Canada Post is refusing to disclose how many complaints it’s received over a national program to abolish home mail delivery. The number of complaints is “commercially sensitive” and deemed confidential, the Crown agency said: “Customers are freaking out!”
A majority of Health Canada employees who seek counselling say workplace conflict and other stress affects their ability to function. And 1 in 5 said they missed at least four days of work in the past month due to emotional problems: “I often found myself thinking about work at home”.
Canada has one of the poorest records of any industrialized county in combating urban “heat islands” blamed for micro-temperature gains in big cities, says a Québec analyst. Parliament last winter defeated a bill for a national program to control urban heat waves: ‘A couple of degrees makes a huge difference’.
Transport Canada faces more protest over a program to require installation of new safety equipment in every aircraft in the country. An industry group said the federal mandate would see thousands of pilots and owners install obsolete equipment at significant cost: “If the thing worked properly it would be a bargain”.
One in four Canadians expects the economy to further sink this year amid fears of lost savings and rising personal debt, according to pre-election polling by the Department of Finance. The in-house research found 23% fear the economy would get worse over six months; 42% fear a significant downturn within a year: “Wages have not kept pace”.
Federal regulators face an emergency request to aid passengers stranded by the closure of a Canadian-based airline, SkyGreece. The Canadian Transportation Agency received an application from an advocacy group Air Passenger Rights that it aid passengers and ensure SkyGreece assets are secured for payment of compensation claims: “This gives the Agency an opportunity to show where it stands on passenger issues”.
Regulators should limit use of “conditional” pesticide licensing that has seen chemicals approved for sale decades without environmental risk assessments, says Health Minister Rona Ambrose. Parliamentary committees have repeatedly sought curbs on conditional licensing, citing one case in which a pesticide was sold under temporary registration for 21 years: “Reduce or eliminate their use”.
New analysis on bird kills caused by wind turbines has important implications for the industry, says a Canadian researcher. Turbines are estimated to kill 23,300 birds a year in Canada and have been cited as a threat to endangered bats: “You can make this work”.
Veterans Affairs
struggles to handle
thousands of phone calls
from current and former military personnel.
Staff shortages,
technical glitches,
and budget cuts
are blamed.
Have they considered
moving their call centres
to India?
Let veterans enjoy a familiar-sounding voice
answering their inquiries;
let government services
reach the level of the private sector;
and let the savings begin.
(Editor’s note: Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday).
Veterans Affairs Canada is refusing comment on unreported spending of thousands of dollars on logoed coffee mugs, speaking fees, Tai Chi lessons and other expenses. The spending follows the 2014 closure of service offices for veterans in eight cities nationwide: “Veterans Affairs has not posted these contracts”.
VIA Rail predicts it will draw private investment by 2016 to dramatically revamp its busiest passenger routes. The Crown agency is seeking $3 billion to build its own track for speedier service from Toronto to Montréal: “We are confident”.
Canada rates poorly compared to other countries on new hiring of workers who lose their jobs, according to an international study. Newly-unemployed Canadians are less likely to quickly rebound from layoffs than jobless in much of Europe, said the OECD: “Rates for displaced workers are lower in Canada”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade in confidential notes praised Vietnam for “progress” on human rights even as lawmakers condemned the Communist state at parliamentary hearings. Files released through Access To Information indicate diplomats downplayed the issue when speaking with Vietnamese authorities: “We note progress has been made in many areas”.
A federal scheme to eliminate all paper cheques by 2016 has run into more difficulties. Canada Revenue Agency said it will not meet the deadline to substitute all cheques with direct deposit. The Department of Public Works earlier withdrew a notice that Canadians “must” submit bank account information to receive pension benefits and tax refunds: “CRA was granted an extension”.
The federal mortgage insurer is spending $124,000 on an audit of its French-language Twitter account and bilingual services at offices nationwide. CMHC proposes to hire investigators to randomly call employees to test their facility with English and French: ‘Social media are transforming our lives’.
