Parliament would see a new Inspector General appointed to oversee all work of the Canada Border Services Agency under a proposal pending in the Senate. The bill’s sponsor said a cabinet-level appointee is needed to scrutinize the agency’s work: “These people have been operating without oversight”.
Montréal is in decline as a working city with its per capita GDP showing the sharpest drop of any municipality its size, new federal data show. The city’s rate of economic output now ranks lower than Winnipeg, Saskatoon or Victoria: “It is a measure of productivity”.
Blacklock’s Reporter today pauses to honour the nation’s war dead.
We thank the war correspondents who told their stories.
And we toast Tom Hyland Blacklock, 1917 correspondent for the Montreal Gazette and 2nd lieutenant, 20th Battalion, Halton Rifles, 1893.
Thank you for your service, Tommy — The Editor.
Transport Canada is conducting a multi-million dollar study of oil spill scenarios similar to a near-disaster with a Russian container ship off the B.C. coast October 17. The risk study targets shipping lanes in four provinces: “A national assessment needs to be relatively high-level”.
Canadian farmers’ use of pesticides increased 17% in two years, according to new federal data. Health Canada reported use of farm chemicals has now surpassed 62 million kilograms a year: “Growers need all the tools they have”.
The RCMP and Department of Justice are being sued over suspected faulty devices used to convict motorists of impaired driving. A Vancouver lawyer filed the Federal Court lawsuit asking that a judge recall the blood-alcohol readers: “We see people failing these tests who should not even have been stopped”.
The Green Party is alerting Northern Ontarians to proposals to permanently store the nation’s radioactive waste in the region. MP Bruce Hyer, deputy federal leader, said few attempts have been made to consult with residents: ‘How do people feel hosting nuclear waste for all time?’
A U.K.-style bill to simplify reporting of deaths to federal agencies is close to passage with all-party amendments. It follows an auditors’ report that complained of red tape facing families who attempt to settle tax and pension claims: “I had a personal experience”.
Sarah Silverman
thinks
we can laugh about everything,
but had she witnessed
the Canadian Government
refusing to answer a question
in the House of Commons
she wouldn’t have considered it funny,
and had she heard the Speaker
saying Question Period
isn’t Answer Period
– letting elected officials
reiterate the irrelevant –
she would have thought
it was even less amusing;
that’s why
Paul Calandra
and Andrew Scheer
can’t be found
in any of Sarah’s jokes,
in case you were
wondering.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
A federal drug recall bill yesterday was signed into law on expectations pharmaceutical companies will sue over its provisions. Bill C-17 compels drug firms to surrender “confidential business information” for any prescription medicine deemed to pose an imminent risk to Canadians: “I’m being sued right now”.
Cabinet will not strip Crown employees’ pension plans of guaranteed benefits without the approval of retirees, says a senior Conservative. Senator Claude Carignan, government leader in the Senate, said pending changes to the largest pension plans in the country will not proceed without unions’ approval: “Is that what you said?”
Regulators are closely watching “very large exposures” by banks with home loans, and will soon finalize guidelines for Canadian mortgage insurers says the Superintendent of Financial Institutions: “You can’t be heedless”.
Small businesses will save about $350 next year under a much-vaunted Job Credit program, officials confirm. The Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated the scheme will create a total of 800 new jobs over two years: “How much paperwork will this take for 350 bucks?”
Cabinet should adopt a national urban strategy similar to programs in the U.S. and U.K., say opposition MPs. New Democrats yesterday released a White Paper lamenting the “patchwork” of federal oversight on housing, transportation and infrastructure: “Canada needs a national agenda”.
Telecom companies can no longer force subscribers to serve 30 days’ notice to cancel cable TV or internet service, the federal broadcast regulator has ruled. The CRTC abolished the practice effective January 23: ‘Having to pay for another 30 days of service you don’t want doesn’t make sense’.
