Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: "This questionnaire is anonymous. Data collected will be used exclusively for statistical purposes. We aim to improve workplace experience..." READ MORE
Review: Head For The Border
Nobody’s published an anthology of celebrity draft dodgers though there are many: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Pierre Trudeau, Bill Clinton. Robert Menzies, the Australian prime minister, as a law student enthusiastically joined his campus militia unit but declined to fight overseas in the First World War. Menzies for decades afterward faced Opposition jibes that the war had interrupted his military career. Boxer Jack Dempsey took work as a longshoreman with a draft deferment. As heavyweight title holder, “reference to the new champion as a fighter often elicited sneers about the kind of fighting he had done in previous years,” historian Joseph Furnas wrote in 1974. None of the personalities in Crossing Into Canada are celebrities. They would not even publish their surnames. One declined to be photographed. All came to Canada to evade U.S. military service. “Support for draft evaders and deserters during the war in Vietnam was not homogenous or guaranteed in Canada,” writes editor Alison Mountz. “Resistance was controversial then and remains so today.” READ MORE
Overspend Billions On Dental
The Canada Dental Care Plan will go billions over budget for years to come, says the Department of Health. Patient fees will cost taxpayers more than $18 billion over five years, a third more than cabinet’s original estimate of $13 billion: "We have just no clue." READ MORE
‘I’m An Honourable Member’
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne yesterday expressed indignation over criticism of his wife's hiring by a Crown corporation seeking budget concessions. “I am an honorable member of this House, not you,” he told one MP on the Commons ethics committee. READ MORE
Calls Paid Press Foundational
Most Canadians now get their news from government-paid press, the chief lobbyist for subsidized dailies yesterday told the Commons finance committee. Subsidized media were “foundational,” testified Paul Deegan, CEO of News Media Canada: "The Government of Canada, I have to say, has been terrific." READ MORE
Curb Strikes, Say Lib Senators
Rail and port workers would lose the right to strike under a proposal yesterday by the Senate transport committee. “The status quo is not a viable option,” wrote the Liberal-dominated panel. READ MORE
Long Backlog Of Complaints
Cabinet confirms a lengthy backlog of labour complaints against Canadian companies operating abroad. The position of Ombudsman to investigate allegations of exploitation and forced labour has been vacant for more than a year: "A decision regarding the future of the Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise and the position of the Ombudsman will be taken in due course." READ MORE
Guest Commentary
Anti-Semitism was not uncommon in those days. The worst MP I ever saw? Social Credit’s John Blackmore of Lethbridge. People couldn’t understand how he kept getting elected in Alberta. He was a kook, just out of control, and a blatherskite. He was once cited for using his House mailing privileges to distribute anti-Semitic literature. In 1954, Blackmore sought a federal commission to probe an “imperialist conspiracy of Eastern European Reds of Mongol and Turkic affinities.” He became a figure of fun in the Press Gallery because of the silly things he did, but with a dark, racist tone.
