The Senate may summon CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge for questioning over his confidential speaking fees from lobbyists. A member of a Senate panel reviewing the Crown broadcaster said lawmakers need answers on perquisites by senior staff: ‘Is there a double standard here?’
The Supreme Court will hear an appeal on a class-action lawsuit against Cash Store Inc., one of the nation’s largest payday lenders. The appeal involves Manitoba borrowers charged heavy “brokerage fees” in addition to high interest: “It is the poorest and least able who are being abused”.
Mayors say Canada Post must meet unforeseen costs of abolishing doorstep mail delivery. A Big City Mayors’ Caucus in a resolution to cabinet demanded payment for easements and maintenance of thousands of proposed community mailboxes: “There has to be an awful lot of compensation”.
Governments should regulate farm and feedlot run-off blamed for choking Lake Erie with phosphorous, says the International Joint Commission. The Canada-U.S. panel said agricultural chemicals are largely to blame for feeding the lake’s algae bloom, a toxic scum: “Lake Erie is at risk”.
Cabinet must revise a voluntary Code of Conduct on credit card issuers, merchants have told MPs. The Commons finance committee heard complaints against Visa and MasterCard over billions in fees to process payments: ‘Are we waiting for regulations to fix this?’
The Criminal Code must be amended to imprison thieves who steal copper wiring, says the Canadian Electricity Association. The industry blamed weak legislation and a rise in copper prices for an outbreak of stealing: “It doesn’t involve sophisticated tools”.
The Senate will convene hearings on obesity, including testimony from food processors, in a bid to examine the health peril linked to cancer, heart disease and diabetes. One in 4 Canadians is rated obese, by official estimate: “Clearly the food processors have to be heard”.
Heritage Canada has discarded its own policy to commemorate an ex-Conservative MP and a former Pope. Neither the Minister of Heritage nor her department would comment. Previously only two people, both prime ministers, were honoured with national days of observance: “There are questions”.
Nearly a decade after its advocacy by industry, electronic cargo reporting for cross-border truckers is expected to become mandatory this year. The Canada Border Services Agency system is intended to speed inspections for thousands of vehicles daily: “The time to start is now”.
Travellers can always take a bus if the loss of a New Brunswick rail line ends 125 years of transcontinental passenger train service, says a senior Conservative MP. Eve Adams, parliamentary secretary for health, said cabinet will not halt the abandonment of track near Moncton: “Our government is not in the business of buying rail lines”.
Cabinet is hearing I-told-you-so on shortcomings of a rail bill that’s failed to resolve billion-dollar disruptions in grain shipping. Legislators said Bill C-52, criticized as flawed when it passed into law, has proven ineffectual: “The stick can’t come out fast enough”.
A little-known National Air Photo Library, largest collection of its kind at Natural Resources Canada, is digitizing more historic aerial images for public sale: “People want to explore these photos”.
An Independent MP who quit caucus over concealment of public service salaries is authoring a book chronicling the unchecked power of the Prime Minister’s Office, he says: ‘There was pressure from the whip not to support my bill’.
The president of the CBC took an estimated $80,000 bonus last year, a Senate committee learned. Lawmakers expressed incredulity over generous executive benefits at the same the Crown broadcaster cut 650 jobs and lost its license to $150 million in annual NHL ad revenue: “Everyone can be replaced”.
Independent gas retailers are appealing to the Commons finance committee for regulation of Visa and MasterCard charges, saying fee-ridden businesses now make less on a litre of fuel than a can of Coke: “A voluntary code of conduct is simply not enough”.
