The Canada Border Services Agency claims a right to destroy private photographs deemed embarrassing to the Agency. It follows an incident in which agents ordered a British Columbia woman to stop taking pictures of an employee’s SUV blocking a wheelchair ramp: "Why do CBSA agents have an attitude that they are above the law?"
Replacing more unionized police officers with civilian employees “can add value”, says a Department of Public Safety report. Consultants noted six part-time staffers without benefits can be assigned to court duties at half the cost of two union constables: 'The civilian does not get a paid lunch hour'.
A million-dollar fine resulting from a three-year federal probe of home water heater sales is better late than never, say consumer advocates. The anti-trust Competition Bureau opened its investigation in 2012: "The water has gotten pretty cold while consumers have waited for regulators to take action".
Newly-released files disclose the RCMP kept early New Democrat organizers under close surveillance and attempted to block one NDPer’s appointment to a United Nations post. Records of the now-disbanded RCMP Security Service were disclosed under Access To Information: “This is crazy, to think that people like my father were considered a threat to the state”.
Naturopaths have lost a two-year federal court challenge of Health Canada regulations. Advocates argued Parliament has no right to regulate natural products that make medicinal claims: "We have the right to heal our bodies as we wish".
The internet-fuelled ‘detax’ movement has suffered another blow as the Supreme Court declined to hear a constitutional challenge of the Income Tax Act. Adherents claim exemption as “natural persons”: "That's never going to happen".
One of the country’s largest utilities has lost a bid to force telecom firms to quickly implement a wireless civil alert system. Bruce Power, a private nuclear generator, appealed to regulators for a four-month deadline: 'It's leaving Canadians at risk'.
The new cabinet is being urged to revive Canada Post plans for a retail banking network. The Crown corporation had studied the “win-win” idea till abruptly cancelling its research in 2013: 'It's what the 21st century post office might look like'.
Canada’s underground “detax” movement has lost another court ruling. A federal judge upheld 50 percent penalties against a Hydro Québec employee who claimed exemption from the Income Tax Act as a "natural" person: "I interpret the assessments as vengeance".
Urban Canada has become a land of apartment-dwellers with high density construction outstripping single-family homes at rates not seen since the 1960s, data show. Federal researchers did not investigate the ownership of rental units and condos: "This is a sixty-year analysis".
Canadians fear winter storms more than catastrophic disasters or pandemics, according to a first-ever federal survey on emergency preparedness. Power blackouts were also a worry: "This is actually the first time we have done this research".
Canada Post won’t say how much it spent on a suspended program to eliminate home mail delivery nationwide. The Crown corporation confirmed in a post-election statement it is halting installation of urban community mailboxes under a failed 2013 Action Plan. The post office declined comment on what it cost to date: 'The public should have input'.
Québec for the first time in history will shrink in relative population compared to the Prairies, says new Statistics Canada data. The forecast is the first of its kind since a 1992 “time bomb” proposal to guarantee Québec 25% of the seats in Parliament: "We opposed it and were called hysterical".
Apprenticeships are back after years of declining enrollment, according to federal research. The number of students in apprenticeship programs recovered to levels not seen since the 2008 recession: "We need timelier labour market information".
Natural Resources Canada is ordering more than $150,000 in new research on groundwater quality in the Great Lakes region. The Lakes face “challenges” including dumping of sewage and pesticide runoff, according to a 2014 Commons report: 'There is increasing recognition'.
