MPs will consider creating a third chamber on Parliament Hill for backbenchers to read speeches into the record. The “parallel chamber” is similar to a meeting hall in the U.K. where then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke in 2013 in an event mistakenly reported by media as an address to the British Parliament: "We've had a lot of interest".
Natural Resources Canada is hiring a second staff volcanologist following research that rates 13 dormant volcanoes as a “high” or “moderate” hazard for ash fall. All the peaks are located in British Columbia, though a federal scientist warned fallout would likely head east: "People aren't aware of the volcano hazard".
Canada Border Services Agency has virtually given up intercepting shipping containers containing narcotics, say federal auditors. The findings confirm a confidential 2012 memo that dismissed drug seizures as too time consuming: "There are probably some things that are leaving the country that shouldn’t".
Cabinet approved scant funding for a vaunted crime crackdown on tobacco smuggling, new accounts show. RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency spent less than one percent of their budgets on a program cabinet claimed would “make our streets safe”.
Environment Canada has granted two mining corporations long extensions to comply with federal law on pollution controls. An advocacy group described the concessions as disturbing: "Industry gets what it wants".
A federal agency that oversees airport security is winning praise from Canada's chief auditor despite being cited for unlawful contracting. Auditor General Michael Ferguson said he found no irregularities at the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority amid damning Federal Court judgments: "We're satisfied".
The Canadian Transportation Agency says it’s reviewing a website notice found to mislead air passengers over compensation for delayed and cancelled flights. One advocate said the notice was disgusting: “The Agency is looking into the matter”.
Regulators are turning a profit on the National Do Not Call List. Sales of the list to telemarketers plus revenues from fines on scofflaws point to a multi-million dollar gain for the CRTC: "This could be a hefty cost".
Cabinet cut research funding for the Canadian Space Agency by 85% even as it appointed a Space Advisory Board to promote science, newly-released accounts show. A former Agency president earlier called it depressing: “We are a dog without teeth”.
Railway attorneys have lost their first Federal Court challenge of mandatory arbitration for shippers. Lawyers for CN sought access to confidential emails between an arbitrator and regulators at the Canadian Transportation Agency: "We have been railroaded for far too long".
Transport Canada can withhold port employees’ security clearance on hearsay, a federal judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of a Port of Vancouver electrician denied clearance on unproven allegations of wrongdoing: "It puts applicants in a difficult position".
Senate Conservatives will take a “very close look” at Liberal repeal of two labour bills, says a senior lawmaker. Conservatives retain a seven-vote majority in the Senate: “The Liberals want to help the union bosses”.
Air Canada is seeking a federal order to halt public release of its compensation schedule for passengers stranded by flight cancellations. A passengers’ advocate who obtained the data gave it to reporters: "There are no nuclear secrets here".
The Department of Public Safety says it can’t commit to restore funding for a prison addiction research centre, the only facility of its kind. Newly-released accounts show cabinet cut funding by $2.2 million – 38 percent more than originally claimed – even as it drafted a Drug-Free Prisons Act: "It could be that it was politically driven".
Canada’s wind turbine promoters must be nice to neighbours if the industry is to expand, says University of Waterloo research. Noise complaints earlier prompted thousands of Health Canada questionnaires: "It's a part of daily life".
