terror watchdog repeatedly cited by federal judges for arbitrary enforcement measures, says a senior Conservative MP. The appeal follows a judgment won by an Ontario realtor who said his business was ruined by over-zealous officers of the Financial Transactions & Reports Analysis Centre: “They wanted to make an example of me”.
Health Canada will not ban the non-medical use of antibiotics in food production after a decade of review. The department instead proposes restrictions that “do not represent as dramatic a change” as decades-old bans introduced in Europe.
MPs are seeking action on Fisheries Act reforms after regulators skipped a June deadline on promised amendments for habitat protection. The Commons fisheries committee adopted a motion to spell out the review of legislative changes by January 30, 2017: “They gutted the Fisheries Act”.
Preventing poverty is no charity, a federal judge has ruled. The Court of Appeal dismissed a three-year challenge by a New Brunswick group stripped of its tax status for providing families with low-cost credit counselling: “It will require an Act of Parliament”.
A Blacklock’s report has prompted cabinet to revise an order for a commemorative Royal Canadian Mint coin. Cabinet yesterday acknowledged the all-Canadian tribute to veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic depicts an aircraft that was neither built nor flown in combat here: “Delete ‘Canadian-made'”
Cabinet yesterday tightened technical regulations impacting a federal anti-terror agency, but stopped short of halting arbitrary fines for minor breaches of the law. Federal judges have cited the agency for random penalties on small businesses: “I don’t want to be negative, but…”
Health Canada in 2017 will require mandatory reporting of drug shortages by pharmaceutical companies. Amendments to Food & Drug Regulations mirror a 2014 New Democrat bill defeated in the Commons: “It’s a victory for patients”.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is proceeding with promised tariff cuts – on broom handles. Cabinet yesterday disclosed a short list of new tariff-free imports pledged in the March 22 budget: ‘The objective is to help Canadian manufacturers’.
