The Canada Border Services Agency identified “privacy risks” in a biometric scheme to track air travelers, according to records. It involved a little-known pilot project run through a single airport last year: "Privacy risks and their proposed mitigating measures were identified."
A champion poker player beat the Canada Revenue Agency in Tax Court. A judge has ruled Jonathan Duhamel, first Canadian to win the World Series of Poker, did not have to declare winnings as taxable business income: "The ability to produce a gain in the game of poker is unpredictable."
“Negative perceptions” threaten a drab seabird that remains unloved compared to Newfoundland and Labrador’s famed puffin, says a federal study. The Department of Environment paid researchers $39,105 to survey Newfoundlanders’ emotional reaction to the “dirty,” “stinky” Leach’s Storm-Petrel compared to the popular puffin: "Seeing puffins made them feel happy, compassionate, excited."
Canadians writing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have a five percent chance of getting a reply, records show. The Privy Council Office explained the Prime Minister gets a lot of junk mail: "Almost every day as Prime Minister I learn new things."
School trustees were entitled to suspend or fire teachers even if vaccine mandates were not medically justified, a labour arbitrator has ruled. The decision came in the case of an Ontario school board that disciplined 52 elementary teachers who declined to show proof of vaccination: "There is no dispute that none of the provincial or public health authorities required or specifically recommended the board make vaccination mandatory."
Few Canadians, only two in a hundred, turn to CBC-TV for informative documentaries, says in-house federal research. The low viewership follows the launch of a CBC corporate plan to put “the audience at the heart of everything we do.”
Voters in Calgary and suburbs will send two more MPs to Parliament under a redistricting proposal detailed Saturday, the largest gain of any city in Canada. A Federal Boundaries Commission noted Calgary’s population grew ten percent over the past decade: "All the existing electoral districts have been changed."
Half of foreign college and university students in Canada are in the workforce, says federal research. The new figures follow a proposal from members of the Commons industry committee to lift a cap that limits foreign students to part time work: "International students have become an integral part of the labour force."
Canadians of a certain vintage can still recall when DDT was found in every kitchen cupboard and it was considered eccentric not to throw candy wrappings out the car window. The Ontario Department of Highways used to spend $1 million a year clearing roadside litter.
This did not change by osmosis. It took years of litigation and dramatic protest by a comparatively few people. “It was a burn-out job but you loved it,” one organizer tells author Ryan O’Connor. “It was what needed to be done so you did it.”
O’Connor’s First Green Wave chronicles the birth of environmental activism in Canada. It is a fresh account of Pollution Probe, a citizens’ committee that grew from the University of Toronto to include chapters from Halifax to Regina. Pollution Probe was never a mass movement; its membership peaked at some 1,500. The Kinsmen Club had 16,000. Yet its impact was far-reaching.
The Department of Environment is tracking the location of more than 715,000 Canadians who downloaded what ex-Minister Catherine McKenna once called a “super cool” weather app, records show. Staff said they also collected users’ email addresses but insisted the data scoop complied with privacy law: "Oh yes!!"
Members of the Senate communications committee are demanding cabinet spell out regulations under a YouTube bill that passed the Commons Tuesday by a 208 to 117 vote. Senators balked at demands they first pass the bill and see details later: "It will affect potentially every single Canadian who uses the internet."
Parliament yesterday gave speedy passage to a cabinet bill to close the “extreme intoxication” defence. The cabinet bill was prompted by a Supreme Court decision six weeks ago: "It is our duty as parliamentarians to move quickly to solve problems."
Cabinet’s proposal to boost new housing construction by 20,000 homes a year is a fraction of the number needed, according to CMHC figures released yesterday. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said current building trends are short by 400,000 a year: "Housing is one of the most difficult issues."
Former employees including a retired director general allege widespread sexual harassment in the federal prison service. One woman said coworkers left a dead mouse in her mailbox after she filed a complaint, according to Federal Court records: "She understood this to mean she was perceived as a ‘rat’ for reporting misconduct."
Cabinet has awarded Dr. Theresa Tam a 22 percent pay raise. The increase to $324,000 a year was approved despite missteps including Tam’s 2020 announcement that Covid “is largely under control” and her recommendation that Canadians use Kleenex to ward off infection: "Public health officers across the whole country have become this generation’s rock stars."
