The Commons has passed a bill to ban media and animal rights activists from photographing the annual Atlantic seal hunt. Bill C-555 permits RCMP to arrest anyone but sealers or government-licensed “observers” within 1.6 kilometres of the hunt: 'It will not change a thing'.
Parliament is running short on time to ratify a signature trade pact with the European Union before the next election, says the Conservative chair of the Commons agriculture committee. Cabinet has given no indication when a ratification bill will be introduced: "The days are short".
A group of 124 scientists and conservationists, including six retired federal researchers, are petitioning cabinet to withdraw proposed aquaculture amendments to the Fisheries Act. Petitioners say they are “gravely concerned” with permitted use of pesticides and other chemicals in fish habitat: "Why?"
Suicide is not a workplace death even if prompted by symptoms caused by an on-the-job accident, the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench has ruled. The judgment came in the case of a Canadian National Railway Co. signalman driven to hang himself after suffering with tinnitus: "This is not uncommon. It happens. It's horrible".
A Québec firm is claiming anti-college bias over the loss of a million-dollar federal accounting contract. The Gatineau consulting company says it lost a Public Works bid after staff rejected the college credentials of an employee: 'This is discriminatory'.
Cabinet appears in breach of federal law over its refusal to divulge costs of a government program, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. The finding follows the defence department’s refusal to itemize costs of the latest overseas mission: "I'm calling it secrecy and deception".
The Department of Labour claims Canadian hospitals faced having to turn off the heat due to a 24-hour strike by Canadian Pacific Rail engineers. Labour Minister Kellie Leitch made the claim in the House of Commons. No industry executives confirmed a fuel shortage. Leitch made similar unsubstantiated claims of dire consequences over a 2011 Canada Post strike: "I have received letters".
Exposure to traffic pollution may be linked to breast cancer, according to new Health Canada research. A study of illness in 19 Canadian cities over a 20-year period suggests the risk of breast cancer increases in women who live near roads and highways: "It is a valuable finding".
The Government of Canada has become a “non-player” in animal welfare research despite public concern over treatment of farm animals, says a member of a national advisory panel: 'They couldn’t have made it more difficult for scientists if they tried'.
A federal report warns industry proposals to ship oil from British Columbia fail to address critical issues affecting whale populations. The Department of Fisheries analysis expressed concern with claims by Kinder Morgan Canada over the impact of oil tanker traffic off the B.C. coast: “There are deficiencies”.
The National Energy Board is commissioning a $50,000 “risk assessment” of claims by TransCanada Corp. in its application for the Energy East project. The bid follows in-house research by the Department of Natural Resources that only a third of Canadians surveyed are confident in the government’s ability to handle an oil spill: "That is not a vote of confidence".
Canada has made a growth industry in shipping hazardous material out of the country, nearly doubling exports in a decade, according to official figures. Shipments of recyclable toxic waste increased by more than 200,000 tonnes since 2005: 'Is there is room to improve?'
Cabinet must “think again” when attempting to recruit Canada’s 27,000 law firms as federal agents in combating money-laundering, attorneys say. The Government of Canada had no comment after the Supreme Court struck down a 2001 law allowing federal agents to scrutinize lawyers’ client lists in the hunt for suspected criminals: 'Lawyers are not agents for the state'.
Three months after promising speedy disclosure of proposed cuts to Crown employees’ pension benefits, cabinet is quiet on plans to repeal guaranteed benefits. “We’ll just wait,” said Kevin Sorenson, Minister of State for Finance: "I can tell you one thing..."
The Supreme Court today struck down yet another Act of Parliament, a 2001 bill compelling lawyers to submit clients’ identities in the name of anti-terrorism. Justices ruled unanimously that cabinet went too far in treating attorneys as agents of the Government of Canada: “The government did not have to go to litigation”.
