Tod MaffinCanadian Commentator, From Far and Wide · Emotional Support Canadian

Canada did something very un-Canadian this week and I have receipts

30 May 2026 · 3 min

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2:36

In this informal video, the creator reviews recent items from the Canada Gazette, highlighting several regulatory and bureaucratic actions that he argues illustrate un‑Canadian decisions. First, the Copyright Board approved new SOCAN royalty rates for airlines, charging $3.05 per seat per year for gate‑time music and over $7 for in‑flight music, amounting to roughly $1,200 per year for a Boeing 737. Second, the CRTC raised the mandatory Canadian‑content spending requirement for streaming services from 5% to 15% of revenue and added a condition that the spending must support projects where Canadians hold the majority of copyright, a move the U.S. has labeled a trade irritant. Third, under the Aeronautics Act, Canada banned passengers from a cruise ship with a hantavirus outbreak (April 1‑May 10) from boarding flights home, imposing fines of $150,000 per person on airlines that allow prohibited travelers. Fourth, three British Columbia credit unions (Prospera, Sunshine Coast Credit Union, and Coast Capital Savings) merged to form Coast Capital Savings Federal Credit Union, now the nation’s largest purpose‑driven credit union, a term the host finds vague. Finally, the Gazette announced the appointment of a new Parliamentary Budget Officer, a career public servant whose role is to provide cost estimates to the government; her appointment was opposed by the Conservatives and the Bloc. The host wraps up by asking viewers whether they want this type of weekly bureaucratic roundup to continue.

Chapters

I read the Canada Gazette so you don't have to, and here's what the mainstream media is not telling you. You know when you're boarding a plane and they're playing that chill calming music? Airlines have to pay SOCAN for the rights to use that music. SOCAN represents Canadian music creators and publishers. If you have a wedding reception, you pay it. If you book a band to play in the park, you pay it. Well, the Copyright Board this week certified new royalty rates for airlines. They now pay $3.05 per seat per year for the music that plays while the plane sits at the gate. Now if they want to play music in the air, that's more than $7. A Boeing 737 has about 162 seats. That's nearly $1,200 per year per plane. So you can hear a lo-fi version of "Levitating" while someone argues about the overhead bin. Speaking of fees nobody wanted, Canada's media regulator just did a very un-Canadian thing and it's kind of amazing. It changed what streaming giants like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime are required to pay into the Canadian content system. Now the original rate was 5% of Canadian revenue set in 2024. The streamers thought this was outrageous and sued. That court challenge is still active. No money's been collected yet. Canada's response? Fuck you, now it's 15%. You really want to play this game with me? An even bigger deal is that the new rules require a chunk of that spending to go to projects where Canadians hold the majority of the copyright. Now that actually rules out most of what Netflix already produces here. The US has flagged this as a trade irritant. I'm not saying the CRTC picked a perfect week for this. I'm also not not saying it. While all that was happening, Canada banned an entire cruise ship's worth of passengers from boarding flights home. Specifically, that ship with the hantavirus outbreak that killed 3 people. Under Canada's Aeronautics Act, anyone who is on that ship between April 1st and May 10th cannot fly to Canada. And it's the airline's jobs to police it. They could face $150,000 in fines per person if they let one through. In BC, 3 local credit unions just became very not local. The Gazette announced that earlier this month, Prospera, Sunshine Coast Credit Union, and Coast Capital Savings merged into Coast Capital Savings Federal Credit Union, now Canada's largest national purpose-driven credit union. That phrase, purpose-driven, appeared in the press release 4 times. I still have no idea what that means. As far as I can tell, it's a It's a bit like calling a hospital health-focused. Finally, the Gazette announced Canada's new Parliamentary Budget Officer. She is a career public servant. The Conservatives and Bloc voted against her. Maybe that's because it's her job to tell the government what things actually cost, whether they like it or not. In Ottawa, that's basically a letter of recommendation. So that was the week in Canadian bureaucracy. Does anyone actually like these videos? Maybe they just amuse me. Let me know in the comments if you want me to make this a weekly column.