Electrical – Panel without basepan but insulating sheet only.. long term problem

I'm sure you know this, but you definitely want to replace any Federal Pacific breakers in your house, as they're known to not trip, overheat, and/or catch fire! You might give the box a close inspection, my in-laws house has a Federal Pacific panel and the main panel instead of having a main disconnect breaker at the top of the panel, it has them in the rows to the side among the regular breakers, and the only way you know they're the main disconnect is the breakers are 100A each and they're marked "main" but they're the same size as the other breakers. Yours might be hiding in there as well. I'm not sure in Canada, but here in the US, unless local codes are different, if you've got a main disconnect that's separate from the rest of the panel, you can do your own work on the panel, but you can't touch the main disconnect, whereas if it's all part of the same panel, the power company won't pull the meter or otherwise disconnect it unless it's requested by a licensed electrician, and then it either has to be worked on by an electrician, or at least inspected and done up to code before they will turn the power back on. Running into this issue right now at my house, it has the original 1954 fuse panel with glass fuses and it's going to be $2500 to have it replaced!

If this is the only panel box, or the main panel box, then the neutral and ground wires may terminate at the same set of bus bars. This is where the neutral and ground wires are bonded together. What we might be seeing is a dual bus bar setup that is stacked and offset like stadium seating. They are likely permanently bonded together. There is no stipulation in the order of termination so long as only one wire is secured per terminal (unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise).

The ground wires outside of the box are improperly terminated. They should run into the box and to those bus bars. Look at the corrosion and dirt on that twisted mess. It most likely is not able to conduct fault current properly to trip a breaker. That's a fire and electrocution hazard right there.

Splices in the panel box are allowed so long as they are properly spliced and the total wire volume does not fill the panel to the point where you need to squeeze the cover on or tamp the wires so the cover fits.

Multiple cables through a single clamp is also a violation as the clamps are only rated to secure a single cable. The only way multiple wires can terminate to the same knockout is if the clamp is rated to do so. Standard clamps in the picture are rated for a single cable only. Multiple wires in a single clamp can slide against each other allowing them to pull out. So the dunderhead electrician tightens the clamp even more possibly damaging the cable in the process.

This is an older panel box which was built in a time where the NEC didn't stipulate more room for a panel box. Modern boxes have much more room. Tandem breakers or skinnies are allowed only if the number of circuits does not exceed the panels rating. E.g. a panel rated for 20 circuits which has 20 spaces (a 20/20 panel) can only have 20 circuits regardless of the type of breaker used. You could have 5 tandems and 10 singles for a total of 20 circuits. It can not be filled with 20 tandem breakers for 40 circuits or any combination which exceeds 20 circuits UNLESS the panel has a higher circuit to space rating like 20/40. This change was done in 2014 to alleviate overcrowded panels.