Environment Canada will permit horizontal oil drilling and seismic exploration at Sable Island National Park Reserve, calling it a “deal breaker” with petroleum giant Exxon Mobile. Industrial activity poses "no risk" to the park or its famed wild ponies, the environment minister says.
In an estimated million-dollar operation, the Department of Human Resources has retrieved thousands of data storage devices used by employees. It follows a mass privacy breach. The ministry rounded up and destroyed 15,600 USB keys and 159 portable hard drives used by staff, documents show.
Transport Canada is being pressed to develop a national air policy. It follows a Senate report that concluded costs are driving millions of Canadians to use U.S. airports. "Our airports and airlines are being priced out of the market," said the chair of the Senate's transport committee.
Environment Canada will not divulge records on dozens of major aviation fuel spills. The department rated the spills large enough to prove “harmful,” but withheld details. Blacklock's asked for data as the government moved to keep aviation fuel off a Toxic List that would more tightly control its production, storage and transport.
Canada Post is resigned to a $9 million loss on library services amid Conservative grumbling over its priorities. Postal managers are withdrawing their opposition to a bill that enshrines 19th century subsidies on interlibrary loans: "Perhaps Canada Post could look toward the top of their pyramid to find the money to pay for this," said one Conservative.
A federal agency admits it used gift shop surveys and Grade 7 student questionnaires to justify its $1.3 million ad budgets. The National Battlefields Commission cited the selective data in telling Parliament its marketing was 93% effective. Heritage Minister James Moore declined comment.
U.S. regulations on ship ballast threaten the viability of a new Canadian fleet of Great Lakes freighters, say owners. Vessels must be equipped with ballast treatment equipment, a measure intended to keep invasive species out of the lakes: "This is a game changer."
Federal research confirms the old adage: if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. A Statistics Canada study proves hours spent at work are not a factor for people attracted to volunteerism: "It's not the amount of time people spend at their job."
The beer trade is crediting Department of Finance policy with promoting microbreweries, but says the industry overall remains unfairly taxed compared to winemakers. The analysis followed new data showing the value of beer sales has declined from a 50 percent market share to 44 percent in the past decade.
A federal labour board has exonerated three Canada Border Services guards who carried loaded handguns into a tavern. The guards were docked a week’s pay for wearing holstered weapons while enjoying 2-for-1 wings night at a saloon called the Rock Bottom Bar & Grill.
A reform bill that provoked hot debate over a rail "duopoly" has cleared the Commons’ transport committee without amendments sought by industry critics. It followed 10 weeks of study, and testimony from one railway executive who lamented: "We just can't service everybody at once."
Suicides in Canada's military are most likely to occur in two specific months of the calendar, according to five-year data from the defence department. Analysts noted the figures did not include returning reservists who have retired from their units: "We need to determine if there are patterns."
Legislation before the Senate will “bury” unions and cost Canadians their privacy, says the Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House. Bill C-377 requires that 14,557 union locals publish confidential data under threat of $1,000-a day fines. The labour minister would not comment.
Parliamentarians have opened new hearings on income inequality amid references on tax tables, Scripture and life choices. “The rich are always making it, it seems, and the poor are getting poorer,” said Conservative Senator Don Meredith, a Pentecostal minister: “I’m worried about the marginalized people.”
The Canada Revenue Agency has imposed 8 percent staff cuts in federal offices assigned to tracking overseas tax dodgers, new records show. The reductions affect scores of staff in two divisions responsible for complex audits: "It's a mystery."
