Regulators should limit use of “conditional” pesticide licensing that has seen chemicals approved for sale decades without environmental risk assessments, says Health Minister Rona Ambrose. Parliamentary committees have repeatedly sought curbs on conditional licensing, citing one case in which a pesticide was sold under temporary registration for 21 years: “Reduce or eliminate their use”.
New analysis on bird kills caused by wind turbines has important implications for the industry, says a Canadian researcher. Turbines are estimated to kill 23,300 birds a year in Canada and have been cited as a threat to endangered bats: “You can make this work”.
Veterans Affairs
struggles to handle
thousands of phone calls
from current and former military personnel.
Staff shortages,
technical glitches,
and budget cuts
are blamed.
Have they considered
moving their call centres
to India?
Let veterans enjoy a familiar-sounding voice
answering their inquiries;
let government services
reach the level of the private sector;
and let the savings begin.
(Editor’s note: Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday).
Veterans Affairs Canada is refusing comment on unreported spending of thousands of dollars on logoed coffee mugs, speaking fees, Tai Chi lessons and other expenses. The spending follows the 2014 closure of service offices for veterans in eight cities nationwide: “Veterans Affairs has not posted these contracts”.
VIA Rail predicts it will draw private investment by 2016 to dramatically revamp its busiest passenger routes. The Crown agency is seeking $3 billion to build its own track for speedier service from Toronto to Montréal: “We are confident”.
Canada rates poorly compared to other countries on new hiring of workers who lose their jobs, according to an international study. Newly-unemployed Canadians are less likely to quickly rebound from layoffs than jobless in much of Europe, said the OECD: “Rates for displaced workers are lower in Canada”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade in confidential notes praised Vietnam for “progress” on human rights even as lawmakers condemned the Communist state at parliamentary hearings. Files released through Access To Information indicate diplomats downplayed the issue when speaking with Vietnamese authorities: “We note progress has been made in many areas”.
A federal scheme to eliminate all paper cheques by 2016 has run into more difficulties. Canada Revenue Agency said it will not meet the deadline to substitute all cheques with direct deposit. The Department of Public Works earlier withdrew a notice that Canadians “must” submit bank account information to receive pension benefits and tax refunds: “CRA was granted an extension”.
The federal mortgage insurer is spending $124,000 on an audit of its French-language Twitter account and bilingual services at offices nationwide. CMHC proposes to hire investigators to randomly call employees to test their facility with English and French: ‘Social media are transforming our lives’.
Emissions from hundreds of thousands of gas lawn mowers, leaf and snow blowers, golf carts and other small engines are being researched by Environment Canada. The department said it requires data on whether equipment sold here meets U.S. emission standards introduced five years ago: “We don’t take the initiative on any of these things”.
A revised cabinet pledge to expand Canada-wide broadband service is “unambitious”, says an advocacy group. Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday said a re-elected cabinet would spend $200 million in subsidies over seven years to promote rural hook-ups: “It’s really just a drop in the bucket”.
The cash-strapped Canada Border Services Agency has resorted to once or twice-a-week checks for stolen autos under a federal law intended to curb black market exports. Memos obtained through Access To Information disclosed only a fraction of export containers have been checked for stolen vehicles: “We need funding”.
The Canadian inventor of the Hockey Tower equipment bag is suing Costco and others alleging infringement of its patent. The company earlier settled similar patent cases against Walmart and Sport Maska Inc.: ‘We take intellectual property rights pretty seriously’.
Enforcement of new disclosure rules on mining companies is being questioned by advocates. Natural Resources Canada is requiring that corporations disclose all six-figure payments to foreign governments: ‘It should be available from the get-go’.
The federal Tax Court has dismissed an unusual claim from a bibliophile. The booklover claimed Excise Tax credits for a collection of thousands of first editions, including one title that appeared to irritate the judge: “Everyone likes it”.
