Poet W.N. Branson writes: "When did it all fall apart? A bill given Royal assent? A memo sent on some Friday in November? A million bad decisions?..." READ MORE
Review: When The River Caught Fire
Canadians of a certain vintage can still recall when DDT was found in every kitchen cupboard and it was considered eccentric not to throw candy wrappings out the car window. The Ontario Department of Highways used to spend $1 million a year clearing roadside litter. This did not change by osmosis. It took years of litigation and dramatic protest by a comparatively few people. “It was a burn-out job but you loved it,” one organizer tells author Ryan O’Connor. “It was what needed to be done so you did it.” O’Connor’s First Green Wave chronicles the birth of environmental activism in Canada. It is a fresh account of Pollution Probe, a citizens’ committee that grew from the University of Toronto to include chapters from Halifax to Regina. Pollution Probe was never a mass movement; its membership peaked at some 1,500. The Kinsmen Club had 16,000. Yet its impact was far-reaching. READ MORE
Staff Must Report Criminality
Federal employees who witness criminality at work are now required to report it under a revised Code Of Conduct, says a Department of Public Works report. It follows in-house government research showing few employees were eager to “rock the boat.” READ MORE
Says Media List Not Partisan
A federal program to name newsrooms deemed reliable and trustworthy is not an attempt to profile Liberal Party-friendly media, says a lead researcher. “There is no role for government oversight,” said Professor Colette Brin of Laval University: 'Criteria are not related to editorial opinions, political perspectives or relationships with government.' READ MORE
Tearful MPs Hear Vax Stories
MPs yesterday at a public hearing wept over Canadians who suffered death or injury from Covid shots, including a Conservative parliamentary aide. “I don’t think we have properly acknowledged the harm that was done to many people,” said Conservative MP Blaine Calkins (Ponoka-Didsbury, Alta.). READ MORE
Housing Target’s Out: CMHC
There is no chance based on current projections that cabinet’s housing targets will be met, new CMHC figures showed yesterday. Data contradicted claims by Housing Minister Gregor Robertson that cabinet was “building big.” READ MORE
Petition To Repeal Israel Pact
A second Liberal MP yesterday sponsored a petition to end decades of free trade with Israel. The action by MP Pat Weiler (West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast) followed a Department of Foreign Affairs announcement Tuesday that Canada would boycott Jewish imports from West Bank territories: "Suffering in Gaza has gone on too long." READ MORE
Guest Commentary
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was “a wild show,” he wrote. He listed a half dozen close calls. A university friend was killed by a sniper while they were shaking hands. An enemy shell made a direct hit on the post he had just turned over to a new officer and “blew him to pieces.” Another shell landed six feet away and failed to explode: “If it had exploded we would be going yet.” Percy traded in his uniform and returned to Ottawa where he lived out his life serving God and the Presbyterian Church.
