There were a couple of goodies in yesterday’s federal budget for music fans
Budget reveals can be dry affairs with a lot of announcements designed to score political points. Yesterday’s federal budget–the first since 2020 without any pandemic measures–contained a bunch of those but also a couple of things music fans should welcome.
Junk Fees
“Junk fees” is a term (I think) coined by Joe Biden and refers to those extra charges that get tacked onto the price of a good or service upon checkout. This includes service charges and other related fees on concert tickets. The budget doesn’t go into too much detail but says that the government will amend the Competition Act in a way that will cut down on these fees. In addition to concert tickets, a target will be all those extra fees that get slapped on an airline ticket.
Mandatory USB-C Ports
Not exactly music-related, but if you have a smartphone with music on it, this is worth noting. Canada will now “work with international partners and other stakeholders to explore implementing a standard charging port in Canada.” If you’ve been following what the EU is doing, this will mean USB-C ports for all. Buh-bye Lightning and micro USB. Good riddance.
A summary of other budget promises can be found here.