Canadians have appealed to the public works department to use its imagination in refitting a landmark heritage building that’s cost taxpayers millions. The department purchased the 1932 U.S. Embassy at the foot of Parliament Hill for $4.5 million in 1999. It’s sat empty ever since: 'How about the world's largest suggestion box?'
The Department of Canadian Heritage sought help from Google Inc. on ways to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017. Staff contacted Google nine times in the past year, according to records tabled in Parliament: 'We asked how a Google brand study could work for Canada 150.'
A Crown corporation spent more than $6 million promoting its “brand image” after 72 years in business, say Access To Information files. Expenses included $20,750 in ads for Ottawa Senators home games: "The level of awareness is pretty small."
More than a quarter of telecom customers in some provinces suffer “bill shock”, says new federal research. And most Canadians are still unaware of a process introduced nine years ago to handle consumer complaints, according to a CRTC study: 'Improvements could be made.'
About 3 percent of registered charities benefit from a multi-million dollar tax credit for donations of corporate shares, new accounts show. The measure was intended to help charities “respond to the needs of Canadians,” according to the Department of Finance.
The fisheries department plans to take 38,000 aerial photographs in a survey of Atlantic Canada’s harp seal population. Researchers have chronicled a sharp rise in the number of seals since the export market for pelts collapsed under a 2009 European Union ban: "It's important to have good science."
Drug-impaired driving is commonplace and considered by many to be risk-free, warns Health Canada research. The findings follow $136,242 focus group studies in four Canadian cities: "If we don’t have roadside tests to screen for this, it’s going to go crazy."
The immigration department is complaining of scams involving a new $7 electronic visa imposed on overseas travelers to Canada. The department said it knew of unauthorized brokers charging air passengers 10 times the value or more to “process” claims: "Some have paid $85."
VIA Rail must mandate a policy that passengers wearing perfume or cologne move at a seat mates’ request, say federal regulators. The scent-free order was issued by the Canadian Transportation Agency: "It would not intrude on these passengers’ lives."
Crown corporations are in no conflict of interest if they assign their own lawyers to vet Access To Information disclosures, says Newfoundland & Labrador’s information commissioner. The practice is restricted under federal policy: "Basically they are saying they can do whatever they want."
Electricity rates could rise up to 77 percent under any climate change plan to replace fossil fuel, the Senate energy committee has been told. Researchers said even a massive conversion to electricity in home heating, transport and the commercial sector will not meet pollution targets: "It’s going to require everything from everybody."
Free 2017 admission to national parks for Canada’s 150th anniversary will cost Parks Canada more than $70 million, records show. The agency in Access To Information memos had proposed to drum up corporate sponsors to offset revenue losses: "Obviously it's a lot of money."
Canadian companies would be forbidden from knowingly investing in munitions companies that make cluster bombs, under a private Conservative bill introduced in the Senate. Some of the nation’s largest banks and insurers hold shares in weapons manufacturers, according to monitors: "My money is being used for this?"
A legal challenge of the 1934 Bank Of Canada Act over interest-free municipal loans has failed at Federal Court for a fifth time. The Court of Appeal struck down a lawsuit to force the Bank to offer financing under the Depression-era law: "There is nothing that we could usefully add."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “In the year 2056, Chapters will announce a major expansion to its gift section…”
