Conservative MPs quashed a bid for public hearings on wireless policy. The Commons industry committee yesterday took less than 20 minutes to reject an Opposition proposal for public consultations on an upcoming bandwidth auction for mobile service providers. MPs travelled to Ottawa for the short meeting, then promptly left the city.
A top Department of Defence analyst characterized Occupy Ottawa protestors as lawless, drug-addled Marxists, according to documents. Details of the confidential correspondence over a 2011 protest near Parliament Hill are divulged in more than 1,000 pages of newly-released emails, memos, reports and files kept by the National Capital Commission: “It is a disgrace to this city.”
The Department of Finance is at a loss to explain how a bill that mistakenly doubled taxes on credit unions passed into law without anyone noticing. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his officials refused interviews after confirming the bill was vetted by staff, the House, Senate and parliamentary committees without a single person detecting the blunder: “They goofed.”
A China investment pact signed by the Department of International Trade should have no chilling effect on local governments, says a federal judge. The court concluded no local authorities should “fear” Chinese claims for compensation: “I have not been persuaded…”
Documents reveal a federal agency, the National Capital Commission, spied on peaceful protesters in the Occupy movement. The parks commission amassed more than 1,000 pages of staff memos, emails, surveillance reports and photos after 25 demonstrators camped near Parliament in 2011. “We want to start pushing back,” managers remarked in one closed-door meeting, according to minutes released under the Access to Information Act.
MPs preparing for an urgent hearing on wireless policy are being pressed to leave telecom regulation to anti-trust investigators. Members of the Commons industry committee meet in special session this evening to consider an Opposition motion for a policy review: “There is no reason to treat the wireless sector differently from any other industry.”
An unhappy Air Canada customer who filed an all-or-nothing lawsuit despite a sympathetic hearing from the Canadian Transportation Agency “took the wrong route,” a legal analyst tells Blacklock’s. The agency is mandated to investigate complaints against federally-regulated firms: “Most of the time it works quite well.”
Unions are a “disadvantage” for investment according to a confidential report commissioned by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. The report said unions are “most frequently identified by key informants” as a problem. Gary Goodyear, minister responsible for the agency, refused comment.
Industry has a misplaced faith in purportedly fool-proof technology to avoid disastrous oil and gas spills, says a senator who investigated safety measures amid the Lac-Mégantic catastrophe. A Senate committee has recommended mandatory safety audits and greater use of improved rail cars that transport dangerous goods: “When it does fail, they’re stunned.”
Rival denture clinic operators are headed to Federal Court in a dispute over the Copyright Act. The Denturist Association of Ontario is accused of blocking the use of insurance billing codes and even the professional designation DD (“Diploma in Denturism”) by members of a rival Denturist Group of Ontario: “They are hell bent on blocking us.”
A 99-year old Toronto millionaire has lost a Federal Court claim that the Bank of Canada has waged a “conspiracy” to deny Canadians interest-free loans. William Krehm, a retired developer, brought the action citing an obscure provision of a 1934 law. He sought $1 in damages for every citizen: “The Bank of Canada is defending itself.”
The Commons industry committee is holding emergency hearings on wireless policy that may affect the price Canadians pay for telecom services. Four New Democrat MPs requested the hearings over a federal bandwidth auction that restricts bids by Canada’s largest telecom firms: “This is a matter of urgency.”
Canada’s cities need a national dialogue on rerouting historic rail lines past residential neighbourhoods, says a member of a national Rail Safety Working Group. Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison said longstanding concerns over urban crossings are heightened in the aftermath of the fatal Lac-Mégantic derailment: “We need to have those discussions right across Canada.”
Anti-trust investigators have seen a ninth air cargo carrier convicted in a price-fixing scandal dating back more than a decade. LATAM Airlines Group, which has offices in three provinces, admitted it conspired to gouge customers on fuel surcharges: “We are dealing with a cartel that lasted a number of years.”
The Senate’s energy committee is urging that federal regulators develop mandatory safety audits of the shipment of petroleum products by rail, pipeline and tanker. The investigation coincided with the Lac-Mégantic train wreck that killed 47 people and spilled six million litres of oil: “We can never say that there will be zero risk.”
