Cash-strapped VIA Rail spent more than $100,000 on junkets for Canadian travel writers this year despite a record deficit. Junketeers included the National Post, Montreal Gazette and Canadian Geographic magazine: "Good grief".
Canada Revenue Agency is suing Swiss-based UBS Bank for records on suspected Canadian tax evaders who’ve hidden cash offshore. The tax department filed an application in Ottawa asking that a federal judge compel the bank’s Canadian subsidiary to surrender documents on certain depositors: "Their identities are known".
Researchers report slow progress in a landmark program to restore one of Canada’s heritage rivers. New Brunswick’s St. Croix River, once bounding with fish on its run across the border with Maine, has seen the return of a few thousand alewives this season: "It's more about the ecosystem as a whole now".
Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson said, “The Arctic is the centre of the world and we think it is the edge.” Stefansson made the North his life; he once ate only meat for an entire year to prove the Inuit diet was nutritionally sound. Stefansson lived to 87.
Canada and the Changing Arctic notes the North remains marginalized as a land of “symbolism and mythology.” Only symbols vary: the midnight sun; an inukshuk lawn ornament; the plucky Arctic Rangers, “a militia unit comprised of local volunteers who are given a minimum of training, a red sweatshirt, a rifle and some ammunition.”
The federal Treasury Board is hiring consultants to help manage an employees’ pension plan that auditors warn could put the budget at risk.
The board said it seeks a “funding policy proposal” to sustain the plan that pays retired public servants an average $33,800 a year: "The plan does not have an explicit funding policy".
In an unusual ruling a court has overturned a Highway Traffic Act conviction over the conduct of a hectoring judge. A motorist saw his conviction for speeding dismissed after the judge in the case badgered his legal representative and complained the trial was taking too long: "How many trials do I have to do for speeding before people understand?"
A federal anti-trust agency is claiming partial victory in an ongoing three-year court battle for the sake of discount real estate brokers. The Supreme Court yesterday sent the case back for review of the conduct of the country’s largest real estate board: "We're very happy".
Rising costs of the justice system amid a declining crime rate point to dysfunction at court, say analysts. The country now spends more than $850 million a year detaining accused without bail before trial, according to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association: "They make mistakes all the time".
Health Canada must adopt a “bill of rights” for naturopathic medicine, says an award-winning actor who has sued the department over the Food And Drugs Act. Nick Mancuso said federal regulations requiring tests of natural food products that make medicinal claims are arbitrary and harmful: "We have the right to heal our bodies as we wish".
Industry Canada is being panned over an “unambitious” scheme to promote broadband hook-ups nationwide, including rural subscribers. Analysts said announced investments fall far short of earlier promises of internet service from coast to coast: "This is not a very efficient way to use funds".
Eight years into a smoking ban in federal prisons, the Correctional Service of Canada is renewing a contract for hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Nicorette gum for inmates. The service declined comment on the contract to supply the nicotine-laced chewing gum: "No one is contesting that second-hand smoke is harmful".
Telecom firms are being summoned by the federal broadcast regulator to justify fees charged customers for paper invoicing. The action by the CRTC follows years of consumer complaints: "If you can't get your bill out how else do you expect to have it paid?"
Bombardier Inc. is suing the federal government to withhold details of funding it received under a contentious program disbanded as overly secretive. The Montréal-based conglomerate is asking a federal judge to prohibit the release of confidential funding under Technology Partnerships Canada: "Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being managed".
A federal board in a “novel” motion is asking a federal judge to abolish copyright on data received from a licensed contractor. The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board seeks a Federal Court order striking ownership of millions of dollars’ worth of marine seismic mapping: "This would be a tremendous blow to the energy industry".
A federal board has ordered Netflix to pay royalties to Canadian composers and artists whose music is featured in film and TV programs broadcast via the internet. The Canadian Copyright Board set a 1.9 percent revenue tariff on Netflix to compensate creators: "Why am I taking a 90% cut in royalties compared to the guy sitting in San Diego?"
