Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday sacked a fifth of his cabinet. He needed a “team with fresh energy,” Trudeau told reporters: ““There are lots of big things ahead and we’re going to stay focused on delivering them because that’s what Canadians want.”
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada yesterday would not release findings of a first-ever detailed federal study of payday loan borrowers. The research followed a February 13 report that 38 percent of Canadians were borrowing money to cover daily expenses: “The Agency is currently analyzing the data.”
Canadians are buying fewer groceries due to food inflation, Statistics Canada said yesterday. “Shoppers are spending more but buying less,” wrote analysts: “Many grocery items have continued to increase month after month and on balance are 20 percent above levels reported two years earlier.”
Covid-19 may have started in a “laboratory incident” but the precise cause is unproven, says the Department of Health. The acknowledgment comes three years after then-Health Minister Patricia Hajdu ridiculed “conspiracy theories” about the Wuhan Institute of Virology: ‘You’re feeding into conspiracy theories people perpetuate on the internet.’
Millions spent on the taxpayer-owned Trans Mountain Pipeline are not included in total costs, records show. Additional subsidies were excluded from calculations used in supporting cabinet’s claim that “no more public money will be used to complete the Trans Mountain Expansion.”
“Private capital” is needed to revive public transit, a Department of Infrastructure report said yesterday. Ridership nationwide remains below pre-pandemic levels at a loss to operators of more than $46 million a month, according to Statistics Canada: “Costs of major public transit projects cannot be met by governments on their own.”
The Department of Justice may withhold its litigation costs from taxpayers under “solicitor-client privilege,” the Office of the Information Commissioner said yesterday. MPs have demanded that all expenditures of public money be disclosed including expenses run up by federal lawyers: ‘It is a broken system.’
Most court records sent to federal prisons, up to 80 percent, contain paperwork errors, says a federal audit. The investigation was prompted by the mistaken 2017 release of a British Columbia drug trafficker due to a typographical error: “It is important.”
The Government of Canada paid a foreign contractor blacklisted by allies as a Russian war collaborator, records disclose. Payment was made even after the contractor was censured by allies: “Canada is actively exploring options on next steps.”
Quarantine hotels cost taxpayers more than a third of a billion according to new figures, the highest disclosed to date. Expenses were the equivalent of more than $17,000 for every traveler given shelter for 72 hours: “Costs associated with this program included lodging, meals, security, traveler support and transportation.”
Tax measures should support Canadians who work past 65, says Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne. The number of pensioners who remain in the workforce is currently the highest in history, according to federal data: “The tax system should not create undue barriers for seniors who wish to return or remain in the workforce.”
Canadians typically don’t know much about the Navy but suspect it is probably racist, says in-house research by the Department of National Defence. More than a third of people surveyed called Navy racism worrisome though they couldn’t point to any particular allegation or incident: “One Black participant did describe the Navy as being as racially diverse as the National Hockey League.”
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)
