Marketing of bottled water in Canada targets consumers’ “death anxiety”, says new research by the University of Waterloo. Analysts examined commercial messaging used to sell water by the bottle in a country where tap water is typically safe, plentiful and inexpensive: “We like to think we’re rational.”
The Department of Public Works last year awarded more than $1.7 billion in sole-sourced contracts without any competitive bidding. Awards included millions paid to pollsters and media corporations: “We should look into who’s getting favourable treatment.”
The Senate last night passed into law a private Liberal bill to rewrite O Canada. Senators voted to end a filibuster by critics that delayed the bill’s passage for months: “I think it’s not right for a handful of senators to push this through without going to the Canadian public.”
The Department of Justice says police need five times the number of specially-trained officers they now have to curb drug impaired driving. “We’re confident we’ll be ready,” Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould yesterday told the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee. Cabinet has set a July 1 deadline to pass a bill legalizing recreational marijuana.
Telecom regulators yesterday cleared the Weather Network of broadcasting inaccurate information. There was no evidence the channel deliberately spread “false news”, said the CRTC.
A lone unidentified viewer from British Columbia filed multiple complaints after the Weather Network last April 13 broadcast a long-range forecast entitled “30-Day Forecast” that in fact covered only 27 days. Under Television Broadcasting Regulations licensees are forbidden from “broadcasting false or misleading news”.
The channel’s Canadian licensee, Pelmorex Weather Networks Inc., admitted 30 days was not 27 days but explained graphics were constrained by high-definition television. “Technical limitations of space on the screen and detail issues in standard definition make it difficult to squeeze the 30 days onto the screen in all cases without decreasing the font size, which would have made the information tougher for viewers to read,” Pelmorex wrote in a submission.
The Canadian Radio Television & Telecommunications Commission ruled that, while the graph title was clearly wrong, “Given the protections afforded by the Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms and the objectives set out in the Broadcasting Act, the breach of these provisions must be flagrant for the Commission to take action on a complaint. The Commission does not consider it to be the case in this instance.”
Pelmorex yesterday did not comment. The Weather Network last June 6 changed its long-range forecast titles from “30 Days” to “Next 4 Weeks”.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council last October 12 dismissed a similar complaint against the network. “This complaint is hair-splitting and even verging on the frivolous,” the Council wrote.
A Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code Of Ethics requires that all TV non-fiction programming be fact-based. “It is not every inaccuracy that will amount to a breach of the Code provisions,” wrote staff.
The Council earlier rejected complaints that a TV news report referred to Olympic “uniforms” instead of “clothing”, or that the red cross painted on ambulances was a “healing message of Jesus Christ”: “There is no such link; it is simply the symbol of the Red Cross Society”.
Complaints about weather have seen federal agencies flooded with viewer mail in the past. A 2016 Environment Canada initiative to transfer its weather website to a single government portal promoted “rude” and “abusive” emails, according to Access To Information records. “This is a terrible website,” wrote one complainant; “Now you clowns have gone and changed the weather again!” said another.
Viewers similarly complained in 2013 when Environment Canada depicted temperatures in both Celsius and Fahrenheit, though the Metric Commission mandated Celsius temperatures in 1975. Comments from website visitors included: “Help!”; “How do I change it???”; and “I am 45 and can no longer understand Fahrenheit.”
“Canadians talk more about the weather than Americans,” Liberal MP Scott Simms (Bonavista-Gander, Nfld. & Labrador), a former TV weatherman, said in an earlier interview. “If it’s not hockey, it’s weather. I tell people it’s why I became a politician, to stop lying to them.”
By Staff 
The Senate banking committee yesterday opened hearings on a usury bill with an appeal to target unscrupulous lenders. Parliament hasn’t updated its law on criminal interest rates since 1978: “There is nothing to protect Canadian consumers.”
MPs last night passed an auto safety bill by a vote of 296 to 0. The bill grants cabinet new powers to recall unsafe vehicles, but saves automakers from prosecution for selling defective cars and trucks: “It is nothing short of breathtaking.”
Canada is now the largest foreign market for shark fins outside Asia, the Senate fisheries committee has been told. A private Conservative bill in the Senate would ban imports: “It is a brutal, wasteful practice.”
Cabinet lobbied behind closed doors to shelve a Senate bill seeking independent scrutiny of the Canada Border Services Agency, according to Access To Information records. Staff feared the private Liberal bill would expose confidential memos: “There are a number of issues with the bill.”
Regulators will need months to draft air passenger regulations once a federal bill becomes law, the Senate transport committee was told yesterday. Cabinet has set a December 31 deadline to have compensation rules in place: “One of the key issues is simply travelers knowing what their rights are.”
The Transportation Safety Board yesterday said federally-mandated workplace cameras for rail crews should not impact employee privacy, but added safeguards will have to wait for regulations. Members of the Senate transport committee questioned a need for video surveillance: “I have to be convinced on this.”
Cabinet will delay a bill guaranteeing prompt payment to federal contractors in favour of more consultation, officials say. The bill’s sponsor yesterday said any plea for time is inexcusable: “Every witness we heard said further consultation is useless.”
The Senate yesterday voted to launch a first-ever parliamentary review of regulations governing charities, including tax credits. The credits are worth $2.3 billion annually, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office: “Questions need to be answered.”
The Commons last night gave Second Reading to a bill mandating anti-harassment policies at federally-regulated jobsites. “It’s been a crisis for a long time,” said Labour Minister Patricia Hajdu: “Time’s up. It’s time to take action.”
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin in a 2016 letter to cabinet cited self-represented litigants as a security threat. McLachlin asked cabinet for more RCMP protection at a cost of $1 million a year. The correspondence was obtained through Access To Information: ‘One-third of the applications are filed by self-represented litigants.’
