Environment Canada is hiring consultants to standardize weather data under a long-term plan to compile more accurate measures of snow and rainfall dating back nearly two centuries. The department noted the “high impact” of even tiny variables due to climate change: “Snowfall is ludicrous; we still use a ruler to measure the snowpack”.
The Commons is to take up debate on a private bill to ban oil tanker traffic off the northern coast of British Columbia. The proposal follows disclosures that Environment Canada is quietly conducting “legally defensible” research on the impact of an oil spill in the region: ‘The process is dysfunctional’.
Canada lacks clear regulations on radioactive radon gas and fails to take the health threat as seriously as other nations, says the Canadian Environmental Law Association. Researchers urged that cabinet promote a $3,000 tax credit to refit homes subject to poisoning: “We don’t need to be arguing on the science”.
The Supreme Court yesterday heard appeals in a case of misleading media reports blamed for a dramatic plunge in a drug company’s stock values. Canada remains the only G8 country without federal securities regulation: “It’s pretty new”.
Cabinet secretly ordered spy surveillance of political opponents in 1985 on suspicions that Communists infiltrated an anti-free trade group, newly-released records show. The Council of Canadians, founded by publisher Mel Hurtig, was placed under subversion watch. Council members included MPs and author Pierre Berton. Other groups blacklisted included CUPE, the United Food & Commercial Workers, and labour federations in two provinces: “It’s unbelievable”.
Canada Border Services Agency says it has enough funding to enforce a new anti-counterfeiting law despite budget cuts. A cabinet bill would require that border officers intercept knock-off goods, though the agency earlier said it found it a struggle to intercept narcotics: “This is a serious problem”.
Cabinet in a rare Sunday decree ordered railways to meet minimum weekly Prairie grain transport quotas all winter to the end of March. The order came just as previous tonnage rules were to expire: “It’s in everyone’s best interest”.
Finance Canada says despite millions spent it does not know many families have used a Children’s Fitness Tax Credit to enroll youngsters in sport for the first time. An official said it would be difficult to prove whether the credit changed lifestyles: “You spend a bunch of government money to have people do something they were going to do anyway”.
The impact of grizzly bears on mining and drilling is being researched by Environment Canada. The initiative comes amid concerns that British Columbia programs to protect grizzlies are inadequate; B.C. is home to the largest grizzly population in the country: “Undocumented killing remains a problem”.
A Prince Edward Island woman declared a “vexatious litigant” by the justice system has found no relief from the Supreme Court. The Charlottetown activist waged a decade-long quest to have the government refund her $50 driver’s license fee: ‘There were lengthy, confused ramblings’.
Newly-released records show cabinet cuts to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program came only weeks after government polling identified a public backlash against migrant labour. More than a third of Canadians surveyed wanted the entire program abolished; and 68 percent of Canadians said employers abused the plan: ‘Raise wages first’.
Two of the country’s largest cellphone companies face a class action lawsuit over nickel-and-dime charges on millions of customers, according to allegations. Bell and Telus are accused of rounding up cellphone billing minutes to charge seven million clients for time they never used: “Why?”
Parliamentary committees have passed a contentious amendment to federal law granting cabinet a veto over operations at Canadian airports. Industry executives cautioned the changes will see political meddling in management of airfields: “That seems rather quaint to say at this point”.
One year after cabinet’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, experts have told a Senate climate change forum new federal initiatives are needed to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Canada was the first signatory to the 1997 pact to revoke its endorsement, saving some $14 billion in penalties: “We need to make serious changes”.
The Commons finance committee has unanimously passed a federal ban on paper billing fees by telecom companies amid questions on why banks are exempt. Industry Minister James Moore said abolishing identical bank statement fees will require separate legislation: “It’s the dog that didn’t bark”.
