Part of Canada’s national rock collection is being thrown away to make room in an Ottawa warehouse. The Canadian Geological Survey said it will dump tons of minerals and soil samples carefully collected for scientific research: "It should have been offered to others".
Tax attorneys who face Law Society investigations on clients’ complaints cannot invoke confidentiality on their files, a court has ruled. Two tax lawyers had claimed their clients faced possible criminal prosecution if their tax files fell into Canada Revenue’s hands: "Solicitor-client privilege belongs to the client".
A bill introduced in the Commons would save small business owners, farmers and fishermen thousands of dollars in federal tax with the sale of the family company to children. Forty-eight percent of small proprietors are over age 50, according to Statistics Canada: "This bill seeks to address an injustice".
Railways are protesting higher insurance costs under new federal liability rules prompted by the Lac-Mégantic disaster. A five-fold increase in coverage for short line railways will cost jobs and affect service, executives say: "Where do we find the money to pay for this?"
The RCMP is paying a British Columbia publisher $174,000 for crime coverage. The Mounties said the contract is needed to publicize work of the province’s anti-gang unit: "We run our papers like everybody else".
The Senate has passed into law a cabinet bill limiting pipeline operators’ spill liability at a billion dollars. Pipeline accidents are equivalent to a teaspoon per barrel of oil shipped in Canada, the Senate was told: "The government's goal is zero incidents".
The nation’s garbage output remains steady at 25 million tonnes a year despite recycling schemes, according to Statistics Canada. Waste managers say the data confirm worries that landfilling remains cost-effective and commonplace: "You have a fundamental problem".
Parliament will enact what one MP dubbed a “sleeper” law allowing cabinet to enact new regulations without public scrutiny. The bill ends a tradition dating from 1841 that requires all new federal regulations be plainly disclosed: "It deserves to receive a lot more attention in the media than it has".
The federal treasury is pocketing more than a billion dollars a year in unclaimed benefits owed to retirees, newly-disclosed records show. At least 254,000 Canadians entitled to monthly cheques have failed to apply for them, said the Department of Employment: "This is breathtaking".
Cabinet has introduced a DNA privacy bill that exempts insurance companies rated the “biggest abusers” of genetic information. The bill introduced in the last days of the 41st Parliament would make DNA a prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act: "This is lip service".
The immediate fate of C-377 rests with the Speaker of the Senate as legislators last night concluded debate on whether the contentious labour bill is in order. Conservative and Liberal critics challenged the legality of the measure under parliamentary rules: "The question now is what to do".
Cabinet must work harder to alert consumers to health risks of new drug products, says the Council of Canadian Academies. The warnings over ineffectual disclosure of risks comes ahead of new drug labelling regulations to take effect this week: 'This is not insurmountable'.
Federal privacy complaints increased 55 percent last year, says Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien. Issues included subscriber protests over data mining by Bell Canada: "The inbox is inundated".
The Canadian Transportation Agency is silent on whether it will appeal a court order that it stop concealing documents cited in regulatory decisions. The disclosure ruling followed a legal challenge by an airline passenger rights’ advocate who accuses the Agency of “collusion” with industry: “This is a very important ruling”.
The federal agency that regulates payment card operators like Visa and MasterCard has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from the industry, newly-released records show. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada did not comment on the corporate subsidies: "The agency really hasn't done anything for merchants and consumers".
