Cabinet is appealing a judge’s ruling that the fisheries department breached regulations when it sanctioned the transfer of diseased fish by one of Canada’s largest aquaculture salmon producers. Government attorneys filed Federal Court of Appeal documents claiming the judgment followed “erroneous” facts and “inadmissible” evidence: “We need to set the record straight”.
Canadian regulators have done little to ease the “red tape nightmares” of interprovincial trade, says an employers’ advocate. A members’ survey found a large proportion of companies rate it easier to do business in the U.S. than neighbouring provinces, according to the CFIB: “Do these barriers make sense?”
Parliament is bracing for more citizens’ participation after quietly shelving its 148-year tradition of accepting only paper petitions. The Commons this October will accept internet petitions with the election of a new Parliament: “We anticipate a lot of interest”.
The Commons has rejected a motion to limit cabinet’s use of funds earmarked for employment insurance. It follows a 2014 Supreme Court ruling that the government was entitled to spend billions in workers’ premiums on federal programs: “This is wrong and it needs to be protected”.
Canada Post “bought and paid for” research that mistakenly projected mammoth deficits as justification for service cuts, says the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. The union in a research paper questioned the “impartiality” of Conference Board figures cited by the Crown corporation: ‘Cabinet endorsed the plan from beginning to end’.
A federal probe targeting Apple Canada Inc. is expanding as investigators search through telecom documents dating from 2008. The anti-trust Competition Bureau is asking a federal judge to compel Canada’s largest telecom firms to surrender iPhone sales agreements: ‘It’s millions of transactions’.
Canada is one of the few fat industrialized countries without a sugar tax, says the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. An OECD researcher told Senate obesity hearings any new Canadian tax should be steep to be effective: “Everything you drink is part of a business, and the business model is to get you to drink more”.
Cabinet has formally approved competing ombudsmen’s services for unhappy bank customers in a decision rated confusing and unfair to consumers. A private company, ADR Chambers, effective August 5 will be legally recognized as an ombudsman for banks that pulled out of an industry-wide mediation program: “It is a confusing system”.
MPs have dismissed a bill doubling penalties for very drunk drivers. Debate on the measure that earlier won all-party support in the Commons was adjourned without a final vote: “The reality is now there will be more drunk drivers on the road this summer”.
Federal and provincial governments
to help Ottawa clean its river.
Huge storage tanks
will prevent raw sewage
from spilling into the waterway.
They all came for the announcement:
the Mayor, the MP, the MPP,
and the Federal Minister in charge.
It was a great photo-op:
a million citizens
– most of them toilet-trained –
are asking others to help in the clean-up
after using the washroom.
Just the place to be
if you’re a politician
with a healthy sense of
smell.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
New federal taxes on sugar-laced drinks and bans on kids’ food ads are needed if Canada is to curb obesity rates, a Senate panel has been told. Renewed appeals for legislation follow Statistics Canada data that 62% of the country is overweight or obese: ‘It is more dangerous for children to eat junk food in front of the TV than it is to play in the park’.
The federal anti-terror watchdog has been cited by a judge for threatening a halal butcher with $178,000 in fines or imprisonment for helping customers send $50 payments to family overseas. Federal Court ruled the Financial Transactions & Reports Analysis Centre was arbitrary and unreasonable: “The number of ‘terrorists’ uncovered as a result of this program is very small if existent at all”.
The Commons has rejected a proposal to review a Northern grocers’ subsidy amid complaints of high retail food prices. Conservative MPs yesterday dismissed a motion to scrutinize the Nutrition North program: “What is the profit being earned?”
Drunkenness is no defence against arson, the Supreme Court has ruled. Justices in a unanimous 7-0 decision rejected the claims of a Brockville, Ont. man who said he was too drunk to realize he’d burned down his ex-girlfriend’s home: “It should not mitigate responsibility”.
A Commons bill would mandate a yearly statistical analysis of living conditions for people over 65. The proportion of pension-age Canadians is forecast to rise from 15 to of 24% of the country within a generation: “Canadians have a right to be worried”.
