Blacklock's Reporter

Delays in new Health Canada guidelines on sugar consumption followed lobbying by the nation’s largest supermarket chain, documents show. Loblaw Companies Ltd. protested a federal proposal to cut Canadians’ sugar consumption 30 percent. The grocers’ input was “vital”, says a 2014 memo obtained through Access To Information: “Loblaws should be encouraged to continue working with the department”.

Federal contracting is too complex and fails to reward small Canadian-owned suppliers, says a Department of Public Works report. The findings follow consultations mailed to 130,000 government suppliers: “The current process is long and confusing”.

Changes to a federal lobbyists’ Code Of Conduct, the first in 18 years, would prevent lobbyists from concealing client identities or accepting confidential government documents. The new Code makes no mention of promised fines on advocates who breach the Lobbying Act: “There’s nothing substantive”.

A majority of Canadians, 78 percent, support more vigorous federal leadership on greenhouse gas emissions, according to University of Ottawa research. Fifty-seven percent rated environmental protection a higher priority than job creation or economic growth: “Some work needs to be done”.

Citing “significant” domino effects of any real estate crash, the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. is commissioning yet more research into market collapse scenarios. CMHC earlier sought data on spot indicators that may foretell a crash: “Don’t you think there is something dangerous and reckless that is happening?”

A contentious Enbridge Pipelines Inc. project appears headed for the Supreme Court after a lower federal court issued a rare 2-1 split decision on whether the licensing breached First Nations rights. The lawsuit targeted Enbridge’s Trailbreaker project to pipe Alberta oil from Sarnia, Ont. to Montréal: “Duty, like the honour of the Crown, does not evaporate”.

Canada Post is being put under new cabinet management. The reassignment comes two weeks after the post office abruptly halted a five-year plan to eliminate home mail delivery: “It says a lot”.

Regulators are spending $233,000 on new tests for mad cow disease more than a decade after an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy devastated the Canadian cattle industry. Inspectors also propose to double the number of animals tested: “Things have evolved a lot”.

Government employees are asking a federal judge to quash surveillance of private cellphone calls and text messages. The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers said members have seen their private wireless conversations recorded by management: ‘It does not have the jurisdiction’.

A federal judge has dismissed First Nations appeals for inflation on $5 payments to Aboriginals under 19th century treaties. Government lawyers warned the claim would cost up to $2 billion: “Canada has never adjusted the amount of the annuity payments”.

Newly-released details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact raise questions over auto tariffs and foreign investment, say analysts. Terms of the tentative agreement were released yesterday by the New Zealand Foreign Ministry. Cabinet promised a full public review for Canadians: “It’s quite clear that it will cost jobs”.

Cabinet is rolling back Conservative changes to census-taking but will maintain a little-used provision of the Statistics Act that threatens scofflaws with prosecution. Statistics Canada has described the jail sanction as pointless: “The law is the law”.

A new Parliament is expected to quickly repeal a law that would freeze cabinet pay and departmental operating budgets in case of a deficit. Cabinet has said it will run in the red in 2016 following previous Conservative claims of a paper-thin $1.4 billion surplus this year: ‘If Keynesian economics worked we wouldn’t have any debt right now’.

The fisheries department is seeking whether to harmonize aquaculture rules with the U.S., where regulators complain “negative public perceptions” have harmed industry growth. The department yesterday said it wants a “very thorough and comprehensive” review of American regulations.