The federal prison population is forecast to rise by 25 percent or more within six years, says the Correctional Service of Canada. Prison management has already been cited by auditors for grossly overestimating inmate projections: "I don’t know how we would see a 25% rise".
A federal whistleblower law is being challenged in court over arbitrary limits on investigations. A Department of Natural Resources employee said his complaints of reprisals were dismissed for failing to meet a 60-day deadline: "It takes time to ruin a person".
Canada’s first federal credit union is proceeding with a merger of 14 institutions in what is expected to fuel more amalgamations. Parliament introduced legislation five years ago allowing credit unions to apply for federal licensing: "A lot of credit unions are looking at what we're doing".
A pair of federal employees have been docked two years’ pay after taking a moonlight swim in a Parks Canada pool. In an unusually steamy ruling, a labour board said the couple that took a romantic swim off-limits showed lack of respect towards their employer’s core mandate: "They should suffer the consequences".
Cabinet is drafting legislation to strip benefits from federally-regulated pension plans, according to a private letter by Finance Minister Joe Oliver. The finance department had appeared to drop the proposal in months prior to the election campaign: "The government is now developing the federal legislative framework".
Rigid enforcement of trivial rules on migrant labour has earned Employment Canada a reprimand from a federal judge. The court struck down a department ruling that disqualified the hiring of a temporary foreign worker due to a misplaced address: "It was a little bit unfair".
A new Parliament should enact a limited pharmacare program to subsidize families that spend more than $1,500 a year on medication, says the Canadian Medical Association. Physicians also proposed billions in extra grants to provinces with older populations: 'A new government could do it right away'.
Cabinet has failed to hold mining companies accountable for overseas conduct in the name of “national interest”, says an advocates’ report. The Mining Association and Natural Resources Canada declined comment: "What is happening in the courts is very hopeful".
The defence department, cited for inept contracting, has issued 107 pages of specifications for new mittens. The department cautioned that palms and thumbs of government-issue mitts “must be flush”, as well as “soft” and “smooth”. Authorities earlier issued 167-pages of specs for mukluks for the troops: "A colour match under north-sky daylight is most important".
Few Canadians, only 1 in 10, have heard of a national agreement to lower interprovincial trade barriers, says a federally-sponsored report. A majority say consumers’ advocates, labour and business should be allowed formal input to revive the process: "Something needs to be done".
A longtime employee fired for snooping in a colleague’s file has lost a bid to test her wrongful dismissal claim at the Supreme Court. Justices declined to hear an appeal from the woman fired after 21 years on the job: "This area of law is quite unpredictable".
A U.S. multinational is accusing Canadian Tire Corp. of violating patents over its sale of vacuum cleaners. Emerson Electric Co. filed documents in Federal Court alleging Canadian Tire sold copycat vacuums without a licensing agreement: "Their issued patents have a presumption of validity".
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…”
Statistics Canada for the first time is including hi-rise condos in a confidential survey of new housing prices. The agency said excluding apartment sales may have skewed figures on the true cost of housing nationwide: 'Data will not be publicly released'.
Aboriginals within 20 years will account for a leading bloc of electors in two provinces and at least five cities, new data show. A first-ever federal study projected the number of First Nations, Inuit and Métis nationwide may nearly double by 2036: 'It is a phenomenon'.
