Good morning. This is Sarah Berman.
December is a busy month for travel, which brings the rights of air passengers to mind. Go Public heard from travellers fighting back after Canadian airline staff falsely claimed they weren’t allowed to record disputes on their phones.
We’ll get into that below.
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Travellers fight back after airlines falsely claim they can't film disputes
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(Submitted by Jason Huang)
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A civil liberties lawyer and a judge have called out "egregious" treatment of air passengers who recorded confrontations with airline staff.
What’s happening: A routine check-in at a WestJet counter in Edmonton escalated into confrontation for Jason Huang, seen above, who pulled out his phone to record evidence for a compensation claim. He says an agent threatened to call police, snatched his phone and ripped up his family’s boarding passes.
What the law says: Go Public looked at videos from Huang and other complainants. An agent can be heard saying Huang has "no right" to record. But according to Canada’s Criminal Code, a conversation can be recorded as long as at least one participant consents.
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Canadian retailers choose between high duties or losing U.S. shoppers
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(Laura MacNaughton/CBC)
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The end of the de minimis exemption has left some small Canadian businesses wondering how they’ll make it through the holidays.
What’s happening: For nearly a century, international packages valued less than $800 US could enter the U.S. duty-free under the de minimis exemption. That policy ended in August when an executive order from President Donald Trump went into effect. Now Canadian online retailers will have to choose between paying the fees, or missing out on a holiday sales boost from south of the border.
What’s next: Canadian retailers are getting creative, opening up distribution centres in the U.S., or limiting U.S. orders to one day per week. But other business owners have decided to forego selling to American customers entirely. Pictured above is Catherine Choi, who runs a trio of South Korean-themed gift shops in Toronto. She says she doesn’t want to risk it this season.
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Heavy hitters of U.S. industry urge Trump to keep trade agreement with Canada and Mexico
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(Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press)
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Public hearings are scheduled this week in Washington as part of a mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, known in Canada as CUSMA.
What’s happening: Major industry groups representing manufacturers, home builders, automakers and consumer brands are telling the Trump administration that they’d like the three-way trade deal to continue. The tone has been "careful and polite," says international trade expert Julian Karaguesian, with some praising the U.S. president for having landed the trade deal during his first term and others asking for a reduction in tariffs.
What’s next: Karaguesian says he believes the Trump administration wants to dismantle CUSMA despite domestic support for the deal. This week’s public hearings feed into the U.S. government’s preparations for the formal review of CUSMA that’s due to start July 1. The review could result in anything from a deal extending the agreement for up to 16 years, to a hard-headed renegotiation of its key terms, or even one of the countries giving six months’ notice that it’s withdrawing from CUSMA entirely.
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IN LIGHTER NEWS
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Scientists can measure whales' health with spray samples collected by drones
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(NEAq/WHOI, NMFS/NOAA)
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Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts used drones to capture spray from the blowho | | |
