For those not closely tracking Hansard and government releases, there have been some noteworthy developments and non-developments in recent days. Bill C-37, the do-not-call bill, is racing through the Senate. The bill is already at second reading with some commentary from the Senators. No word on whether additional hearings on […]
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The Real Story Behind Statscan’s Recording Industry Numbers
Statistics Canada is out today with a report on the state of the recording industry. The news is not good as the government' s statistics agency reports that the Canadian recording industry experienced its worst performance in six years in 2003. While this is old news – similar numbers have […]
Corus on the Cost of Copyright
Earlier this month I blogged about a Copyright Board decision on commercial radio royalty rates that represented a big win for the collectives and a big loss for commercial radio stations. How big? Today Corus Entertainment, one of Canada's leading radio networks, announced that the new royalty rates will cost […]
Do-Not-Call Bill Passes With Newspaper Exception
The House of Commons yesterday passed Bill C-37, the legislation which creates the do-not-call list. The bill as passed includes the long list of exceptions (polling companies, political parties, charities, prior business relationships) that I've focused on in recent weeks. Moreover, all parties agreed to a further exception – newspapers […]
Gov’t Caves To Lobbyists on Do-Not-Call Legislation
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, freely available version) focuses on the latest developments on Canada’s proposed do-not-call list. Last week, committee members engaged in a sad display of self-congratulation as a two-hour House of Commons debate on the bill became an opportunity for several Members of Parliament […]