Canada must treat immigrants as “customers” if employers are to ease labour shortages, says the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. The group representing 60,000 members proposed substituting the first-come, first-served system with speedy approvals for skilled foreigners recruited by employers: "We want a system that works quickly".
The Canadian Shipowners Association is suing the U.S. government in federal court over new environmental rules feared to restrict trade. In application in New York’s Second Circuit court, shipowners are pressing against regulations that would prohibit some Canadian vessels from entering U.S. ports: "Why did it come to this?"
A pioneering foundation created to combat gang violence in Toronto is surrendering its federal charter. It follows new data indicating Toronto has one of the lowest homicide rates in urban Canada. The Argos Foundation, established in 2005 as a registered charity by the football club, is quitting its charter under the Canada Corporations Act.
The RCMP are seeking more leeway in hiring outside experts as “temporary civilian employees”. Mounties have applied for an exemption from labour regulations that limit the hiring of temporary staff to 90 days a year: 'The RCMP would require flexibility'.
The Department of Fisheries is auctioning another piece of maritime history: an aging Coast Guard vessel that once made transatlantic headlines by confronting the Jacques Cousteau Society. The L’Isle-Rouge achieved fame off P.E.I. when it intercepted French movie makers trying to film feeding whales: "Bizarre".
Canada Revenue Agency has misplaced thousands of tax returns, cheques and documents mailed by taxpayers, confidential records show. In a string of incidents one official rated “embarrassing”, even registered letters appeared to vanish within the department: "This really doesn't make Canada Revenue Agency look very competent".
Aggressive” bank lenders signed off on nearly $73 billion worth of new loans to mainly big business borrowers in the first half of 2013, new data show. Figures indicate larger corporations had few troubles qualifying for new credit, while most small start-ups borrowed from family and friends.
The Conference Board of Canada is urging deregulation of one of the most tightly-controlled sectors of the nation’s transportation system: taxis. Analysts concluded the $2.2 billion cab industry has left larger cities with car shortages, such as Winnipeg where the number of taxi licenses has been capped since 1947.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture is endorsing an omnibus farm bill that ratifies a treaty on patents for plant breeders. The federation said it found no fault with Bill C-18 though critics among other groups have branded it a sell-out to multinational seed companies.
A private company hired by two banks to field customer complaints is applying for federal approval to sanction its mediation service amid consumer protests. Unhappy bank customers in Canada must turn to different ombudsmen, representing different banks, operating under different regulations: "No decisions have been made."
The author, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition: “Sat down to fix my flashlight…My cat watches me, silently. I turn to the TV. The Federal Ethics Commissioner investigates potential conflict of interest when money was paid to Senator Duffy…”
Germany’s national mail and freighting corporation is trademarking its postal banking service in Ottawa as beleaguered Canada Post faces demands to rethink its own service reforms.
Deutsche Post World Net applied to Industry Canada to trademark its financial services, including safety deposit boxes and currency exchange: "More competition would be a good thing."
Canada Revenue Agency is pointing to “red flags” at charity wine actions, accusing appraisers of grossly inflating values to boost tax credits. An agency directive claims unnamed appraisers overprice wines at three to five times the market value for buyers claiming a 29% charity credit: 'They know full well a bottle they receipt for $1000 will sell for $200'.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency proposes to study actual benefits of fertilizer deregulation months after it repealed rules in the name of red-tape reduction. The agency will contract a study of the impact of regulations eliminated last April 26: "The pendulum is shifting away from proper federal oversight".
Canada’s best-paid executives have been “remarkably resilient” in protecting pay packages that now average $7.96 million a pop, says an advocacy group. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives calculated the combined annual pay and perks of the nation’s Top 100 CEOs equals the deficits in five provinces: "The numbers are obviously pretty large."
