Conservative bills to create two more commemoration days on the calendar have moved closer to becoming law. The Commons heritage committee unanimously approved a bill to create Lincoln Alexander Day after just 30 minutes of hearings: ‘How many days are left in the year?’
Transport Canada will introduce new fines on unsafe railways nearly eight years after the penalties were proposed by a federal panel. The proposal mirrors fines already levied on civil aviation and federally-regulated marine shippers: ‘Prosecution is very cumbersome’.
Health Canada must curb non-medical prescriptions of pain killers and work to ban the unnecessary use of antibiotics in food production, says a Senate committee report. The study by the Senate science and technology committee warned of excessive use of pharmaceutical chemicals as a public health risk: “We have got to deal with this”.
Cash transactions of as little as $200 or less are being monitored by a federal agency mandated to monitor terror financing, a Senate committee has been told. The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada confirmed it monitors even trivial cash transactions deemed “suspicious” by banks: “It’s way overboard”.
Canada Post will proceed with plans to abolish home mail delivery despite a Federal Court challenge and protest petitions with 202,00 signatures to date, the corporation says. The first service cuts to some 100,000 homeowners were introduced this week in five cities: ‘We’re confident’.
A bill before the Commons would see Parliament enact a U.S.-style “stand by your ad” law on political advertising. MP Kevin Lamoureux, Deputy Liberal House Leader, said his bill is inspired by American practices upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003: “I’m — and I endorsed this message”.
The navy is struggling for ways to decontaminate aging, toxic warships following a failed attempt to turn one PCB-laced destroyer escort into an artificial reef. Four vessels are to be scrapped over the next five years: “The value proposition here doesn’t make sense”.
Raising the minimum wage has no impact on long-term hiring by Canadian employers, says a Unifor study. Research tracked wage data and employment rates over a thirty-year period in concluding that fears of rate hikes as a job-killer are misplaced: “There is no statistical relationship”.
Newly-released federal research points to dismal youth voter turnout in pending civic elections in five provinces. Polling for the Privy Council Office noted Canadians under 34 typically see little connection to civic government: “When was the last time you saw a municipal Twitter feed?”
Health Canada proposes to regulate over-the-counter cosmetic contact lenses after compiling scores of reports of eye injuries. The initiative comes six years after MPs passed a motion to protect consumers from the lenses: “This is extremely concerning”.
A federal board has dismissed a Canada Labour Code appeal by a union executive stripped of membership after stealing more than $1.6 million from a British Columbia local. The Canada Industrial Relations Board threw out complaints of unfair treatment: ‘It was not a clever plan’.
Cabinet is again invoking a blacklist of threatened tariffs on Florida orange juice, Washington State apples and other goods following an international trade ruling against American regulations. The World Trade Organization as expected ruled in favour of Canada over a 2008 U.S. regulation on beef and pork shipments: ‘There’s no shadow of a doubt’.
Federal regulations are currently a “block” to expanding aquaculture and should be revised, says the head of a Senate panel examining the industry. Senator Fabian Manning said a fisheries committee report due in 2015 will focus on growing the trade: “Why have we flat-lined?”
A federal judge has ruled Canadian government agencies may conceal public information even if it’s already available on Google. The ruling came in a lawsuit against Natural Resources Canada for flouting the Access To Information Act: “What damage is done?”
Contractors are not entitled to hire offshore tradespeople even if they’re unable to keep Canadian talent, a federal judge has ruled. The decision followed a lawsuit by a British Columbia construction company that sought permits to hire carpenters under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program: “That is not the purpose of the program”.
