The Commons industry committee is holding emergency hearings on wireless policy that may affect the price Canadians pay for telecom services. Four New Democrat MPs requested the hearings over a federal bandwidth auction that restricts bids by Canada's largest telecom firms: "This is a matter of urgency."
Canada’s cities need a national dialogue on rerouting historic rail lines past residential neighbourhoods, says a member of a national Rail Safety Working Group. Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison said longstanding concerns over urban crossings are heightened in the aftermath of the fatal Lac-Mégantic derailment: "We need to have those discussions right across Canada."
Anti-trust investigators have seen a ninth air cargo carrier convicted in a price-fixing scandal dating back more than a decade. LATAM Airlines Group, which has offices in three provinces, admitted it conspired to gouge customers on fuel surcharges: "We are dealing with a cartel that lasted a number of years."
The Senate’s energy committee is urging that federal regulators develop mandatory safety audits of the shipment of petroleum products by rail, pipeline and tanker. The investigation coincided with the Lac-Mégantic train wreck that killed 47 people and spilled six million litres of oil: "We can never say that there will be zero risk."
A food company that sued federal inspectors for compensation over a mistaken million-dollar recall has failed to persuade the Supreme Court to hear its final appeal. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency was sued after accusing a Costco supplier of selling poisoned carrots: "They make mistakes."
Cabinet came under intense lobbying from Canada’s largest telecom firm over a regulatory ruling it called "woeful", "tainted" and "absurd". Confidential records show BCE Inc. pressed hard for its $3.38 billion takeover of Astral Media of Montréal after it was rejected by the CRTC.
An Ontario dispute over freshwater bottling underscores a new era of regulation, analysts tell Blacklock’s. The Environmental Review Tribunal, a provincial agency, ordered a full inquiry of a bid by Nestlé Waters Canada to bottle more than a million litres of groundwater daily regardless of drought: "The tip of the iceberg."
The Canadian International Development Agency says it will not resurrect a cash-for-news scheme that paid journalists to report on the agency’s work. CIDA said the last funds have been distributed through the program that saw journalists apply for more than $4.7 millions in funding.
The lapse of anti-counterfeiting legislation with the expected prorogation of Parliament has MPs facing demands to try, try again. Bill C-56 was one of eight relevant government measures now in limbo: “Counterfeiting is a huge problem; the bill would have helped."
Air Canada is subject to provincial consumer legislation just like other corporations following a Supreme Court action in a five-year ticketing dispute. The carrier claimed it was constitutionally exempt from a law passed by the B.C. legislature: "They dreamed up this argument."
Canada has among the “lightest regulations” on contract workers of any industrialized country, according to an OECD study. Of 34 nations, Canada ranked 32nd just ahead of New Zealand and the U.S., with the fewest rules on hiring, firing and treatment of workers on contract: "The numbers are substantial."
The Department of Northern Development proposes a major deregulation of northern petroleum and mining ventures, analysts tell Blacklock’s. Amendments are expected to reduce the number and scope of federally-mandated regulators in the Northwest Territories.
MPs are being pressed to “lend their voice” to public housing policy affecting constituents in their own ridings. Advocates say expiry of subsidies for co-op renters may lead to evictions for thousands of people: "We would like the government to take a serious look at this."
Cabinet yesterday took another step to imposing punitive tariffs on U.S. goods in a dispute over meat labeling. The Department of Agriculture served notice it formally asked the World Trade Organization to convene a compliance panel. Ottawa has threatened to impose 100% retaliatory tariffs on products from Vermont syrup to Washington apples.
The secretive Communications Security Establishment has become the fastest-growing federal agency in Canada, though few Parliamentarians can find out exactly what it does. Staffing at the surveillance group has increased 32% in six years: "This whole issue is becoming more and more frightening."
