The Senate today votes on a back-to-work bill to end a mail strike following debate that saw Canada Post called the nation’s worst public sector employer. Several Liberal-appointed senators and a former Liberal labour minister oppose the bill: "The employer is getting everything they want."
Federal departments and agencies paid consultants nearly a million dollars for media coaching in two-and-a-half years, records show. Liberal and Conservative MPs questioned the spending as pointless: "I’d rather see zero spent on media training and nearly a million bucks go to pumps for people with diabetes."
Health Canada confirms red-and-black warning labels on foods high in salt, sugar and fat will cut sales. The department in consumer tests said front-of-package labels had shoppers think twice about buying foods deemed unhealthy: "It makes me scared to eat this."
A federal program to pay military-style death benefits to police widows has been delayed until 2019. The Department of Public Safety hired a private accounting firm to run the program to avoid any hint of favouritism in payment of $300,000 grants, it said: 'It demonstrates a fair and transparent decision-making process.'
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “They want to consult ‘at length’ where to sell pot in Ontario. Will delay store openings by half a year…”
A Crown corporation charged taxpayers nearly $90,000 for an image consultant six weeks before the Christmas firing of its CEO, accounts show. The Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation yesterday did not respond to an interview request: 'It's for general support in protecting the corporation’s reputation.'
The Senate for the second time in 7 years faces a weekend sitting to pass back-to-work legislation to end a mail strike. Cabinet yesterday introduced a bill ordering the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to end rotating strikes under threat of $100,000-a day fines: "Here we are again."
Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand yesterday said she worries the Department of Fisheries is too close to aquaculture companies. Gelfand told the Senate fisheries committee the department is open to suspicion it favours salmon-farming corporations over traditional fishermen: 'At what point do you say, stop?'
The Senate banking committee yesterday questioned Parliament’s anti-money laundering scheme as ineffectual. Of nearly 100 million cash transactions analyzed in the period from 2009 to 2014, only two resulted in successful prosecutions: "It seems like a waste of time, actually."
MPs on the Commons agriculture committee yesterday faulted animal rights groups for “social media attacks” on farmers. Remarks came a day after Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said advocacy groups have a right to free speech: "I follow social media and you’re attacking me."
A federal agency spent more than $300,000 on meals and refreshments in a two-month period, accounts show. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research did not reply to detailed written questions seeking an explanation of the billings. “Is this spam?” said David Coulombe, spokesperson for the agency.
Cabinet is prepared to introduce back-to-work legislation on striking members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers as early as Friday. “We are ready to act when needed,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday told the Commons.
Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden last night urged MPs to press minor sports officials for new measures to prevent concussions. Federal data show schoolboy hockey players aged 10 to 14 are the most concussion-prone children in Canada: "This is actually a bigger problem than we thought."
The Federal Court has ordered the Royal Bank to pay a customer $2,800 for breaching privacy law. Staff tossed a client’s tax records in a manager’s desk drawer while repeatedly claiming the files were secure or destroyed: 'She suffered some anxiety and stress.'
The Commons finance committee by an 8-1 vote has rejected labour amendments to a Pay Equity Act. Union executives said a feared loophole in the bill would allow employers to cite “diverse needs” in refusing to correct wages for underpaid women: "It would be a serious betrayal."
