Provinces would gain a legal right to ban home cultivation of marijuana under a vote yesterday by the Senate social affairs committee. Two provinces to date – Manitoba and Québec – have already proposed to outlaw homegrown marijuana: "All of a sudden we're in an awful hurry."
Members of the Commons finance committee yesterday criticized a federal bank watchdog for timid protection of consumer rights. “You’re not seen as protecting the little guy,” said Liberal MP Wayne Easter, committee chair: "We have a real problem."
Geological Survey of Canada research links fracking with minor earthquake activity. The findings echo a 2012 report by the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission: "Is it putting communities at risk?"
Alberta’s highest court has ordered the National Post to pay an uncommonly high $450,000 cost award for publishing a defamatory column a decade ago. The Court of Appeal faulted Post lawyers for failing to promptly disclose evidence involving the article by then-columnist Don Martin: “OMG it’s all bad.”
The Canada Border Services Agency yesterday issued a call to contractors to dismantle the M.V. Sun Sea, a cargo vessel seized after landing in British Columbia in 2010 with refugee claimants from Sri Lanka. The incident provoked lengthy Commons debate and a Canadian novel: '"The M.V. Sun Sea must be disposed of."
The Commons transport committee yesterday urged that Parliament pass a bill to protect war graves at sea. MPs counted 19 Canadian warships and merchant vessels sunk in coastal waters and the St. Lawrence River, and at least 50 military wrecks of foreign vessels: 'There is growing concern about looting and desecration.'
Senators today are expected to rewrite a bill to legalize marijuana. Two Senate committees recommended numerous changes, including a delay in the bill’s passage and a revision allowing provinces to ban home cultivation of cannabis plants: "This is all too fast."
The Bank of Canada says nearly a third of $100 banknotes have vanished from the regulated economy. The data suggest a thriving black market, said one former banker: "That’s a proxy for the underground economy."
The Canada Revenue Agency in Access To Information memos says Indigenous people are more likely than others to avoid filing a tax return even if they live off-reserve. Records disclosed federal agencies have spent four years attempting to gauge tax filing by First Nations: "There is a gap."
Prisoners have lost a Federal Court challenge of bank fees. A judge dismissed one inmate’s complaint he was charged $7 to pay a Court filing fee by money order: "All members of society when seeking bank services must pay,"
Gun clubs are protesting a federal bill that would subject owners to lifetime background checks by police. Further regulation of firearms is unnecessary, advocates told the Commons public security committee: "There’s nothing in this bill that will affect the behaviour of criminals."
Anti-terror surveillance is so haphazard one Liberal MP yesterday said his fiancé was flagged after wiring funds to India to buy a traditional wedding dress. The Commons finance committee earlier heard testimony from a University of Waterloo researcher that banks have also targeted depositors for wearing hoodies and sunglasses: "Why?"
Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Fréchette says he fears fake news peddlers will spoil new legislation permitting first-ever costing of party election platforms. The 2019 campaign will be the first under rules allowing the Office to calculate expenses of campaign promises: "What I am afraid of is third parties, like media."
The Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board has overturned the firing of a prison guard for marijuana use. The Board said the employee, though lacking in common sense, did not deserve dismissal for carrying cannabis in a government vehicle: "I think this is a serious lack of judgment."
Marine shippers yesterday applied for an exemption from the national carbon tax, one day after MPs voted to exempt 46,000 commercial fishermen. A lobbyist told the Senate energy committee the tax will cost shippers millions: "There’s a lineup at the door for everybody who wants to be exempted."
