John Gushue, who gets up at least 1.5 hours earlier than I do (living in Newfoundland and all), has already compiled an excellent roundup of lockout news.

Go visit him. Stop bugging me.

That being said, the development reported in this Globe and Mail story appears significant:

The federal Labour Minister has asked CBC management and the Canadian Media Guild to meet with him on Monday to begin new talks to settle their labour dispute.

Insiders see Joe Fontana's request to move negotiations to Ottawa and to place them under the Labour Department's oversight as the surest sign yet that the lockout of roughly 5,500 CBC workers, now entering its seventh week, may be nearly over.

As Mr. dot-dot-dot noted, the Star of the COTU's story takes a slightly different tack:

The federal government may launch a probe into how the CBC has been using the money it's been getting from Ottawa during its 41-day lockout — and perhaps ask for some of it back, says the Heritage department's parliamentary secretary. Sam Bulte is also intending to push for back-to-work legislation for the CBC when Parliament resumes next week, even though Labour Minister Joe Fontana said yesterday he doesn't favour that option.

"I would advocate for that," Bulte said in an interview after she returned from speaking to locked-out CBC workers on the Toronto picket line.

Fontana, who has summoned the top leaders from CBC management and the union to meet with him on Monday morning, says he wants to hear a concrete plan from both sides about how they intend to end this lockout, since frustration is mounting in many quarters of the Liberal government over how it's dragging on.

"My officials have told me they've hit an impasse," Fontana said in an interview yesterday. "Because the government thinks it's important and the Canadian public believes it's important, I've asked the parties to come to Ottawa to let me know what their plan is to a successful resolution of this matter."

Fontana will meet in his office with CBC president Robert Rabinovitch and Canadian Media Guild head Arnold Amber.

Here's Fontana's letter, as posted to CBC Unplugged.