Canada should consider a universal pharmacare program though costs could run to billions a year, a Parliament Hill conference has been told. Delegates speaking to a Liberal Senate Caucus session said an aging Canada faces rising expenses of pharmaceutical drugs: ““It is just a question of how many billions”.
Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred is being taken to Federal Court by a Canadian company embroiled in a five-year trademark dispute with the big leagues. The commissioner’s office objected to use of “All Star Baseball” to sell video games: ‘It’s confusing’.
Onerous federal rules on interns may quash trainee programs, an employers’ group has cautioned MPs. Cabinet for the first time is citing limited intern protection under the Canada Labour Code: “There is a very important balance here”.
A private Conservative bill to repeal the little-used threat of jail for Canadians who refuse fill out census forms has failed in the Commons. MPs last night adjourned debate on the measure without allowing it to come to a final vote: “I would have thought the world had evolved”.
Less than a quarter of Canadians attend November 11 services despite millions spent on ads and promotions, says Department of Veterans Affairs research. The department’s in-house polling found most Canadians said they “participated” in remembrance by watching TV: “The results will help guide the department”.
A federal judge has upheld Transport Canada’s right to revoke airport security clearance for a flight attendant who’d worked in a biker bar. The ruling follows a series of lawsuits involving transport workers who lost their jobs on suspicion of criminality: “My client no longer gets to do the job she was qualified to do, and thoroughly enjoyed doing”.
Veterans’ groups are protesting a cabinet plan to honour War of 1812 casualties in the nation’s most revered hall of remembrance for war dead. Canadian veterans of the Vietnam War, who are disqualified from a similar tribute, said the decision smacked of a double standard: “I don’t understand this”.
An Arctic grocers’ subsidy is undergoing a promised review to find if discounts are benefiting consumers. The Department of Northern Affairs yesterday said it will contract a claims processor to randomly check subsidy payments: “The objective of the program is to pass the subsidy on”.
A federal employee mistakenly paid thousands of dollars in bonuses must return the money though it took the government seven years to notice the error, a tribunal has ruled. The dispute followed automatic payments to a former Department of Veterans Affairs manager of financial benefits: “It was most unfortunate”.
MPs say they are unable to reach a consensus on a report citing the perils of marijuana. Health Canada’s own surveys show many Canadians are ambivalent about cannabis use: “It was no longer seen as a substance that only the ‘druggies’ use”.
A minor change in Health Canada label regulations that was 10 years in the making is being hailed by health advocates. The department says it will clarify which oat products can be promoted as gluten-free: “It sounds like a tiny distinction but it is actually significant”.
Friends Of Canadian Broadcasting has settled a copyright claim after republishing media news content without the owners’ permission or licensing agreement. The advocacy group claimed “fair dealing” under the Copyright Act in freely publishing paywalled news on its website.
Blacklock’s Reporter sued in 2014 after the group reprinted a single story on its website and refused to remove the article for some five weeks after being contacted by management. “The Copyright Act saves newsroom jobs,” said Blacklock’s publisher Holly Doan. “Covering the news costs money, and reporters deserve to be paid for their work.”
Blacklock’s sued for economic and punitive damages in a Federal Court application claiming breach of copyright; and asked that Friends identify their source for the article.
“We welcome a settlement in this unhappy matter,” Doan said. “Copyright is not a technicality; it is our livelihood.”
The dispute followed Blacklock’s publication of a February 14, 2014 article “CBC Its ‘Own Worst Enemy’”. The item recounted Senate committee testimony by Konrad von Finckenstein, former CRTC chair. Von Finckenstein had told senators, “The CBC is also its own worst enemy”; “It has not articulated clearly and precisely how it intends to thrive in the new digital environment, given its mandate and the fiscal restraints. Its strategies appear to be a vague repetition of what is set out in the Broadcasting Act.”
Friends Of Canadian Broadcasting published an identical version of Blacklock’s story on its own website within days, claiming it was entitled to do so under the Copyright Act without permission or payment for distribution rights.
“Our lawyers advise us that we can fairly deal with works that are only available by paid subscription,” Ian Morrison, Friends spokesperson, wrote in a February 27, 2014 email; “Friends earns no money from the operation of the database.”
The group claims an estimated 200,000 financial donors. It has spent more than $256,000 on third-party election advertising since 2011, according to Elections Canada.
Documents submitted to court by Blacklock’s included a Friends mail-out to contributors that cited Senate CBC hearings in appealing for funds: “We need your help to keep a very close eye on these folks, to expose their hostility to public broadcasting, and to connect the dots to Stephen Harper,” read the mailout.
Friends maintains a large database of other media’s stories for free use by internet visitors for “scholarship, research, private study and related purposes,” Morrison said; “Friends operates the Media Monitor database which stores reports of news and events pertaining to the broadcasting system, media ownership and cultural policies in Canada.”
Terms of the settlement are confidential. Blacklock’s publisher noted subscription revenues are crucial to all paywalled media to recover costs of news coverage. “We will vigorously defend our rights,” Doan said.
By Staff 
The full Senate is taking up Bill C-377 for the first time since a failed bid by the Conservative majority to limit debate on private bills. Current rules permit any filibuster of the contentious bill that would force all unions to disclose confidential data: “Once you force a vote, the majority will win every time”.
Cabinet in a financial first will abolish monthly fees charged by banks to issue paper statements to customers. Finance Minister Joe Oliver yesterday promised the consumers’ initiative. Oliver’s department could not say the last time a Canadian cabinet forced repeal of any bank service fee: “Stay tuned”.
The Government of Canada will not collect and store photos and fingerprints of citizens, authorities promise. The pledge comes as lawmakers review amendments sanctioning the largest fingerprint database in Canadian history: “I could care less about the people that aren’t breaking the law”.
