Blacklock's Reporter

Nobody’s published an anthology of celebrity draft dodgers though there are many: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Pierre Trudeau, Bill Clinton. Robert Menzies, the Australian prime minister, as a law student enthusiastically joined his campus militia unit but declined to fight overseas in the First World War. Menzies for decades afterward faced Opposition jibes that the war had interrupted his military career. Boxer Jack Dempsey took work as a longshoreman with a draft deferment. As heavyweight title holder, “reference to the new champion as a fighter often elicited sneers about the kind of fighting he had done in previous years,” historian Joseph Furnas wrote in 1974.

None of the personalities in Crossing Into Canada are celebrities. They would not even publish their surnames. One declined to be photographed. All came to Canada to evade U.S. military service. “Support for draft evaders and deserters during the war in Vietnam was not homogenous or guaranteed in Canada,” writes editor Alison Mountz. “Resistance was controversial then and remains so today.”

The Canada Dental Care Plan will go billions over budget for years to come, says the Department of Health. Patient fees will cost taxpayers more than $18 billion over five years, a third more than cabinet’s original estimate of $13 billion: "We have just no clue."

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne yesterday expressed indignation over criticism of his wife's hiring by a Crown corporation seeking budget concessions. “I am an honorable member of this House, not you,” he told one MP on the Commons ethics committee.

Most Canadians now get their news from government-paid press, the chief lobbyist for subsidized dailies yesterday told the Commons finance committee. Subsidized media were “foundational,” testified Paul Deegan, CEO of News Media Canada: "The Government of Canada, I have to say, has been terrific."

Rail and port workers would lose the right to strike under a proposal yesterday by the Senate transport committee. “The status quo is not a viable option,” wrote the Liberal-dominated panel.

Cabinet confirms a lengthy backlog of labour complaints against Canadian companies operating abroad. The position of Ombudsman to investigate allegations of exploitation and forced labour has been vacant for more than a year: "A decision regarding the future of the Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise and the position of the Ombudsman will be taken in due course."

Social media posts deemed to undermine “social stability” would be subject to blocking orders by a federal censor under a cabinet bill introduced yesterday. “The law applies as soon as it comes into force,” said Heritage Minister Marc Miller.

More than 19,000 new Covid ventilators, all purchased through sole-sourced contracts, were sold as scrap at pennies a pound, new documents show. The 19,000 figure detailed in a Public Health Agency memo is the highest yet on confirmed waste under the $1.1 billion pandemic ventilator program: "Consider an audit."

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday acknowledged missing another forecast, this time on the likelihood of a 2026 recession. “We’ve seen a lot of volatility,” he said.

The defence department proposes to auction dozens of buildings and nearly 1,500 acres of Crown land to meet its quota of savings under a federal budget review, says a report. The largest federal landlord, the Department of Public Works, has calculated about half of all federal buildings could be sold without affecting services: "The department will reduce its real property footprint."

Parliament should create a Canadian version of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to handle wildfires, the Senate agriculture and forestry committee said yesterday. The current hodgepodge of jurisdictional overlap was inadequate, said a report: "No single entity is responsible."

Specialty drugs lost in a mysterious mishap at a federal warehouse included $20 million in medicines needed to counter a “biological threat,” says a Public Health Agency memo. MPs on the Commons health committee were briefed on the incident behind closed doors last February 10: "I can confirm there was loss of a quantity of treatment for a biological threat."

Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner yesterday said Canadians deserve a judiciary free of politics, but would not discuss his own criticism of the Freedom Convoy. Wagner declined to recuse himself from sitting in judgment on protestors he described as anarchists and hostage takers, though none were charged with either offence: "Can you explain why you will not recuse yourself?"

Cabinet today for the third time in five years will table legislation to regulate legal internet content. Attorney General Sean Fraser has said cabinet would not revive terms of previous bills that lapsed on complaints of censorship and federal over-reach: "What’s the urgency?"

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York, Ont.) yesterday in a farewell speech to the House likened his political career to “pushing a boulder up a hill.” The former housing minister is to resign with the Commons’ adjournment for summer recess, expected June 19: "I’ve had some roles."