Porter Airlines Inc. is suing Transport Canada to block release of a confidential safety audit of the carrier. The lawsuit follows a 2014 Federal Court ruling that the public may use the Access To Information Act to obtain regulators’ opinions on company Safety Management Systems: "This is confidential information".
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is so dysfunctional employee grievances number in the thousands. Evidence submitted at a federal tribunal indicated hearings on employee complaints take two to three years on average, as long as Federal Court cases: "Some have taken as long as 15 years".
A landmark environmental lawsuit on offshore liability is bound for a Canadian hearing on go-ahead from the Supreme Court. Claims against a subsidiary of Chevron Corp. represent a test of corporate liability, said advocates: "It recognizes the legitimacy of other courts".
The Canadian Coast Guard is charging shippers more than $30 million a year in navigation and icebreaking fees, accounts show. It follows a 2013 plan to recover “full cost” on service to mariners: "The real question is what these costs should be".
Planners will see how Canada rates in ensuring adequate housing for a greying population. The federal insurer Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. is commissioning a $75,000 study of foreign strategies to prevent seniors from "inundating" care facilities, it said: "There is a huge national crisis".
Blacklock’s Reporter pauses today to observe the 121st Labour Day in tribute to workers nationwide. We will be back tomorrow — The Editor
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “With so much accumulated under the bus…”
Unravelling Encounters peels the vinyl siding off Middle Canada. It is a riveting account of suburban smugness. I challenge any book club to read and discuss it. I don’t think they have the guts.
Authors recount our affluent nation’s “imaginary past”. They interview one social worker who describes the 1960s as magic – the word is actually used, “magic” – “The music, and growing your hair, and bucking authority, and going against the establishment,” she says: “We really pushed the boundaries.”
By comparison interviewees curse the present as a bleak era of mean-spirited program cuts. “As I listened to social workers talk about recent changes to their work, my attention was drawn to the recurring presence of highly nostalgic memories about the past, especially on the part of research participants who identified as white and female,” writes co-editor Kristin Smith, associate professor of social work at Ryerson University.
The cash-strapped Canada Border Services Agency was reduced to YouTube videos and Twitter as “outreach” following budget cuts, records show. Files released through Access To Information also confirmed cutbacks were to blame for long delays in adopting electronic truck cargo checks 12 years after the U.S.: "The clerks have already left".
Attorneys for Telus have lost a six-figure court ruling that forces the telecom company to collect GST on customers’ calls in the U.S. The company had argued wireless roaming airtime services were exempt from the federal sales tax since they were routed through American cell towers: "Common sense is my starting point".
The Supreme Court is agreeing to hear a landmark appeal of a tax assessment by a company that complained of “hijacking” by city assessors. An Alberta mall claimed it was threatened with a 44 percent increase if it appealed an original assessment from the City of Edmonton: "It's an interesting case".
Canada once more is rated poorly in an international study on innovation. A Conference Board report ranked Canada 9th out of 16 countries, only a slight improvement from previous years: "Businesses are not doing as well as they could".
A federal department is buying Made In Canada flags in an apparent change of policy. The immigration department would not comment on its requirement that only Canadian suppliers may bid to supply a million souvenir flags for swearing-in ceremonies: 'A flag is a keepsake of citizenship'.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a taxpayer denied retroactive Canada Pension Plan benefits. The judgment follows disclosures that more than a quarter-million eligible Canadians have not claimed payments they’re entitled to receive: "How fair is that?"
A legal challenge of $900 million federal cuts to sick leave provisions for employees will not be heard in court before the October 19 election. The federal lawsuit by a coalition of unions is scheduled for hearings ten days after the vote: "We are doing everything we can".
