Public Works Canada is privatizing a national historic site opened by John A. Macdonald in 1890. Local authorities warn of a difficult sale: 'It's hard to put a total dollar value on that'.
There are no figures on whether a multi-million dollar Children’s Fitness Tax Credit has had any impact on youth obesity, a Senate panel has been told. The YMCA said Canadians are “fooling ourselves” in thinking credits will slow obesity-relate disease: "On its own I don't think it is going to make the difference".
Federal regulation of bitcoin will have to be complex and far-reaching to delve into the minutiae of the pseudo-currency, attorneys have warned the Senate banking committee. Lawyers said bitcoin could not be easily regulated as money, a barter product or financial derivative: "You would have no idea".
Government seniors’ discounts should be abolished as a needless subsidy, says a think tank. The Institute for Research on Public Policy said property tax rebates, cut-rate bus passes and discounted recreational fees for seniors are a 20th century relic: "This is unfair".
Investment in clean-air technology can see a 50 percent spinoff on investment, according to the Conference Board of Canada. The board analysed Alberta’s clean energy fund, the Climate Change & Emissions Management Corp., in concluding spending generated net economic benefits: "There is no silver bullet".
Québec is cast as xenophobic, a caricature some Québecers have done little to dispel. Only the Québec Soccer Federation banned Sikh children from league matches; “They can play in their backyard,” the director-general said. Only a Québec lunch monitor humiliated a Filipino-Canadian boy who wanted to eat with a spoon. Yet in both instances, many Québecers were as outraged as anybody. The soccer league apologized; the school board was hit with $17,000 in damages from a provincial human rights tribunal.
Sociologist Gérard Bouchard acts as an unofficial translator, attempting a reasoned explanation of why Québec does what it does. Interculturalism is thoughtful and eloquent. The inexplicable has a very simple explanation, Bouchard writes: “multiculturalism” tunes to a different frequency in Québec than it does anywhere else.
Federal agencies paid more in $17 million in credit card transaction fees last year, according to the Department of Public Works. A bill currently before the Senate would drastically reduce Visa and MasterCard fees payable by public institutions and other vendors: "We pay".
Young Canada faces more “precarious” job prospects than a generation ago with a university degree offering no guarantee of meaningful work, a Liberal Senate caucus forum has been told. Analysts said the outlook for young job-seekers appeared bleak: 'Degrees don't qualify them to do very much'.
The RCMP are gaining new powers to jam cellphone service. Industry Canada proposed to exempt the Mounties from the Radiocommunications Act that forbids use of jammers under threat of $25,000 fines: "If it was too powerful..."
Food processors say they are not to blame for the nation’s obesity rate, but note they’ve commissioned no independent scientific research on the impact of sugar and salt on the Canadian diet: "Individuals paint our industry as a villain".
Government employees are being cautioned on ethics after a cabinet aide was cited for accepting perks from two trade associations and a mining company. Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson said public officials must beware of gifts from lobbyists: 'It's all part of the Ottawa scene'.
Federal regulators are giving the go-ahead to retire old-fashioned payphones after conceding the service now costs more than telecom companies recoup in 50¢ calls. Fewer than 56,000 payphones remain in service nationwide, said the CRTC: "We want to make sure Canadians are notified".
The tax department is buying Walkie-Talkies in event of a civilian emergency that knocks out all communications at its Ottawa offices. Canada Revenue Agency did not say what scenario it feared would cause a mass telecom failure: "This is quite a stretch".
Nearly a third of a billion dollars in student loans are being written off by the Government of Canada. Authorities disclosed the write-off at the Senate national finance committee: "It's a lot of money".
Railways face an April 1 deadline to comply with safety management policies once deemed too secretive and inaccessible to employees and the public. Rules require that all federally-regulated railways account for safe practices and report non-compliance: "These are long overdue".
