Canadian National Railways has seen a lawsuit thrown out of court after years of delays. The Supreme Court refused to hear the railway’s appeal of dismissal in the case involving industrial contaminating dating from the 1920s: “One day some horses got stuck in a gooey substance they could not get out of so they had to be shot”.
Telecom regulators are again mulling some method to curb “spoofing”, a technique by unlicensed telemarketers to bypass call-display technology. Regulators have seen “a significant number of complaints” involving camouflaged ID by marketers, said the CRTC: “It is annoying and in some cases dangerous”.
The anti-trust Competition Bureau is investigating a celebrated joint venture between Air Canada and state-run Air China of Beijing. Investigators in Federal Court documents questioned whether the agreement will see the two carriers monopolize their transpacific routes: ‘It may reduce the incentive to introduce new service’.
A paper-thin federal surplus may still be salvageable if cabinet quickly defers billions in spending, says an economist. The Parliamentary Budget Office yesterday shredded cabinet’s claim of a $1.4 billion surplus this year – the first balanced budget since 2007: ““Troops, if you’re expecting those bullets anytime soon, you’ll have to wait until next fiscal year”.
A Canadian-based patent owner is suing Netflix in Federal Court alleging breach of intellectual property on cryptography. Copy Protection LLC of Kanata, Ont. claims the internet TV service used its proprietary technology to prevent illegal downloading. Netflix has not yet filed a statement of defence: “There is no denying that technological innovation is redefining the very definition of broadcasting’.
An employee sacked after an angry sales meeting has won benefits but no “moral damages” in a dispute at Atlantic Canada’s largest Ford dealership. Tense confrontations at work do not necessarily justify compensation for mental suffering, ruled the Supreme Court of Newfoundland & Labrador: ‘A less sensitive person may have reacted differently’.
The defence department has issued 70 pages of specifications for new camouflage screens. A contract notice included details on how to write an instruction manual for using the small tarps – one page only, Concise Oxford English – and a requirement that screens mustn’t be made from PCBS. Canada outlawed the manufacture of polychlorinated biphenyls in 1977: ‘No cracking, peeling or flaking’.
The impact of new anti-piracy legislation has been marginal more than six months after the bill was signed into law, says a trademark attorney. Witnesses at parliamentary hearings had warned the bill was flawed and costly: “They have only started a few cases”.
A confidential memo shows cabinet is counting the days to see if Canada’s economy reaches a first-ever benchmark of $2 trillion before an expected October 19 election. Deputy Finance Minister Paul Rochon warned of “the uncertainty over predicting the exact time at which this will occur.”
Industry Canada has written off more than $303 million in bad loans to corporations since 2006, according to accounts released through Access To Information. The department refused to name companies in default: “If Canadians knew more we could see for once how inefficiently these programs are run”.
Canada’s provinces must cut a total $28 billion a year, every year, for decades to come if debt levels are to be sustainable, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Only three provinces – British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Québec – now have balanced budgets: “Measures have to be taken”.
Companies face increases of up to 34% on fees used to finance the National Do Not Call List. Telecom regulators yesterday said the fees it charges telemarketers and corporate clients will increase August 1, and again in 2016 and 2017: “Are we as Canadians any better off with the Do Not Call List?”
CBC’s broadcasting mandate must be specialized with new funding drawn from creative methods like a website news paywall under a sink-or-swim scenario for the Crown broadcaster, says a Senate panel. “It is now possible to imagine service without the CBC,” concluded the Senate communications committee.
A federal watchdog intended to monitor banks and insurers is winning praise for “excellent” service – from banks and insurers. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada spent $136,347 on a performance survey that excluded the general public: “Bankers are more likely to rate the effectiveness as excellent”.
Tax Court has invoked the wit of Oscar Wilde in approving 50 percent penalties against a former PepsiCo executive for under-reporting his income. “I am left reminded of what Oscar Wilde wrote in The Decay Of Lying: ‘If a man is sufficiently unimaginative to produce evidence in support of a lie, he might just as well speak the truth at once,’” said Justice Patrick Boyle.
