The Department of Foreign Affairs’ far-flung luxury real estate portfolio will further shrink with the “immediate sale” of a $900,000 mansion occupied by the High Commissioner to New Zealand. Authorities ordered the sale as an austerity measure: ‘It’s a beautifully crafted two-storey mansion with lush gardens’.
Cabinet has shown little initiative in providing for safe Arctic shipping and has few means of tracking oil spills, says the federal Commissioner of the Environment. The number of vessel movements through the remote North is already triple from 2002 and projected to grow with climate change: “Marine traffic is increasing while Coast Guard ice-breaking is decreasing”.
Revival of postal banks would restore retail financial services to more than a thousand Canadian communities without any bank or credit union, says new research. A study by the Canadian Postmasters & Assistants Association noted reintroduction of the postal bank network disbanded in 1968 would see Canada Post with the largest bank branch system in the nation: ‘Modernization is the answer’.
Agriculture Canada will amend its own omnibus farm bill amid complaints that new patent rules would limit farmers’ traditional ability to save and replant seeds. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told a Commons committee that “farmer-friendly” amendments will be introduced: “Who’s making our seed policy?”
Cabinet is reviewing Australia-style restrictions on foreign investment in the Canadian condo market. Confidential documents indicate the federal mortgage insurer CMHC researched limits on foreign speculators in a bid to avert a condo crash: “Condos are effectively becoming rental buildings”.
Industry Canada has okayed paperless labels on electronic consumer goods. The department ruled effective immediately, retailers of products from cellphones to tablets are exempt from traditional labels in favour of digital consumer data in an e-label format. The change follows debate over the health impact of microwave radiation: “This looks like they’re trying to put out even less information”.
Agri-business giant Louis Dreyfus Commodities Canada Ltd. has won a key federal ruling on rail regulation that is likely to be appealed to Federal Court. The Canadian Transportation Agency concluded the company failed to receive thousands of CN rail cars it ordered for deliveries at Prairie grain terminals last season: ‘It’s a monopoly situation’.
Nearly a year after ratifying an international treaty on mercury reduction, Environment Canada documents indicate regulators still lack any means of safely disposing of the toxin. The disclosure came in a consultation paper issued by the department: ‘It’s currently unknown’.
The energy workers’ union Unifor is suing to quash cabinet’s approval for the Northern Gateway Pipeline. In court documents the union argues the decision followed a flawed public review that ignored threats to the environment and fisheries: “Is this pipeline in the public interest or not?”
Tax authorities have seen more than a half-billion dollars in bogus tax claims under an internet-fueled conspiracy movement, records reveal. Canada Revenue Agency counts thousands of participants in a national “tax protester” campaign they described as aggressive and costly. The agency files were released through Access To Information: “The tax protest movement appears to be on the rise”.
The federal Business Development Bank is embroiled in a lawsuit after unwittingly giving a $550,000 loan to an apparent drug front. The bank financed a garden supply company later raided by police as a wholesaler for marijuana grow-ops: “It is hard to imagine this as an operating commercial establishment”.
The Senate will pass a bill proclaiming every April 2 as Pope John Paul II Day amid grumbling over a growing number of federal observances cluttering Canadians’ calendars: “What’s next, hot dog day?”
The Canadian Transportation Agency has dealt “a big blow” to farmers with a narrow technical ruling dismissing complaints of poor rail service, says the Canadian Canola Growers Association. The group was among the first to file complaints under 2013 legislation that promised to hold Canada’s largest railways to strict terms of service contracts: ‘They can’t be held to account’.
Cabinet is hiring consultants to develop a speedy “funding policy” for 313,000 employees’ pensions after proposing to cut benefits for government staff. The federal Treasury Board said a report is due by mid-2015 to consider “options regarding an appropriate funding policy structure”.
Cabinet is signalling rare support for a private Liberal bill, this one to simplify reporting of deaths to federal agencies. It follows a critical report that complained of red tape facing families who attempt to contact government departments to settle tax claims and cancel benefit cheques: ‘We think it’s common sense’.
