Two government managers named in a workplace harassment investigation have lost a Federal Court bid to challenge the findings. The pair of Canadian Food Inspection Agency executives said they were promised their names would be withheld from Parliament: "I have some sympathy."
Transport Canada in a confidential memo warns the national carbon tax will be difficult to calculate for air, rail and marine shippers and their customers. Industry must figure out “where fuel is burned on a trip that originates in one province and arrives in another.”
First-time homebuyers face new hurdles under a federal proposal to further restrict credit. Realtors and mortgage brokers blamed 2016 credit curbs for millions in lost business: "These rules will have an impact."
Members of the Commons health committee are being recalled a week early to launch hearings on a legal cannabis bill. A cabinet deadline for passage of the bill will see hearings open before Parliament returns from summer recess: "No votes, no interruptions, nothing."
The Department of Public Safety is budgeting millions for traffic safety ads in anticipation of legalized marijuana. An initial $1.9 million will be spent in the first year of a four-year campaign against drug-impaired driving, records show: "Driving while impaired by drugs is a major contributor to fatal road crashes."
A federal air security agency has compiled 405 pages of language complaints in the past six years, show Access To Information records. A bill mandating expanded French services in air transportation has languished in the Senate for a year: "It is ignorant attitudes like that which do not help our country’s language battles."
A federal cybersecurity agency says internet tricksters and “hacktivists motivated by ideological issues” could harass any Canadian political campaign for as little as $25. Disruption of actual voting is unlikely, said the Communications Security Establishment: "There is some potential vulnerability there."
The nation’s largest cable companies have lost an appeal of an 85 percent rate hike on telephone pole charges. An industry group said the fee spike undermines federal efforts to expand internet services: "It is going to have an impact."
Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould’s department is refusing comment on its role in a social media campaign to discredit Federal Court litigants. Government lawyers had personal contact with an Ottawa blogger, Howard Knopf, who then published commentaries ridiculing copyright plaintiffs. The incidents follow admissions that government staff edited Blacklock’s Wikipedia page: ‘Documents may have mentioned Mr. Knopf.’
The Royal Canadian Mint has paid millions to pull pennies out of circulation under a 2013 program. Cabinet’s decision to halt penny production as an austerity measure has now cost more than it saved, according to records: "Scrap metals were recovered from the coins".
A federal agency will spend more than half-a-million dollars to survey Grade 9 students on financial literacy. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada earlier blamed parents for failing to teach children about compound interest and credit terms: "There's a certain irony here."
A Crown agency blames the economy for higher tolls on some of the nation’s busiest cross-border bridges. Fees must offset revenue lost from traffic declines of as much as 20 percent, said the Federal Bridge Corporation Ltd: "Major challenges are being faced."
Air passenger complaints to federal regulators have tripled since cabinet promised to introduce a travelers’ rights bill. Complaints to the Canadian Transportation Agency skyrocketed even as the tribunal ruled it would no longer accept general complaints from consumers’ advocates: "Canadians will know what their rights are."
The Information Commissioner has filed a lawsuit to end a nine-year search for Access To Information records held by a federal agency. The dispute over disclosure – the longest to date – targets the St. John’s Port Authority: “I’d like to see an investigation into the whole works.”
In-house research by a federal tribunal concludes service to the public is slow and mediocre. The Social Security Tribunal commissioned the survey after MPs urged reforms: "None of them are very satisfied."
