Federal tax collectors see nearly a half-million errors a year on Social Insurance Numbers, according to newly-released data. The figures include tens of thousands of invalid numbers submitted after cabinet cancelled the issue of SIN cards: 'This could help'.
New security systems including “panic buttons” are being installed at a federal border crossing alarmed by last June's escape of American fugitives near Québec. Canada Border Services Agency did not comment: "These are killers".
A greying Canada will be calling for greater government assistance, says a new national study. The Institute for Research on Public Policy said Parliament’s stated aim of seeing pensioners avoid institutional care will require planning: "They don’t much care about whose mandate it is to do it".
The CBC is in court for the second time in two years on complaints it breached copyright law. The Crown corporation is accused of broadcasting famous images of a 2014 winter storm without permission: "There is frustration".
A federal judge has ordered a businessman be jailed for violating the Trademarks Act and ignoring a court order to pay thousands of dollars in penalties. The unusual ruling follows three years of litigation: 'It was brazen indifference'.
A national panel is devising Canada’s own version of the U.S. Energy Star program on efficiency. Executives commissioned Duke University to research an equivalent system for sub-Arctic industry: "We want to give ourselves the same benchmarks".
Canadian retailers in the first quarter of 2015 saw the largest three-month decline in employment of any sector in fifteen years, according to new Statistics Canada figures. The massive job losses coincided with layoffs and store closures at Future Shop, Sears Canada and other chains: "There is considerable restructuring going on".
Cabinet in 1958 considered stripping a minority religious group of its Canadian citizenship and paying to deport members to Russia, according to newly-released files. The mass exodus was requested by the British Columbia government, but never approved on fears of bad publicity: 'It would be a mass movement by ship from Vancouver to Vladivostok'.
The Canada Border Services Agency is contracting psychologists to counsel 15,271 staff on workload and job stress. It follows Agency orders for credit and background security checks on all employees: 'Counselling is voluntary'.
The Bank of Canada is gaining new powers to buy U.S. Government bonds and other securities in case of financial panic. New regulations under the Bank Act are retroactive to September 25: 'It's like a pawnbroker will accept watches'.
A “stark” crisis on housing for the nation’s greying population faces a new Parliament, say Canada’s cities. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities yesterday appealed for a national policy to shelter the aged: "We are now discussing how we can react to the aging population when we have known about it for years".
The RCMP kept files on Paul Robeson, Maurice Chevalier and Pablo Picasso under a cabinet order to keep Communist subversives out of the country. Newly-released memos show cabinet rated Robeson risky, but feared ridicule if it banned Picasso from visiting Canada: ‘A confidential source reports there’s a visitor from France’.
Health Canada faces more demands for a national pharmacare plan. Delegates to an Ottawa conference of the National Pensioners Federation urged “meaningful” steps to Canada-wide coverage of costly prescriptions: "It is tragic and unfair".
A federal board faces a court challenge on complaints it failed to properly investigate workplace health and safety complaints at Air Canada. The Canadian Union of Public Employees refused comment on its Federal Court application: "There was indeed a mixture of chemicals in the cabin air".
The Canada Border Services Agency is warning multinational corporations on abuse of “transfer pricing”, the reporting of values on cross-border goods. Prices claimed by two branches of the same company can be used to shift profits for tax avoidance: "It warns the importing community".
