Small business advocates yesterday warned of a “tidal wave” of new regulations under the Canada Labour Code. Amendments inserted in 1,212-page budget bills passed by Parliament in 2017 and 2018 are to take effect September 1: "It’s just a confusing mess of changes."
Air Canada has received six months’ notice to begin removing English-only exit signs aboard its aircraft. A federal judge also ordered the airline to pay damages to a francophone passenger who complained his seatbelt buckle said “lift”.
A Québec consultant cited for breach of the Canada Elections Act received nearly a million dollars’ worth of federal contracts, records show. The company yesterday agreed to pay $447,876 in penalties and costs for illegal cash donations to Liberal and Conservative Party organizers: "Activities compromised the integrity of the political financing regime."
Unifor sought restrictions on use of a $595 million federal bailout for “failing print media”, according to Access To Information records. The union told the Department of Finance that funding should neither reward “every basement blogger” nor pay for media executive bonuses, and recommended a retired Supreme Court judge administer payouts: "Canadians will have a natural trepidation about government assistance to news organizations."
The popularity of tax evasion schemes is prompting the Canada Revenue Agency to ramp up anti-fraud initiatives. A third of taxpayers surveyed by the Agency, 36 percent, said they’d heard of dubious plans to “reduce the amount of federal tax you have to pay”.
Health Canada in Access To Information memos has warned staff working in cannabis regulation to avoid all investments with marijuana companies. “The possibility of post-employment conflict of interest for its employees, whether willful or accidental, is high,” said one memo.
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a hearing into allegations a Muslim tenant and Jewish landlord exchanged insults in breach of the province's Human Rights Code. The Tribunal noted both sides “have a difference of opinion as to who was the culprit”.
Newspaper publishers hired a Liberal lobbyist to negotiate a $595 million press bailout. Records including Access To Information documents detail the lobbying blitz by Isabel Metcalfe, ex-Liberal candidate for Parliament and campaign organizer for Environment Minister Catherine McKenna. No media that hired Metcalfe reported the fact: “I’m a large-L, hard core Liberal.”
Cabinet claims of 100,000 homebuyers benefiting from new equity loans are based on data that “could vary widely”, says CMHC. The federal insurer acknowledged actual take-up of the $1.25 billion program is unknown. Cabinet is to announce details next week: "The numbers just don't add up."
The Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations has been ordered to pay more than $100,000 for discriminating against an Indigenous employee. A federal labour board called the department’s misconduct a serious breach of the Human Rights Act: "It was all taken away."
Canadians should consider the “possibility of jobless growth” in future years, says a Privy Council think tank. The agency's director general in a submission to a Singapore symposium cautioned that “jobs might disappear and not come back.”
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna yesterday revised a June 13 promise never to raise the fifty dollar carbon tax. “There are no shortcuts,” McKenna told reporters: "The reality is we’re in a transition."
The federal media bailout will see taxpayers subsidize at least 32¢ of every dollar spent on news gathering by publishers, according to Access To Information records. Newspaper lobbyists petitioned the Department of Canadian Heritage for even more aid than was promised in the $595 million program: 'It's the best way to sustain journalism.'
Vancouver leads in cocaine use while marijuana consumption is higher in Halifax, federal statisticians said yesterday. A first-ever test of drug use in five cities using sewage samples shows promise in calculating the scope of the narcotics trade, said Statistics Canada: "That has never been done before."
Consumers are wary of buying farmed fish and worry about the industry’s environmental impact, says in-house research by the Department of Fisheries. Nearly a third of Canadians surveyed, 29 percent, said they oppose aquaculture altogether: ‘It is because of perceived irresponsible practices by the industry.’
