A federal internet censorship bill is so flawed and unpopular it will never be enforced, says a Commons critic. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill) predicted a slow death for Bill C-63: “The government is close to the end of its mandate and does not have a lot of public support.”
Further hikes in Employment Insurance premiums are required, says a Department of Employment memo. However the department acknowledged a rate hike this summer would be poorly timed and unpopular with employers: “Future improvements to the Employment Insurance program will require additional premium rate increases at a time when many economists are predicting a recession.”
Large chunks
found in stomachs of seals,
turtles, whales.
Tiny particles
eaten by small fish, crabs and plankton,
move up the food chain.
Plastic clogs our oceans;
90 percent
comes from just 10 rivers.
Eight in Asia. Two in Africa.
That is how developing countries
pollute the globe,
harm nature and seaways.
Here in Canada,
rivers are kept clean.
Our garbage is sorted,
collected,
handled professionally.
Because we care.
In the Port of Vancouver,
container ships
loaded with Canadian plastic waste
ready to depart.
Destination Asia.
By Shai Ben-Shalom
Few historians delve into the role of violence in Canada’s economic and political life. It’s an awkward topic, layered with disapproval. Yet of four Fathers of Confederation honoured with statues on Parliament Hill, two were shot, and incidents of workplace violence are commonly cited in case law by labour boards and tribunals.
Could street violence be a rational response to government over-reach in a democracy? Certainly Britain, the U.S. and France have a 300-year history of it. Now, historian Jeremy Milloy of Trent University asks, could workplace violence be a rational and predictable response to economic dysfunction?
“It is crucial that we do not fall into the trap of naturalizing violence by essentializing working class men as violent,” writes Milloy. “Instead, we need to look at the social structures and cultural contexts that have increased the likelihood of violent actions.”
Good point. We hear of workplace violence at factories and employee cubicles, never yacht clubs or bank boardrooms. Wealthy people need not resort to sabotage or assault; all conflict is quickly resolved with a call to a lawyer or the mayor’s office.
“When we look closely at workplace violence, we learn that individual violence cannot be separated from structural factors,” writes Milloy; “Even when violence is used to communicate, it is often a brutalist form of communication deployed when the hierarchical gap between actors inhibits understanding or empathy.”
An example: In 1967 a Chrysler stock checker, Willie Brookins, went off-site to buy a snack on his lunch break. Returning to the factory, Brookins carried a paper bag: “He showed the bag’s contents to the plant guard stationed at the gate – two hot sausages, purchased at a nearby deli – and passed through,” writes Milloy.
“As Brookins continued walking to his spot on the assembly line, a second guard demanded Brookins show him the bag, hinting that perhaps it contained a bomb. Brookins ignored the guard and got on an elevator.” More security guards were summoned.
“When the captain arrived, an altercation broke out between Brookins and the two guards,” Milloy continues. “One guard allegedly dumped Brookins’ meal and stomped it into the factory floor. According to another source, Brookins hit the captain in the arm with a pair of wire cutters and punched him in the face with his fist.” Police were called, and pelted with a hail of bolts and washers thrown by workers.
Blood, Sweat And Fear is fresh, unpredictable and candid. Milloy examines workplace culture in postwar Chrysler plants in Ontario and Michigan, a “hyper-masculine” environment, he writes. “Violence at work in Windsor Chrysler plants was not aberrant, bizarre or senseless,” says Milloy. “It was just the opposite: In both Detroit and Windsor plants, violence was built into labour processes, workplace practices and the shop floor culture.”
Milloy’s research is meticulous. He examines why people do what we do. Blood, Sweat And Fear spares the moralizing. In 1971 there were 68 incidents of sabotage at Chrysler Canada plants, typically targeting hated supervisors. Yes, of course, sabotage is wrong, but Milloy raises the more compelling point: Why did it happen? The answer is intriguing.
“When I was working on this project, another historian asked what my category or analysis was: Class? Race? Gender?” writes Milloy. “After thinking for a moment, I replied that it was violence.”
By Holly Doan
Blood, Sweat and Fear: Violence at Work in the North American Auto Industry 1960-80, by Jeremy Milloy; UBC Press; 228 pages; ISBN 9780-7748-34544; $29.95
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc yesterday said he knows the names of Parliament Hill spies and which foreign governments they work for, but cited national security in refusing to disclose the information. One MP noted the Security Of Information Act permits the unmasking of foreign agents “in the public interest.”
Defence Minister Bill Blair yesterday testified his department does not “shovel taxpayer dollars” to consultants. However Blair said he opposed a blanket ban on inside contracting as recommended by MPs: “We don’t shovel taxpayer dollars to anyone.”
Cabinet inflated claims of benefits under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s school lunch program, figures show. A promise to feed 400,000 schoolchildren daily will only be met if meal costs are cut to $2.78, below the minimum identified by the Breakfast Club of Canada: “We would need at least $3 to $6 per child per day.”
The Department of Finance claims it has no documentation whatsoever on its selection of June 25 as the deadline to begin enforcing steep increases in the capital gains tax. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s department said it could not find any files or even emails “regarding the deferral.”
False claims for pandemic benefits cost billions more than originally feared, says the Canada Revenue Agency. Rising costs detailed in Agency records did not include the growing expense of auditing taxpayers who claimed $2,000 monthly Canada Emergency Response Benefit cheques: “That is 22 percent more.”
Former industry minister Navdeep Bains last night said he couldn’t recall being warned against appointing a Liberal Party donor with a conflict of interest as chair of a federal agency. Auditors in a report Tuesday cited directors of Sustainable Development Technology Canada in 186 conflicts that benefited friends and associates: “Boy it’s great to have amnesia, isn’t it?”
Parliamentarians yesterday complained they were all “under a cloud” with cabinet’s refusal to name lawmakers who spied for foreign embassies. MPs and senators demanded culprits be unmasked and expelled: “I am calling you out.”
A former ArriveCan manager yesterday acknowledged he deleted numerous emails but called it an unfortunate computer error. Minh Doan, former chief information officer for the Canada Border Services Agency, suffered a memory lapse when confronted with one surviving text in which he told a co-worker he “can’t throw Ministers under the bus.”
The Mint yesterday defended its decision to issue a commemorative RCAF centennial coin depicting an American-made cargo plane built for the U.S. Air Force. The Royal Canadian Air Force did not comment: ‘Commemorative coins promote the shared history of people living in Canada.’
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s latest omnibus budget bill includes a ‘shocking’ clause that punishes the blind, say tax lawyers. It follows longstanding complaints that budget bills like the current version amending 48 Acts of Parliament are mammoth, unwieldy and riddled with errors: “I will read it to you. You will be shocked.”
Canadians should enjoy a pre-election rate cut, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said yesterday. The Bank lowered its key rate on interbank loans to 2023 levels: “Let’s just enjoy the moment for a bit.”
