A former CMHC auditor in a Federal Court claim alleges he was fired after embarrassing managers with disclosures of misuse of funds by Québec’s provincial housing corporation. The allegations predate a February 20 review that faulted the Société Habitation du Québec for breaching provincial law: "The audit was an extreme success."
Most Canadians consider mandatory minimum sentences unfair and unnecessary, according to polling commissioned by the Department of Justice. “We put our trust in judges,” one respondent told researchers.
A union representing flight attendants has lost a five-year court challenge of Transport Canada safety regulations. The Canadian Union of Public Employees complained it had a right to be heard by cabinet, but was never fully consulted: "There is no duty of procedural fairness."
The Department of the Environment is granting a mining company approval to turn a freshwater lake into a tailings pond. The order requires that mine operators spend $2.2 million to create a new lake stocked with pickerel: 'It would destroy fish habitat.'
Blacklock’s pauses for the Victoria Day holiday with best wishes to subscribers and friends. We’re back tomorrow — The Editor.
Dundurn Press marks the twilight of an era with an intriguing project. They compiled commentaries from the nation’s most distinguished monarchists in what may be the last book of its kind in the era of Queen Elizabeth, 92. It’s a souvenir that documents deep public ambivalence. Canada in 2018 is one of only fifteen nations to retain the Queen as head of state. Others include Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
“The concept of the Queen of Canada or the Queen of New Zealand is an important legal and political reality,” writes contributor Sean Palmer. “However, beyond these constructions the public understanding of the Crown in each realm is not necessarily robust.”
Federal in-house research shows Canadians are wary of any free trade agreement with China. Cabinet has been attempting to negotiate a pact with the People’s Republic since 2016: "I distrust China."
The Canadian Transportation Agency has denied general compensation to unhappy Air Canada travelers including an 89-year old woman left without a wheelchair, and a young family denied boarding amid confusion over travel visas. Cabinet has promised enactment of a passenger rights’ bill with statutory damages by year’s end: "It's frustrating."
Invasive insects may spell an end to ash trees in whole regions of Canada, caution University of Waterloo researchers. Damage from the emerald ash borer first detected in Windsor, Ont. in 2002 is estimated in the billions: "It’s sort of like a slow-moving catastrophe."
The Department of Public Works will not say if Canada’s largest engineering firm will be struck from its bidders’ lists after a former executive yesterday was charged with arranging illegal political contributions. Under a 2015 policy, federal contractors convicted of wrongdoing can be blacklisted.
A federal consumer watchdog says it has lesser powers than provincial regulators to protect Canadians from unfair treatment by banks. The review by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada was prompted by 2016 Senate protests that the Agency is weak: 'They essentially admit it’s something of a toothless tiger.'
The Privy Council has asked federal managers to sign an oath that they will pay students hired for government work. The pledge obtained through Access To Information followed complaints from two-thirds of students hired last year: "We will hold ourselves accountable."
Cabinet yesterday introduced long-promised regulations to counter dumped goods like China-made steel. Amendments to the Special Import Measures Regulations followed two years of review: "We'd like to see them go further."
Canada’s newly-appointed ethics commissioner in one of his first acts in office hired an artistic director to devise a new look for the agency, according to records. Commissioner Mario Dion said he is also experimenting with video production: "It's fashionable."
In what may be the last sentence of its kind in Canada, a bookkeeper has been jailed 45 days for selling marijuana. Senators are to vote on whether to legalize cannabis in two weeks' time. “Courts should not condone defiance of the law even if a change in that law seems imminent,” wrote a judge in Kitchener, Ont.: "He got burned."
