Blacklock's Reporter

The CBC and five subsidized press associations pledge to “advocate for initiatives to reduce if not prevent online harm,” according to a network statement. The advocacy comes ahead of internet censorship bills by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, including a proposal to block websites and appoint a chief censor called the Digital Safety Commissioner: “We think industry-wide data will help us to advocate.”

Opposition MPs and reporters are merciless in exposing scandal and should be avoided at all cost, says Michael Wernick, former $326,000-a year chief clerk of the federal public service. Wernick in a book published Saturday also described officials such as the Ethics Commissioner as status-seekers who like to appear busy with pointless investigations: “Someone on the other side is there ready to climb over the boards and punch you in the face.”

Cabinet members avoided public comment on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Tofino, B.C. beach holiday on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. A British Columbia newspaper published a photo of Trudeau with a glass of beer on the patio of a beachfront vacation home: “I can’t speak to other people’s scheduling.”

A third of Ontarians and 14 percent of Albertans are environmental skeptics who resent paying higher prices in the name of ecology, says an in-house study by the Department of Environment. “This group skews male and younger, under 44,” wrote researchers: “Cost is by far the most common barrier.”

Compulsory vaccination of the largest workforce in the country will be “a complicated program to roll out,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer. Cabinet has said it will require all 300,540 federal employees to be vaccinated by month’s end: “Should people show proof upon entry to different buildings?”

Political aides yesterday flew an Indigenous “survivors’ flag” at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office in solemn observance of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Trudeau was holidaying at the seaside town of Tofino, B.C. at the time, Global News confirmed: ‘It would be an insult if this were to become yet another paid day at the cottage.’

Academics and human rights advocates say an internet censorship bill proposed by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is “aggressive,” “punitive” and “disturbing.” The bill to be introduced after lapsing in the last Parliament would penalize bloggers, Facebook users and internet publishers for legal content deemed harmful: ‘The proposals fail to account for the importance of protecting political dissent.’

The Department of Immigration in an internal email said it was looking to provide free accommodation for some 1,000 illegal immigrants and asylum seekers as a pandemic precaution. Costs were not detailed: “How many illegal migrants have entered Canada since the start of the pandemic?”

Dueling medical experts in an Ontario Superior Court case could not agree on how Covid is spread after eighteen months of evidence. “It is enough to note they are different,” wrote the Court: “We are not required to have to choose the opinion of one over the other.”

Tax Court has rejected claims for an eight-figure charitable credit by the estate of a millionaire philanthropist. Evidence showed Edmond Odette’s heirs arranged a $17.7 million credit on an IOU: “The plan failed.”

Political aides in the Prime Minister’s Office instructed staff to “work in some compassionate lines about caring” in public statements on mask shortages at nursing homes, according to internal emails. Most Covid victims in Canada were over 80: “It feels weird that there’s nothing we can do.”

The Toronto-Dominion Bank withheld promised fee discounts from half a million seniors in Canada, according to a federal investigation. The Bank yesterday was fined $400,000 for breach of the Bank Act but saved $31 million by withholding seniors’ rebates: “TD does not dispute these totals.”

Cabinet faces up to $15 billion in costs after a federal judge yesterday upheld claims of systemic underfunding of First Nations child welfare programs. Federal lawyers had fought the case since 2007: “No one can seriously doubt First Nations people are among the most disadvantaged.”

Attorney General David Lametti’s department commissioned in-house research on racial profiling by traffic police in the aftermath of the George Floyd case. The $147,463 study found Canadian drivers pulled over admitted their own wrongdoing and saw no evidence of bias: “They did not perceive they were being targeted in any way.”