Cabinet will complete plans to reform Canada Post as early as June, according to a Department of Finance memo. The document obtained through Access To Information cautioned that action is needed to address the post office’s $5.9 billion pension solvency deficit, the largest of any Crown corporation: 'Payments can be greater than its ability to pay.'
The number of bee colonies claiming pesticide-related deaths increased 11 percent last year, says a new Health Canada report. The reports were linked to corn and soybean seeds treated with neonicotinoid chemicals: "The delay in regulations is really frustrating."
Diplomats placed a rush order for a Made In The U.S.A. six-foot cardboard cut-out of the Prime Minister for display at the Canadian embassy in Washington, say Access To Information records. At least one official questioned the purchase as undignified: “It just doesn’t seem very Prime Ministerial.”
Government employees cannot name and shame contractors in public messages, a privacy commissioner has ruled. The decision came in a gossipy notice by the City of Corner Brook, Nfld. & Labrador: 'People are coming to grips with the breadth of the Privacy Act.'
Canada’s reputation for high costs is hurting auto production, says a confidential industry department memo. The 2016 memo said Canada is “not capturing its share of production” compared to Mexico.
Canada’s Muslim population will total 2.8 million within twenty years, says Statistics Canada. And the number of francophones outside Québec will decline by as much as 10 percent: 'Canada can be described as a nation of great diversity.'
Railways have no duty to make promised deliveries to shippers without a signed contract, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled. Judges dismissed a complaint Canadian National Railway Co. shortchanged shippers under a “flexible” policy on car rationing: "A railway company is not obliged."
Southern Ontario continues to have the worst air in the country despite closure of the province's last coal-fired power plant, says an Environment Canada report. The region has higher levels of sulphur dioxide than any other part of Canada: "We need to do a better job."
Border guards should beware of stereotyping minorities, say training guides and manuals for new Canada Border Services Agency staff. The Access To Information documents follow complaints of racial profiling at the Agency: "The OK sign has the same meaning in some countries as the middle finger."
Many Canadians are unaware of cabinet’s plans to introduce a national carbon tax, according to in-house government polling. Even fewer are interested in two key 2017 cabinet initiatives, said the $122,859 research: 'Thinking of the issues presently facing Canada, which one do you feel should receive the greatest attention?'
The Government of Canada is still selling VHS films though the world’s last manufacturer of exclusive Video Home System recorders halted production last year. Walmart has not sold VHS titles since 2005: 'It's a captivating 24-minute video on unapproved aircraft parts.'
A retired Canada Revenue Agency auditor cited for “unreliable” testimony has lost a federal lawsuit over a tax reassessment. It is the second case in two years involving former auditors faulted for incorrectly claiming business expenses: "He had kept all his business receipts in a shoe box."
Cabinet faces a last-ditch federal lawsuit to rescue a Conservative bill mandating disclosure of confidential union finances. A “public interest litigant” filed the Federal Court suit to save Bill C-377: "It was flawed legislation."
Cabinet will not fix a date to pass legislation creating a first-ever RCMP union despite missing two Supreme Court deadlines. The bill has yet to be taken up by MPs seven months after Senators broadened its terms: "How long does it take?"
Statistics Canada privately opposed the 2016 repeal of a law threatening jail for Census scofflaws out of concern it would “create confusion” during last year’s national count, say Access To Information memos. Prosecution of Census boycotters must continue, wrote then-Chief Statistician Wayne Smith: 'It reinforces the importance of the Census.'
