Cable TV companies must write contracts in plain language and disclose all fees under a Code of Conduct drafted by broadcast regulators. The CRTC earlier issued similar requirements for cellphone providers under a 2013 Wireless Code: “It’s about time”.
Cellphones, Wi-Fi’s and other wireless devices pose no danger to Canadians, says a senior Department of Health official. Authorities dismissed claims of illness attributed to radiofrequency exposure: “‘No evidence of harm’; they just repeat it ad nauseam”.
Transport Canada has been cited by a federal judge after revoking security clearance for an airport cleaning woman over hearsay allegations of drug smuggling. The woman was fired without seeing evidence against her or learning the name of her accuser: “It was Kafkaesque”.
Cabinet billed $117,992 on photo backdrops for ministerial announcements in six months, according to accounts tabled in Parliament. The budget for media ornaments was run through 21 federal departments and agencies: “It appears cost is no factor”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is spending $12 million to train geologists and mining engineers in Ethiopia. Authorities said the budget, intended as foreign aid over five years, will develop university programs for Ethiopian-trained mine staff: “In terms of immediate needs of people in Ethiopia, geoscience is not one of them”.
Aquaculture operations are “feedlots” that endanger wild species, the Senate fisheries committee has been told. Opponents of open-pen fish production appealed to Senators to beware of the industry’s environmental impact: “We’re not scientists”.
Uncollected fines owed by defendants convicted of tax avoidance and other offences total more than $136 million, the Public Prosecution of Service has disclosed. Records show the value of scofflaw fines has nearly tripled in the past ten years. Authorities gave no reason for the trend: ‘Imagine 136 million; it’s incredible’.
Canada’s mortgage insurer is conducting a million condo survey in a bid to gauge the extent of speculation and rentals by proxy owners. It follows earlier attempts by CMHC to estimate foreign investment in a national condo market that’s grown 435% in the past thirty years: “Are you a Canadian citizen? Did you borrow money for your downpayment?”
Tens of thousands of migrant workers facing expulsion from Canada April 1 should be granted leeway to apply for citizenship, say Opposition MPs. Cabinet said the deadline remains for foreign workers who’ve been in the country since 2011: “It’s unfair and heartless”.
Québec has become the first province granted an exemption under federal law to regulate its own wastewater. Cabinet earlier granted the regulatory authority to Yukon and the Northwest Territories under the Fisheries Act: “The issue is the financial ability to upgrade”.
A Northern grocers’ subsidy questioned as ineffective will not be replaced by direct aid to consumers, says the Department of Northern Development. Officials said they will scrutinize grocers’ profits amid complaints $63.8 million subsidies have not benefited northerners: ‘When chicken is $45 it’s hard to believe it is subsidized’.
MPs have unanimously agreed to list an everyday cosmetic additive as environmentally toxic under federal law. It follows warnings over Great Lakes pollution caused by pinpoint-sized polyethylene microbeads: “They are pervasive; they are everywhere”.
Government employees are paid billions more than private sector employees for similar work, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Critics said the data is skewed by differing rates of unionization and comparatively low pay for women and minorities in the private sector: ‘It corrects discriminatory wage practices’.
The Commons in a debate laced with Cold War tensions has given agreement in principle to a bill commemorating the collapse of Saigon. MPs yesterday agreed to hold hearings on a private Conservative bill observing the communist takeover of South Vietnam and flight of refugees to Canada: ‘We need to hear all sides of the story’.
Cash-strapped Parks Canada is paying more than two million dollars a year in taxes on 19th century canals reserved for pleasure boaters, according to accounts tabled in Parliament. All the historic canals are out of commercial service: ‘Over 40% of cultural assets are in poor condition’.
