A federal proposal that all seaplane passengers wear lifejackets – the first regulation of its kind – faces widespread opposition, says Transport Canada. The recommendation follows a fatal 2009 British Columbia accident in which six people drowned: “It’s a tough one”.
Transport Canada will not hold any public hearings on a far-reaching policy review, an official says. The department is considering recommendations to privatize airports; allow more foreign ownership of airlines; cut VIA Rail subsidies and eliminate the last regulated freight rates for railways: “I’m disappointed it won’t be open to Canadians because that’s what I understand it was”.
Mandatory labeling of engineered fish licensed for sale by Health Canada should be reviewed, say aquaculture operators. Regulators have declined to explain why they did not impose the requirement on the first genetically-modified species sold for human consumption: ‘It’s an important issue’.
The CBC draws only 1% of its revenues from website content though it has 1,150 staff in electronic programming, says the editor in chief. The disclosure follows a 2015 Senate report that CBC consider charging for free web content that competes with local newspapers: “We re-imagined everything”.
Telecom regulators have not released updated figures on how many Canadians subscribed to low-cost basic cable and satellite TV mandated by the CRTC. The Commission continues to cite data that only 66,000 of some 7 million cable customers signed up in the first weeks of the program: ‘They argued changes would lead to big savings’.
Blacklock’s pauses today for the federal holiday, with best regards to friends and subscribers for a safe and happy weekend — The Editor
On TV and
in full-page, full-colour newspaper ads,
Tim Hortons presents their
Maple Iced Capp and
Creamy Maple Chill.
“So Canadian,” they claim,
as they apologize
for not introducing them sooner.
They may have forgotten their merger
with the American chain Burger King, and
the Brazilian investment firm that now owns them.
Oh, and there isn’t a drop of maple in the new
beverages.
It’s all artificial flavours and colours –
just like their Maple Pecan Danish,
their Canadian Maple Donut,
their Maple Swirl Donut,
and their Maple Dip Donut.
Also in the list of ingredients:
preservatives.
Perhaps that’s Timmy’s way of keeping things
Always Fresh.
Remind me –
what were they sorry for?
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Health Canada is licensing the first-ever commercial sale of an engineered species, made-in-the-lab salmon. Approval came despite a federal lawsuit and fisheries department warnings of high environmental risks. “I would certainly eat it,” said Health Minister Dr. Jane Philpott.
Attempts to regulate micro-plastic pollution have failed, says a Liberal MP. The Commons in 2015 unanimously voted to list microbeads as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act: “Risk-based assessment has failed on so many levels”.
Air Canada is being singled out for a special report by the Commissioner of Official Languages. The airline is accused of only grudgingly following the Official Languages Act: “Their position is this is a private company”.
Promised reforms to end hidden borrowing by cabinet are less than meets the eye, say members of the Senate national finance committee. The finance department in its 2016 budget had pledged to halt the practice of borrowing billions without telling Parliament: “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
A Court judgment allows federal environmental panels to do their work without fear of legal challenges over confidential documents, an analyst says. The Supreme Court declined to hear a B.C. mining company’s demand for files over a $1.5 billion project: “I think they were hoping to find some smoking gun’.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is paying a $130,000 subsidy to an Ottawa think tank for “expert advice” on what is ailing newspapers. The Public Policy Forum earlier published research likening the plight of print media to challenges facing pornographers: “Inequality has always been a fact of life in the creative industries”.
Telecom regulators turned a 10 percent profit on the sale of a National Do Not Call List to telemarketers last year. The CRTC had claimed the list was not a revenue source: ‘It’s almost a form of taxation”.
Canada Post must examine “every conceivable” way to make money, says Public Services Minister Judy Foote. Cabinet said any recommendations from a $2 million task force on modernizing the Crown corporation will be published online for comment: “A lot of work has to go into this”.
