Cabinet privately boasted of inserting “poison pills” in legislation it knew would draw protest if scrutinized, according to documents filed in Ontario court. The disclosure is contained in the private diary of Senator Mike Duffy, on trial for fraud and breach and trust: "This speaks to motive".
Cabinet is promising full speed ahead on a Canada-European Union trade pact, but given no sign on when it will introduce a bill to ratify the treaty. The agreement was signed in principle in 2013: "Canada is known for doing what we say we’re going to do".
Passage of a contentious Cold War bill commemorating the fall of Saigon is a “very sad” initiative, the Commons heritage committee has been told. MPs approved the bill to annually observe the April 30, 1975 collapse of South Vietnam: "It is a very malevolent attack".
Environmental attorneys have filed a court application in what they call a crucial test of corporate responsibility for industrial fallout. Lawyers for Ecojustice seek a court order to clean up the site of an abandoned Ontario smelter: "If this case isn't successful it is a huge blow".
Cabinet has abolished most government cheques under $2 retroactive to April 1. The order followed a public outcry over the mailing of a 1¢ cheque to the family of a deceased war veteran: "Something like this should never happen again".
A bill mandating jail time for tobacco smugglers comes into force Friday. First Nations leaders have warned of “political unrest” over the legislation: "Now we're being criminalized".
A millionaire inventor has won a Tax Court claim against the Canada Revenue Agency over credits for developing the world’s tiniest printer. The agency had disqualified $153,316 in tax credits for Raja Singh Tuli after concluding his invention was routine engineering: 'I give him the benefit of the doubt'.
European Union lawmakers responsible for a ban on Canadian seal products are “nature’s worst enemies”, says a Conservative Senator. The remarks came in debate on a Liberal bill to proclaim a national day in support of the Atlantic seal hunt: 'These pseudo-ecologists give Canadians a reputation of being knife and club-wielding animal killers'.
Canada’s privacy commissioner is urging that Bell Canada limit its monitoring of subscriber habits for targeted advertising. The company agreed to reforms, but claimed privacy worries were a “minimal concern” for customers: "A lot of industry relies on consumer ignorance".
An unusual crime bill that would deny Canada Pension Plan survivor benefits to Canadians who kill would affect “one to two” people, says Employment Canada. The Conservative bill earlier passed the Commons by unanimous vote: "There really doesn’t appear to be much need for this bill".
Conservative MPs have flooded cabinet with constituency complaints over management of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Cabinet correspondence obtained through Access To Information detail caucus protests against restrictions on the hiring of migrant labour: "Some Canadians are quite happy to not work, and that’s not right".
Canada should consider compulsory voting if turnout does not improve in the 2015 campaign, says a former chief electoral officer. Jean-Pierre Kingsley praised an Australian law that’s resulted in minimum 90 percent turnouts since 1925: 'Don't give up on democracy'.
One of Canada’s largest public unions is dismissing claims of self-interest in opposing a cabinet bill to repeal federal regulations. The 170,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada told the Senate national finance committee the bill appears pointless and unenforceable: "Everything that it claims to do can already be done".
Another “toxic” lawsuit has failed at the Supreme Court. Justices declined to hear an appeal from a Saskatchewan company that claimed poisons leaching from an abandoned city dump contaminated its property: "It's making it hard to establish case law in this area".
Easter greetings to our friends and subscribers. Blacklock’s pauses for today’s federal holiday, and will return tomorrow — The Editor
