Transport Canada is mandating new safety regulations on school vans following a 2008 accident that killed eight people in New Brunswick. However regulators stopped short of requiring seat belts in all vehicles that transport schoolchildren, saying the measure would be expensive and impractical: ‘It would significantly increase the cost of school buses’.
The federal tax system is so complex Canada Revenue Agency is buying thousands of software kits to help individuals fill out government forms. The tax department contracted the off-the-shelf computer programs for use by community groups that volunteer to help Canadians complete their tax returns: “Things keep getting added and nothing ever gets removed”.
Cabinet will harmonize regulations on labeling of hazardous chemicals within two years, according to a notice. The initiative has been ongoing since 2011: “It took a lot longer than anyone had anticipated”.
A CBC union has been cited for violating the Canada Labour Code after a longtime shop steward harassed a fellow employee. Graphic details of the case were suggested in videotaped evidence submitted to the Canada Industrial Relations Board: ‘You do not admit to having left a moist substance’.
Fifty-four years after pioneering wheat sales to China, Canadian food exporters are largely unknown in the People’s Republic, complains an industry report. The Canadian Agriculture Policy Institute urged that federal regulators help boost sales: “Canadian food remains off the radar”.
Environment Canada is testing the Great Lakes for traces of a stew of chemicals including cocaine, insect repellent and an ingredient found in rat poison. More than 8 million Canadians draw their drinking water from the lakes: “We need to take this seriously”.
The disciplining of a “rogue employee” after three years of federal hearings and reviews points to an imbalance facing small employers, says an attorney who handled the case. A British Columbia food processor was the subject of 7 separate hearings on complaints by a single employee: “Often you’re dealing with Ma and Pa employers who don’t have great financial resources”.
Health Canada says it will name and shame pharmaceutical companies that fail to publicly warn of drug shortages, but stopped short of detailing a mandatory reporting system. The initiative comes almost a year to the day after Parliament rejected a bill compelling disclosure of shortages: ‘It’s very nice’.
An Alberta think tank that advocated charging the GST on food and rent now admits consumption taxes are “regressive”. The concession came from the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s alma mater: ‘Poor income groups couldn’t afford that very nice cut of beef anyway’.
A court test of Canada Revenue’s “duty of care” to investors in dubious tax shelters is headed for the Court of Appeal. A federal judge agreed taxpayers are entitled to ask whether they’re owed some warning when auditors consider a shelter questionable. Government attorneys are appealing the ruling: ‘Canada Revenue knew what was going on and sat back’.
A cabinet bill capping pipeline operator’s liability would cover only part of actual costs to clean up a 2010 Enbridge Inc. oil spill in Michigan. U.S. law carries no limit on expenses for environmental damage from a pipeline breach: “If it’s $1.2 billion, companies should be paying $1.2 billion”.
One of Canada’s largest public insurance corporations has a lost a bid to claim perpetual trademark rights to four letters of the alphabet. The decision follows introduction of a Commons bill to restrict the “weird” practice: ‘Canada is the only jurisdiction in the world that does this’.
MPs will mark the passing of a parliamentary era with a committee proposal to sanction electronic petitioning of legislators after the next election. The Conservative chair of the Commons House Affairs committee said a report, now being drafted, will see change: “I’m assuming it will be in place going forward”.
Legislation capping companies’ liability in case of oil spills or nuclear contamination has cleared the Senate energy committee. One official said the bill “clarifies responsibilities” though critics caution taxpayers will bear the cost of any disaster: “It is providing a very inappropriate subsidy”.
Parliament should mandate greater transparency on the use of pesticides, say environmental lawyers. The appeal follows data that use of farm chemicals has grown 17 percent in two years, including pesticides licensed for decades without studies on their long-term toxicity: ‘How do they justify this?’
