MPs have agreed to tweak the Commons code on conflict of interest but concede more work is needed on legislators’ ethics. The 41st Parliament saw two Commons resignations over irregularities: "There's still a lot more to do".
The RCMP is compiling an electronic database of “problem” employees. The program comes just five months after the Supreme Court ordered the Mounties to repeal a 1920 ban on unions: "To be sure there has usually been grumbling".
Health Canada aims to cut Canadians’ sugar consumption 30 percent with a quarter-billion dollar revision to food labeling. The department proposes long-promised reforms – but only to take effect in 2022 or so: "Sugar is in most of the foods we eat everyday".
Conservation groups should seek corporate sponsorships to save threatened species, says an Environment Canada official. The appeal follows a confidential Parks Canada plan to have oil and gas companies sponsor activities in national parks: "He who pays the piper calls the tune".
Marketing executives are accused of misleading lawmakers in opposing a national ban on TV food ads that target children. Lobbyists were cited for “bafflegab” at Senate obesity hearings after claiming a 35-year Québec ban has been ineffectual: "I am a bit skeptical of the industry".
A 21-year old free trade pact with Mexico has yet to produce expected results, says a Senate study. Canada’s bilateral trade with Mexico remains less than half the traffic with Michigan, according to Statistics Canada: 'It has yet to reach its full potential'.
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “Canada’s scientists claim their government silences them. An interesting hypothesis; but let’s check the facts…”
Parliament’s oldest MP is retiring at 78 after declining to give a goodbye speech to the House of Commons. The all-time seniority record for a Canadian legislator is 102: “I’m not big on farewell speeches”.
Health Canada’s national Food Guide has been compromised by lobbyists and must be revised, Senate obesity hearings have been told. Physicians said the Guide has Canadians drinking too much milk, and substituting sugary juices for raw fruit: "Get industry away from the table".
Part of Canada’s national rock collection is being thrown away to make room in an Ottawa warehouse. The Canadian Geological Survey said it will dump tons of minerals and soil samples carefully collected for scientific research: "It should have been offered to others".
Tax attorneys who face Law Society investigations on clients’ complaints cannot invoke confidentiality on their files, a court has ruled. Two tax lawyers had claimed their clients faced possible criminal prosecution if their tax files fell into Canada Revenue’s hands: "Solicitor-client privilege belongs to the client".
A bill introduced in the Commons would save small business owners, farmers and fishermen thousands of dollars in federal tax with the sale of the family company to children. Forty-eight percent of small proprietors are over age 50, according to Statistics Canada: "This bill seeks to address an injustice".
Railways are protesting higher insurance costs under new federal liability rules prompted by the Lac-Mégantic disaster. A five-fold increase in coverage for short line railways will cost jobs and affect service, executives say: "Where do we find the money to pay for this?"
The RCMP is paying a British Columbia publisher $174,000 for crime coverage. The Mounties said the contract is needed to publicize work of the province’s anti-gang unit: "We run our papers like everybody else".
The Senate has passed into law a cabinet bill limiting pipeline operators’ spill liability at a billion dollars. Pipeline accidents are equivalent to a teaspoon per barrel of oil shipped in Canada, the Senate was told: "The government's goal is zero incidents".
