This government banked on the belief that their refusal to commit to Canada’s defence would be met with little more than passive concern. And they were right. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press) The stated objective in the Trudeau government’s recent budget was to “continue to deliver on the things that matter most to Canadians.” But what mattered most when it came to defence procurement, apparently, was to defer the purchase of much-needed equipment for an already emaciated military to the 2030s. As with past military cuts, this government banked on the belief that…
Read MoreMonth: March 2017
Number Of Snow Days In Nova Scotia Schools Amounts To A Crisis: Expert | The Chronicle Herald
HALIFAX — It is “bizarre” how often Nova Scotia schools are closed because of weather, and the number of days lost this year amounts to a crisis, an education expert said Tuesday. Paul Bennett, director of Schoolhouse Consulting in Halifax, said there has been an average of 12 lost days this school year in the province due to inclement weather, including closures at many boards Tuesday. “This is unusual. In fact, I dare to say no one else does it. No one does it with the frequency we do it. It’s bizarre,”…
Read MoreRest In Peace, CSB: A Eulogy For The Canada Savings Bond – Business – CBC News
The Canada Savings Bond, a ubiquitous savings vehicle that grew from humble postwar origins into a household name by the 1980s, died this week after a lengthy decline. She was 71 years old. The official cause of death was no longer being “a cost effective source of funds.” The news — announced in Wednesday’s federal budget — though somewhat grim, came as something of a relief to market watchers who spent decades watching CSB’s rise and fall. Read full story here: Rest In Peace, CSB: A Eulogy For The Canada Savings Bond – Business – CBC News…
Read MoreTrudeau Government Hiking Taxes On Smokes, Booze, Pursues Tax Cheats | CTV Atlantic News
OTTAWA — Canadians who drink, smoke and rely on public transit will be paying more thanks to changes in the federal budget. The increased sin taxes are effective Thursday and will put an additional $55 million from tobacco and $30 million from alcohol in government coffers in the 2017-18 fiscal year. The excise duty rate on cigarettes is increasing to $21.56 per 200 cigarettes from $21.03. For alcohol, the excise duty rates are going up two per cent and starting next year will be adjusted every April 1, based on…
Read More‘Free TV’ Android Box Dealers In Court Monday To Fight Injunction Blocking Sales – Business – CBC News
The fully loaded Android TV box battle resumes on Monday. That’s when two box dealers take on Canada’s cable giants in the Federal Court of Appeal in Montreal. The dealers are appealing an injunction blocking them from selling their boxes during a legal case targeting the business. Plaintiffs Bell, Rogers and Quebec’s Videotron won the temporary injunction in June. It’s their first victory after launching court action to stamp out a device that has become a scourge of the cable TV industry. A fully loaded Android box advertised on eBay for…
Read MoreEmergency Room Doctors In North Sydney To See Pay Cut – Nova Scotia – CBC News
Emergency room doctors working at the Northside General Hospital in North Sydney are facing a $14 per hour pay cut. Pay rates are changing across the province for ER doctors and that’s raised concerns about doctor retention, recruitment and possible ER closures in the Cape Breton community. Kevin Chapman is director of finance for Doctors Nova Scotia, an association representing 3,500 physicians. A few months ago, a group of ER doctors from across the province were tasked with finding a way to standardize pay rates without requiring extra money. Emergency room doctors…
Read MoreMachines Replacing Workers: Fed Budget To Look At Historic Economic Challenge | The Chronicle Herald
WASHINGTON — Next week’s Canadian federal budget will raise concern about workers being displaced en masse by new technologies. It’s arguably an under-told story of the last U.S. election — people often talked about Ohio and Pennsylvania’s coal miners and steel workers, less so about technologies pushing them aside: automated steel production, and the 3D underground imaging finding cheaper natural gas. It’s a concern as old as policy-making itself. The very first book of Aristotle’s ”Politics” warned that if shuttles could weave and harps could pluck themselves, labourers and slaves would be obsolete. When the…
Read MoreCellphone Searches At The Border Under Investigation By Privacy Watchdog – National | Globalnews.ca
The Canada Border Services Agency‘s (CBSA) practice of examining and even confiscating travellers’ cellphones and other personal devices has come under the scrutiny of the federal privacy watchdog. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has launched an investigation following increasing concerns about travellers’ right at the border, according to a report by the National Post. CBSA officials have the right to inspect devices such as cellphones, laptops and tablets, and ask for passwords to allow access. If travellers don’t comply, CBSA officers can even confiscate the device. CBSA officials have…
Read MoreU.S. Government Suing Canadian Resident For $1.1M Over Bank Form – Politics – CBC News
The U.S. Justice Department is suing a Canadian resident for the equivalent of $1.1 million Cdn, saying he failed to file a form to the U.S. government listing his bank accounts outside the United States. Jeffrey Pomerantz, a Vancouver-area resident with dual Canadian-U.S citizenship, filed his income tax returns to the IRS and the CRA during the three years in question but didn’t file a second form called the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). “This has been a friggin’ nightmare,” said Pomerantz when reached by CBC News. In the…
Read MoreTrump Ruffles Feathers, Sends Canadian Snowbirds Flying Elsewhere – Nova Scotia – CBC News
The “Trump Factor” combined with a weak Canadian dollar has some snowbirds changing their vacation plans this year, according to one Halifax travel consultant. “Certainly what I hear from the hoteliers and the car rental companies, and so forth, that in the traditional snowbird destinations, the winter destinations for Canada, is that you’ve got about a 13 per cent to a 15 per cent drop in figures to date,” Bob Sime said in an interview Tuesday. Sime said many Canadian travellers are concerned about how they will be received, not…
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