Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday renewed a 2016 pledge to phase out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies without defining “inefficient.” Enforcement is scheduled for 2025: “The term ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidy lacks a commonly accepted definition.”
Cabinet commissioned in-house research on banning federal funding to any Canadian organization “unaccepting of LGBTQ individuals,” records show. A Privy Council report also discussed preferential funding for Pride communities like LGBTQ scholarships: ‘They questioned why the process to normalize and protect LGBTQ communities was not moving faster.’
Reporters may conceal conflicts of interest involving analysts they quote in stories, under a ruling by a national press ombudsman. The decision came in the case of a Twitter source quoted by Anja Karadeglija, a National Post reporter and journalism instructor.
“Generally speaking journalists are free to choose the sources they deem credible,” said Cara Sabatini, spokesperson for the National News Media Council. There were insufficient grounds “to support a complaint about a breach of journalistic standards,” she added.
The ruling came on a Blacklock’s complaint over a June 14 story by Karadeglija headlined, “Sued For Sharing Your Password?” The story purported to cover the subject matter of a three-day Federal Court hearing involving Blacklock’s lawsuit against Parks Canada for sharing passwords without payment or permission in breach of the Copyright Act.
Blacklock’s submitted Karadeglija “covered” the legal proceeding without ever attending court, reading the motion record and affidavits or interviewing either counsel in the case, and that her sole source and interview was a Twitter contact, Howard Knopf.
Knopf was identified in the story only as a “retired copyright lawyer.” He told the National Post the case “may put a big chill on the internet.”
The newspaper failed to disclose Knopf had a solicitor-client relationship with Parks Canada lawyers. The Department of Justice in 2017 Access To Information documents censored 172 pages of correspondence with Knopf, citing “solicitor-client privilege.”
Knopf is also a blogger who repeatedly disparaged Blacklock’s as a “copyright troll,” illustrating one post with what appeared to be a pile of excrement. Knopf’s blog in an 18-month period made 91 references to Blacklock’s copyright protection.
Blacklock’s submitted the National Post article deceived readers by presenting Knopf as a dispassionate expert when he in fact had a solicitor-client relationship with one side in a court proceeding. The National Post refused to disclose Knopf’s conflict.
“We are comfortable that he is in no material conflict of interest,” said Kevin Libin, executive editor with Postmedia Network Inc. Knopf had “no conflict of interest that warranted disclosure,” he said.
Reporter Karadeglija did not comment. She is a part-time instructor at the Carleton University School of Journalism in the “fundamentals of reporting.” Karadeglija is also director of the Ottawa chapter of the Canadian Association of Journalists.
The Association’s Principles For Ethical Journalism guide state, “We disclose conflicts of interest.” A companion document Ethics Guidelines states reporters must “make every effort to verify the identities and backgrounds of our sources” and “seek documentation to support the reliability of those sources.”
By Staff 
(photo: Twitter)
Friends of China may be spreading pro-Beijing propaganda to “pollute the general media” in Canada, warns a Department of Public Safety briefing note. Cabinet is reviewing a proposal to mandate public disclosure of advocates acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party: “Information could be disseminated by Canadians who may not be fully aware.”
Cabinet budgeted millions for a vaccine passport program to 2026 though the World Health Organization has declared the pandemic is over. A Department of Health memo said funding was needed to support federal measures “as needed going forward.”
Accidental marijuana poisoning of kindergartners has worsened under legalization, according to records. The Department of Health acknowledged “the rise in pediatric cannabis poisonings” since Parliament legalized marijuana in 2018: “This is largely driven by children younger than five.”
Lack the standing
to blame God
for the killings in Vietnam,
the famine in Biafra,
the genocide in Rwanda,
the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.
But this papercut
in my index finger
burns like hell.
Where was He
when I turned the page?
By Shai Ben-Shalom
Canadians questioned in Privy Council research “almost all had a negative opinion” of cabinet’s management of the economy, says an in-house report. Disclosure of cabinet polling follows Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s complaints of “gloom and doom and the talking down of Canada.”
Cabinet will not allow disruptions to continue at West Coast ports, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday. On-and-off strike action since July 1 by the International Longshore & Warehouse Union was unacceptable, said Trudeau: “This strike could not continue.”
A federal report yesterday protested “political pressure” in electoral redistricting by an unidentified Edmonton MP. The New Democratic Party and MP Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach) did not respond to questions: ‘It appeared to be the result of a calculated effort led by a particular MP to maintain their stronghold.’
Toronto will lose an MP in the next election under the final report of a federal commission tabled yesterday. Hundreds of petitioners objected to the redistricting: “Acceding to the request would have significant consequences to the rest of the province.”
Cabinet hired pollsters to survey Vancouver’s Chinese-Canadian community on its “current relationship with China” but made no mention of alleged election fraud by foreign agents. The in-house research by the Privy Council Office was disclosed yesterday: “Many believed there needed to be greater representation of Chinese-Canadians at the federal level.”
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan today will detail federal action to end a British Columbia port strike. The dispute in its 14th day is the longest at Western ports since a 21-day shutdown that ended with back-to-work legislation in 1972: “We have been patient.”
A Senate committee yesterday recommended federal action to ban “Residential School denialism.” Senators did not define the term. Hate speech has been a Criminal Code offence in Canada since 1970: “Some individuals deny the negative effects on generations of Indigenous peoples.”
Pandemic mandates saw the tattletale firing of a public employee for questioning how to fake her vaccination status, according to evidence at a labour hearing. An Alberta clerk with a spotless 14-year record was fired after texting a co-worker: “We are looking for a nurse close to retirement that would be willing to sign off on the vax for us.”
