The Senate banking committee yesterday opened hearings on a usury bill with an appeal to target unscrupulous lenders. Parliament hasn’t updated its law on criminal interest rates since 1978: “There is nothing to protect Canadian consumers.”

MPs last night passed an auto safety bill by a vote of 296 to 0. The bill grants cabinet new powers to recall unsafe vehicles, but saves automakers from prosecution for selling defective cars and trucks: “It is nothing short of breathtaking.”

Canada is now the largest foreign market for shark fins outside Asia, the Senate fisheries committee has been told. A private Conservative bill in the Senate would ban imports: “It is a brutal, wasteful practice.”