A proposal for “open banking” to allow electronic shopping by consumers for the best rates on loans and deposits will require numerous rewrites to federal laws, a cabinet advisory panel said yesterday. Bankers and insurance lobbyists have opposed the measure: ‘Consumers must have confidence they are protected if something goes wrong.’
CBC advertising revenues fell again last year by 18 percent. The Crown broadcaster said it will require more federal grants to offset commercial losses, and acknowledged forecasts of a sales boon from the Tokyo Olympics was speculative: “We will be a beacon for truth.”
Most Canadians rate the pandemic a threat to rights and freedoms with a large minority wary of the vaccine rollout, says in-house Privy Council Office research. Forty percent said they believed Covid “is part of a global effort to enforce mandatory vaccination.” The rate was highest, 45 percent, in Saskatchewan and Manitoba: “True or false: The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies have been deliberately delaying or hiding the development of a vaccine that could end the Covid-19 pandemic in order to drive up the price.”
Mandating vaccination spells “a loss of fundamental rights,” says a federal agency. Health Minister Patricia Hajdu yesterday acknowledged millions of Canadians are “still questioning whether it’s right for them,” but stopped short of advocating coercion: “Government surveillance diminishes the level of freedom one expects in a democracy.”
The Royal Bank has been cited by a judge for refusing to pay a life insurance claim based on a “cover your butt memo.” Ontario Superior Court ordered bankers to pay the $250,000 death benefit and 100 percent of a widow’s legal costs: “RBC’s conduct has been heavy handed.”
Attorney General David Lametti yesterday endorsed adoption of ancient legal practices on First Nations territory. “We are here to celebrate your efforts to revitalize your legal traditions,” said Lametti: “This brings me hope as a Minister and as a jurist.”
Taxpayers have fully guaranteed more than a billion in Crown bank loans to unidentified companies that reported disastrous revenue losses due to the pandemic. Union executives have asked that borrowers be publicly named: “That’s information the public should know.”
An estimated 175,000 federal employees have received compensation over payroll errors, says a Department of Public Works briefing note. The department did not disclose the cost but acknowledged maximum damages would total nearly half a billion: “We will always have respect for taxpayer dollars.”
Canada’s Covid outlook is “slightly precarious” with infection rates on the rise since July 18 and likely to continue upwards into September, says Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer. Even Canadians who are fully vaccinated must wear masks indoors this fall, said Tam: “Vaccinated people can carry the virus and then transmit to others.”
Widows who outlive two husbands cannot double their survivors’ benefits under the Canada Pension Plan, says a federal judge. Parliament intended the Plan to operate as an insurance program not “a social welfare scheme,” said the Federal Court of Appeal: “Giving to some takes from others.”
Canada’s third largest university has lost a claim to photocopy millions of pages of copyright works for free. The Supreme Court in a 9-0 ruling dismissed the appeal by York University: “It has resulted in a 76 percent decrease in royalties to creators and publishers.”
Blacklock’s pauses for the August bank holiday with warmest regards to subscribers. We wish you a safe, happy holiday. We’ll be back tomorrow — The Editor.
Cabinet yesterday proposed to appoint a chief internet censor with sweeping powers to block websites, investigate anonymous complaints and conduct closed-door hearings into legal but hurtful content deemed a threat to “democratic institutions.” Technical papers released by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department said cabinet would determine “the threshold for what constitutes potentially illegal content.”
Cabinet should mandate vaccine passports, says a federal executives’ periodical. The Prime Minister has called it an “extreme measure,” while one federal agency said any passport mandate would breach the Privacy Act: “It is an encroachment on civil liberties.”
The Prime Minister yesterday named five people to the Senate including an Alberta appointment Premier Jason Kenney called a “slap in the face.” The Alberta cabinet on June 23 issued an order to hold elections for Senate nominees this fall: “The Prime Minister knows full well.”
