Research suggests a link between toxic chemicals used in shale gas drilling and health effects on farm livestock, says the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. The group said new data confirming the phenomenon will be published later this month. It coincides with a Natural Resources Canada study on groundwater quality: “Contaminants may get into crops”.
The Government of Canada has ten times more meat inspectors than drug safety inspectors, according to accounts tabled in Parliament. And the number of pharmaceutical company inspections has actually declined in the past ten years: “They know the lay of the land”.
Canadian mining companies have appealed to the Senate for more tax write-offs, including a 35 percent credit on “infrastructure” spending. Critics said the request would provide miners with some of the most generous tax benefits in the world: “What is the deal for the Canadian taxpayer?”
A Commons reform bill seeks to curb cabinet’s powers to amend scores of pieces of legislation in one fell swoop. Provisions of so-called omnibus bills running to hundreds of pages have been struck down in numerous court judgments to date: “MPs aren’t able to do the job they are paid to do”.
CBC’s president claims the network lost money on the National Hockey League. Executives told a Senate committee that cuts to federal grants, not management’s loss of a 65-year monopoly on NHL broadcasting rights, was the cause of CBC’s troubles: “If you can’t make money on hockey in Canada, I don’t know what you could make money on”.
The use of miniature cameras by police has “serious implications” for privacy rights, warns a joint statement by the nation’s privacy commissioners. The caution comes five months after the RCMP launched a feasibility study on equipping officers with body-worn cameras. Federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien did not comment: “How do we know?”
A bill to extend workplace protection to interns would put “serious limits” on use of unpaid labour on Parliament Hill, says a Conservative MP. Caucus members expressed reservations with the measure to regulate interns under the Canada Labour Code: “While the protection is nice…”
Plumbing fixtures and other water-saving devices used in millions of Canadian homes would be subject to first-ever federal regulation under a bill introduced in the Commons. Canadians are among the heaviest water users on earth: “I think it’s time”.
The Commons has passed a bill to ban media and animal rights activists from photographing the annual Atlantic seal hunt. Bill C-555 permits RCMP to arrest anyone but sealers or government-licensed “observers” within 1.6 kilometres of the hunt: ‘It will not change a thing’.
Parliament is running short on time to ratify a signature trade pact with the European Union before the next election, says the Conservative chair of the Commons agriculture committee. Cabinet has given no indication when a ratification bill will be introduced: “The days are short”.
A group of 124 scientists and conservationists, including six retired federal researchers, are petitioning cabinet to withdraw proposed aquaculture amendments to the Fisheries Act. Petitioners say they are “gravely concerned” with permitted use of pesticides and other chemicals in fish habitat: “Why?”
Suicide is not a workplace death even if prompted by symptoms caused by an on-the-job accident, the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench has ruled. The judgment came in the case of a Canadian National Railway Co. signalman driven to hang himself after suffering with tinnitus: “This is not uncommon. It happens. It’s horrible”.
A Québec firm is claiming anti-college bias over the loss of a million-dollar federal accounting contract. The Gatineau consulting company says it lost a Public Works bid after staff rejected the college credentials of an employee: ‘This is discriminatory’.
Cabinet appears in breach of federal law over its refusal to divulge costs of a government program, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. The finding follows the defence department’s refusal to itemize costs of the latest overseas mission: “I’m calling it secrecy and deception”.
The Department of Labour claims Canadian hospitals faced having to turn off the heat due to a 24-hour strike by Canadian Pacific Rail engineers. Labour Minister Kellie Leitch made the claim in the House of Commons. No industry executives confirmed a fuel shortage. Leitch made similar unsubstantiated claims of dire consequences over a 2011 Canada Post strike: “I have received letters”.
