A human rights tribunal has dismissed a complaint alleging Christmas decorations discriminate against non-Christians. The dispute involved a holiday display at a credit union in Parksville, British Columbia: 'There is nothing particularly novel about this complaint.'
Colonial Extractions is an uncomfortable book – the best kind! Unique among 150-year old democracies, Canada prides itself for a clean past on foreign colonialism. Even the Pope has apologized for the great crime of empire-building: “There was sin and it was plentiful,” he said.
Not us. No gunboat diplomacy, no Opium Treaties, no rubber plantations. Then along comes Paula Butler of Trent University with this excruciating account of Canadian mining operations in Africa, and that sound you hear is the reader quietly dismounting from our high horse.
In a decade Canadian mining investment in Africa has grown tenfold, to some $24 billion. Canada is the largest offshore investor in African mines from Ghana to Madagascar. “Is Canada engaged today in colonialist resource appropriation?” Butler asks. In seeking answers, she interviews Canadian mining executives. Butler is white, her interview subjects are white; everybody relaxes. The result is striking. Butler hears “vintage colonial discourse characterized by a racialized world view. At one level, the narrative was cruder and starker than I had expected it to be.”
Cabinet spent more than $112,000 testing focus group reaction to marketing slogans for its national carbon tax, data show. Comparing the fuel charge to cigarette taxes polled well. Likening a carbon tax to snow tires was more confusing, researchers said: "It takes a bit of work."
Cabinet faces a federal lawsuit over fees it charges employers to apply for migrant labour. The $1,000 fee per application is an unconstitutional tax that exceeds the actual cost of processing permits, said a former Toronto lawyer: "They haven't done anything."
Environment Canada is studying the impact of landfill emissions on climate change targets. The department for the second time in two years will examine whether methane-producing waste can be converted to energy: "It doesn't go away."
A pilot has been denied Transport Canada security clearance over anger issues. A federal judge ruled the department was within its rights in citing a history of traffic incidents and a beer tent brawl as grounds for refusal: 'This will have significant negative consequences for the dream of a career in Canadian aviation.'
Few Canadians know of federal planning for the 150th anniversary of Confederation though the Department of Canadian Heritage has been working on it since 2011, data show. Government research indicates 1 in 4 people surveyed couldn’t be bothered watching festivities on TV: "I'm too busy."
Nearly 17 years after schoolchildren drowned in a tour boat disaster, Transport Canada is complying with promised regulatory changes to operators’ liability. The deaths were “the watershed event” that prompted amendments under the Marine Liability Act, an official said: "It has taken some time."
Fewer than 2 percent of Canadian voters have completed a free federal survey on electoral reform, MyDemocracy.ca. One researcher yesterday described the exercise as scientifically pointless: 'It is not a survey or a poll.'
Transport Canada is hiring researchers to gauge the impact of in-car video displays on driver distraction. The findings of the $200,000 research are expected by March 31: "This is an important piece of work."
The defence department is issuing 203 pages of specifications for new sleeping bags for the troops. The exhaustive contract notice surpasses an earlier record of 167 pages of specs for mukluks: "The soldier should be able to understand the function of the system."
About a third of Canadians remain indifferent to official bilingualism though it has been an Act of Parliament since 1969, says newly-released research. The Department of Canadian Heritage survey found 39 percent were indifferent when asked if they’re keen to “know more about Francophone communities.”
One major airport leads the nation in wait times for travelers to clear customs, according to Access To Information records. Vancouver International more than doubled other airports with the number of times travelers stood in line for up to an hour: 'A 20-minute wait is not always possible.'
VIA Rail for the second time in a month is being faulted by regulators for poor customer service. The latest complaint involved a passenger who claimed staff were “rude and aggressive” when she asked for help in boarding a train: "Service providers have a duty."
The Federal Court confirms an unidentified employee used a courthouse computer to edit Blacklock’s Wikipedia page. The edits occurred the same day a judge issued a $65,000 cost award against Blacklock’s for attempting to halt unauthorized distribution of copyright works by federal employees. The Attorney General’s department admits it leaked the $65,000 decision to a blogger and Globe & Mail columnist: “Set a higher bar for openness and transparency.”
