Blacklock's Reporter

Canada is “missing” $145 billion worth of infrastructure, according to a national study. Researchers cited declining rates of federal investment in public works as a percentage of GDP since the 1950s, when massive projects included the Trans-Canada Highway.

Federal regulators are turning national parks into people-free zones in the name of “ecological integrity,” says the country’s largest youth organization. Scouts Canada said a generation of citizens has lost touch with the nation’s wilderness heritage due to Parks Canada policies.

A British Columbia man who helped sell a million dollars’ worth of crystals on eBay has received unfavourable feedback in Federal Tax Court. Wen Zhang, a Nanaimo taxi driver, was cited for hiding $69,466 worth of income from a family business after his dealings came under scrutiny in an eBay sweep by Canada Revenue.

Almost a decade after being hit with Pacific trade restrictions over mad cow disease, Canadian beef farmers will get a chance to sell more to Japan. The easing of regulations on exports could be worth $150,000,000 a year, industry said.

Canada is a C-grade performer on environmental issues, ranking 15 out of 17 developed countries in a Conference Board of Canada study. Only the United States and Australia were rated more hapless, with a D-grade: “It’s probably safe to say there has been a relatively steady decline."

Parliament’s iconic Centre Block is at “critical risk of failure” and could face “catastrophic” damage in an earthquake, according to a secret government report. The analysis, obtained by Blacklock’s through Access to Information, details systemic problems with the 1922 structure that is home to the House of Commons and Senate: “The need for seismic reinforcement and the means by which it might be accomplished are unresolved."

RCMP veterans attempting to unionize the force are trademarking a slogan of dissent to “motivate” fellow members, an organizer said. The group applied to trademark "Maintaining The Right," a variation on an official police motto.

Two Ontario inventors have patented a self-cleaning solar panel for sub-Arctic use that removes snow without brush work. A prototype was tested in Sudbury, Ont., where average January snowfall is 64 centimetres: "Results were good."

A national study cites “crippling” paperwork in Canadian agriculture, reporting almost universal complaints that red tape is worse today than three years ago. “As frustrating as all the paperwork is, it doesn’t all come from the government,” said one growers' group.

A sceptics’ organization, Bad Science Watch, is trademarking its name in pursuit of “unbiased factual information” in the drafting of federal regulations. “We want to be evocative and speak to the activist nature of the organization,” said the chair of the group that has petitioned MPs for "good science policy."

The government’s much-vaunted development of a biofuel-powered aircraft faces numerous challenges before it is commercially viable, reports an industry association. “They showed it can be done,” said an executive, but noted Canada currently has no plant capable of producing quantities of aviation-grade fuel.

On the edge of Saskatchewan’s Cypress Hills is the town of Eastend, population 471. It has four churches, a Kinsmen Club and Scotty, Canada’s largest Tyrannosaurus Rex. “It’s in the twilight zone,” writes Candace Savage, “where the plains of northern Montana meet and morph into the prairies of southern Saskatchewan.” It is also a crime scene.

Canadian media giants including newspaper corporations with billion-dollar revenues, have received six-figure government grants designed to help rural weeklies "overcome market disadvantages," records show. "The editorial department doesn't even know we apply for these grants," said the CEO of one corporation that received $565,988 in taxpayers' aid.

The odd journey of the Altona, a Pacific container ship moored for months off the British Columbia coast after surviving storms, bankruptcy and contamination by a uranium spill, has finally ended in Federal Court.

Sun Media Corp., famed for denouncing taxpayers' costs for welfare and arts funding, sought and received more than $800,000 in federal grants for weeklies in its print division over a two-year period, according to documents tabled in Parliament. The subsidies were intended to "produce and distribute high-quality Canadian editorial content," said the Department of Heritage.