Vietnam is a corrupt and repressive police state that should be pressed by Canada on its “abysmal human rights record”, a dissidents’ group has told MPs. The testimony at a Commons committee came as MPs passed a bill to commemorate the 1975 fall of Saigon: ‘Corruption runs all the way to the top’.
More than 7 in 10 foreign visitors arriving in Canada by air will be subject to mandatory federal background checks under regulations to take effect in a year, excluding U.S. citizens. The rule applies to visitors from countries who don’t already require a Canadian visa including French and Germans: ‘It’s something between a visa, and nothing at all’.
The Senate has passed into law a red-tape reduction bill described as largely symbolic in repealing unnecessary regulations. The bill contains no penalties for violators, and exempts tax filings: ‘It doesn’t sound sexy to most Canadians’.
Cabinet has issued an order placing the Arctic wreckage of HMS Erebus under federal quarantine. Authorities would not say if divers found gold, which must be divvied up with the U.K government under a confidential memo: “Britain will assume responsibility for all reasonable costs”.
Farmers and fishermen with lifelong equity will save tens of thousands of dollars in federal tax under new capital gains rules. Cabinet proposed to raise the lifetime capital gains exemption by 23 percent: “It will provide incredible tax relief”.
“Skinny basic” cable and satellite TV services should cost no more than $25 as promised by the CRTC, says cabinet. “We’re going back to frankly what used to exist and I think it’s a good step,” said Heritage Minister Shelly Glover, responsible for telecom regulation: “It’s unfortunate that some people believe in quantity as opposed to quality”.
Cabinet has abandoned pre-election plans to strip benefits from Crown employees’ pension plans. Threatened cuts outlined a year ago are still being ‘assessed’, the Department of Finance said in budget documents. The department stressed no promised benefits would be cut without pensioners’ approval.
The Commons has passed a bill nicknamed the Drug-Free Prisons Act amid complaints it does nothing to free prisons of drugs. The bill cleared Third Reading on a voice vote: “Here is the kicker: the practice is already in place”.
Cabinet proposes to cut small business taxes by $180 million next year, if re-elected. The Department of Finance outlined a yearly half-point reduction in corporate income tax charged small firms over the next four years: “Hopefully whatever government comes to power will be able to manage it”.
Cabinet will mandate federal reporting of cyber-attacks under new security measures outlined in its 2015 budget. The government said it would also transfer $58 million in new funding for internet security, but over five years: “That extra money is a very small amount”.
MPs have defeated a bill extending Canada Labour Code protection to interns on a cabinet promise to introduce its own regulations at some future date. About 300,000 young Canadians do unpaid work each year, according to the Canadian Intern Association: “They know it is an issue but then they vote against the bill”.
Environment Canada is restricting use of hydrofluorocarbons as refrigerants in compliance with U.S. regulations. The European Union is to begin phasing out HFCs as an environmental peril this year: “We’d like Canada to lead for once”.
Cabinet will not reopen a Coast Guard Station in Vancouver despite delays in response to a spill of bunker fuel from a grain carrier in the city’s English Bay. “We are not talking about perfection,” said one Conservative MP: “Excellence is not the same as perfection”.
Environment Canada is attempting to regulate emissions of a suspected cancer-causing chemical three years after listing it as toxic. Hydrazine, used mainly to prevent corrosion in power plant boilers, is identified as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” by the European Commission and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: “It is dangerous”.
Canadians faced jail for driving a car or turning the thermostat above 16° under secret regulations drafted in case of a 1960s war with Soviet Russia. All cities were to be run by “Zone Commissioners” with the power to seize food and control the banks, according to secret Cold War files released under Access To Information: ‘They are extraordinary and very broad powers’.
