The nation’s largest retailers are expressing unease over a cabinet plan to launch a federal price monitor and eliminate “discrimination” between Canadian and U.S. chain stores. The Retail Council said any regulations targeting so-called “country pricing” must be handled with care: “Competitive forces are very important”.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is extending a research contract on jobs and revenues in domestic media production. The latest figures show film and TV directly employ more than half the number of Canadians who work in Alberta’s oil and gas industry: “This is a business; it is not a cultural artifact”.
Canadian exporters are anticipating a World Trade Organization win against the U.S. in a six-year dispute over meat labeling. Cattle and pork producers said they expected a WTO panel will cite America for unfair trade practices: “What will it take?”
University tuition far outpaces inflation in the latest annual data compiled by Statistics Canada. The federal estimates confirm earlier private research that forecast tuition costs will rise 13% on average by 2017: ‘It’s a burden that can haunt you for years’.
Members of the RCMP are pooling legal insurance in the wake of a federal bill granting new powers to fire and demote police officers. The insurance is promoted by the B.C.-based Mounted Police Professional Association, the same organization attempting to overturn a 1920 ban on unionizing the force: “We have no option”.
The Correctional Service of Canada is being cited for failing to follow its own directives on suicide prevention in federal prisons. Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers said the agency failed to take required steps to prevent inmate deaths: ‘They have a duty’.
A judge has certified a class action lawsuit by hundreds of Sears Canada Inc. dealers who allege they could “not making a living wage” under contracts with the retailer. The lawsuit by 260 dealers seeks higher commissions and some $100 million in damages: “We are tired of losing money”.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is rewording labels on maple syrup following a three-year regulatory review that concluded many consumers like labels just the way they are. Syrup will be graded by new adjectives like golden delicate and dark robust: “The stakes are high”.
Most Canadians see no improvement in the economy this winter with 24% fearing “worse is yet to come”, according to Department of Finance research. The in-house polling also found the country evenly divided on what cabinet should do with an expected 2015 budget surplus: ‘It’s a clearer sense of the public mood’.
A Senate committee will conduct hearings on a bill to ban insurers from requiring genetic tests on policyholders, and outlaw “discrimination on the ground of genetic characteristics” under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Conservatives oppose the bill as an bid to regulate insurance contracts: “Is it fair?”
Homeowners who claimed property damage due to toxic fallout from an Inco Ltd. refinery have lost a bid to take their case to the Supreme Court. Justices declined to hear an appeal on a failed class action lawsuit by residents with contaminated property: ‘It’s really bad news’.
After a nearly year-long consultation, telecom regulators have set out new rules on evaluating TV and radio takeovers. The CRTC said it will require TV station buyers to contribute to programming funds on the same basis as the radio sector: “This is very helpful”.
The St. Lawrence Seaway continues to rebound after losing the first four weeks of its shipping season to heavy ice. Total traffic to August 31 was 20 million tonnes, 3% above the same period last year according to new figures. Traffic continued amid an increase in tolls: “The Seaway has to be sustainable”.
Air Canada has issued directives to flight crews to keep pornography out of aircraft following employee complaints that prompted a Transport Canada investigation. Posts of obscene images in jet cockpits were documented in evidence submitted to federal officers. The documents were released through Access to Information: “One picture in two weeks is one thing; five pictures in one day is another”.
In a court ruling expected to be appealed, a federal judge has concluded CBC cuts to French-language programming are subject to scrutiny by the Official Languages Commissioner: ‘The CBC does not exist to serve the government’.
