Blacklock's Reporter

Conspiracy is mythology, but after sundown. Even when wholly fiction, both satisfy some human need to explain a ridiculous, implausible world. Author Richard Syrett calls it “the madness unleashed by creative genius.” He is a gifted essayist. Syrett is a Toronto broadcaster, producer and podcaster, and enthusiastic chronicler of the underworld of popular culture. “Pop keeps people distracted and docile, background noise for factory life,” Syrett quotes an interview subject. The result is Tales From The Rock ‘n Roll Twilight Zone, a forensic probing of “the eerie coincidences, the suspicious circumstances, the whispers that something darker was at work.” The result is jarring. READ MORE

Auditors are faulting Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s department for sloppy accounting by diplomats abroad including disappearing paperwork on spending. The latest report follows a 2020 disclosure that one Embassy misappropriated $145,000 for a party pavilion and lied to cover the expense: "It was nearly impossible to determine." READ MORE

Parliament must convene hearings on property rights after a British Columbia judge granted Aboriginal title to 1,846 acres near Richmond, B.C. including private lots purchased by ratepayers, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said yesterday. “This is a federal issue,” he told reporters: "You need property rights protection to have a thriving, property-owning democracy." READ MORE

Canada Border Services Agency executives hurriedly convened strategy sessions after an Opposition MP publicly disclosed whistleblower complaints of workplace harassment, Access To Information records show. Conservative MP Rhonda Kirkland (Oshawa, Ont.) persuaded the Commons public safety committee to investigate the Agency’s “toxic workplace culture.” READ MORE

Federal executives in 2025 discussed a national campaign to electrify school buses, according to an Access To Information memo. Rebates for the purchase of new vehicles to replace Canada’s current fleet of 65,000 school buses would cost a billion: "We are generally aligned with the direction." READ MORE

There is insufficient evidence to determine if a costly grocery subsidy for Northerners is lowering the price of food, says a federal report. The Nutrition North program cost $194.3 million last year: "Is the subsidy being fully passed on to consumers?" READ MORE

Cabinet for a third time in five years is reviewing federal regulation of legal internet content, the Department of Industry said yesterday. “Details will be made public at the appropriate time,” it said. READ MORE