[pteeson]

The missing NewsNetwork listing has happened quite recently....

So maybe there is a handshake issue? Is there a Kodi logging setting that can help tracking it down?
(BTW I am a Canadian living in Toronto Canada.)

I don't believe CBCNN is included in a free GEM account.  The stream AFAIK was just never locked down for the longest while.

As other pointed out above, NN is missing as it is on a free trial currently.  When CBC did that, the page for the link moved, as such, it is not on the page that this plugin uses (I've verified this).

Can you provide documentation, as opposed to beliefs, that CBCNN is not part of GEM Free?
I believe that it is part of Free because I can receive it OK on my Macintosh using Firefox no problem.
And I am logged in using my free Gem account on both Macintosh and Kodi.