A proposed Canada Revenue registry of commercial tax preparers should be expanded to include income trusts, says an MP. The program targeting individual and corporate-paid tax filers deliberately excluded income trusts: "That's where a lot of the real money is hidden".
The Department of Fisheries is drawing mixed reviews with a proposal to sanction the release of dangerous substances into waterways. The fisheries minister could approve the release of “deleterious substances” to combat invasive species, aid aquaculture or conduct research: "It would have been against the law".
Federal prisons have been plagued with arson fires since the Correctional Service banned smoking by inmates, new data show. Authorities counted more than 600 arson fires in prisons since a smoking ban was first introduced in 2006: "There have been challenges and difficulties".
The Department of Finance is quiet on a lapsed promise to reduce the federal excise tax on diesel. The Minister of State for Finance, MP Kevin Sorenson declined comment on a cabinet pledge to halve the tax from 4¢ a litre to 2. “It was supposed to be great news".
A 50-year old navy ship sold as a scuba divers’ artificial reef poses an ecological risk and must not be sunk as is off the B.C. coast, warns Environment Canada. HMCS Annapolis is laced with toxic PCBs. Authorities sold it as an artificial reef in 2008 but only confirmed last week its PCB content exceeds federal law: "Environment Canada was not entirely candid".
Cabinet is being pressed to release confidential Canada Post feasibility studies on retail banking that were mysteriously shelved by management, and now concealed from the public. Toronto City Council voted 39-2 to have the post office divulge a secret report that concluded postal banking “would be a win-win strategy”.
A winter wireless auction may have raised $5.27 billion for the Government of Canada but results need to be weighted with many grains of salt, say analysts. Industry Canada saw auction proceeds rise 23% but only after doubling the length of licenses: "It may seem a lot higher than it is".
Canada Border Services Agency estimates 48,500 foreigners are in the country illegally. The disclosure came as cabinet proposed to restrict permits issued to international “students” who gain entry to Canada but never attend class: "I don't quite understand why we would tolerate this".
An obscure reference in budget documents to electronic jamming devices has analysts puzzled over what cabinet has in mind. Authorities refused comment on the initiative, except to caution that wireless signal blocking is a danger to the public: "It is not really clear what they're looking at."
Imperial Oil pays less tax today than it did in 1960. Bus drivers pay more. In this statistic we see the case for Inequality and the Fading of Redistributive Politics. Editors and contributors from leading universities document a phenomenon with scientific precision. Canada’s rich are definitely richer, the poor are not really much poorer, but recent years have put the middle class in a vise-like squeeze. In response Parliament passed a bill offering tax credits for hot tubs.
Canada Post is being flayed for its rollout of plans to suspend home mail delivery nationwide. MPs and authorities in the first communities to see service cuts complained of a lack of consultation: "It tells me they don't give a rat's ass".
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case of stock losses triggered by misleading media reports. The appeal in a Québec class-action lawsuit followed a 2010 incident in which a pharmaceutical firm saw trading suspended based on speculative reports its latest drug was a bust.
A U.S. trade practice blamed for more than $5 billion in Canadian losses is expected to drag into next year without resolution. Exporters expressed irritation with the process that’s already seen six years of protests, hearings and lawsuits: "It is taking much longer than we believe it should".
Federal regulators have approved payment of cash for news at CBC-TV, calling it a management responsibility. The CRTC dismissed a public complaint over a $97,729 payment from Parks Canada to have CBC cover an exclusive story two years ago: “Broadcasters are responsible for the content they air".
Cabinet will enact new regulations next Wednesday in a bid to stem the spread of a pig-killing virus confirmed in three provinces to date. The virus is raising fears of the 2003 mad cow outbreak that cost the cattle industry $6.3 billion: "It's a national event".
