Why do some landmarks escape the wrecking ball, and others not? Gone forever is the Ottawa home of Robert Borden, WWI prime minister depicted on the $100 banknote. In 1962 it was pondered as a possible National Historic Site. In 1971 it was demolished by Cadillac Fairview Developments to make way for a grey complex with an unfortunate name, the Watergate Apartments. READ MORE
When retired park warden Frank Farley of Camrose, Alta. died in 1949, neighbours installed a stained glass window at his local United Church depicting St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the creature kingdom. “He loved this church,” said the pastor. And the townspeople loved him. Farley, now long forgotten, was among that generation of sodbusters who settled the Prairies and are caricatured today as white supremacists, colonialists and profiteers. Frank Farley And The Birds Of Alberta is closer to the truth, an affectionate biography of a homesteader who achieved national renown in his day as a self-taught ornithologist who loved the land and its people. Born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Farley left his job as a bank clerk to settle in Alberta in 1892. Provincehood was 13 years away, and the plains were wide open country where buffalo herds could still be found. Not until 1909 would Parliament vote a budget appropriation to save a herd of 750 bison in a Prairie sanctuary. READ MORE
Prime Minister Mark Carney abruptly withdrew $30 billion in retaliatory tariffs on the United States after in-house polling showed Canadians were becoming wary of “an ongoing cycle of retaliation,” newly released records show. Carney at the time called it a calculated strategy: "We drop the gloves in the first period and send a message, and we’ve done that." READ MORE
Federal managers stressed secrecy in drafting a 10-year consultants’ contract to manage the government's website at an undisclosed cost, Access To Information records show. Cabinet had repeatedly promised to cut spending on consultants: "We have determined our safest approach is to maintain confidentiality." READ MORE
A quarter of Canadian students surveyed say they are so hard up they skip meals, says a Food Banks Canada report to the Commons human resources committee. MPs are studying youth unemployment including the impact of cabinet’s now-rescinded 2023 decision to let a million foreign students into the workforce: "Something is not working." READ MORE
Teachers, pharmacists and other young professionals who relocate to rural Canada are eligible for $65.3 million a year in Canada Student Loan forgiveness under regulations that took effect yesterday. A similar program in the medical field was credited with drawing 17,921 doctors and nurses to rural practice: "The loan forgiveness benefit was very impactful." READ MORE
The Department of Environment yesterday began enforcement of a national ban on the manufacture and import of compact fluorescent bulbs due to mercury poisoning. Then-Minister Steven Guilbeault drafted the ban in 2024 on bulbs once touted as climate-friendly energy savers: "How many people know?" READ MORE
Terror affects families in different ways. Some remember their loved ones as sacrifices for peace; others say we can never have peace. There are very few families in Israel who have not in some way been pained by the experience of terror. I think pain and loss are seared in the consciousness of the Israeli public. Hagit Zabitsky was my niece. I remember her as a thoughtful 22-year old, shy and introspective. On the day she died Hagit was hiking with a friend in the hills when she was bludgeoned to death.
