Employment equity is an anti-discrimination policy in Canada that requires or encourages preferential treatment in employment practices for certain designated groups (the ones who are often discriminated): women, people with disabilities, aboriginal people, and visible minorities. While being a defense for these groups it goes beyond and also requires that these specific groups be targeted for proactive treatment. The whole process of establishing employment equity began in 1984 by the Abella Commission, chaired by Judge Rosalie Abella. She considered the US term, affirmative action, but decided to reject that term because of the emotions and ill will surrounding affirmative action. It was replaced with employment equity term for Canada. The report filled by Judge Abella later became the foundation of the Employment Equity Act of 1986, which was later amended as the Employment Equity Act of 1995. 

The Employment Equity Act designates four groups that have benefit of employment equity:

- Women;

- People with disabilities;

- Aboriginal people;

- Visible minorities;

In case of visible minorities and using the definition of the Canadian government, it covers: Blacks, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Latin Americans, Pacific Islanders, South Asians, and West Asians/Arabs. As for aboriginal people, this category covers Status Indians, Non-status Indians, Métis (people of mixed French-Aboriginal ancestry in western Canada), and Inuit (the Aboriginal people of the Arctic). Both of these categories use the controversial term “non-white” for defining the minorities. It is used in employment equity questionnaires distributed to applicants and employees. While it was intended to be a shorthand phrase it ended up as very confusing term, since people from some groups (like Arabs or Latin Americans) may consider themselves to be white which leads to mistakes in questionnaires. The Act is a federal legislation and so it covers only the industries that are federally regulated under the Canadian constitution.   These are banks, broadcasters, telecommunication companies, railroads, airlines, maritime transportation companies, other transportation companies if inter-provincial in nature, uranium-related organizations, federal crown corporations (companies where the federal government owns the majority of shares), and corporations controlled by two or more provincial governments. Unfortunately a big percentage of employers like all retailers and manufacturing companies, fall outside its jurisdiction.

The Federal Contractors’ Program (FCP), it is not a part of the Employment Equity Act, but it helps to extends employment equity to organizations beyond the scope of the Act. It states that suppliers of goods and services to the federal government (with some specified exceptions) must have an employment equity program in place.

While the act was definitely created with good intentions it is widely considered controversial. The opponents of employment equity argue that it violates the equality in general. But the critics argue that such actions are necessary to amend historic wrongs and to minimize economic differences between groups.

For more information on Canadian lawyers, Employment Labour Lawyers or lawyers in yoru area, you can visit http://www.lawyerahead.ca

Careless driving is considered to be one of the most serious violations, next to driving under the influence (which is viewed as a criminal offence). The Highway Traffic Act describes careless driving as following:

130. Every person is guilty of the offence of driving carelessly who drives a vehicle or street car on a highway without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway and on conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $200 and not more than $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or to both, and in addition his or her licence or permit may be suspended for a period of not more than two years. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 130.

For Careless Driving, there are 2 types of ticket you can receive - one with or without fine.  The ticket with fine usually results in you having to pay a fine as along with loss of demerit points.  The penalty, i.e the fine and the demerit point loss depends on the situation at the time you were pulled over and the local jurisdiction in which you were pulled over.  When you receive this type of ticket you can either plead guilty and pay the fine, or plead not guilty and take the case to trial.  If you do decide to take the case to trial, please ensure you have an experienced lawyer handling your matter.  Visit Lawyerahead.ca for the most comprehensive canadian lawyer profile available on the Internet.  Your other option is to plead guilty with an explanation, but this will only lower your fine (if the prosecutor agrees with it).  You may still remain unsuccessful in removing the demerit points and the violation in your driver record.

A ticket without a fine is a court order for which you are summoned to court.  In this case, if you lose the case, the penalties will be much worse: up to $1,000 fine, license suspension and even jail time.  As for demerit points Careless Driving is one of the most serious violations.  6 demerit points are awarded for careless driving and that means only 2 tickets of this moving violation type and your license will be suspended.  It is important to note here that the ticket for careless driving will also influence your insurance rates.  In other words, it is important to keep a clean driving record to avoid high insurance rates and in some cases loss of job opportunities.  Many moving violation tickets can be dismissed with the right lawyer.

Getting caught while careless driving can also lead to other types of offenses.  There are 4 general types: Borderline personality disorder; the influence of alcohol while driving (classified as drunk driving); the influence of drugs while driving (classified as driving under the influence); encouragement of the driver to behave in such a manner by other passengers (also called peer pressure).  So basically one serious traffic violation can easily turn into a serious criminal offense, and in that case the 1,000 dollar fine is nothing compared to the consequences of a serious criminal offense.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a multi-level value-added tax which was introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991. Canada belongs to 120 countries that impose a consumption tax or “value added tax” on goods and services. GST in Canada replaced a hidden 13.5% Manufacturers’ Sales Tax (MST), while its introduction was controversial the government stated that GST was implemented because the MST hurt the manufacturing sector’s ability to export.

The history of the GST began in 1989, when the Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney proposed to create a national sales tax of 9%. At that time, all the provinces in Canada except for Alberta had its own provincial sales tax.

The main purpose of the GST was to replace the 13.5% Manufacturers’ Sales Tax and Federal Telecommunications Tax of 11%. The federal government was expecting that the removal of the tax will aid Canadian manufacturers in their international competitiveness.

The tax became a controversy right from the beginning. While it was definitely helpful for the manufacturers and was promoted as revenue-neutral in relation to the MST, the opposition stated that the tax would make life more costly for Canadians. After a short stand, Mulroney used a little-known constitutional provision to increase the number of senators by eight temporarily, thus giving the Progressive Conservatives a majority in the upper chamber. The Opposition launched a filibuster and further delayed the legislation. The tax was lowered to 7% and Government defended the tax as a replacement for a tax unseen by consumers because it was placed on manufacturers. Eventually it came into force on January 1, 1991. In 2006 the Conservative Party of Canada reduced the tax by 1% (to 6%) on July 1, 2006 as part of an election promise. On January 1, 2008 they lowered it to 5%, bringing it to its current state.

The GST law is covered by the Excise Tax Act and all the Canadian Revenue Agency (Canada Customs and Revenue Agency before 2003). As of January 2009, the tax is 5% and applies to most goods and services, except for: used residential housing; most health, medical and dental services; day care; music lessons; and certain goods and services provided by non-profit organizations, governments, and other public service bodies. There are also a number of Zero Rated goods and services like: basic groceries, prescription drugs, exports, and any property or service that is for the use of the Governor General. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, have a combined tax of 13% which is composed of 8% provincial portion and the 5% GST. The aboriginal people in Canada are exempt from payment. Like in many countries with the GST, visitors for up to 60 days can apply to have their tax refunded. When they are leaving the country they can fill out a form at a Canadian airport or some duty free stores at border crossings. After that the visitor sent in original receipts with a stamp by Canadian Customs. Cheques are mailed to the visitor within a few weeks.

To find tax lawyers, business lawyers and lawyers in Canada, please visit http://www.lawyerahead.ca/