A tax credit for Canadian miners has been renewed for a fourteenth straight year amid claims it’s become a giveaway to corporations. Finance Canada again extended the credit, worth $100 million this year: "We see this as a gift to investors".
Structures with sprinkler systems are safer than those without, regardless of the type of construction materials, new research concludes. Analysis of actual fire reports and fatalities involving different building materials found no safety advantage to concrete, metal or wood under the National Building Code: "Sprinkling takes away that threat".
The National Capital Commission billed taxpayers for massages, beach balls, $4520 worth of hot chocolate and hundreds of thousands more in incidental costs to host Ottawa’s annual winter festival, secret accounts show: "I bet you could not find another ice sculpture contest anywhere in Canada that offered massage therapy".
Environment Canada and the Department of Fisheries won’t say if they will appeal a stinging Federal Court judgment that they broke the law in failing to protecting threatened species. Documents show both departments had to be sued before complying with federal law: "This isn't just a technical breach".
Canada’s largest airports are “quasi-monopolies” that must increase accountability, says a Montréal think-tank. Airports have collected some $14 billion in fees without proper Transport Canada oversight, concludes a report: "We feel there is something wrong here".
Hundreds of deaths in federal prisons pass without proper review by the Correctional Service, says the nation’s Correctional Investigator. Howard Sapers said authorities typically take years to conduct a cursory review of inmate deaths attributed to “natural causes”, like the inmate who died of cancer after being treated with antibiotics: 'It is first and foremost a prison service'.
Local authorities are waiting for the fine print of a new subsidy plan for utilities, roads and bridges. The renewed Building Canada Fund targets $43 billion in spending over the next decade but gave city councils little time to draft plans and tender contracts: "There won't be any ribbon-cutting ceremonies this year".
The Supreme Court will hear landmark cases that will determine whether a 1920 ban on an RCMP union will stand. The Mounties are forbidden from forming any bargaining unit under a cabinet order that dates from police strikes in Winnipeg, Boston and Liverpool: 'It's an opportunity to clarify freedom of association'.
Farm groups are pressing the Senate to forestall any curbs on bee-killing pesticides rated 10,000 times more toxic than DDT. A Health Canada review of the chemicals is now underway: "We don't agree with the knee-jerk reaction".
Canadian shippers seek hidden details of a European trade pact they fear could threaten jobs in domestic freighting. Transport Canada says the treaty lifts restrictions on European container ships freighting cargo from Halifax to Montréal: "How many jobs would you say would be at stake?"
Health Canada is proposing new meat labeling and cooking instructions prompted by the nation's biggest beef recall: "Unfortunately we see a lot of work done when there's a crisis".
Credit card executives are appealing to MPs not to regulate their fees despite complaints of heavy charges on merchants. The nation’s largest credit issuers told the Commons finance committee that fee caps might upset the “balance” of their business: “We recommend against any further government role”.
Environment Canada is determining whether to have taxpayers pay to clean a PCB-laden combat vessel earmarked for sinking as an artificial reef. Authorities did not explain why they failed to check for the banned chemical before the ship was sold to the Artificial Reef Society of B.C.: "There is no scientific evidence that sinking ships is good for the environment".
The agency responsible for Canadian air traveller’s safety has been cited by a federal judge for deception, favoritism and unfair contracting. And the auditor general's office hints a special examination of the agency may be pending. The uproar followed court evidence suggesting management at the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority misled its Board of Directors and broke its own rules in unfairly awarding a $40.5 million contract for airport X-ray screeners: "Astonishing".
Conservative MPs have agreed in committee to see unions decertified on the votes of as few as 40% of members. And they endorsed repeal of a decades-old labour card check system claimed to foster union bullying, though a senior official confirmed labour intimidation is virtually unheard of in Canada: "The statistics speak for themselves".
