Countless regulations are enough to make small business gag, the Commons industry committee was told. One tax attorney cited an Alberta-mandated guide instructing employers on how to safely hire a rent-a-car: "It makes me almost throw up."
An uproar over the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. probe forced an abrupt end to a routine meeting of the Commons finance committee. Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque, P.E.I.), committee chair, gaveled an adjournment after members began arguing over contacts with Lavalin lobbyists: "You can't silence me."
Sunwing Airlines Inc. spent more than a quarter-million dollars on late luggage deliveries to customers following nightmare holiday flights last April, according to documents filed with the Canadian Transportation Agency. The regulator cited Sunwing for breach of regulations after scores of flights were delayed: "Tensions began to rise."
Cabinet says it has no deadline to resume construction of taxpayer-owned Trans Mountain Pipeline following a second licensing approval by regulators. “We are not anticipating, basically,” an official told reporters: "We are not going to cut corners."
Senior officials yesterday told the Commons justice committee they cannot remember private meetings with lobbyists for SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. Michael Wernick, Clerk of the Privy Council, replied “I don’t recall” and “I don’t know” five times when questioned by MPs. Two Liberal appointees have resigned to date over allegations the Prime Minister’s Office sought to quash a criminal prosecution of the company on corruption charges: "Is that your testimony?"
The British Columbia Supreme Court has upheld an insurer’s refusal to pay out a house fire claim after the homeowner refused to report marijuana plants on the property. It's the first ruling of its kind since Parliament legalized home cultivation of cannabis plants: "Would it matter if I grew tomatoes or cucumbers?"
The labour department says it will not name owners of eight factories that illegally hired migrant farmworkers. Staff claimed disclosure would breach the Access To Information Act, though more than a hundred other scofflaws are identified on a federal website: "The names of the employers cannot be provided."
Canadian factories are getting pounded by 2018 Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum, says the chair of the Commons trade committee. A committee report urges that cabinet consider all “potential actions” to lift punishing cross-border duties: "Is there hurt out there? Yes there is."
A Québec judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit against Subway over its sale of chicken sandwiches. The Court said a 2017 CBC Marketplace report that prompted the lawsuit was of little value: "There is no misrepresentation."
The Conservative chair of the Senate transport committee yesterday invoked Chuck Berry and the Minnesota Vikings in ridiculing complaints over a turn of phrase he used in a speech at a public rally. Liberals described the language as too violent: “Ridiculous.”
The Commons by a vote of 159 to 133 yesterday rejected a judicial inquiry into alleged political interference in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. The House fell silent as former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould vowed to “speak my truth” on why she quit cabinet, and whether the Prime Minister’s Office pressured her to seek an out-of-court settlement with the contractor: "Canadians want to know."
Federal regulators plan an elaborate sting operation at banks to test lenders’ compliance with new consumer protection rules. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada is hiring 200 “mystery shoppers” to pose as everyday customers: "Oh, we’ve got a great credit card for you."
An estimated $114.7 million to care for illegal immigrants must be shared by all provinces, Border Security Minister Bill Blair yesterday told the Commons immigration committee. Blair acknowledged new funding is a fraction of costs carried by provinces and municipalities to date: "We’re not going to leave them on the street, in the snow.”
A cabinet bill to appoint a Commissioner of Indigenous Languages appears largely symbolic, Indigenous groups told the Commons heritage committee. Critics questioned a lack of committed funding and educational tools to preserve First Nations, Métis and Inuit dialects: "That makes me nervous."
Cabinet yesterday introduced contentious new animal welfare regulations. Reforms to protect livestock and poultry in transport prompted tens of thousands of petitions from farmers and animal rights advocates alike: "Canadians don't think animals should be mistreated in cages before they are killed for food."
