Federal departments and agencies spent more than half a billion dollars on lawyers last year including $72 million in private legal fees to outside counsel, according to records. The spending followed appointment of a cabinet committee to oversee litigation strategy: "I’m just trying to keep the government accountable."
Criminal lawyers accuse cabinet of skewing crime statistics to justify a new gun bill. Witnesses at the Commons public safety committee said new regulations are unnecessary: "This legislation creates new criminal offences where none were needed."
New Democrats yesterday proposed full committee hearings on cabinet’s decision to nationalize an interprovincial pipeline. The Commons industry committee must investigate the impact of the Trans Mountain purchase on taxpayers and industry, said one MP: "It's not much of a plan."
Free copying has cost 1,000 publishing jobs in the past five years, the Canadian Publishers’ Council yesterday told the Commons industry committee. Publishers of books and newspapers appealed to MPs to tighten the Copyright Act to halt the practice: 'Our members reduced their workforce five percent each and every year.'
Canada’s music industry has lost billions from unpaid use of songs and outright copyright theft, Music Canada yesterday told the Commons heritage committee. The testimony came as the Department of Industry detailed research indicating 26 percent of Canadian internet users admit to accessing illegal content because “it’s what everyone else does”.
Federal agencies earned 61¢ on the dollar in the sale of used vehicles, equipment and other goods last year, the Auditor General reported yesterday. The investigation concluded most agencies it audited did not bother to determine whether it made sense to auction goods: 'They might not have made the best decision.'
The most generous charitable donors in Canada are older churchgoers, according to Statistics Canada data submitted to a Senate committee. The proportion of givers overall has remained static for a decade, officials said: 'The biggest donors are older, but also more likely to participate frequently in religious activities.'
Provinces would gain a legal right to ban home cultivation of marijuana under a vote yesterday by the Senate social affairs committee. Two provinces to date – Manitoba and Québec – have already proposed to outlaw homegrown marijuana: "All of a sudden we're in an awful hurry."
Members of the Commons finance committee yesterday criticized a federal bank watchdog for timid protection of consumer rights. “You’re not seen as protecting the little guy,” said Liberal MP Wayne Easter, committee chair: "We have a real problem."
Geological Survey of Canada research links fracking with minor earthquake activity. The findings echo a 2012 report by the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission: "Is it putting communities at risk?"
Alberta’s highest court has ordered the National Post to pay an uncommonly high $450,000 cost award for publishing a defamatory column a decade ago. The Court of Appeal faulted Post lawyers for failing to promptly disclose evidence involving the article by then-columnist Don Martin: “OMG it’s all bad.”
The Canada Border Services Agency yesterday issued a call to contractors to dismantle the M.V. Sun Sea, a cargo vessel seized after landing in British Columbia in 2010 with refugee claimants from Sri Lanka. The incident provoked lengthy Commons debate and a Canadian novel: '"The M.V. Sun Sea must be disposed of."
The Commons transport committee yesterday urged that Parliament pass a bill to protect war graves at sea. MPs counted 19 Canadian warships and merchant vessels sunk in coastal waters and the St. Lawrence River, and at least 50 military wrecks of foreign vessels: 'There is growing concern about looting and desecration.'
Senators today are expected to rewrite a bill to legalize marijuana. Two Senate committees recommended numerous changes, including a delay in the bill’s passage and a revision allowing provinces to ban home cultivation of cannabis plants: "This is all too fast."
The Bank of Canada says nearly a third of $100 banknotes have vanished from the regulated economy. The data suggest a thriving black market, said one former banker: "That’s a proxy for the underground economy."
