Blacklock's Reporter

What did the 19th century smell like? What was it like to stroll ankle-deep in horse effluent and live by the 25-watt glow of an oily lamp on winter evenings? Many Canadian historians and documentary filmmakers recall the facts and figures of the past without ever providing a true tactile sense of how our ancestors got by, with one exception. We can still gain a taste of what they ate. Collecting Culinaria is a tribute to an extraordinary trove of historic cookbooks collected by Linda Distad, a University of Alberta librarian who died in 2012. Distad had a mania for heritage recipes. Her collection ran to more than 3,000 titles including the first English-language cookbook published in Canada, The Cook Not Mad, circa 1830. Consider the recipe for corn beef: “To one hundred pounds of beef. three ounces salt peter, five pints of salt, a small quantity of molasses will improve it, but good without.” READ MORE

Thirteen Liberal ridings are among the first in the nation to lose doorstep mail delivery under a target list released yesterday by Canada Post. Constituencies facing service cuts include Carleton, Ont., won by first-term Liberal MP Bruce Fanjoy in an upset over Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre one year ago: "Make difficult decisions, show political courage and move forward." READ MORE

Canadians should question self-censorship by subsidized press, a leading economist and commentator yesterday told the House affairs committee. La Presse, the largest daily in Québec, admitted to canceling a regular column by Professor Sylvain Charlebois after he criticized hidden subsidies for daily newspapers: "This raises broader questions about how comfortable we are collectively with challenging prevailing narratives." READ MORE

Seven years of federal subsidies have permanently compromised media in Canada, current and former editors yesterday testified at the Commons heritage committee. A 2019 bailout originally promised to be temporary has instead marked the end of independent journalism, MPs were told: "Sooner or later, news media will run out of other people’s money." READ MORE

One of the largest unions in Canadian newsrooms yesterday sought federal controls on what people say about media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Government regulation of lawful but hurtful criticism was supported by “95 percent of media workers,” said the president of the Canadian Media Guild: "The toxicity we face online and in person while doing our jobs is becoming overwhelming." READ MORE

Cabinet remains adamant that dairy quotas will never be negotiated in United States trade talks, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said yesterday. The U.S. has singled out dairy quotas as unfair: "You confirm you will not touch a hair on the head of supply management?" READ MORE

Housing Minister Gregor Robertson’s department budgeted $1.2 million for a camera giveaway to homeless people to take photographs for an “arts-based exhibition,” Access To Information records show. The grant was approved under a Veteran Homelessness Program: "With your camera, take pictures of your surroundings." READ MORE