The new cabinet is being urged to revive Canada Post plans for a retail banking network. The Crown corporation had studied the “win-win” idea till abruptly cancelling its research in 2013: 'It's what the 21st century post office might look like'.
Canada’s underground “detax” movement has lost another court ruling. A federal judge upheld 50 percent penalties against a Hydro Québec employee who claimed exemption from the Income Tax Act as a "natural" person: "I interpret the assessments as vengeance".
Urban Canada has become a land of apartment-dwellers with high density construction outstripping single-family homes at rates not seen since the 1960s, data show. Federal researchers did not investigate the ownership of rental units and condos: "This is a sixty-year analysis".
Canadians fear winter storms more than catastrophic disasters or pandemics, according to a first-ever federal survey on emergency preparedness. Power blackouts were also a worry: "This is actually the first time we have done this research".
Canada Post won’t say how much it spent on a suspended program to eliminate home mail delivery nationwide. The Crown corporation confirmed in a post-election statement it is halting installation of urban community mailboxes under a failed 2013 Action Plan. The post office declined comment on what it cost to date: 'The public should have input'.
Québec for the first time in history will shrink in relative population compared to the Prairies, says new Statistics Canada data. The forecast is the first of its kind since a 1992 “time bomb” proposal to guarantee Québec 25% of the seats in Parliament: "We opposed it and were called hysterical".
Apprenticeships are back after years of declining enrollment, according to federal research. The number of students in apprenticeship programs recovered to levels not seen since the 2008 recession: "We need timelier labour market information".
Natural Resources Canada is ordering more than $150,000 in new research on groundwater quality in the Great Lakes region. The Lakes face “challenges” including dumping of sewage and pesticide runoff, according to a 2014 Commons report: 'There is increasing recognition'.
The Department of Fisheries has logged 58 reports of harassment of whales by tour boats, sailors and jet skiers off the British Columbia coast in a two-year period. The incidents are detailed in reports released through Access To Information: "I witnessed an appalling act".
Construction of new single family homes will fall in all provinces but British Columbia by 2017, forecasts the federal mortgage insurer. CMHC also predicted five-year mortgages will cost as much as 6.5 percent: "We're not anticipating a complete collapse".
A shopper who claimed Loblaw Companies Ltd. offered gifts as a ruse to obtain personal information in a credit card application has seen his case thrown out of court. Evidence showed consumers were offered $40 in gift cards and a free bag of cookies to apply for a President’s Choice Financial MasterCard: "We need tools in place that can weed out cases".
Migrant workers permitted to stay in Canada as permanent residents earn up to $56,000 more per year than immigrants freshly arrived from abroad, says Statistics Canada. Employers said the research proves the value of a Temporary Foreign Worker Program curbed by cabinet in 2014: "This confirms what we have said".
Genteel Home & Garden Television is being cited for salty language by a national regulator. The cable programmer breached an ethics code by broadcasting cussing contractors before 9 o’clock at night, including one builder who used an expletive while grappling with a backhoe: "Workers conveyed their surprise or frustrations at difficult aspects of the construction".
The new 42nd Parliament will be the first in Canadian history to accept electronic petitioning on public complaints and advocacy issues. The initiative follows a year of study by MPs: "It seems like a no-brainer".
A federal judge has ruled Texas Hold ’em requires mathematical skill and is not a mindless game of chance per se. The Court finding came in a poker player’s challenge of the Department of Citizenship: "You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..."
