In-house federal research shows most Canadians have been victimized by internet virus and spyware attacks, and more than 1 in 10 lost money to cyber criminals. Data from the Department of Public Safety follow a Senate banking committee report that lamented RCMP inaction on cyber crime: “How likely is it that you or a family member will be affected by an online threat?”
Cabinet yesterday said it will not legislate municipal bilingualism in Ottawa, the largest French-speaking city west of Québec. Proponents including a former Supreme Court justice have sought the designation at hearings of the Senate languages committee: “Linguistic issues trigger a very emotional reaction.”
Free copying is not fair under the Copyright Act, the Commons industry committee was told yesterday. The testimony followed Department of Industry research that 26 percent of Canadians admit to illegally accessing music, e-books and software without paying for it: “You should question why.”
Petitioners yesterday demanded Environment Canada detail its dealings with a U.S. company licensed to sell genetically-modified salmon. Corporate filings confirm AquaBounty Technologies Inc. is to pay 10 percent royalties to the government after receiving federal funding: “The government could opt for greater transparency.”
The Department of Finance in an Access To Information memo expresses worry over public hoarding of hundred-dollar bills. The number of $100 banknotes printed but never deposited with banks is “above average” said the memo.
The Department of Health will spend nearly $900,000 to measure Canadians’ tolerance to extreme heat attributed to climate change. Federal data show cold, not heat, kills more Canadians: “Cold temperatures have a physiological impact on the human body.”
A federal watchdog has fined an unidentified bank $350,000 for deliberately misleading customers over the cost of loans. The Federal Consumer Agency of Canada would not name the bank though it can do so: “A significant number of customers were impacted.”
Declassified 1979 cabinet minutes indicate then-Prime Minister Joe Clark was preoccupied with media coverage – one newspaper column was raised over and over in cabinet – and seemed “buoyant about the prospects” of winning re-election in 1980: “The outlook was good.”
The Commons fisheries committee is commissioning another study on aquaculture, nearly identical to a 2016 review by a Senate panel. The latest study follows an audit by the Environment Commissioner that complained the fisheries department failed to protect wild fish stocks from industrial-scale salmon farming: “I talk to industry people, I’m left with more questions than answers.”
In West Ottawa,
lives are disrupted by forces of nature.
Over a hundred homes damaged.
Affluent suburbs turned into rubble.
Chairs, tables, mattresses, stoves
scattered in the yards.
A fridge thrown, open,
food inside.
The community comes together.
Volunteers remove debris,
tarp roofs,
board smashed windows.
A firefighter
carries out personal items
salvaged from the ruins –
medications, makeup brushes, a set of lipsticks.
Ontario activates the province’s
Disaster Recovery Assistance program.
“We will spare no expense,”
promises Premier Ford.
The city council
waives fees for affected residents.
“So proud to be mayor of this city,”
says Jim Watson.
In another part of town,
lives are disrupted by a piece of paper.
Tenants
in the Heron Gate community of
low-income immigrants
get eviction orders.
The landlord says
units are too costly to maintain.
Over a hundred townhomes
will be demolished,
replaced with resort-style condos.
Some have already left,
their homes quickly boarded up.
They are forced to settle for smaller apartments
at higher rental fees.
15-year-old Warda
has to share her room
with two of her siblings.
In the yards, scattered furniture –
chairs, tables, couches, mattresses.
A fridge is tossed, open,
food inside.
The mayor claims there is nothing he can do.
“These are provincial responsibilities,” he says.
“The owners have the right.”
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Parks Canada has quietly shelved a planned tribute to a pre-war governor general dubbed a Nazi appeaser. The tribute to John Buchan was cancelled due to “sensitive historical associations”, according to agency records.
The Historical Sites and Monuments Board in 2017 recommended a plaque to honour Buchan as founder of the 1937 Governor General’s Literary Awards. A tribute was originally scheduled last year, then postponed to the 2018 ceremony.
Awards were made November 28. “Nothing came up in relation to a plaque,” said Sara Régnier-McKellar, spokesperson for Rideau Hall. “There was no unveiling of a plaque. It was a ceremony as per usual.”
Buchan was a Scottish novelist who served as governor general from 1935 to his death from a stroke at Rideau Hall in 1940. “We need to look into his past,” read one Parks Canada memo obtained through Access To Information.
“We were advised to hold off on this one because of potentially negative and sensitive historical associations,” wrote Dr. Alexandra Mosquin, manager of historical services at Parks Canada. “We want to get ready for criticism”; “It will require ordering the relevant books and articles,” wrote Mosquin.
As governor general, Buchan described Hitler’s occupation of Austria as “very largely our own blame”. In a 1938 speech to a Canadian Legion banquet, Buchan said: “All defence carries a face of war.”
“The defence of a country is always a difficult question,” said Buchan. “You dare not neglect it or you may be taken at a sudden disadvantage. But it is possible to overdo it, and thereby increase the very risk which it was intended to prevent.”
Buchan’s Legion speech was on November 11, 1938, two days after the Kristallnacht atrocity that saw German synagogues burned and Jews killed by Nazi street mobs. Buchan made no mention of the event.
“Warts And All”
In a 1939 speech to Canadian Boy Scouts seven months before the outbreak of the Second World War, Buchan said: “There are many isms today to perplex us – Nazism, Communism, fascism and so forth – and the greatest nuisance they are! But most of them will cancel each other out. There is only one ism which kills the soul, and that is pessimism.”
Novelist Mordechai Richler in 1969 called Buchan a “virulent anti-Semite”. Biographer William Galbraith in his 2013 book John Buchan: Model Governor General wrote that Buchan was capable of “dangerous rationalization”, but noted there was no evidence of overt anti-Semitism. Buchan’s wife supported the Montréal chapter of Hadassah, a Jewish charity.
B’nai Brith Canada said it welcomed a frank assessment. “Taking the wrong position on a certain issue should not automatically disqualify political figures from commemoration,” CEO Michael Mostyn said in an earlier interview. “B’nai Brith does not believe in erasing uncomfortable parts of our past.”
“Commemoration provides a unique opportunity to assess both the positive and negative aspects of historical figures,” said Mostyn. “Commemoration materials ought to provide a ‘warts and all’ account of these figures that honestly and openly addresses their failings.”
By Staff
Illegal immigration cost federal agencies nearly $370 million this year, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. A Conservative MP who requested the data noted figures did not include millions spent by provinces on food, housing and education: “We finally have those numbers, and they are staggering.”
Statistics Canada is measuring Canadians’ use of opiates and narcotics using sewage samples. Early results of a $600,000 wastewater test for marijuana use were released yesterday: “The most important thing is to see trends over time.”
A federal judge has faulted the RCMP for refusing to hire a diabetic cadet. Workplace discrimination against high-functioning diabetics is commonplace, said Diabetes Canada: “Maybe it’s a misunderstanding of what diabetes means.”
Witnesses yesterday pointed to new World Health Organization noise data in urging the Commons transport committee to propose a ban on night flights at Canadian airports. Aircraft noise is a public health issue, MPs were told: “Should public health agencies have a role in that? Absolutely.”
