The CBC poses unfair competition to local newspapers by giving away subsidized digital content, say publishers. The Crown broadcaster has admitted its cbc.ca website operates at a loss: “We should be concerned”.
An underground tax protest movement is now so pervasive notaries are advised to carefully check documents they’re asked to certify. Canada Revenue Agency has recorded more than 20 convictions involving the internet-fueled “natural person” movement: “This falls into the level of insanity”.
A Conservative bill to boost tax credits for charitable donations would cost 70 percent more than sponsors claimed, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Credits originally estimated to cost $1 billion a year would actually reach $1.7 billion, and nearly $2 billion a year by 2020: “Two billion dollars is a big cost”.
The National Research Council this July will begin work on climate change amendments to the National Building Code. It follows a 2015 report from the Standards Council of Canada that warned climate change poses a serious risk to schools, hospitals and other public buildings: “We believe in a whole-of-government approach”.
Employers need more “stopgap measures” to ease 2014 restrictions on migrant hiring, says the Hotel Association of Canada. Operators said they’re unable to find Canadians willing to work for wages averaging more than $16.50 an hour: “There’s nobody there”.
Federal regulators have failed to adequately monitor potential health risks posed by unsafe cosmetics, says the Commissioner of the Environment. Auditors said Health Canada should gain new powers to order the recall of products and monitor counterfeits: “They are generally a very low-risk category”.
MPs last night passed a bill sanctioning unions in the RCMP, but too late to meet a Supreme Court deadline. Cabinet warned of confusion over multiple bargaining agents attempting to organize 18,000 Mounties: “Delaying the passage of this legislation is problematic”.
Cabinet will not support passage of a Senate bill on independent oversight of the Canada Border Services Agency. Public Services Minister Ralph Goodale yesterday said the bill was well-intentioned but untimely: “I cannot support the detail at this time”.
The Commons is signalling support for a private bill mandating first-ever national standards on disposal of mercury light bulbs. Regulators in 2014 promoted the sale of mercury-laden fluorescent bulbs without accounting for safe disposal: ““I asked what the regulations are for end-of-life mercury bulbs. I was shocked to hear there were none”.
More than a quarter of telemarketers nationwide have not registered with regulators, says CRTC research. And 90 percent have not subscribed to a Do Not Call List though the program is in its eighth year: ‘It’s a clear picture of the scope of telemarketing in Canada’.
Conservative MPs are appealing to cabinet to apply for a Supreme Court judgment on interprovincial trade barriers. It follows a New Brunswick court ruling that struck down a ban on the cross-border transport of beer: “This started in the 1920s”.
Nearly two million painkillers were stolen or disappeared from pharmacies and distributors over a fifteen-year period, new Health Canada records show. The chair of a Senate committee that examined prescription drug abuse proposed an immediate freeze on sales of Oxycodone: “It’s tragic”.
One of the nation’s leading architects says he will appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary to block a condo development on Indigenous lands near Parliament Hill. Douglas Cardinal called the Ottawa River development the product of 150 years of Canadian apartheid: “The lower courts don’t want to hear my voice as an Indigenous person”.
Most Canadians — including veterans – ignored a costly “call to action” ad campaign and skipped 2015 Remembrance Day ceremonies, new data show. The Department of Veterans Affairs outspent nearly every other federal agency’s ad budget in encouraging Canadians to observe Veterans’ Week; ‘This will assist in adjusting future media strategies’.
A railway employee who cited discriminatory benefits under the Canada Labour Code has lost a bid for a Supreme Court appeal. Justices declined to hear the woman who complained she would have received more generous benefits under Québec law: “We need a legislative amendment”.
