Privatized inspections of weights and measures are still being “phased in” more than five years after cabinet introduced a bill promising tougher scrutiny of gas pump gouging. Department of Industry memos indicate full inspections under Bill C-14 will not be in place till 2016, and violators will be let off with an “education” letter: “There have been no fines”.
A Conservative MP is refusing comment after co-opting a union slogan in a newspaper ad targeting voters. Cheryl Gallant, the party’s former Deputy House Leader, was cited by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers for misleading claims: “It’s utterly ridiculous”.
Health Canada is concealing routine drug company research cited as justification for new regulations on over-the-counter sales of a common painkiller. The department said Canadians would have to file Access To Information requests for the study, though it’s part of public consultations: “You give and they take”.
Canada’s largest locally-owned independent brewery has lost an epic trademark battle with a Mexican exporter. Evidence in the case included readings from a Spanish-English dictionary, and the menu from a burrito restaurant at the 1986 World’s Fair in Vancouver: “Only a minimal proportion of the Canadian population speaks Spanish”.
Fallout from a Canada-U.S. trade dispute could force the closure of food processing plants, warns an industry group. Cabinet has threatened to impose $1 billion in tariffs on American imports, from frozen orange juice to milled rice: “It will be another tax”.
Cabinet has quietly awarded election-year pay hikes and retroactive pension top-ups to senior civil servants. Raises newly-approved by the Prime Minister include 19% for a federal board chairman. The adjustments appeared to short-cut a recent Treasury Board order capping increases at 0.5%: “I have a difficult time”.
Federal Court has thrown out another lawsuit by adherents of the so-called “detax” movement blamed by Canada Revenue Agency for millions in lost taxes. Four Ontario plaintiffs challenged the Income Tax Act as unconstitutional: ‘It’s a well-known path of illogic, presumption and pseudo-legal rants’.
A seven-figure fine on Bell Canada for cooking positive reviews of its My Bell Mobile app sends a message to industry, says a consumer advocate. The company was fined $1.25 million after Bell employees wrote lavish reviews of the company’s own product: “This kind of behaviour is not uncommon”.
Heavy duty mechanics earn more than nurses, and plumbers make more than mathematicians, according to new data compiled by Employment Canada. The department noted at the peak of the oil boom, Alberta mechanics pulled in higher salaries than chemical engineers: “There are regional differences”.
The economy is fueling pessimism among the nation’s professional accountants, with a gloom index now at the highest level in six years. Nearly half of accountants surveyed doubt recovery is imminent: “It continues to be a concern”.
An appeal court cited To Kill A Mockingbird in tagging a Nova Scotia man a vexatious litigant. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,” a Halifax court quoted novelist Harper Lee in offering sympathy but no relief to a self-represented plaintiff.
Federal regulators are accused of sidestepping consumers’ claims in the collapse of a Montréal-staffed airline grounded in bankruptcy court. The advocacy group Air Passenger Rights said regulators have failed to contest lengthy SkyGreece proceedings that will see customers wait months for any possible compensation: “I am troubled by the inaction”.
The fisheries department is counting grey seals in a national park, Sable Island, for the first time since commissioning a plan to shoot and incinerate 220,000 animals. The department would not say if it finally approved plans to cull seals, blamed for eating too many fish: “Animals should be killed by a well-aimed shot to the head”.
A federal judge has cited Canada Revenue Agency for over-reach in a tax audit. The Agency had issued a sweeping order for information from a businessman accused of under-reporting millions in income: ‘It was overly extensive in breadth and depth’.
A drug company’s request is prompting Health Canada to consider approving higher non-prescription sales of the painkiller ibuprofen. The department declined an interview, and would not disclose research it claimed justified the regulatory change: “A manufacturer has submitted acceptable information”.
