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.’
Cabinet proposes to levy thousands of dollars in new fines and name and shame employers for breach of the Canada Labour Code. The labour department complained of widespread noncompliance of workplace safety and wage regulations: "It is important that offenders and violators be publicly named."
Children as young as 13 are twice as likely to illegally smoke cannabis than tobacco, says a Health Canada study. The research was conducted after Parliament legalized recreational marijuana for adults last October 17: "There is a type of normalization."
The Department of National Defence in a climate change initiative is spending $200,000 to study replacement of diesel generators in the North with mini-wind turbines. Diesel currently powers 100 percent of electricity in Nunavut, according to the National Energy Board: "There are major hurdles to overcome."
Cabinet has upheld a CRTC ruling dubbed a $20 million subsidy for Rogers Media Inc. The corporation was awarded a lucrative license to broadcast multilingual news programs despite 2013 cuts to its existing service: "The Commission caved."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “A new species has emerged in the United States. The Base…”
The Department of Natural Resources in an internal audit says a billion-dollar climate change program failed to meet all targets. “Lessons learned,” wrote auditors who found subsidies were paid to companies that went bankrupt or “struggled at some point with the profitability of their operations”.
