Industry Minister Mélanie Joly’s department in an internal memo claimed the “Buy Canadian” campaign would revive domestic factories even as federal managers wrote loopholes into the policy. Executives in a censored, three-page memo called support for employers here “the ultimate test of Buy Canadian.” READ MORE
An anti-Israel website has registered with the Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner after accepting sponsored content from China. Registration is mandatory for any media “acting at the direction of, for the benefit of or in association with a foreign entity.” READ MORE
Fears of a Y2K computer crash prompted then-Defence Minister Art Eggleton to put 30,000 troops on standby, according to newly-declassified records. Confidential accounts of 1999 meetings show cabinet braced for emergencies from subway shutdowns in Toronto to sub-Arctic power blackouts as date timers in computers marked the changeover to the year 2000: "An inadvertent launch of nuclear missiles is highly unlikely." READ MORE
Municipal police nationwide will gain new powers to jam cellphones under sweeping amendments to telecom law. Currently the use of devices to block signals between wireless phones and cell towers is forbidden under threat of $25,000 fines with limited exemptions for the RCMP, federal prison service and Department of National Defence: 'For example, the order could support law enforcement agencies at major public events.' READ MORE
The Department of Employment must pay $5,000 in damages to a Christian employee suspended for refusing a Covid shot, a federal labour board has ruled. An adjudicator said he accepted the clerk's testimony that only God and not cabinet could mandate the vaccine: "How can I as a practicing Christian agree?" READ MORE
We are grateful this holiday to friends and subscribers as Blacklock's embarks on a 15th great year of independent, all-original Canadian journalism. On behalf of contributors, please accept our thanks. We're back tomorrow -- The Editor. READ MORE
Poet W.N. Branson writes: "The lessons learned. Close calls and warnings: Brexit, Meech Lake, Quebec 1995. Backrooms and greased consciences. Hushed voices whisper with grave tones..." READ MORE
I can remember towns where you could walk across the border, go from a garage across the border where they shared services. I grew up in British Columbia and we’d go back and forth to Seattle. It was a daily occurrence, no problem. The border today is actually a fortified border. That whole security concept, the way in which all governments are operating today as a result of 9/11, is imperceptibly changing the way we do business. Ultimately it will affect the way we see ourselves.
