The economy is fueling pessimism among the nation’s professional accountants, with a gloom index now at the highest level in six years. Nearly half of accountants surveyed doubt recovery is imminent: "It continues to be a concern".
An appeal court cited To Kill A Mockingbird in tagging a Nova Scotia man a vexatious litigant. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,” a Halifax court quoted novelist Harper Lee in offering sympathy but no relief to a self-represented plaintiff.
Federal regulators are accused of sidestepping consumers’ claims in the collapse of a Montréal-staffed airline grounded in bankruptcy court. The advocacy group Air Passenger Rights said regulators have failed to contest lengthy SkyGreece proceedings that will see customers wait months for any possible compensation: "I am troubled by the inaction".
The fisheries department is counting grey seals in a national park, Sable Island, for the first time since commissioning a plan to shoot and incinerate 220,000 animals. The department would not say if it finally approved plans to cull seals, blamed for eating too many fish: "Animals should be killed by a well-aimed shot to the head".
A federal judge has cited Canada Revenue Agency for over-reach in a tax audit. The Agency had issued a sweeping order for information from a businessman accused of under-reporting millions in income: 'It was overly extensive in breadth and depth'.
A drug company’s request is prompting Health Canada to consider approving higher non-prescription sales of the painkiller ibuprofen. The department declined an interview, and would not disclose research it claimed justified the regulatory change: "A manufacturer has submitted acceptable information".
The RCMP is declining comment on a lawsuit alleging it breached privacy law. The claim in British Columbia Superior Court was filed by a police association attempting to unionize the force under a 2015 Supreme Court order: 'Members have not even received an apology'.
Blacklock's Reporter pauses today with gratitude and warm regards to all our friends and subscribers, sponsors, writers and staff as we enter our fourth great year on Parliament Hill. We couldn't do it without you. -- The Editor
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “The Liberals blame the Conservatives for only balancing the budget in election years…”
Parliament hangs by the thin cotton thread of government-issue gloves. Once a week the Commons speaker parades down the corridors in a tricorn hat accompanied by security guards marching in spotless white gloves. It is a display of ancient parliamentary democracy in form, if not in fact. The effect is mildly infuriating and mainly pathetic.
Professor David Schneiderman of the University of Toronto’s law faculty argues the Prime Minister’s Office has cut the brake line on Parliament and gone full throttle with executive control. “This is not meant to be a polemic directed at the Harper Conservative government,” he writes. It is what it is, and has been going on for some time.
Cabinet granted a contractor permission to hire non-union migrant workers though it violated the Employment Department’s own rules. Confidential memos disclosing the order were obtained through Access To Information: "They prefer to be an employer of non-unionized labour".
One of Canada’s largest companies is again being cited for firing sober workers under its random drug test policy. A labourer at a J.D. Irving Ltd. subsidiary was fired a week before Christmas though he’d tested negative for drugs and alcohol: "What I don't understand is the rush to judgment".
Recessions drive more Canadians into self-employment, according to two decades’ worth of tax data. Analysts at Statistics Canada said figures suggest the worse the economy, the likelier more people will resort to working for themselves: "You would expect the recent recession would have a bigger impact".
A Canada Revenue Agency error resulting in the loss of a multi-million dollar judgment is headed to Tax Court. A judge earlier ruled tax collectors failed to produce “precise evidence” they ever mailed a notice to an oil company on underpayment of royalties: "It wasn't written in pencil".
The Elections Commissioner is determining whether the post office breached federal law with a carefully worded mail-out justifying service cuts. All parties but Conservatives in the last Parliament pledged to halt cuts to home mail delivery: 'We expect them to play by the rules'.
