Your Access and Privacy Online News Summary for Saturday, March 21st. This week, we begin with a troubling pattern that has been unfolding across Canada.  What started in British Columbia with Bill 9 is now being echoed elsewhere: governments and political actors chipping away at access-to-information and privacy rights while describing those changes as modernization, […]

Most Canadians want the government to ban or regulate the use of algorithms to set prices, a new poll suggests — with half of respondents saying the practice is unfair because it can result in people paying different prices for the same product. The Abacus Data poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned […]

Drivers have reported seeing deer trapped on Highway 3 between tall fences installed as part of the Rock Creek wildlife underpass, a resident told Municipal District of Pincher Creek council. In correspondence received at the Feb. 24 regular meeting, David McIntyre raised concerns about the new wildlife fencing. He suggested that several older fences in […]

The Manitoba government says it’s moving to ban what it calls “predatory pricing” on groceries, even though the issue hasn’t been seen locally. Finance Minister Adrien Sala says a bill introduced in the legislature last week is aimed at ensuring shoppers won’t be charged different prices for the same product from the same store. Sala […]

Halton Hills is taking its first formal step toward creating a whistleblower policy, following unanimous support from council. Coun. Jason Brass brought forward a resolution March 9 that directs town staff to investigate how whistleblower programs operate in other municipalities and report back on what would be required to implement a similar framework in Halton […]

ROME (AP) — Bodies washing ashore day after day. Phone calls from relatives going unanswered. Migrants’ tents abandoned overnight. Migrants trying to reach Europe are vanishing in droves in what are known as “invisible shipwrecks” but governments responsible for search and rescue are withholding information about what they know. The beginning of 2026 ranks as […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Robocalls, texts, and phishing emails from scammers are up this tax season compared to previous years, with artificial intelligence likely increasing fraud attempts, according to the consumer protection bureau of the Federal Trade Commission. Consumer advocates and government officials urge the public to stay wary, to stop and think before engaging […]

Via Rail needs to improve its service — punctuality, in particular — according to Canada’s auditor general, who nonetheless gave solid marks to the Crown corporation’s management practices. In a report, Karen Hogan said that over the past decade Via has failed to improve its on-time performance, which sank to a dismal 30 per cent […]

The Manitoba government defended its trade representative in Washington, D.C., on Monday as more details emerged about how much taxpayers are providing the consultant. Former television reporter Richard Madan was hired in June to help promote Manitoba’s interests in the U.S. and fight tariffs and other trade measures imposed by the U.S. administration. The Manitoba […]

Staff from the Town of Saint Andrews claim they were pressured by the Regional Development Corporation (RDC) to progress with the Market Wharf and Market Square refurbishment project despite the department approving a deadline extension application from the town well into 2027. New documents obtained by The Courier through a Right to Information and Protection […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration likes to promote its immigration enforcement agenda through numbers, with ambitious goals to deport 1 million people, report zero releases at the U.S.-Mexico border and arrest thousands of alleged gang members. For all the boasting, the administration has been releasing less reliable, carefully vetted data than its predecessors on […]

As media organizations go, NewsGuard cuts a low public profile as it follows its mission of issuing credibility ratings about news outlets. The Trump administration knows about it, though, and the company has joined a lengthening list of journalism organizations to face the White House’s wrath. A dispute between President Donald Trump’s regulators and the […]