The Supreme Court is due to hear a last appeal in a landmark thirteen-year legal battle over federal powers to search lawyers’ files. Accounts obtained by Blacklock’s indicate the litigation cost taxpayers $3 million to date: “Whether it’s time well spent is another question”.
Cabinet will permit unrestricted oil tanker traffic through the “critical habitat” of Pacific humpback whales with revisions to its Species At Risk Act. The habit includes shipping lanes targeted by the proposed Enbridge Inc. Northern Gateway Pipeline: “They want to get the show on the road with Enbridge”.
Veterans Affairs Canada is being cited by a labour adjudicator after docking an employee’s pay for time missed due to a volcano. The Public Service Labour Relations Board ruled the department’s action was “unreasonable”.
The Canada Border Services Agency promises honest reporting of wait times under its latest attempt to avert travelers’ delays. The agency previously admitted to under-reporting wait times through guesswork: “I assumed this was already taking place”.
Cabinet should order the routine release of most government data for public scrutiny, says an MP. Complaints over concealment of federal documents were up 9 percent last year: ‘We need to look at the law’.
It starts in telemarketing.
Computers with human-like capabilities
make automated calls to customers,
deliver messages with precise intonation,
use voice recognition to engage in a dialogue.
People can’t always tell
whether they’re talking with a person
or a machine.
It ain’t stopping there.
A day will come
when these devices
will control our governments,
lead our nation.
They will make decisions about natural resources
while turning a blind eye
to the fragility of the environment,
the needs of indigenous communities.
They will close libraries and let go of scientists,
downplaying the value of research, knowledge, data.
They will stand up in the House of Commons
to deliver prescribed answers
with little relevancy to the issue at hand;
then sit, smile,
accept the cheer of their caucus
with a nod of approval,
wait for the next question
to come from the other robot
right across the aisle.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
The Commons will debate a private bill proclaiming a National Garden Day each and every June.
The legislation would celebrate home and commercial horticulture across Canada, including one Prairie City where the growing season lasts just eight weeks: “Nearly everybody loves flowers. It makes people feel good.”
Transport Canada is being taken to Federal Court over its refusal to divulge even basic information about the country’s no-fly list. The department was cited for concealing records by the Office of the Information Commissioner: ‘You are denied on the basis of nothing that you can know about’.
Widening restrictions on federal employees’ right to strike are a bid to weaken labour, says the Customs and Immigration Union. Employees are suing cabinet to overturn an order declaring as many as 1500 new employees “essential” and forbidden from striking: “That is their larger plan”.
A confidential cabinet memo cautions Canadians in certain occupations will have trouble finding work over the next decade. Industry Canada compiled a list of careers projected to flatten by the year 2022: “There will likely be pressure”.
Health Canada must amend “silly” rules under the Food and Drugs Act that regulate some types of lipstick in the same manner as cancer drugs, says a manufacturers’ group. Industry appealed for further amendments to a bill now before the Commons: “I have never met anyone who thinks this makes sense”.
Legislation governing migrant labour must prevent conditions akin to human trafficking, says an independent report. The study concluded the system is rife with abuses including five-figure recruitment fees charged by offshore recruiters: “It’s time we start taking this very seriously”.
Cabinet is being taken to Federal Court by employees on a claim it overreached in limiting workers’ right to strike. It is the first lawsuit of its kind stemming from no-strike provisions of an omnibus budget bill signed into law this past winter: “I think its completely ridiculous”.
A new federal privacy bill gives corporations “subjective” leeway in deciding when and where to divulge breaches of clients’ information, analysts say. Bill S-4 is the largest rewrite of federal privacy law since 2001: “This has been a long, long time coming”.
A 90-year lifespan will soon be commonplace for Canadians, says the Office of the Chief Actuary. Authorities said projections will see Canadians grow to be among the oldest people on earth: ‘How is the government planning to cover the costs?’
