The Canadian Standards Association

There has been a series of eye opening articles about the CSA and how they operate in Canada.

These articles originate with "RestoreCSA.com" which is website set up to record the facts behind a lawsuit initiated by the CSA against a consultant P.S. Knight Co. Ltd. over use of published material.

Some of the startling revelations brought to light in these articles include evidence of  an astounding overreach by what is basically a not for profit private corporation that has taken upon itself to act as an arm of the Canadian Government. The CSA has quietly over the years become an out of control entity that operates far beyond its mandate. The time to put an end to this rampant abuse is now.

A short list of the improprieties and scandals that center on the CSA and often involve Federal government agencies such as Industry Canada and various Provincial and local governments and their respective regulatory powers include:

• Influence peddling and improper relationships between directors of the CSA and government bureaucracies (jobs as reward and in exchange for cooperation)
• Code cycle adjustments (abuse of power to change regulations that inflict unnecessary and costs on business and governments)
• Predatory competitive practices (another abuse of power and position)
• Improper relationships with commercial interests (pay to play shakedowns)
• Misappropriation

And the latest ....

The CSA is constantly lobbying government for more of your money. In the last twelve months, the CSA arranged twenty-eight meetings with government officials to request funding. And that's just the Federal Government, the CSA is also active provincially and municipally.
Among the highlights, the CSA asked the Federal Government for "funding from Health Canada for the Product Safety Project Committee." But this committee is run by volunteers, they are unpaid. So the CSA wants money to pay for unpaid volunteers. They also asked for funding to "update" the NGV codes (B108 and B109 specifically). But CSA sells these codes for $190 each, so why is government expected to pay CSA's product development costs? Then the CSA asked for "funding [...] for development of storm water training modules." Again, the government is expected to pay CSA to develop a training program that CSA would then sell commercially.
The CSA has registered forty-three lobbyists with the Federal Government. Beyond this, the CSA has contracted Global Public Affairs to lobby government on their behalf. Global Public Affairs has subsequently registered five additional lobbyists on behalf of the CSA.

 OMMAG

More reading ...
lobbying-lobbyists
 Restore The CSA
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