Railways may insert vague “surcharges” into shipping contracts that go to final arbitration, a federal judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of a Nova Scotia shipper overcharged by Canadian National Railway Co.: "We lost".
Environment Canada’s refusal to target road salt as toxic will see wider use of the substance despite evidence of ecological damage, says a green manufacturer. Canadians use five to seven million tonnes of road salt each winter, primarily in provinces west of Manitoba: "There is nothing here".
The first fungicide ever registered in Canada now faces a federal ban after sixty years of use. Health Canada proposes to begin phasing-out quintozene this year amid concerns it is environmentally toxic: "Even if you have it on the shelf in your garage you can’t use it".
A federal rail and air regulator, the Canadian Transportation Agency, has been cited as “rigid”, “inflexible” and lacking common sense by a federal court. The stinging judgment came in an uncomplicated case involving a dog aboard an airplane: "Form took over substance".
A Senate committee next month will take up clause-by-clause scrutiny of a bill to enact Canada’s first federal privacy protection for genetic testing. The proposal still faces “exaggerated” complaints from insurers, says its Liberal sponsor: 'Everybody else says we need it'.
A Nova Scotia government department is charging $37 an hour to photocopy public documents under its Access To Information law. The charges come as MPs propose raising fees on all Canadians who ask to see federal records: "It's just outrageous".
Shared Services Canada claims it imposed a national blackout on all government employees’ access to Blacklock’s website as a “potential threat” to federal internet usage. The department invoked security in justifying its media ban, confirmed through Access To Information files: ‘There was no voodoo security peril’.
Two years after abolishing the penny, cabinet proposes to eliminate small benefits payments as an austerity measure. Authorities would not disclose the minimum value of payments that aren’t worth the trouble. It costs the treasury 82¢ to cut a cheque: 'It's a common-sense measure'.
Media disclosures of overseas sweatshops prompted a Department of Public Works inquiry on whether to require “ethical procurement” in federal contracting, records show. Department memos indicate news accounts of the fatal 2013 collapse of a Bangladeshi garment factory led regulators to examine the sourcing of apparel: "Protections do not exist in some offshore countries"
Health Canada will spend $590,000 sponsoring Tweets and Facebook postings on narcotics and other issues following research showing many Canadians are ambivalent about marijuana use. Parliament has regulated pot since 1921: 'It's no longer seen as a substance that only the ‘druggies’ use'.
Environment Canada proposes only voluntary targets for curbing winter use of tonnes of road salt cited for damaging property and poisoning vegetation and waterways. The recommendation follows decades of study: "These chemicals are toxic".
A federal agency banned public employees from accessing news stories at Blacklock’s Reporter via government internet servers, documents confirm. Confidential records show Shared Services Canada imposed the government-wide blackout on website access by hundreds of thousands of staff. Files on the blacklisting were obtained through Access To Information: “It’s astonishing to see Canada join the short list of countries that forbid public employees from accessing internet news sites”.
The Supreme Court will rule on the right of federal auditors to examine confidential legal records in chasing the “money trail” of suspected tax evaders. The case follows Québec notaries’ refusal to surrender client files to the Canada Revenue Agency: "This is where the battleground is right now in privacy law".
In a court ruling a federal judge called “extraordinary”, the Department of Public Safety has been cited for abuse of process against an admitted member of the Hells Angels. The finding came in a British Columbia immigration case: "The integrity of our justice system has been compromised".
CMHC is hiring marketing consultants to blitz Filipino, Chinese and South Asian immigrants with ads for new “branding” of home loan insurance. Federally-insured mortgages currently average more than a quarter-million dollars for first-time buyers: "The objectives are to increase CMHC's visibility".
