The Commons will vote in principle next week to quash two Conservative labour bills targeted for repeal. The March 7 vote follows debate that saw opposition MPs make 62 separate references to “union bosses”.

Canada will end a culture of “secrecy” with proposals to force disclosure of public records withheld by cabinet and parliamentary institutions, says Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault. The Treasury Board has proposed expanding powers of the Access To Information Act this term: “There’s a lot of secrecy”.

Parliament’s failure to pass DNA privacy legislation has fostered public fear over misuse of genetic testing by employers, says Canada’s chief human rights commissioner. Two bills prohibiting unauthorized use of DNA data lapsed without coming to final votes in 2015: “It is now time to do so”.

Wrecked and abandoned vessels have become a significant environmental risk, says the Canadian Coast Guard. Parliament for the second time in two years has seen introduction of a bill to federalize derelict ships and boats: “We start to incur costs”.

Parliament should enact a first-ever passenger bill of rights for air travellers, says a cabinet-commissioned report. Advisors also urged that airlines be compelled to disclose confidential data on flight delays, lost luggage, denial of boarding and other service complaints: “Let’s get on with it”.

Cabinet should privatize federally-regulated airports and ease foreign ownership rules on airlines, says a Transport Canada review. The two-year study also proposed the government phase out millions in airport rents: “Why am I paying so much for my airline ticket? Why can’t I get more competition?”

Federally-regulated employers would be fined $10,000 a day for hiring replacement workers in a strike or lockout under a New Democrat bill introduced in the Commons. The bill’s sponsor, a former postal worker, said the current law is unfair: “Prove the tone in Ottawa has really changed”.

VIA Rail should strip passenger subsidies outside its core business in Ontario and Québec, effectively doubling fares on its iconic Canadian transcontinental service, says a federal report. The proposal followed an admission from the CEO that trains now run later than ever: “This is just not attractive to passengers”.

A bill mandating first-ever national standards on disposal of mercury-laden light bulbs has been introduced in the Commons. The measure comes three years after Canada pledged to reduce mercury emissions: “We probably should have had a plan”.

Farmers will lose the last remnants of federally-regulated freight rates, and railways and shippers will pay more to transport chemicals and other hazardous goods under sweeping amendments to rail regulations proposed by a federal report. “We’re looking at it,” said Transport Minister Marc Garneau.

Dairy Farmers of Canada are being criticized at the Senate for marketing sugar-added chocolate milk as a drink of champions. The head of a Senate examination of childhood obesity described milk producers’ health claims as astounding: ‘It would take an ordinary person 90 minutes to work off that many calories’.

A bill introduced in the Commons would ban open net pen fish farms off the British Columbia coast. One B.C. advocate earlier described the pens as “feedlots” that endanger marine ecosystems: “There needs to be clear leadership”.

A cabinet pledge to legalize marijuana must be accompanied with new laws on cannabis-impaired drivers, Liberal senators have been told. Police executives yesterday said driving under the influence of the drug is a public safety issue: “It exists”.

One of Canada’s largest media unions is pressing for broader copyright protection for its 22,000 members. Parliament in 2017 will review the entire Copyright Act. One confidential federal memo noted industry-wide lobbying is already underway: ‘We need to get ahead of the curve’.