Having a clear, predictable federal regime for impact assessments is just the first step toward creating a process that will restore Canadians’ trust in the system and get resources to market. That protocol must also be sufficiently funded and resourced, say the CBA Aboriginal and Environmental, Energy and Resources Law Sections in response to an expert panel’s report released this summer.

The federal government calls its latest proposed income tax measures a step in the direction of #taxfairness, but the CBA – along with dozens of other organizations – is calling them #unfairtaxchanges. Read on to see what we’re doing about it.

Canada Revenue Agency’s Voluntary Disclosures Program is generally considered a win-win – people who’ve made errors on their taxes are given the opportunity to come forward and correct their mistakes, and the CRA collects taxes that otherwise have gone unpaid.

The CBA’s Immigration Law Section applauds the emphasis in a recent report on immigration consultants by the Citizenship and Immigration Committee on protecting individuals who want to immigrate to Canada. Still, it feels the Committee’s recommendations “have missed the mark in a number of key areas” by not addressing fundamental issues that have led to the failure of two separate regulatory bodies for consultants.

Time passes, the world moves on, and today’s new kid in town is tomorrow’s been there, done that.

If a blood-alcohol limit of 80 mg is an effective deterrent to drinking and driving, a 50 mg limit should be even better, right?

Once around the flagpole, then home? Not so fast. Flagpoling is a term used by foreign nationals who exit the country only to immediately re-enter in order to satisfy the requirements of a work visa or to confirm landing. Because of slow processing times and inefficient processes online and at immigration offices in Canada, it is more efficient for many people to go to a point of entry and do the quick turnaround than to deal with an inland immigration centre.

What does “political” mean in the charitable context? That’s an excellent question. The CBA Charities and Not-for-Profit Law Section posed it in a submission last year to the Canada Revenue Agency during consultations on political activities by charitable and non-profit agencies. And one of the four recommendations in the consultation report, released in March, is that the issue be clarified in legislation.

Historically, trans inmates are penalized not only for their criminal behaviour but, because Canadian jails and prisons – and the policies that govern them – weren’t designed to accommodate non-binary prisoners, they’re also punished for asserting a gender other than that assigned at birth.

The CBA response to consultations on the Canadian Border Services Agency’s new National Immigration Detention Framework touches on four concerns – particularly the question of detaining children.