Blacklock's Reporter

The city of Lens, in the most uninteresting part of France, is about the size of Moose Jaw. Lens has auto parts stores and townhouses. The city sits in “the bottom of a shallow saucer encircled by hills on three sides,” explains Capturing Hill 70. As homely as it is, Lens more than a hundred years ago was much worse, “ringed by slag heaps, coalfields and nearly a dozen industrial, red-brick suburbs that had been pulverized by shelling,” writes historian Mark Humphries of Wilfrid Laurier University. Lens lays claim to an indelible part of Canadiana. Here in August 1917 Canadian soldiers fought for the first time under a Canadian general with Canadians in charge of nearly all the fighting formations. “A landmark battle,” says Capturing Hill 70. It was heroic and pointless, extraordinary and tragic. If the whole maddening story of the First World War could be summarized in 288 pages, this is it. READ MORE

The former federal executive responsible for ArriveCan yesterday testified he was proud of the work despite the $59.5 million cost and ongoing audits and police investigations. John Ossowski, former $273,000-a year president of the Canada Border Services Agency, said others were to blame for wrongdoing: "It is shocking to me that would be your testimony." READ MORE

The Canada Revenue Agency says it now knows of $10 billion in pandemic relief cheques paid to ineligible applicants, the highest figure disclosed to date. Only a fraction has been recovered with billions in additional losses anticipated through ongoing audits: "That was back in 2020 and it’s now 2024.” READ MORE

Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard is petitioning cabinet for $700,000 to cover what she called a “structural deficit” in her annual $15.9 million budget. The shortfall spelled longer delays for Canadians filing Access To Information requests for public records, she said: "This reduction in my budget will spell longer delays." READ MORE

Pandemic restrictions on outdoor gatherings were justified, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has ruled. The Court rejected petitions by protesters fined $2,800 apiece for breaching a public health order limiting outdoor groups to 10 people: "The government needed to act." READ MORE

Hitting cabinet’s target of an extra 3.9 million new housing starts will “require structural changes,” CMHC said yesterday. The comment followed Housing Minister Sean Fraser’s claim he would “be the person" to fix housing: "I am not asking anyone to believe promises." READ MORE

Parks Canada on Saturday is reopening John A. Macdonald’s historic Kingston, Ont. home with “racism and sexism” tours. Admission is $9. “Bring an open mind,” the agency said. READ MORE