By David Farrell
Thursday’s column hyped a tourism video pitching Switzerland with ambassador Roger Federer and Robert De Niro. Unfortunately, I missed including the video itself. Here it is. It’s a welcome tonic as sunny days are grudgingly coming back again.
C-10 continues contentious passage in House
Justice Minister David Lametti is confirmed to appear before the House of Commons heritage committee, with a reappearance by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault on Tuesday (May 18), to answer questions about the contentious Bill C-10 that is intended to bring digital streaming services like Netflix, Spotify and YouTube under the purview of the Broadcasting Act. – CBC News
Below, Alberta NDP MP Heather McPherson asks Heritage Minister about the concerns some Canadians have with the internet regulation bill.
News Bytes
– A lawsuit launched by the CBC against the Conservative Party of Canada in the final days of the 2019 federal election accusing the party of copyright infringement for using the broadcaster's footage in an online ad and tweets has been dismissed by a federal court.
– To help keep more people employed, and to sustain recovery for employers, the Government of Canada is investing over $2B through the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund – 25 percent of which is earmarked for the tourism sector.
– Quebec overlord Pierre Karl Peladeau has withdrawn an offer to acquire Air Transat after Air Canada scrapped an earlier bid to acquire the Montreal-based charter flight business. The airliner’s business has been decimated by the downturn in air traffic that had its start in March 2020.
– Quebecor Inc. reported its Q1 profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue climbed, helped by gains in its telecommunications business and recent acquisitions.
The Montreal-based company said Thursday that its net income attributable to shareholders totalled $121.3M, down from a profit of $131.6M a year ago. Revenue for the quarter totalled $1.09B, up from nearly $1.06B in Q1 2020.
– Edmonton-based Allarco Ent. has lost its initial bid to block the sale of certain TV set-top boxes by four major retailers. It’s a decision that experts say upholds the principle that neutral technologies do not infringe copyright and that those who supply such technologies are presumed to do so for lawful purposes.
– Vaxx Populi: Recent polling has shown 85 percent of Canadians have either received a first vaccine dose or want to receive one. And that's up from 76 percent in February.
– Chuck “the Chucker” McCoy writes the column to correct an earlier description of his pandemic hair length, telling us that he’s actually tried to keep his hair just short of shoulder length” and sent a pic to prove it. In it, he appears to have shelved his GQ look for a more relaxed Tommy Bahamas style and we have to say in the looks department he could easily earn second looks from Bel Air paparazzi.
– As the world turns: Top Facebook lobbyists Nick Clegg and Joel Kaplan and several TikTok executives met over Zoom with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Thursday evening to discuss the spread of misinformation and violent threats on the social network. Facebook's Clegg and Kaplan are expected to meet with the Palestinian Authority next week, the company said.
– Facebook has lost a court challenge that potentially can stop personal data mined from EU member to be transferred to US data farms. The legal argument offered by the EU centres on the privacy rights of EU members.
– Talk is cheap, unless you’re an in-demand content creator for platforms like Clubhouse and its many clones. Live audio apps are now chasing creators with promise of money.
