Transport Canada is too close to auto lobbyists, says the Auditor General. Regulators privately consulted automakers on the cost and convenience of safety regulations without giving police, insurers or consumer groups the same privileged access, said an auditors’ report Oversight Of Passenger Vehicle Safety: "Manufacturers may have exercised disproportionate influence."
A $9 billion cabinet tax bill has survived a Conservative challenge. Senate Speaker George Furey yesterday ruled senators could not now amend the bill originally passed by the Commons September 20: "Our power is limited."
A National Research Council website to aid small business is strange, confusing and needlessly complex, says in-house research. The criticism is only the latest in a series of complaints over the Concierge program: "It's all over the place."
Regulators will examine the feasibility of installing black boxes on all commercial buses Canada-wide. A recommendation for mandatory data recorders followed a fatal 2013 bus accident in Ottawa that left six dead and 34 injured: "How long will it take?"
Cabinet is expected to set legal drug limits similar to alcohol-impaired driving standards under new marijuana regulations. The Department of Public Safety is surveying labs nationwide on their ability to process a flood of drug tests by police, employers and insurers: "This is a big problem."
Cabinet is repealing a Conservative labour bill that curbed federal employees’ right to strike. The Supreme Court in 2015 struck down a similar Saskatchewan law as unconstitutional: "We are moving to repeal unfair changes."
A federal labour board has upheld a penalty of two weeks’ pay for a Canada Border Services Agency guard who accepted free tickets to an Elton John concert in Lethbridge, Alta. The music-loving agent appeared on the concert Jumbotron wearing his government-issue ball cap: 'This could be perceived as a bribe.'
The Commons has amended a bill to halt landfilling of mercury light bulbs. MPs yesterday approved at report stage a milder bill proposing that Parliament “identify” safe practices in disposing of hundreds of thousands of compact fluorescent bulbs: "It's time we actually have the federal government asserting its power to regulate this toxin."
Environment Canada will enact long-promised curbs on chemicals used in refrigeration and foam insulation in 2019. Regulators have examined hydrofluorocarbon limits for the past two years: 'Without immediate action, emissions will increase.'
A former track star nominated to be immortalized on a Canadian banknote wrote race-tinged commentaries on black athletes as “coloured gals” and “dusky sprinters”, and made derogatory reference to squaws and Indigenous peoples “yelping” from a wigwam. The Bank of Canada declined to say if it reviewed the writings of Bobbie Rosenfeld prior to her nomination: “We opted for gender equity.”
Health Canada is finalizing regulations for first-ever guidelines on daily sugar consumption. Similar proposals were delayed in the past following lobbying from the nation’s largest supermarket chain, according to Access To Information records: "It is going to happen within a matter of weeks."
Senators propose to rewrite an auto safety bill. The Senate transport committee passed what it described as a small business-friendly amendment to a cabinet bill on vehicle recalls: "It doesn't cost the government a nickel."
The Bank of Canada has no data on the scope of foreign or corporate investment in farmland, executives told the Senate agriculture committee. Researchers at the University of Regina said overall institutional investment is small, but has accounted for 8 to 10 percent of transactions in some municipalities: "The big issue is whether it’s Canadian or foreign ownership."
National transit ridership fell last year despite a multi-million dollar federal tax credit for commuters who take the bus. Ridership declined in nine of the past 12 months, a total 0.6 percent overall, said Statistics Canada: "There have been fare increases."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “This three-Michelin-starred restaurant – Le Cinq – offers Parisian style gratinated onions, sea bass with caviar in fermented milk, and iced pistachio in red currant juice infused with Kirsch brandy…”
