Cabinet must have some final say on research by Statistics Canada, says Industry Minister Navdeep Bains. Three former chief statisticians have appealed for amendments to a bill they say allows political meddling in the agency’s work: “Mandatory surveys can be intrusive.”
A Senate panel has approved new restrictions on tobacco packaging and first-ever federal regulation of vaping products. The vote by the Senate social affairs committee came as cabinet introduced legislation in the Commons to legalize the sale of cannabis to 18-year olds: “Should we conclude the government prefers to see young Canadians buying marijuana?”
The Commons finance committee is urging that cabinet resist any further immediate credit curbs on homebuyers. Realtors and mortgage brokers blamed 2016 restrictions for millions in lost business: “The results have been clear.”
Easter greetings to our friends and subscribers. Blacklock’s pauses for the federal holiday, and will return April 18 — The Editor
Cabinet remains silent after a signature labour bill was amended by senators. The Senate yesterday passed rewritten legislation to eliminate a card check certification system dating from 1944: “Did they do the work and count the votes?”
Captive whales are no better than a circus show, the Senate fisheries committee has been told. Senators are considering a bill to ban the capture and breeding of whales under threat of $10,000 fines: ‘Come on in and see them go round and round for the next 20 years.’
A federal agency is hunting for an employee alleged to have leaked confidential information to media. The investigation is the first of its kind at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, said the agency’s director: “If we find who it is — “
Health Canada admits it mistakenly claimed to have completed risk assessments on a pesticide licensed for sale. The admission comes a year after officials promised to “improve the openness of transparency” in regulating pesticides: “It stinks.”
The Senate by a vote of 43 to 34 yesterday abolished card check union certification for nearly a million Canadians in federally-regulated workplaces. Senators passed a Conservative amendment to a cabinet bill to require that new unions be certified by mandatory secret ballot: ‘To suggest we should just be rubber-stamping legislation does not fly.’
A Crown lender that’s approved billions in taxpayer-funded farm loans must beware of the “tipping point” on debt, the Commons agriculture committee has been told. Farm Credit Canada said one-fifth of its loans involve interest-only payments for up to three years: “You still have to pay the bill.”
Employers are faulting the labour department for failing to spell out new restrictions on the hiring of migrant workers. Cabinet said companies must first make special efforts to hire targeted groups of Canadians, but did not detail any policy or text of regulations: “Why add a new requirement without making it obvious?”
Plain tobacco packaging could double the number of smokers who quit each year, says a University of Waterloo researcher. Witnesses told the Senate social affairs committee that abolishing colourful cigarette packs is proven to work: “The evidence is clear.”
A parliamentary review of pornography is unfocused and unwieldy, says a member of the Commons health committee. MPs have complained the study is now distracting from vital work on pharmacare and other health issues: “We’ve veered off.”
A promised air passenger bill of rights will not be introduced this year, says Transport Minister Marc Garneau. First-ever federal regulations will be tabled in 2018 at the earliest: “When a passenger books a ticket they are entitled to certain rights.”
A bootleg news aggregator has settled a $21,750 copyright claim after republishing articles on a Facebook blog, the largest known settlement of its kind in Canada. The defendants’ lawyer was Professor David Fewer, director of the University of Ottawa’s Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic.
Blacklock’s Reporter in 2015 sued the blog operators for $20,000 as well as punitive damages and costs for republishing dozens of password-protected articles. In an unusual settlement, the aggregator One Big Campaign paid $21,750, volunteered a public apology and waived all confidentiality of settlement terms.
“We apologize for republishing Blacklock’s copyright-protected material without permission, payment or licensing agreement,” the bloggers said.
Evidence showed One Big Campaign republished numerous other media works including copyright photos owned by CTV News, Globe & Mail, Reuters, Postmedia and others. Blacklock’s articles were pasted to the users’ Facebook page and subsequently republished by the Moncton Free Press.
One Big Campaign was a registered third-party advertiser with Elections Ontario. The news blog was used to solicit thousands of dollars for political polling. The bloggers paid $157 to access Blacklock’s work.
“It’s Not Okay To Steal”
The Facebook bloggers in 2015 rejected a $5,000 settlement offer from Blacklock’s and dismissed a copyright warning from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, a financial donor to One Big Campaign. “Caution: I think it is still a copyright violation to reprint an entire article unless permission is granted whether or not it is behind a firewall,” a union executive wrote the bloggers. “The analogy might be that of a store having a sidewalk sale.”
“It is not okay to steal stuff because it’s out on the sidewalk,” wrote the OPSEU official; “I think it would be a mistake for One Big Campaign to play the victim here.”
The bloggers instead hired as counsel Professor Fewer, a copyright adviser to the Department of Justice who has repeatedly accused Blacklock’s of unethical practices. Fewer in 2015 published a commentary on the company’s earlier successful copyright litigation with the headline, “Feeding The Trolls”.
An Access To Information return on Fewer’s correspondence with Justice Canada identified 53 pages of redacted files. Department records were withheld under “solicitor-client privilege”, according to Access file A-2016-01935.
Prof. Fewer also issued various media statements on Blacklock’s prompting corrections and apologies including the following notice published February 27 in the Law Times:
“CLARIFICATION: Law Times in a January 30, 2017 article (“Feds must take action on copyright trolls”) quoted David Fewer, director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, commenting on copyright litigation by the publication Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Fewer was quoted, ‘If you read between the lines, you can tell there is dissatisfaction with the conduct of Blacklock’s, and I think the case is a clear signal to future copyright trolls that this isn’t going to be tolerated.’
“The article failed to disclose Fewer in 2014 and 2015 acted as counsel for defendants in two separate copyright actions by Blacklock’s, both settled out of court. The most recent Ontario Superior Court action resulted in a settlement in which Fewer’s clients paid $21,750 to Blacklock’s and issued a public apology. Law Times regrets the omission.”
By Staff
