Verified brief — 13 October 2026

Ottawa proposes letting 27 police services use cellphone jammers. A budget bill would end the automatic 15-year safety re-evaluation of pesticides. Washington defines the “U.S. content” that cuts a steel-and-aluminum tariff for Canadian and Mexican goods. Seven senators say the Russian diesel licence breaks a 2022 law.

Published Oct 13, 2026, 7:12 a.m. EDT

Item 1
Canada Gazette, Part I (10 October): the Industry Minister proposes exempting employees of 27 named police services, including the OPP, Sûreté du Québec and the Toronto, Montréal, Calgary and Vancouver forces, from the Radiocommunication Act’s ban on signal jammers. Today only the RCMP, the military and prison services are exempt.
Read the article →Canada Gazette I, Vol. 160, No. 41
Item 2
The jammer order lists permitted purposes and conditions: minimize area and duration, train staff, lock devices away, keep use logs for five years. It sets no warrant requirement, no public reporting and no expiry. Comments are open for 30 days, to about 9 November.
Read the article →Proposed order, ss. 2–14 and RIAS
Item 3
Bill C-31, Division 13: the Pest Control Products Act’s mandatory re-evaluation of every pesticide about 15 years after its last decision would become an “assessment” on available information. A full re-evaluation would follow only if the Health Minister finds the risks have “increased significantly,” a term the bill does not define.
Read the article →C-31 cl. 282–285; PCPA s. 16(2)
Item 4
C-31 is before the Commons finance committee. Ecojustice and a Québec pesticide-victims group asked MPs on 8 October to drop or amend the pesticide section. Ministers are due 19–20 October, and amendments are due at noon on 22 October, the chair said, as reported by The Hub.
Read the article →LEGISinfo; The Hub (13 Oct)
Item 5
U.S. Commerce notice (FR Doc. 2026-20938), publishing and taking effect 14 October: for USMCA-qualifying Canadian and Mexican goods under Proclamation 11032, where the 25% duty applies only to non-U.S. content with a 15% floor, “U.S. content” includes U.S.-made parts and U.S.-melted steel or U.S.-smelted aluminum and copper.
Read the article →FR Doc. 2026-20938; Proc. 11032 cl. (2)(d)
Item 6
EU: the Commission on 9 October cleared €40.5 million in French state-guaranteed loans of €5,000 to €50,000 at 3.8% for farm, fishing, aquaculture and transport firms whose fuel bill is at least 5% of turnover. It is French money approved under the Middle East crisis state-aid framework, not EU funding.
Read the article →European Commission, 9 Oct (SA.124159, SA.124290)
Item 7
Russian diesel: seven senators, four of them Republicans, said on 11 October that allowing imports “runs directly counter” to the 2022 Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act. That law lifts the ban only after a presidential certification on Ukraine and NATO, prior consultation and a 90-day review. OFAC had posted no change to General License 135 as of this morning.
Read the article →SFRC minority release, 11 Oct; Pub. L. 117-109
Item 8
U.S. dyed-diesel order (EO 14435): the IRS news-release list still ends at IR-2026-120 (7 October), with no 7508A deferral decision or dyed-fuel penalty waiver posted as of this morning.
Read the article →IRS newsroom (checked 13 Oct)
Item 9
CBP rail passenger-data proposal published today at 91 FR 64840. Comments are due 14 December, the date in the published notice; we earlier gave 12 December and have corrected it.
Read the article →91 FR 64840 (DATES)
Item 10
Forest Service objection rule published today at 91 FR 64760 and takes effect 12 November: comment periods of 15 or 30 days and objection windows of 10 or 20 days on most national-forest projects.
Read the article →91 FR 64760 (DATES)
Item 11
DHS/EOIR final rule on civil fines for failure to depart and unlawful entry (FR Doc. 2026-21024) publishes and takes effect tomorrow, 14 October.
Read the article →FR public inspection (checked 13 Oct)
Item 12
Trump v. Kingdom (26A416): still no Supreme Court order on the government’s stay application as of this morning. The last docket entry is the Solicitor General’s 9 October reply.
Read the article →SCOTUS docket 26A416 (checked 13 Oct)
Item 13
When the House returns, it sits until midnight on 19 October, Alberta referendum day, and takes up the C-38 fuel-excise pause at 6:30 p.m. The PBO puts its 2026-27 cost at $4.943 billion.
Read the article →PBO ES-2627-004-S; Journals No. 148