The 2024 federal budget released last week includes numerous big spending promises that have garnered headlines.
But, tucked into the 416-page document are also series of smaller items, such as promising to amend the law regarding infant formula and to force banks to label government rebates, that you may have missed.
Specifically, a scan of the “legislative measures” annex — more than 60 largely non-fiscal measures the Liberals plan to stuff into the coming budget implementation bill, or BIA — indicates a host of grab-bag law changes are coming.
Here are a handful of the odds and ends in the budget that could impact your day-to-day life.
Making exemptions for infant formula
One of the most notable incoming law reforms is to the Food and Drugs Act, allowing the minister of health to issue an order exempting persons or products from certain requirements under the law.
The example of how this reform is intended to be used, according to the federal government, is in instances where health products such as infant formulas are exempted in order to increase supply in the event of a shortage.
Relatedly, the budget also proposes to expand the regulation-making authority related to drug and medical device shortages, to include foods for a special dietary purpose, such as human milk fortifiers and infant formulas.
Preventing nicotine youth marketing
Further tamping down on an issue the federal government has been outspoken on in recent months, the Liberals will be advancing amendments to the Food and Drugs Act to “prevent unintended and harmful uses of therapeutic products,” by tamping down the youth marketing rules for the “addictive” therapies related to smoking cessation.
This comes after Ottawa signalled in March that new restrictions on how the products are marketed and sold would be coming “imminently.”
It’s expected these changes will complement steps already taken in some provinces, where nicotine pouches must be sold in pharmacies, as well as limiting the sale of flavoured pouches.
Easing ways to save for a child’s education
Amendments are also coming to the Canada Education Savings Act, implementing an automatic enrolment in the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) for eligible children whose families do not open a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP).
Framed as making it easier for parents to save, currently the CLB is available for eligible children from low-income families born in 2004 or later and provides an initial payment of $500, plus $100 for each additional year of eligibility, up to age 15, for a maximum of $2,000.
In addition to the automatic enrolment, the government plans to extend the age to retroactively claim the CLB, from 20 to 30 years.
Cracking down on auto theft, devices
If you’ve gone to bed hoping that your vehicle will still be where you parked it when you wake up, it’s worth noting that the federal government plans to use the incoming budget bill to introduce a raft of amendments to the Criminal Code to create new auto theft offences.
Specifically: auto theft involving the use of violence or links to organized crime; possession or distribution of an electronic or digital device for the purposes of committing auto theft; and laundering proceeds of crime for the benefit of a criminal organization.
The government also wants to create a new “aggravating factor” that would be applicable at sentencing where there’s evidence the offender involved a young person in the commission of a crime.
Relatedly, Radiocommunication Act amendments are incoming to give the federal industry minister the power to “issue orders that may prohibit or restrict the sale, distribution and importation” of devices that can be used to intercept communications for criminal activity, such as auto theft.
Consumer cellphone, banking changes
The budget bill is expected to include alterations to Canada’s Telecommunications Act to ban service providers from charging consumers switching fees, and to allow consumers self-serve options to cancel or modify plans with their existing cable, internet and cellphone providers. These providers will also have to notify customers of upcoming contract expiries.
Beyond the various financial promises in the budget meant to impact your wallet, reforms are afoot when it comes to your banking experience overall.
The federal government is proposing to “establish a framework for consumer-driven banking” with the potential to see new tools created to “help Canadians better keep track of bills, track a budget, collect and compare information,” and more.
Specifically to get the ball rolling on this, the incoming massive package of budget-related law changes will include amendments to the Bank Act and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act.
Labelling gov’t payments to Canadians
Also on the banking front, seemingly sparked by how certain banks are hesitating to alter what the Canada Carbon Rebate is called when it lands in your bank account, the federal government intends to advance amendments to the Financial Administration Act.
These reforms, if passed, would give Ottawa the power to dictate to financial institutions how to label government payments deposited in your accounts. Specifically they could spell out how certain rebates or refunds are to be worded on account statements and online banking records.
Relatedly, the Liberals are looking to change the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to give federal officials the authority to share information in instances where there may be non-compliance with the fuel charge.
While specifics remain sparse, this seems to indicate that should a province not comply with the pollution pricing system – as Saskatchewan has indicated it intends to in respect to natural gas – the federal national revenue minister has the power to tell the public.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
