A human rights tribunal has awarded nearly $18,000 in damages to an employee fired after just three months on the job. The employer went too far in dismissing the woman without cause after she suffered a medical emergency, an adjudicator said: “I became very discouraged.”
The Commons trade committee yesterday rejected a New Democrat proposal to account for job gains and losses in a new Pacific trade pact. The Senate trade committee in 2017 made a similar proposal in the name of transparency: “Don’t be sorry to me, be sorry to Canadians.”
Members of the Commons heritage committee yesterday praised “sensible recommendations” to rewrite the Copyright Act to reward creators. Performers complained they earn pennies from internet downloads and radio play.
“If we stopped to explain this in the street to every Canadian who listens to music they would be outraged,” said musician David Bussieres, founder of Montréal-based Regroupement des Artisans de la Musique. Copyright law leaves “crumbs for the artists”, he said.
Bussieres said his 2014 hit Lumière brought him $10.80 in royalties on Spotify though the song was played thousands of times. “It was 0.03¢ per hit,” he said. The same song generated 60,000 views on YouTube with net revenue of $153.
The typical Canadians pays $594 a year for internet service, according to the CRTC’s latest Communications Monitoring Report. “Out of all this money, only a tiny fraction of the subscription cost goes to creators after going through all the middlemen,” said Bussieres. “That’s where the 0.03¢ per listen comes into play.”
Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault (Edmonton Centre) calculated that “to earn the minimum wage of $15 an hour in Alberta”, Bussieres would need 9.5 million views a month on YouTube and 16,800,000 downloads on Spotify. “It’s not logical,” said Boissonnault. “It’s not fair.”
“You have to keep pushing,” said Boissonnault. “You have to use your voices. There is a natural tension in Parliament between the rights of the consumer, and the rights of the artist to earn a living. Those are fundamental rights, so keep pushing, because it’s our job to be in your corner and to be pushed.”
Performers yesterday urged that MPs rewrite the Copyright Act to compel internet service providers to ensure collection of royalties on works accessible through their networks; extend copyright protection from 50 to 70 years after a creator’s death; and repeal a provision that exempts performers from receiving payments for rebroadcasted works used in TV and film soundtracks.
“These are all sensible recommendations in my opinion,” said Liberal MP Pierre Breton (Shefford, Que.). “They could be implemented rather quickly.”
“We Are Subsidizing Billionaires”
MP Pierre Nantel (Longueuil-St. Hubert, Que.), New Democrat heritage critic, said the committee had an obligation to ensure the Act does not punish performers. “It’s very important that you keep reminding us of your realities,” said Nantel: “Here in this committee, our job is to protect and value the work of our artists and our culture.” The MP described artists’ proposed reforms as “a roadmap with regard to what we should do”.
Testifying at the committee, violinist Miranda Mulholland recommended Parliament also repeal a Copyright Act provision limiting royalty payments by radio stations. “We are subsidizing billionaires and the subsidies have to stop,” said Mulholland, who questioned “just who the government and the copyright laws are protecting”.
“It was a 1997 subsidy given to every commercial radio station in Canada allowing them to only pay $100 in royalties on the first $1.25 million in advertising revenue – and it was meant to be temporary, 20 years ago,” said Mulholland, a member of the Board of Governors of Toronto’s Massey Hall. “The landscape has changed significantly, and now most of these stations have been acquired by the big media companies. But the subsidies still apply. That means all your favourite Canadian artists are subsidizing Bell and Corus.”
Added Mulholland: “Apply skepticism when those currently taking advantage of artists come here and tell you the system is fine, and that artists are better off, or that we just aren’t working hard enough. They might do what they did in Europe and swamp your inboxes with technologically-created auto-spam to give you the false sense that there are thousands of faceless voters determined to vote to protect the status quo.”
Mulholland did not identify any spammers by name. Open Media, a Google Corp.-funded advocacy group, earlier acknowledged it blitzed federal legislators with more than 22,200 emails in a week protesting changes to the Copyright Act. Open Media when contacted by Blacklock’s September 5 said it had modified a website form that allowed indiscriminate emailing by any computer user in any location.
By Staff 
It takes the Government of Canada nearly 7 months to hire fresh outside applicants for job postings, says the Public Service Commission. Members of the Commons government operations committee yesterday questioned whether hiring is skewed to favour insiders: “I do want to talk about nepotism.”
A majority of municipal and business leaders say climate change is not a “significant challenge”, according to in-house research by the Department of Natural Resources. Only 8 percent of executives and 11 percent of city managers rated changing climate as “one of the most significant challenges my organization faces”.
Only 3 percent of federal buildings nationwide are named from women, according to the Department of Public Works. The figures were disclosed at the request of a Liberal Senator who noted little has changed in the past decade: “What if any progress has been made?”
The Department of Public Safety yesterday ordered fresh research on the use and sale of cannabis just weeks ahead of cabinet’s October 17 deadline to legalize the drug. Critics have accused the department of rushing to repeal a 95-year ban on recreational marijuana without adequate study: “We’re really just rolling the dice.”
The Commons yesterday opened debate on a cabinet bill to compel federally-regulated employers to accommodate the disabled under threat of federal fines. Details will be left to regulation once Parliament passes the bill into law, said Public Works Minister Carla Qualtrough: “The bill provides real teeth.”
The Department of Public safety paid a cable TV personality $133,000 as a “social media influencer”, according to accounts. Staff did not comment on payments to HGTV host Bryan Baeumler for a series of short YouTube videos including tips on how to clean eavestroughing: “Set your ladder on level ground and wear gloves.”
A labour tribunal has rejected a compensation claim for hearing loss from 43 years’ exposure to photocopiers. A retired administrative assistant blamed the daily click and whine of copy machines for her partial deafness and tinnitus: ‘They were very large and noisy printers.’
An Alberta man has won $495 in compensation for a bad flight with Jet Airways Ltd. The award is the latest in a series of rulings against the airline by the Canadian Transportation Agency that hears travelers’ complaints: “I’m not the only one.”
Builders yesterday cautioned the Commons finance committee to brace for a public outcry over little-known changes to the National Building Code. Regulations to take effect in 2022 would compel homeowners to meet new energy efficiency guidelines when repairing, renovating or selling existing property: “You have seen nothing in terms of pushback.”
Senators yesterday criticized the CRTC as a weak advocate for consumers. Canadians now pay an average of nearly $3,000 a year for telecom services, by official estimate: “I am convinced it is not serving the public interest.”
The Prime Minister’s Office has received nearly 10 times more letters and emails on the Atlantic seal hunt than any other topic, records show. The office was flooded with millions of protests as Parliament sped passage of bill to celebrate the annual hunt: “Activist groups from away and at home in Canada have dealt a significant blow.”
Canadian enforcement of piracy law is so dismal property owners must resort to costly civil litigation against importers of Chinese knock-offs, says an organizer with the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network. The federal Public Prosecution Service has not pursued a new piracy case since 2014: “We instigate more civil actions than there have been criminal proceedings.”
