Blacklock's Reporter

The First World War gave Canada progressive income tax, national trade unions, the Department of Health, votes for women and daylight saving time. The price was 61,802 dead and 172,000 injured. Was it worth it? With the passing of all eyewitnesses to the cataclysm, Canadian culture has “systematically diminished the violent effects of the First World War,” notes The Great War. Politicians sense it is now safe to stand on tombstones to speak on patriotic themes that play well with focus groups. It is left to historians to correct the record. Great War is drawn from a Western University conference that saw researchers, genealogists and others examine the cost and contribution. “Military triumphs and narratives of sacrifice will have to be weighed carefully against the brutal realities of the war’s human cost,” editors write. READ MORE

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne misled Canadians on the size of his near-record 2025 deficit, Budget Office figures disclosed yesterday. Analysts said there is now a 99 percent chance the finance department will miss ongoing targets: "What credibility do you think you have on any fiscal matter?" READ MORE

The Senate yesterday rewrote a hate crimes bill to restrict the public display of the noose. The amendment came on a personal appeal by Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard (N.S.) who recounted her own experience with anti-Black bigotry: "They yell profanities at you and tell you to go back to Africa.” READ MORE

Cabinet’s $90 billion regional high speed rail venture will “change life as we know it,” Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon yesterday told MPs. MacKinnon acknowledged the service will be inaccessible to most Canadians, but said it would create “new worlds of intercity travel” for some Ontarians and Québecers: "You’re a businessperson, someone who wants to go to a hockey game or a baseball game and come back the same evening." READ MORE

Canadians’ faith in public institutions is in decline, a Treasury Board executive yesterday told the Commons ethics committee. The remarks during a statutory review of the Lobbying Act followed disclosure that several individuals in breach of the law escaped prosecution: "There are a lot of challenges in maintaining the public’s trust." READ MORE

A Canada Post experiment to save rural post offices by turning them into "community hubs" had mixed results, says a management report. The post office would not say how much it earned or lost on the venture: "Currently there are no plans to launch additional locations using the ‘community hub’ format." READ MORE

The Senate yesterday by a 41 to 32 vote quashed a proposal to criminalize Indian Residential School “denialism” under threat of two years’ jailing. The vote came moments after cabinet announced it opposed the amendment: "Senators may have already noticed the online backlash to the amendment has begun." READ MORE