Despite 30,000 pandemic-related price-gouging complaints, there have been few repercussions

Friday, November 20, 2020 – by John McHutchion

Here’s what you need to know to get the day started:

Despite 30,000 pandemic-related price-gouging complaints, there have been few repercussions

Within weeks of the coronavirus pandemic being declared, one premier after another made tough promises to stop price gouging on essential products. Yet, CBC's Marketplace has learned that despite tens of thousands of reported complaints, little legal action has been taken across the country.

Marketplace reached out to all provinces and territories and was told consumer complaints to government only led to one business being charged. It's unclear how many, if any, charges were laid by local bylaw officers.

A business in Alberta selling personal protective equipment at high prices — $39 for hand sanitizer and $120 for masks — was issued multiple written warnings and orders to lower prices before being formally charged by Service Alberta with failing to comply with a director's order under the Consumer Protection Act. The company pleaded guilty in September and was fined $1,500.

Every province, aside from Quebec and New Brunswick, has a law prohibiting price gouging. But these laws simply state sellers cannot sell goods for prices that "grossly" exceed market prices. There is no federal, provincial or territorial law in Canada limiting price markups on consumer goods during a state of emergency.

Provinces confirmed that the majority of price-gouging complaints received were about personal protective equipment and other essential products like disinfecting wipes, toilet paper and paper towels.

Ontario received the highest number of price-gouging complaints — about 29,500 — after a campaign to promote the province's price-gouging hotline. To date, Ontario has referred around 900 of those complaints to law enforcement. Marketplace reached out to all police services the province said it forwarded complaints to. Each service confirmed no charges had been laid.

More on this issue

Watch: Few repercussions for price gouging.

Read: Amazon accused of price gouging on essential items in early days of pandemic.

Gliding along

(Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

A woman skates on an outdoor rink in Calgary on Thursday.

In brief

British Columbia Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has announced mandatory masks in indoor public and retail spaces, and restrictions on social gatherings to household members only for everyone across the province. Henry's public briefing yesterday included a long list of new orders and recommendations that will severely limit British Columbians' social lives and recreational activities in an attempt to address spiking case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus. The new orders and guidelines come as another 538 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in B.C., and one more person has died. As of Thursday, there were 6,929 active cases of the virus across the province — the highest total to date — including a record high 217 patients in hospital, of whom 59 are in intensive care. Read more about the new restrictions in B.C.

In order to celebrate the holidays next month, Quebecers are being asked to enter into a "moral contract" with the government and quarantine themselves for a week before and a week after Christmas. Premier François Legault said the government will, in exchange, lift the ban on indoor gatherings and allow small groups of friends and family to see each other from Dec. 24 through Dec. 27. Legault's "moral contract" represents his government's attempt to strike a balance between popular demand for some holiday cheer and the need to prevent further spread of COVID-19. "Allowing us to see each other for four days entails risks," Legault said. "But we have to remember that family is at the heart of who we are. It is at the heart of our nation." As part of the plan, elementary and high schools will offer online learning between Dec.17 and Dec. 22. Elementary school students will return to class, as scheduled, after the winter break, but high school students will have an additional week of online learning in January. They will resume classes in person on Jan. 11. Read more about Quebec's plan here.

Dean Nixon, a 46-year-old horse trainer and Stage 4 cancer patient, is living in a bureaucratic limbo, obliged to self-isolate for the coming year while in Canada due to the country's COVID-19 quarantine restrictions. As far as border and health officials are concerned, Nixon poses a danger because he must travel to the United States twice a month for a life-saving treatment that's not available in Canada. And according to current regulations, he has to self-isolate in his Guelph, Ont., apartment for 14 days every time he returns, resulting in a perpetual quarantine. "It's extremely frustrating," Nixon said last week, standing on his balcony with his dog, Jeanna, as he spoke to a reporter on the sidewalk, four storeys below. "The only thing I'm guilty of is trying to save my life.” Read more of Nixon’s story here.

A veteran Ontario Provincial Police officer was killed in the line of duty in Gore Bay, Ont., a small town on Manitoulin Island, on Thursday. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says OPP officers were sent to investigate an unwanted man on a property in Gore Bay, a community on the north-east coast of the island. The two officers from the Manitoulin detachment were following up on a property dispute investigation, according to the OPP. When they arrived, an officer was shot and killed, the SIU said. He has been identified as 52-year-old Const. Marc Hovingh, a 28-year veteran of the force. He was married with four children. Police say that the man on the property was also shot, and died after being taken to hospital. He will not be identified until all next of kin have been notified, said the OPP. Read more on this story here.

Committing to net-zero — and putting that target into law — is not the same thing as doing what it takes to cut Canada's greenhouse gas emissions to that level. But it's not nothing, writes CBC parliamentary reporter Aaron Wherry. In fact, it could end up being something quite useful. The Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act the Liberal government tabled on Thursday morning could help guide the next 30 years of climate policy in Canada. Much still depends on what happens next. But if momentum for action on climate change is truly coming to a tipping point, it could be difficult for future governments to completely disregard (or even repeal) the legislation Parliament is now being asked to enact. The bill would impose statutory requirements on the federal government to account for how Canada will reduce its emissions, while establishing an advisory board to inform the government and enshrining independent oversight to track the government's progress. Read more analysis of the federal government's net-zero bill.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Russia surpassed two million this week, and the country's hospitals are feeling the strain. Moscow, the worst-hit area, has created three temporary hospitals to help ease the burden. CBC Moscow correspondent Chris Brown recently visited one of the hospitals on the grounds of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre — a historic site built under Josef Stalin to glorify the economic and scientific achievements of the U.S.S.R. The 1,200-bed facility opened in mid-October as the second wave of cases began to take off in the city. Read more here on the situation in Russia.

Now for some good news to start your Friday: An outdoor adventurer from northwestern Ontario is fulfilling a long-time dream, in building what he believes will be the world's largest paddle in Killarney, Ont. Mike Ranta, who is originally from Atikokan in northwestern Ontario but moved to Killarney in 2017, says the giant 32-metre-long wooden structure is already on display, and awaits only the finishing touches in the spring. "It's getting a little late in the year to be dangling off scaffolding and things like that," he said, "but hopefully we'll have it presentable by June." Ranta, who is known for undertaking gruelling, month-long solo paddles, said he's long dreamed of building the giant paddle, which he's dubbed "The Big Dipper." He intends the paddle to serve as a tribute to Canada's veterans, Ranta said, noting that a number of the paddlers he's looked up to over the years have been veterans, as were many of the people he met on his paddling journeys. Read more about Ranta's creation here.

A bid to upend drug laws in Vancouver

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart wants to decriminalize small amounts of illegal drugs. If he gets his way, Vancouver will be the first Canadian city to do so. The move comes as overdose deaths continue to surge in Vancouver and across the country. CBC Vancouver producer Jodie Martinson has been speaking to drug users in the city. She'll explain the significance and limitations of the possible change.
Listen to today's episode

Today in history: November 20

1841: Wilfrid Laurier, Canada's seventh prime minister, is born in Saint-Lin, Que. He was Canada's first prime minister of French ancestry, serving from 1896-1911.

1893: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Great Lakes and their connecting waters constitute the "high seas." Canada and the U.S. signed a treaty in 1909 guaranteeing the lakes are free and open to both countries on equal terms.

1978: The Progressive Conservatives win 11 of 16 seats in the first Yukon election contested by political parties.

1990: Justice Bertha Wilson, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, announces her intention to retire in January 1991.