dailynewsnblog
We got four topics on rotation today: forced labour, CRTC, lawful access and… you guessed it, recession. Let’s get to it.
Ottawa is directing the CRTC to back down on its recent decision to triple streamers’ financial contributions to Canadian content, and will instead provide $600 million to the sector, Culture Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday.
The decision comes after the Motion Picture Association, the U.S. group representing streamers, called on cabinet to reconsider the current approach and the U.S. ambassador to Canada called for the policy to be rescinded.
The CRTC said in May it would require large streaming services like Netflix to contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content. It made the decision as part of its work to implement the Online Streaming Act.
Asked whether the decision is another concession to the U.S., Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday the government was looking at how much the new policy would cost Canadians.
The Canadian Press has more.
Anandasangaree said today the Liberals are very comfortable with the balance between the two sections of Bill C-22, known as the “lawful access” bill.
The first section would allow authorities to demand that a telecommunications provider like Bell or Rogers reveal whether it provides service to an individual or a number of interest — a measure intended to speed up investigations.
The second part would require electronic service providers to develop and maintain the technical capabilities to enable police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to effectively obtain communications and information for investigations.
CP’s got this one too.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the House will be proposing legislation to tighten practice against trade goods and services from forced labor, after the Trump administration’s 10 per cent additional tariff on Canada and other countries following an investigation.
Speaking to reporters ahead of caucus meeting today, Carney said the U.S.’s decision will “not have an impact” on Canadian trade.
“Canada has a very strong legislative regime against forced labour, in supply chains,” Carney told reporters on Wednesday.
“We don’t want any element of forced labour coming in goods and services and we want to use our influence to eliminate this practice.”
The Office of the United States Trade Representative announced it had investigated 60 economies and concluded that they are not doing enough to stop products made with forced labour from entering their markets on Tuesday.
Sydney Ko has more.
In Other Headlines
Internationally
For decades, the Savak was seen as the most hated symbol of repression that kept Iran’s last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in power – and a main driving force behind the revolutionary fervor that toppled him in 1979.
Now the deposed monarch’s son, Reza Pahlavi, has been forced to distance himself from the once-dreaded security agency after some of his most vociferous supporters glorified it as the defining emblem in their drive to install him on the throne in a royal restoration.
Washington-based Pahlavi, 65, who has not been in Iran for 48 years, has portrayed himself as “uniquely positioned” to lead a transition to democracy to replace the current Islamic theocracy, which has been fighting for its survival since February when the US and Israel embarked on a campaign of military strikes, currently stalled amid a shaky ceasefire and Pakistani-mediated negotiations.
He thrust himself forward as a potential leader after protesters chanted his name and “javid shah” (long live the shah), in reference to the Iran’s long history of monarchical rule in mass demonstrations that gripped Iran last January before being brutally crushed by regime security forces.
Read more from The Guardian.
Elsewhere, “THEY WALK AMONG US,” declares a new White House webpage in large, luminous green letters against a dark starry background. Above the title is the word “DECLASSIFIED.”
The website, aliens.gov, continues to talk about the threat of “aliens” with the opening credits of The X-Files playing in the background, spitting out one letter at a time: “they do not belong here … Countless presidents, congressmen, and senior officials knew exactly what was happening. Instead of protecting American citizens, they chose to cover it up.”
But the site isn’t about extraterrestrials or alien encounters, even though President Trump had released more government files about possible extraterrestrial encounters days before. “These ‘Aliens’ are the millions of ILLEGALS…Deport them all,” it says. “THEY WEREN’T LITTLE GREEN MEN.”
NPR has more.
In Other International Headlines
The Kicker
And finally, here’s former Speaker of the House Greg Fergus at question period today sending a message to all the folks: stay cool.
