Shark fin imports remain a multi-million dollar trade despite repeated attempts to ban the practice, the Commons fisheries committee was told yesterday. Parliament is expected to prohibit imports next month: "It is a brutal, wasteful practice."
A Senator suspended for six months for posting offensive mail on her website has deleted the page. Senator Lynn Beyak (Non-Affiliated-Ont.) earlier described her punishment as Orwellian: "If we do not enjoy freedom of expression, we no longer enjoy the protection of the rule of law."
A former deputy federal Green Party leader in an apocalyptic novel forecasts the bankruptcy of municipalities by 2021 and rise of a xenophobic “True North Party” in Parliament in 2022. Release of the novel by David Chernushenko follows a claim by the Party leadership that climate change threatens civilization: "Climate change, climate chaos."
Railways may use new voice and video recorders to see if locomotive crews are sleeping, drinking or reading on the job, says Transport Canada. Regulations exempting rail employees from federal privacy law take effect in 2022: "The camera is in their face."
A federal panel is demanding the Canada Revenue Agency explain a 53 percent spike in its rejection of claims for certain disability tax credits. “There are many people being left behind,” said the vice-chair of the Disability Advisory Committee: "There are substantial numbers being refused."
Federal regulators have again delayed introduction of compensation rules under an air passenger rights code promised last December. Airlines require more time, said the Canadian Transportation Agency: "I wouldn't trust them with a cup of water."
More than 8 in 10 Canadians claim to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day, though data show the Royal Canadian Legion doesn’t distribute that many poppies. The claim in a Department of Veterans Affairs poll follows Elections Canada data that people also "over-remember" voting: "This is not at all uncommon."
Organizers of publicly-funded Pride Toronto face a six-figure federal lawsuit for statutory damages under the Copyright Act. A non-profit copyright collective accuses parade managers of ignoring multiple requests to pay royalties for music broadcast at their annual festival: "I am not sure about punitive damages."
Health Canada effective tomorrow will ban the sale of pre-mixed, high-alcohol canned drinks. The amendments to Food & Drug Regulations follow the death of a 14-year old schoolgirl: "Certain drinks skewed to a very young crowd really don’t need to be sold."
The publisher of a parody website lampooning what claims to be one of Canada’s best-read newspapers has been ordered to pay $23,532 in damages. Satirists explained readers would have to be “dyslexic or illiterate” to confuse Le Journal de Montréal with its comic counterpart Journal de Mourréal (Mourreal’s Diary): "Its not up to us to take readers by the hand."
A reporters’ association invited to join a federal press bailout panel yesterday said the work is so secretive it may quit the process before it begins. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez asked eight groups to suggest criteria on which Canadian publishers will receive $595 million in subsidies: “If there is some privacy issue – and I can’t imagine what it would be – they can explain that in public.”
The labour department yesterday commissioned new research to determine once and for all whether migrants lower Canadian wages. A 2016 federal study concluded foreign workers did lower pay in some trades, by as much as two percent: "We can’t have this as part of a business plan to keep wages low."
Health Canada scientific advisory panels are rife with appointees who’ve taken money from pharmaceutical companies, says a Canadian Medical Association Journal author. Conflict rules are so weak the department does not publicly record members’ votes on matters affecting drug sales: "This lack of information is troubling."
Most smokers tell Health Canada they consider themselves hardworking, friendly and responsible citizens. The department spent $145,412 on focus group interviews with smokers as part of a campaign to get millions to quit by 2036: "I enjoy it and don’t want to."
Migrants working illegally in Canada may claim Employment Insurance benefits, a Tax Court judge has ruled. The order came in the case of 14 Guatemalans at Victoriaville, Que. who were denied a claim since they had no valid contract with their employer: "They were easy targets."
