Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault declined to register an Alberta sovereignty party after staff carefully scrutinized membership rolls for technical disqualification, Access To Information records show. Elections Canada admitted registering other parties that failed to meet the letter of the Elections Act: "I definitely feel they were giving us a hard time." READ MORE
Defence Minister David McGuinty fell billions short of promised spending on military preparedness equivalent to 2 percent of GDP in 2025, new figures confirm. Cabinet has promised to try again this year: 'We are making reliable contributions to our allies.' READ MORE
The Department of Employment in Access To Information research compiled a first-ever demographic profile of debtors under the Canada Student Loan Program. Tradespeople and engineers were most likely to meet their payments, said a report: "Borrowers who studied humanities or social sciences were generally most likely to report using repayment assistance." READ MORE
Wage disparity between union and non-union workers in Canada is down to about 10 percent, says a Commons committee report. MPs credited a “union threat effect” that prompted private sector employers to pay competitive rates: "The mere threat of unionization will drive employers to improve working conditions." READ MORE
Parliament would honour home bakers and “promote national pride” every April 19 under a Commons petition sponsored by Conservative MP Adam Chambers (Simcoe North, Ont.). The date marks the passing of an Ontario homemaker credited with inventing the butter tart: 'Support our domestic bakers and promote national pride.' READ MORE
It was one of Ottawa’s greatest architectural losses, the original Customs House. It stood 62 years and even launched the career of a national leader, Mackenzie Bowell, whose primary achievement was growing the finest beard of any prime minister. READ MORE
In 1955 a round-trip flight from Toronto to Rome was a staggering $677, the modern equivalent of $6,100. It was the cost of a full order of household appliances or a good used car – not that it mattered. Most Canadians went their entire working lives without ever stepping on an airplane for a holiday. Not till 1944 did any province even mandate two weeks’ annual holiday pay for wage earners. A simple vacation was luxury, let alone travel abroad. "Don't you get tired of just reading about things?" the frustrated traveler George Bailey is asked in It's A Wonderful Life. Bailey, like the film audience, accepted he could never get away. So, they dreamed. The phenomenon inspires this compelling book documenting the aspirations of the “middlebrow,” a pejorative first coined in 1924. READ MORE
As kids, we told the legend of Nian, a ferocious beast that came to steal children. We lit firecrackers and hung Chinese red paper couplet decorations to ward off the Nian. That’s how we would bring in the new year with a fresh start. It makes me nostalgic. My parents were born in the mainland province of Guangdong and moved to Hong Kong. I was born in Kowloon in 1965, the youngest of six children. For Chinese, new year is as big as Christmas.
