Federal researchers have rallied against funding cuts and purported censoring of scientists at Environment Canada, the National Research Council and other agencies. Investigators are probing complaints of a research gag: "Change comes from basic science."
Cabinet gets a poor reception as a communicator despite spending $10 million in TV ads to promote its 2013 budget. A confidential Department of Finance survey found most Canadians couldn't recall the ads, or had vague memories of seeing a maple leaf and hearing the word "jobs".
The Canadian Coast Guard is reviewing its costs in advance of an anticipated hike in 2014 service fees for commercial shippers. Fee revenues now total $40 million a year: "The Coast Guard has not been a model of efficiency."
Canada Revenue has won a ka-pow judgment against a cartoonist assessed a 10% penalty for repeatedly underreporting his taxable income. Auditors cited a Toronto animator who claimed a "simple oversight" when he failed to declare $55,702 in earnings: "The 10% penalty is devastating."
Factory, foundry and mill work continues to flatten with manufacturing jobs remaining below 10 percent of the national payroll, according to government analysts: "Companies don’t want to invest a lot in human capital when there is uncertainty out there."
The Supreme Court has ruled legislatures may retroactively protect employee pension benefits even in the face of contradictory judgments by a lower court. The 5-2 decision came in the case of a Québec bakers’ pension fund left with a multi-million dollar deficit after a company shutdown.
In another sign of a slow economy, new data show a steep drop in the rate of direct foreign investment in Canada. The rate fell 5 percent in the second quarter, along with declining foreign investments in Canadian stocks and bonds, deposits and the loonie: "You don't want to invest in Canada if you think the dollar is going to keep falling."
Canada Post confirms it still uses taxis to deliver letters despite owning one of the largest vehicle fleets in the country. The Crown agency would not divulge the cost; the minister responsible for the post office, Lisa Raitt, refused comment: "We use taxis".
Canadian critics of "appalling" U.S. behaviour blamed for billions in lost trade are pinning their hopes on a World Trade Organization hearing. The WTO on Sept. 25 will be asked to strike an investigatory panel into U.S. meat labeling, in a dispute that has dragged on five years: "Canada needs to respond forcefully."
Infrastructure Canada vows it will meet its own deadline in detailing new public works subsidies, though local authorities caution that time for planning is running short. Funding agreements have yet to be finalized six months after subsidies were promised: "Municipalities are anxious."
The Prime Minister’s alma mater is criticizing Stephen Harper’s wireless policy as “inefficient” and likely “unsuccessful” in benefiting consumers. The University of Calgary's School of Public Policy dismissed federal restrictions on big telecom firms as misguided: "We don't have a competition problem."
University of Alberta researchers in a 2012 project asked public library users in Edmonton, “Why are you here?” Responses varied. “Homework,” said one; “Homeless,” said another; “To read Hemingway”; “To nap”; “To browse, play chess, make friends”; “Because I’m a bookworm with no money.” Most of us discover libraries as children, and return to them as parents. All of us feel smaller when local libraries close.
Weak public response to a ballyhooed initiative on federal accountability has prompted the Treasury Board to try, try again. The "Open Government Strategy" drew 28 responses on a federal website: 24 critical, 3 positive and one from a Treasury Board employee.
The Department of Finance has incurred tens of thousands of dollars in penalties for failing to pay its bills on time. Accounts released through Access to Information show late-payment charges to federal contractors included $3 to Tim Hortons, and $1895 in penalties for skipping American Express bills.
Transport Canada is silent on renewed demands for upgrading of rail car safety standards in the aftermath of the Lac-Mégantic disaster. Investigators said the circumstance of the fiery Québec wreck again “calls into question” the use of obsolete tank cars that have been reviewed for years.
