“Offensive” rewards-based credit cards are a subsidy for privileged customers that drive up all retail costs, a Senate panel has been told. The Retail Council of Canada said merchants charged high fees to process loyalty program cards must pass on costs: “I’m going to get hurt”.
The Federal Court of Appeal will hear arguments over long-fought royalty fees on internet webcasting. Re:Sound representing artists and labels is appealing a Copyright Board schedule that offered as little as 10.2¢ per thousand plays: “We have no choice”.
Rollerblading on the Plains of Abraham is no longer a federal crime. Cabinet approved new regulations that also decriminalized graffiti, skinny dipping and other misdemeanors on the site of the famed 1759 battle: “It is mostly dogs that are the problem”.
Parliament is passing into law an omnibus bill that expands the sharing of Canadians’ personal financial information amid warnings it may not be constitutional. The Senate voted 52 to 26 to give final passage to Bill C-31: “You can see why I have a certain distrust”.
Health Canada must curb its practice of granting “temporary” pesticide licenses for years, even decades at a time, says the Senate agriculture committee. The panel’s advice follows criticism over renewal of a license for a bee-killing pesticide under review since 2004: “We want to know the facts”.
Health Canada must regulate the recycling of medical devices amid claims thousands of hospitals reuse equipment, says an MP and industry group. Legislators were told single-use devices are commonly shipped out of the country to be reprocessed and used again: “Why has the government not acted on this?”
Consumers would see plain labeling of all meats produced using hormones, antibiotics or slaughterhouse waste under a bill introduced in the Commons. The legislation follows appeals from doctors to abolish the non-essential use of antibiotics in food production: ‘Canadians are eating this and don’t even know it’.
A bill introduced in the Commons would place Canada’s surveillance agency under judicial scrutiny. The private Liberal bill requires the secretive Communications Security Establishment seek a Federal Court order, not merely cabinet approval, to spy on Canadians’ personal data: “I don’t think there’s been any improvement”.
Cabinet is paying out millions of dollars in grants to small religious weeklies under an application-only subsidy operated by Heritage Canada. The Canadian Jewish News received $1.8 million in four years though its circulation numbers only 33,000 readers. The Western Catholic Reporter received $1.5 million: “It never occurred to me the Canadian government would fund newspapers”.
Transport Canada is being cited by an industry group for a poor job in mandating safety systems in civil aviation. The Northern Air Transport Association said the agency has been impacted by budget cuts: “Has it eliminated crashes? Hard to say”.
VIA Rail is hiring tax consultants to help increase its pension revenues. The Crown corporation has forecast a 16% increase in pension contributions this year amid declining passenger revenues: ‘There is pressure on the bottom line’.
Canadians appear unenthusiastic over interracial marriage despite a higher level of diversity than most industrialized countries. A Statistics Canada review found fewer than 5 percent of couples include a member of a different visible minority group: “We think of Canada as being so diverse”.
Cabinet is being urged to give speedy approval to adjustments on diminishing Great Lakes water levels to save 64,000 acres of wetlands. The International Joint Commission proposed new regulations on the release of water: “It does it free of charge”.
Federal surveillance agencies have cut a fraction of the jobs eliminated at Canada Post, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Parks Canada, VIA Rail and other agencies in a government-wide austerity drive, records show. One spy agency cut a total 10 jobs in the past two years compared to 4,000 at the post office: “Wake up”.
A bill introduced in the Commons would restrict fictitious tax-avoidance deals in the long wake of a Supreme Court judgment. MP Murray Rankin introduced the bill requiring that courts apply a “substance” test to tax schemes: “We are out of step with other countries”.
