Natural Resources Canada is researching a massive bioenergy project to save millions on diesel fuel for Aboriginal communities so remote they’re off the power grid. The department cautioned there are challenges: "I think it is feasible".
Provinces are being urged to reconsider first-ever licensing of aquaculture production using imported salmon. A Department of Fisheries panel earlier cautioned imports of Norwegian stock could threaten wild salmon in Atlantic Canada: "Once that local population is gone, you don't get it back".
A federal judge citing “lack of sensitivity” has upheld a penniless Nigerian mother’s request to apply to remain in Canada on humanitarian grounds. Citizenship officers should not be “vilified” for enforcing the letter of the law, an analyst said: "The real world is messy".
Regulators should seek Canadians’ views on trade pacts affecting the dairy industry, says a producers’ group. Cabinet is reviewing a Conservative promise, never put in legislation, to offer $4.3 billion in compensation to dairy farmers under a Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty: 'It makes sense'.
The Department of Justice faces questions over a proposal that future Supreme Court appointees be fully bilingual. Parliament twice in six years rejected the language test for high court judges: "That's going to dramatically reduce the talent pool".
Telecom regulators are suing businesses in two provinces over unpaid fines for breaching the National Do Not Call List. Scofflaws failed to pay thousands in penalties for making unsolicited telemarketing calls, according to Federal Court documents filed by the CRTC: "There should be a mandated review and evidence to support the effectiveness of the Do Not Call List".
Breastfeeding is a lifestyle choice not a workplace right, says the Federal Court of Appeal. Judges dismissed claims of discrimination by an Industry Canada employee who sought permission to nurse her infant son on government time: "One must be at work to get paid".
Cash-strapped federal museum corporations have skipped millions in tax payments, documents show. One institution, the former Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que., left the federal government with an outstanding tax bill of nearly $14 million: "They will not be able to pay".
Health Canada will ban marketing of processed foods to children and legislate tougher labeling of salt and sugar, according to a Ministerial Mandate letter. The promised initiatives coincide with expected resumption of a Senate probe on rising obesity rates: 'We're bringing in tougher regulations'.
A succession of crime bills has left Canada with one of the highest incarceration rates in the industrialized world despite a sharp decline in overall offences, according to new Public Safety Canada data. The national crime rate dropped 33 percent since 1998 at the same time spending on federal prisons rose to $2.69 billion a year: "This represents an increase of 64.7 percent".
A Canadian firm’s bid to produce a chocolate spread to rival Nutella does not qualify as “scientific research” worthy of subsidies, Tax Court has ruled. A Québec company lost a claim for thousands in federal tax credits for experiments on an all-Canadian toast spread: "No one in the chocolate industry has been able to resolve this issue".
Cabinet should focus new policies on housing affordability, says a trade association. The appeal coincides with new data showing the average price of a single-family home nationwide is now $455,000: "They are getting more and more expensive".
Cabinet will repeal two contentious union bills and restore a 1930 Fair Wage policy eliminated by the last Parliament two years ago. No timeline is provided, though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote in Ministerial Mandate letters that legislation will be passed this term: "I expect us to deliver".
A Tommy Douglas-era law intended to protect farmers from bank foreclosure has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Justices ruled in favour of a Naicam, Sask. rancher who faced demands from creditors for repayment of a $10 million mortgage: "I wish it was wrong".
A Supreme Court judgment upholding the right of bankrupt drivers to avoid onerous fines is being cheered by analysts. The Court ruled on two drivers, from Alberta and Ontario, who were both denied a license for non-payment of old fines even after being discharged from bankruptcy: "It’s nice to see them both come out of the water".
