Blacklock's Reporter

The Royal Canadian Mint yesterday deleted Nobel Laureate Frederick Banting from a coin commemorating the discovery of insulin, but honoured James “Skookum Jim” Mason of the Tagish First Nation in a separate coin marking discovery of gold in the Yukon. The decision follows a 2019 cabinet policy to address “colonialism, patriarchy and racism” in historical observances: “This contributes to the ongoing process of truth-telling and reconciliation.”

The future of a proposed $750 million St. Lawrence River container terminal is in doubt after cabinet yesterday banned any work threatening the habitat of a rare fish, the Copper Redhorse. An environmental group threatened to sue if the Port of Montréal expansion proceeds: “It is a wonderful fish.”

Cabinet must eliminate long delays in enforcing a Pay Equity Act passed into law three years ago, an all-party committee of MPs yesterday told Parliament. Enforcement could take until 2026 or later: “This cannot be done overnight.”

VIA Rail blames First Nations blockades as well as the pandemic for a record operating loss last year, $415.8 million. “We faced two crises, the blockades and the pandemic,” wrote VIA’s $401,000-a year CEO: “My empathy extends to our passengers.”

The war on drugs has failed, a Liberal Senate appointee last night told the chamber. Senator Gwen Boniface (Ont.), a former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner, said simple possession of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs should be decriminalized: “We must consider an alternative.”

The Commons industry committee yesterday dismissed a bid to speed a rewrite of federal bankruptcy law. MPs on May 12 gave Second Reading by a 189-139 vote to a private bill granting priority treatment to pensioners in bankruptcy settlements: “I am not elected by banks.”

Canada has so many drones it needs a drone air traffic control system, says the Department of Transport. Staff counted 53,000 registered drones nationwide compared to 37,000 licensed aircraft: ‘It requires a re-think of how our airspace is managed.’

A Conservative MP yesterday was threatened with expulsion from the Commons for wearing a pro-oil button. House rules forbid props: “Remove that button.”

The Privy Council Office is concealing hundreds of thousands of records on pandemic mismanagement, the Commons health committee was told. Disclosure of a few records to date detail favouritism in contracting and attempts to hide supply shortages: “Who in government is responsible?”

The Department of Health receives an average 100 reports a day of opioids lost or stolen from pharmacies nationwide, says an internal audit. The department had a backlog of 20,000 reports it failed to track, and no idea of the volume of drugs diverted to the black market: “I’m dumbfounded the system could allow that much loss and not do anything about it.”

Pandemic stay-home orders and lockdowns were so widespread it cost the federal treasury more than two-third of a billion in lost gas taxes, according to finance department accounts. Fuel tax revenue will remain “well below expected GDP growth” for years to come, wrote staff: “Revenues are projected to fall by 12 percent.”

University students are now three times more likely to smoke legal marijuana than tobacco, says Public Health Agency research. New data follow studies that marijuana use among teenagers was declining prior to Parliament’s 2018 legalization of cannabis: “There is a difference between ‘I shared a joint at a party last weekend’ and using marijuana every day.”

Figure skater Toller Cranston died one of the wealthiest 1970s sports figures in Canada, according to court records. Cranston left an estate worth more than $6 million with a seven-figure art collection, but no will: “Toller’s estate was complex.”

New tax changes will allow media to double dip on taxpayers’ subsidies, the Department of Finance confirmed yesterday. Amendments inserted in a 336-page budget bill will see some publishers draw subsidies equal to 100 percent of newsroom costs: “I know how this works.”