A Senate panel is pressing Transport Canada to launch a national program to counter a leading threat to essential infrastructure – not terrorists, but backhoes. The Senate energy committee said regulators should mandate a standard call-before-you-dig system similar to a U.S. program enacted a decade ago: “They asked, who is going to pay for this?”
A Senate committee is being urged to call testimony from a former budget watchdog over amendments that allow cabinet to authorize debt without consulting Parliament. The changes to the Financial Administration Act were approved in 2007: “Their attitude is pretty clear”.
The Department of Fisheries is considering a small expansion of the hard-luck cod fishery off Newfoundland & Labrador. It follows a pilot project allowing some 900 fishermen to harvest unclaimed quotas: ‘If it isn’t economical they can’t fish anyway’.
The Department of Public Works has quietly withdrawn a notice that taxpayers “must” surrender their bank account information to the government to receive federal payments. It follows a protest from the Consumers’ Association of Canada: ‘People felt pressured’.
Employers are appealing to cabinet to ease a regulation that will see thousands of migrant workers expelled from the country after April 1. The trade association Restaurants Canada described the deadline as worrisome. Nationwide, food services companies are the leading employer under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program: ‘A crush of workers will have to go home’.
Cabinet is doubling taxpayer-guaranteed loan limits under an Industry Canada financing program for small business. Lenders said the changes would make the 54-year old program more useful: ‘Time marches on’.
A Commons committee has given cabinet till year’s end to account for the sustainability of government pension plans. The deadline comes as cabinet ponders changes that would strip Crown employees of guaranteed benefits: “How the heck would they know?”
A federal tribunal has quietly dismissed a racial profiling complaint against the Canada Border Services Agency. The ruling follows a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that customs officers are entitled to scrutinize Chinese travellers since it was “common” for them to violate Health Of Animals Regulations: “Inspectors are charged with protecting Canadians”.
Parliament must correct a loophole that allows lawmakers to conceal gifts so long as they consider their benefactor a “friend”, says a senator. The Senate committee on rules and procedures is to hold hearings next month on repealing the clause: ‘I think we all know who our friends are’.
A federal panel is urging that cabinet set more ambitious targets in red tape reduction after the Treasury Board reported net savings of $21 million in two years, less than one-tenth of one percent of the national budget: “In the grand scheme of things it’s a pretty small number”.
The Conference Board of Canada predicts automated vehicles will be on the road within a decade, though no robot cars are currently in production. The board yesterday predicted autos with crash-proof sensors could save the economy billions: ‘This is an issue the federal government cannot ignore’.
Confidential 2014 forecasts from economists hired by the Government of Canada predicted rising oil prices and a bigger “economic pie”. The data for senior staff at the Privy Council Office is newly-released through Access To Information: “Oil will rise in the long run”.
Exasperated Health Canada scientists blame “controversial” internet sites and inaccurate media reports for public alarm over wireless devices. Researchers in private memos and correspondence insist no health risk is posed by cellphones, radio towers, Wi-Fi, baby monitors or Smart Meters. The memos were released through Access To Information: ‘As a father I understand concerns. However as a scientist…”
In-house research by Finance Canada shows only 1 in 4 Canadians expect the economy to pick up. The department conducted the polling as it prepared to slash its forecast of a 2015 budget surplus: “Worse is yet to come”.
Federal limits on indoor exposure to nitrogen dioxide are to be reduced under a Health Canada proposal. The gas is produced by wood-burning stoves and heaters. Regulators haven’t adjusted the safety limit since 1987: ‘It’s been a long time’.
