The Senate yesterday took up a usury bill with calls to further reduce the criminal interest rate. The debate follows 2018 court rulings in British Columbia and Ontario on exorbitant charges on small loans: “We must do better.”

Parliament should tightly restrict cannabis advertising if legislators repeal a 95-year ban on recreational marijuana, a University of Waterloo professor has told the Senate social affairs committee. Advocates urged senators to regulate cannabis as strictly as tobacco: “Pound for pound, cannabis smoke is just as toxic as tobacco.”

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna yesterday told the Senate energy committee a national carbon tax is not intended to hurt Canadians, but acknowledged there will be losers. McKenna would not disclose estimated costs of the tax on households: “My goal is to reduce emissions; it’s not to hurt people.”

One in four Canadians surveyed admit to stealing copyright material online, according to Department of Industry research. The unpublished findings were disclosed yesterday at the Commons heritage committee: “They go to find anything they can without paying for it.”

The Commons justice committee yesterday proposed that provinces raise pay and offer free counselling to jurors. The recommendations followed tearful testimony from jurors who complained of mental anguish from attending gruesome criminal trials: “It’s like a plane crash.”

A federal consultant yesterday said Parliament should rewrite its Pilotage Act to cut labour expenses. The statutory review cited a “commonly-voiced industry perspective that pilotage costs in Canada are too high.”

The Commons finance committee by a 5-4 vote yesterday rejected a proposal to maintain tax-free medical marijuana for 270,000 registered users nationwide. A cabinet bill to legalize cannabis would tax medical marijuana at the same rate as recreational drugs: “It will have a very negative effect.”

The Senate in a 41 to 31 vote yesterday accepted a final Commons rewrite of a transport bill. Senators had attempted to expand rail shippers’ rights and faced “near instant rejection” by the Commons, said the chair of the Senate transport committee: “Take heart.”

The Commons fisheries committee tomorrow is expected to pass a cabinet bill restoring environmental protections under the Fisheries Act. MPs yesterday approved technical changes to the bill, but rejected a New Democrat amendment mandating regular reporting of damage to habitat: “It takes a lot of work to improve legislation.”

A national broadcasting regulator has suspended airplay of a country and western hit 60 years after its release. One adjudicator in a rare dissenting opinion said the ruling on a Hank Thompson song set a dangerous precedent: “This decision could chill future broadcast of older songs.”

A former CMHC auditor in a Federal Court claim alleges he was fired after embarrassing managers with disclosures of misuse of funds by Québec’s provincial housing corporation. The allegations predate a February 20 review that faulted the Société Habitation du Québec for breaching provincial law: “The audit was an extreme success.”

Most Canadians consider mandatory minimum sentences unfair and unnecessary, according to polling commissioned by the Department of Justice. “We put our trust in judges,” one respondent told researchers.

A union representing flight attendants has lost a five-year court challenge of Transport Canada safety regulations. The Canadian Union of Public Employees complained it had a right to be heard by cabinet, but was never fully consulted: “There is no duty of procedural fairness.”

The Department of the Environment is granting a mining company approval to turn a freshwater lake into a tailings pond. The order requires that mine operators spend $2.2 million to create a new lake stocked with pickerel: ‘It would destroy fish habitat.’