The immigration department has acknowledged a major privacy breach after personal information on hundreds of employees was accidentally released. Officials blamed “administrative error” for the violation of the Privacy Act: "The breach was discovered".
Federal auditors have been assigned to monitor “schemes” involving Tax-Free Savings Accounts, according to Canada Revenue Agency memos. Wealthier taxpayers have deposited billions under the program: "Taxpayers and their advisors are becoming increasingly aggressive".
The Governor General’s Office requires “tactful” telephone operators willing to manage “unusual” calls. Rideau Hall issued a job notice for switchboard staff with keen judgment willing to work overtime without extra pay: "No premium will be paid for weekends and statutory holidays".
A Supreme Court ruling gives provinces the go-ahead in enforcing automatic roadside suspensions for suspected drunk drivers. Justices upheld a British Columbia law that saw drivers lose their license without being convicted: "The state can punish you in ways other than sending you to prison".
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “In the Conservatives’ School of Economics, Canada is not in a recession; it’s only going through a contraction of the energy sector.
User fees make sense. People who want heated parking and water ski lessons could not fairly expect subsidies from non-skiing pedestrians. But what if true costs of goods or services are so deeply hidden no ordinary accounting is possible? This is where Cleaner, Greener, Healthier steps in. Professor David Boyd of Simon Fraser University calculates actual costs of environmental degradation and totes up the bill. The result is arresting.
Take pesticides. On the polluter-pay principle, Sweden taxes imported farm chemicals at $4.75 per kilogram; in Norway the rate is about $4.30. Finland, Denmark, France, Italy – all charge a pesticide tax reflecting the cost of environmental rehabilitation from the long-term effects of chemical use. The tax in Canada is zero. “Even worse, any pesticide used in agriculture regardless of its toxicity is exempt from the federal GST,” writes Boyd. “Rather than discourage the use of pesticides or reflect their substantial negative effects on human health and ecosystems, this subsidy encourages farmers to use pesticides instead of alternative methods of pest control.”
Privatized inspections of weights and measures are still being “phased in” more than five years after cabinet introduced a bill promising tougher scrutiny of gas pump gouging. Department of Industry memos indicate full inspections under Bill C-14 will not be in place till 2016, and violators will be let off with an "education" letter: "There have been no fines".
A Conservative MP is refusing comment after co-opting a union slogan in a newspaper ad targeting voters. Cheryl Gallant, the party’s former Deputy House Leader, was cited by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers for misleading claims: "It's utterly ridiculous".
Health Canada is concealing routine drug company research cited as justification for new regulations on over-the-counter sales of a common painkiller. The department said Canadians would have to file Access To Information requests for the study, though it’s part of public consultations: "You give and they take".
Canada's largest locally-owned independent brewery has lost an epic trademark battle with a Mexican exporter. Evidence in the case included readings from a Spanish-English dictionary, and the menu from a burrito restaurant at the 1986 World’s Fair in Vancouver: "Only a minimal proportion of the Canadian population speaks Spanish".
Fallout from a Canada-U.S. trade dispute could force the closure of food processing plants, warns an industry group. Cabinet has threatened to impose $1 billion in tariffs on American imports, from frozen orange juice to milled rice: "It will be another tax".
Cabinet has quietly awarded election-year pay hikes and retroactive pension top-ups to senior civil servants. Raises newly-approved by the Prime Minister include 19% for a federal board chairman. The adjustments appeared to short-cut a recent Treasury Board order capping increases at 0.5%: "I have a difficult time".
Federal Court has thrown out another lawsuit by adherents of the so-called “detax” movement blamed by Canada Revenue Agency for millions in lost taxes. Four Ontario plaintiffs challenged the Income Tax Act as unconstitutional: 'It's a well-known path of illogic, presumption and pseudo-legal rants'.
A seven-figure fine on Bell Canada for cooking positive reviews of its My Bell Mobile app sends a message to industry, says a consumer advocate. The company was fined $1.25 million after Bell employees wrote lavish reviews of the company’s own product: "This kind of behaviour is not uncommon".
Heavy duty mechanics earn more than nurses, and plumbers make more than mathematicians, according to new data compiled by Employment Canada. The department noted at the peak of the oil boom, Alberta mechanics pulled in higher salaries than chemical engineers: "There are regional differences".
