No Duty Of Care At CRA

A tax preparer that waged a decades-old feud with the Canada Revenue Agency over a “duty of care” has been ordered to pay $675,000 in court costs. Prosecutors filed, then dropped fraud charges against the firm: "There is no such thing as a perfect investigation."

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Canadians Would Erase PMs

Most Canadians want portraits of prime ministers removed from banknotes, according to in-house research by the Bank of Canada. The bank has issued bills depicting dead prime ministers for eighty-four years: 'Great Canadians from other fields should be featured.'

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Rail Service Resumed At 6 am

Canadian National Railway Co. today resumed regular freight service at 6 am local time in cities nationwide following an eight-day national rail strike. It was the first shutdown of its kind in seven years. Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Parliament would not be compensating shippers for losses: "It's part of life."

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Memo’s Hateful: U.S. Scholar

A declassified Department of Justice memo claiming to explain root causes of anti-Semitism cites language never used by postwar German prosecutors, says a Brown University scholar. Staff declined comment on the secret 1987 memo by the department’s war crimes unit that pointed to Jewish “financial power” and “the image of the ‘Jew-Communist’.”

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Gov’t To Go Easy On Fines

Federal regulators in Access To Information memos say they will “use discretion” in enforcing contentious new animal welfare rules that take effect February 20, 2020. Farmers and truckers are liable for up to $50,000 in fines for harm to livestock and poultry in transport: "It is a contentious topic."

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Uphold Sticky Note Citation

A federal labour board has upheld the one-day suspension of a Statistics Canada analyst upset over a sticky note. “The employer had the burden of proving that the incident took place,” wrote an adjudicator: "Come and see me right away."

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$26.6M In Legal Fees OK’d

A federal judge yesterday approved a billion-dollar settlement of sexual harassment claims by ex-military that will see assault victims receive a maximum $150,000 in compensation. Fees for five law firms that handled the case total $26,560,000: 'The legal fees are fair and reasonable.'

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Jarring Memo On Holocaust

The Department of Justice in a jarring memo claimed European anti-Semitism was fueled in part by “incontrovertible” evidence of Jewish “financial power”. The 1987 memo marked secret was released by the national archives through Access To Information. The department had no comment: "We knew even in 1987 those are loaded terms."

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Post Office Conceals Payout

Canada Post will not disclose the cost of a decades-old pay equity claim for fear it “could be prejudicial” to the Crown corporation. Management settled last May 12 with the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association in a dispute dating from 1992: "Information will not be provided."

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$114K For Drug Suspension

Alberta’s Human Rights Tribunal has awarded a Calgary millwright more than $100,000 in damages and back pay after he was suspended for failing a drug test. “Human rights damages are on the rise,” said the Tribunal.

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Press Endorsements Okay

A national press ombudsman has rejected complaints over newspaper editors’ campaign endorsements, calling it an old election tradition. One federal study found few voters recall endorsements: "About two-thirds of the voters interviewed had no idea."

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Quiet On Back-To-Work Bill

Transport Minister Marc Garneau yesterday would not confirm cabinet is drafting back-to-work legislation to end a national rail strike. Parliament forced an end to six previous rail shutdowns dating from 1950: "We are convinced there is a solution."

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Energy Bills Stay As Is: Feds

Cabinet yesterday said it will not rewrite two contentious energy bills passed by Parliament last June 20. One measure is currently the target of a constitutional challenge in the Alberta Court of Appeal: "Look, the legislation is now in force."

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Complaint Took Ten Years

Federal judges have sharply criticized the Office of the Information Commissioner for a ten-year delay in processing an Access To Information complaint. “The administrative procedure in question constitutes a gross and outrageous abuse,” said the Federal Court of Appeal.

VIA Rail Redefines “Late”

VIA Rail in Access To Information records indicates one commuter train ran late 173 business days in a row though management claims on-time performance of seventy to eighty percent. The Crown railway yesterday did not comment on its definition of punctuality: "Passengers want to be on time."

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