Twelve million Canadians who signed onto the national Do Not Call List are being promised lifetime freedom from unwanted telemarketing calls. The nation’s telecom regulator the CRTC said the list of registered users is now permanent: “It makes sense”.
Accountants are celebrating passage of legislation that requires MPs to sweep up orphaned tax amendments that clutter Parliament year over year. The measure was signed into law with an omnibus budget bill: “We are really happy”.
One-third of children’s foods tested contain trace levels of agricultural chemicals including two meals rated unsafe, says a Canadian Food Inspection Agency report. Chemicals found in kids’ meals included a common pesticide currently the subject of a Senate investigation: “Heavy metals may pose the greatest inherent risk”.
Lobbyists are proposing a bill to sanction roadside tests for motorists suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana. The group Mothers Against Drunk Drivers said police should gain greater powers to stop the drug-impaired: “I’d love to see drugs included in the bill”.
Canada Border Services Agency expects to collect $23 million a year in new mandatory visa fees on foreign visitors beginning in 2015. The Electronic Travel Authorization program applies only to air passengers: “There’s a risk of nickel and diming our tourists”.
Fewer than one-fifth of groups representing homeowners affected by Canada Post cuts have been contacted by the Crown corporation, research shows. Post management will begin eliminating doorstep mail delivery this October: “They didn’t consult at all”.
Another multi-million dollar charity fraud has unraveled in Tax Court. Canada Revenue revealed a church issued $3 million in faked receipts for parishioners. The Jesus Healing Centre acknowledged it falsified the accounts: “No sum ever approaching the $3 million was received”.
Telecom giant Bell Mobility is being ordered to pay thousands in damages after divulging a Manitoba cellphone customer’s PIN number and account history to an imposter. Federal Court concluded Bell breached the law by releasing the information, then waiting weeks to notify the account holder: “An unwarranted invasion of privacy occurred”.
A federal port authority is accused of breaching freedom of information laws with concealment of audited expenses. The Toronto Port Authority was named in a Federal Court action by the Office of the Information Commissioner in a case dating back five years: “I’d expect them to at least comply with federal law”.
Boat manufacturers are pressing Parliament to restore service cuts on the nation’s historic canal system amid sharp declines in traffic. Reduced hours followed a $29 million cut in Parks Canada’s budget two years ago: “What are the real savings?”
Changes to rules on migrant labour have left food processors and meatpackers scrambling to assess the impact on labour shortages, officials say. Foreign workers comprise one-tenth of the sector workforce: ‘The impact would be swift and severe’.
New research is planned on job prospects for workers in the nation’s original heritage industry, fishing. The Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters is commissioning a national study amid a 73% decline in the number of license holders in the past twenty years: ‘It’s a little grim’.
Contractors, restaurateurs and hotelkeepers in dozens of targeted Canadian cities face new restrictions on hiring migrant labour. Changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program would see a ban on hiring of new low-skilled migrants in metropolitan areas with a jobless rate of six percent or more: “Where is the shortage-of-labour strategy?”
Legislation mandating cuts in red tape is largely pointless say critics, noting it exempts the one department that generates the most paperwork — Finance Canada: “It is a staggeringly thin bill”.
Soap additives threaten fish and wildlife in the Great Lakes region, says an International Joint Commission official. Gordon Walker, Canadian commissioner, expressed alarm over the extent of damage from pinpoint-sized polyethylene microbeads: “We have got to get the message out”.
