Statistics Canada is appealing to “civic duty” in promoting a new, improved census in 2016, cautioning its TV promotions won’t be as entertaining as beer ads. Patriotic appeals must also avoid imagery like dead maple leaves that suggest the nation “is in decline”, focus groups said: "Graphic treatment of such a prominent national symbol was disturbing".
Rail shippers can be required to pay for liability on hazardous goods, a federal court has ruled. Canadian Pacific Railway Co. successfully challenged a regulator’s decision that billing customers on liability for cargo it freighted was unreasonable: "There has to be a way to move those goods".
Health Canada is endorsing the continued sale of a herbicide banned in the European Union, concluding it poses no threat to Canadians’ health or the environment. The public has till January 29 to comment: 'The substance affects people the same way regardless of where they live'.
One of the country’s largest provincial marketing boards has lost a crucial legal battle. The Supreme Court declined to hear a bid by Québec’s maple syrup producers to block the off-board sale of goods: "Each province has their own rules".
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “Ice-skating falls send thousands each year to emergency rooms…”
The territories are a 60-year experiment in state planning. The result is a succession of little victories and big defeats. Ottawa spends $64 million a year on food subsidies, yet chicken costs $45. The jobless rate in Nunavut is 18 percent. Homeless shelters in Yellowknife face periodic outbreaks of tuberculosis. Yukon’s GDP has shrunk three years in a row.
“Canada’s North has always been a colony to southern interests, a fact that has profoundly marked its historical development,” writes editor Chris Southcott in Northern Communities Working Together. “Despite current trends towards increased self-government, the territorial North is still heavily dependent on the federal government for the provision of services and decision making.”
Health Canada faces demands it table thousands of documents in Parliament involving a regulatory decision that drove a Manitoba company out of business. MP James Bezan said he suspected regulators were “over-zealous” and may have skirted federal law: "The department tried to wear them down in the hope they would go away".
Thousands of municipal landfills nationwide are being studied by Environment Canada to ensure they’re safely capped. The department said its concerned material used to cover current and decommissioned dumps is safe and effective: "Historically we don't know".
Women’s rate of participation in the workforce is stagnating after strong postwar gains, according to new federal research. Statistics Canada said the rate of women at work has slowed markedly since the 1990s: "Further analysis is warranted".
The Supreme Court is declining to hear an appeal from a British Columbia man who alleged he got bad advice from a lawyer in purported conflict of interest. The barrister had taken the case without charge: "Clients frequently complain".
Liberals’ newly-appointed parliamentary secretary for international development was fired as a consular adviser a year ago, and unsuccessfully filed a human rights complaint against her Mexican hosts. The Embassy of Mexico yesterday declined an interview on the appointment of MP Karina Gould. “We have no comment on Ms. Gould,” an official said.
Cabinet is revoking a 5¢ increase in stamp rates scheduled to take effect January 11. Canada Post had proposed the increase, the sixth in five years: "Those price increases have been substantial".
Despite decades of internet retailing Canadians still shop with their feet, says new federal research. Statistics Canada reported the vast majority of retail sales occur at the old-fashioned checkout counter: "You go to the mall, you eat, you talk with friends".
The reopening of a British Columbia Coast Guard station cited in a 2015 oil spill should signal restoration of cuts to the marine service, says an MP. Vancouver’s Kitsilano station will be reopened “as soon as possible”, the fisheries department said: "Coast Guard neglect has hurt".
A fire sale of Crown real estate has seen overseas properties dumped at millions below value, according to Access To Information records. The foreign affairs department in one memo expressed relief that few media or legislators took notice: "There may be a perception the government is not obtaining fair value or managing such properties prudently".
