The military is hiring forensic archaeologists in anticipation of recovering more remains of Canadians killed in action overseas. The Department of National Defence said urban sprawl and new farming techniques are uncovering more skeletal remains of soldiers and air crew: "We will never forget."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “A song by Nina Simone envisioned a world awaiting the young, gifted and black…”
Industry Canada in 1995 published a landmark report on the internet. It envisioned a road of pencil-thin cable – they actually called it an “information superhighway” – with traffic cops and off-ramps, and even a toll plaza. One cabinet minister proposed a tax on all internet transactions.
Wrong again. No one anticipated an unregulated global web so extensive a faraway terrorist group named ISIS would use electronic propaganda to enlist Canadian mercenaries.
“The pleasure centre of the brain that’s stimulated by the internet is the same as the one stimulated by drugs,” writes Mark Bourrie in The Killing Game; “We have developed the greatest communication systems the world has ever seen and hooked almost everyone in the world to them.”
Cabinet will oppose passage of a Senate bill mandating prompt payment to trades and subcontractors on public works, says a parliamentary secretary. The government’s record on payments is near perfect, said MP Steven MacKinnon: "We're very sensitive."
Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin says the 1982 Charter of Rights expresses the nation’s identity despite any controversy or disappointments. McLachlin spoke yesterday at a Canada 150 symposium in the Senate: "It has neither led to chaos, nor can we claim it has produced a rights utopia."
Legal marijuana should result in a net reduction in medicare and court costs despite higher expenses for actual law enforcement, says the parliamentary secretary for justice. The remarks follow data that 27 percent of Canadians admit to driving under the influence of cannabis: "There are savings, significant savings."
A federal agency has cancelled a six-figure speechwriting contract that breached Treasury Board transparency rules. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions declined comment on the reversal prompted by an April 28 Blacklock’s story: "What can I tell you?"
Small businesses are appealing to cabinet to delay an obscure anti-spam regulation to take effect in six weeks. Effective July 1, consumers can sue retailers and marketers for $200 over unwanted emails. An Industry Canada memo obtained through Access To Information cited a “deluge of litigation”.
Prescription medicines cost public drug plans 12 percent more last year to $8.4 billion, says a federal regulator. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board said out-of-pocket expenses for Canadians without adequate insurance could not be calculated: "We do see these cost pressures."
A federal labour board has upheld the firing of a government shipping clerk accused of poisoning co-workers’ drinking water with Javex bleach. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency employee was acquitted at trial: "People in the basement don't really like each other."
Tax Court has ruled litigants have no automatic right to privacy even if case details are personally embarrassing. A judge dismissed a claim by one taxpayer who feared publication made him look like an incompetent businessman: "The right of the public to access the courts is considered one of necessity rather than convenience."
An Ottawa lawyer is attempting to certify a federal class action lawsuit over government pension errors. An estimated 250,000 employees and retirees, mainly women, are affected by mistakes in calculating benefits, according to a Federal Court application: “It is best not to discuss any of this.”
Nearly two-thirds of Canadians, 63 percent, skipped Veterans’ Week observances despite millions spent on a federal ad campaign, new data show. A bill awaiting a Third Reading vote in the Commons would designate November 11 a legal holiday: "Why?"
Federal Court for the second time in two months has cited the Department of Employment for poor enforcement of migrant labour rules. The latest judgment follows a critical audit that complained of weak management of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program: "The most basic requirements were not met in this case."
Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has struck down a contract that saw a First Nation billed $450 an hour with bonuses for negotiating a federal land claim. Courts will “not tolerate any sharp practice” by attorneys, a judge wrote: "A client should not need to verify the truth of what their lawyer is telling them."
