Cabinet is a world leader in red tape reduction though savings to date account for less than one-tenth of one percent of the federal budget, according to the Treasury Board president. Tony Clement appealed for passage of a bill to curb growth in regulations: "What is the message we are sending?"
Cabinet remains quiet over a “developing conflict” within the RCMP over a Supreme Court order allowing police to unionize. Authorities yesterday made no mention of regulatory compliance with the Court judgment as the House opened its 2015 sitting: 'They have such a hate-on for unions'.
Canada’s two largest railways have fallen behind delivery of freight cars to Prairie terminals despite federal quotas on grain shipments, say farm groups. The Agricultural Transport Coalition estimated CN and Canadian Pacific delivered only 89% of hopper cars ordered since September: 'There's a tremendous lack of transparency'.
MPs are expected to vote tomorrow to kill a private bill to curb “urban heat islands” blamed for micro-temperature gains in large cities. Cabinet described the bill as a federal intrusion in municipal affairs: "The issue is not widely known or highly publicized".
Canadian diplomats feared Chinese troops would “invade” their embassy in Beijing in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, according to newly-released records. Dramatic Telex messages cabled by embassy staff back to Ottawa cite atrocities in the tumult after the mass shootings, including public executions and the retrieval of bodies from a Beijing canal: “It may be years before the true story is known”.
Retail giants Hudson’s Bay Co. and Sears Canada face demands they hand over records on pricing and profit margins in a federal anti-trust probe of the multi-billion dollar mattress business. Attorneys for the Competition Bureau asked that a federal judge compel the companies to surrender documents, alleging “false or misleading” advertising: 'It's a strategy known as 'high-low' pricing'.
A Senate panel is pressing Transport Canada to launch a national program to counter a leading threat to essential infrastructure – not terrorists, but backhoes. The Senate energy committee said regulators should mandate a standard call-before-you-dig system similar to a U.S. program enacted a decade ago: "They asked, who is going to pay for this?"
A Senate committee is being urged to call testimony from a former budget watchdog over amendments that allow cabinet to authorize debt without consulting Parliament. The changes to the Financial Administration Act were approved in 2007: "Their attitude is pretty clear".
The Department of Fisheries is considering a small expansion of the hard-luck cod fishery off Newfoundland & Labrador. It follows a pilot project allowing some 900 fishermen to harvest unclaimed quotas: 'If it isn't economical they can't fish anyway'.
The Department of Public Works has quietly withdrawn a notice that taxpayers “must” surrender their bank account information to the government to receive federal payments. It follows a protest from the Consumers’ Association of Canada: 'People felt pressured'.
Employers are appealing to cabinet to ease a regulation that will see thousands of migrant workers expelled from the country after April 1. The trade association Restaurants Canada described the deadline as worrisome. Nationwide, food services companies are the leading employer under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program: 'A crush of workers will have to go home'.
Cabinet is doubling taxpayer-guaranteed loan limits under an Industry Canada financing program for small business. Lenders said the changes would make the 54-year old program more useful: 'Time marches on'.
A Commons committee has given cabinet till year’s end to account for the sustainability of government pension plans. The deadline comes as cabinet ponders changes that would strip Crown employees of guaranteed benefits: "How the heck would they know?"
A federal tribunal has quietly dismissed a racial profiling complaint against the Canada Border Services Agency. The ruling follows a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that customs officers are entitled to scrutinize Chinese travellers since it was “common” for them to violate Health Of Animals Regulations: "Inspectors are charged with protecting Canadians".
Parliament must correct a loophole that allows lawmakers to conceal gifts so long as they consider their benefactor a “friend”, says a senator. The Senate committee on rules and procedures is to hold hearings next month on repealing the clause: 'I think we all know who our friends are'.
