Fine print in an anti-counterfeiting bill will see manufacturers pay high costs to combat piracy and won’t halt black market goods that pass through Canada to U.S. buyers, the Senate trade committee has been told. Attorneys and executives cautioned the bill may achieve little: "What is this going to cost me in legal fees?"
A Conservative bill would see copper thieves punished under threat of $3,000 fines and up to 10 years’ imprisonment. The bill follows appeals from utility companies for tougher sanctions on theft of copper wiring: 'These are more than petty crimes'.
Proposed fisheries regulations on aquaculture firms are too onerous and will likely kill start-ups in the industry, says a Conservative senator. Cabinet proposes to exempt companies from a Fisheries Act provision that bans the use of pesticides in fish habitat: "Who in their right mind would get into this industry?"
Environment Canada is being petitioned by more than fifty medical and ecology groups to restrict the use of triclosan, an anti-bacterial additive in soap, toothpaste and other consumer products. Petitioners said the chemical should be listed as toxic: 'We are lagging behind'.
A bill to reduce federal red tape but exempt all tax measures appears pointless, says one of the country’s largest unions. The 170,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada told a Commons committee the bill grants cabinet no new powers it doesn't already have: 'It makes us wonder'.
Cabinet is harmonizing import rules with the U.S. on low-cost wholesale shipments across the border. The Canada Border Services Agency raised limits on small shipments that qualify for speedier processing: "We've been pushing this issue for a long, long time".
Cabinet has done little to hit promised targets on greenhouse gas emissions and is unlikely to meet commitments it made four years ago, says Canada’s environment commissioner. Julie Gelfand told a Senate panel that oil and gas regulations have been delayed so long the targets appear unachievable: "I can only give you the facts".
The Supreme Court is hearing a key case of an attorney who claimed solicitor-client privilege in withholding financial records from the Canada Revenue Agency. Lawyer Duncan Thompson of Cardston, Alta. invoked privilege in refusing to surrender details of his accounts receivable to tax authorities: "This is an important case".
One of Canada’s largest moving companies has lost a federal appeal over a five-figure settlement owed a truck driver fired without severance pay. Tippet-Richardson Ltd. pursued the case alleging a federal adjudicator showed bias at a Canada Labour Code hearing: "He is not a quitter".
Environment Canada in the past year has seen 19 prosecutions under a section of the Fisheries Act now being amended for aquaculture operators. The department collected $2.2 million in fines and penalties to date: "We are very, very concerned".
A long-awaited Commons investigation on rail safety may see “more stringent” insurance requirements but no radical changes, says the transport committee chair. Insurance rules have been under review since the 2013 Lac-Mégantic disaster: "We can't expect CN and CP to do it for nothing".
A Mountie has won the right to take a discrimination claim to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, bypassing an RCMP grievance system deemed dysfunctional. A federal judge agreed there was no reason the police veteran could not seek help outside the force: “The system we have doesn’t work”.
A Senate committee is accused of speeding passage of a private Conservative bill over objections of critics including the Government of Vietnam. The Senate’s human rights committee acknowledged it refused to hear from opponents of the measure to honour victims of Communism: "What was the rush?"
Canada’s patchwork of private drug plans will leave Canadians with less coverage and more regional disparities, cautions a new study. A report by the Institute for Research On Public Policy said provincial drug plans are inconsistent and vary widely by cost: 'These may not be the improvements people are looking for'.
A senior Conservative MP says federal management of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program has been questionable, and lamented the “abysmal history” of authorities in picking “business winners”. The deputy government House leader wrote his complaints in a letter to cabinet, released through Access To Information: 'I question how bureaucrats determine a business need'.
