Blacklock's Reporter

Parliament’s Procurement Ombudsman testifies today on favouritism in federal contracting to McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm formerly led by a friend of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. The investigation ordered by the Commons government operations committee found “a strong perception of favouritism” in McKinsey contracts: "I knew Chrystia Freeland when she worked at the Financial Times."

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s department promises to do better after it was caught concealing legislative briefing notes from the Senate. One senator was told the routine documents would not be released until after the next election: "I would say fundamentally this is unacceptable."

Customs officers warn of another ArriveCan-style fiasco with a Canada Border Services Agency plan to digitize $32 billion in yearly tariff collections. The computer system to be launched May 13 has been delayed until October: "A rushed system is deployed as a solution to a non-existent problem."

A bankruptcy judge has written the last chapter for one of Canada’s largest community newspaper chains. Creditors of Metroland Media Group Ltd. received less than a fifth what they were owed: "Core challenges are simply on account of a shift in the way readers obtain their news."

A federally-funded immigrant aid society is petitioning Parliament to accept at least 10,000 people from Gaza. It also asked that Gazans gain access to the same free medicare, social services and legal counsel as Ukrainian war refugees: "We are all failing Gazans at this point."

Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “Sick leave by public servants: two and a half times the private sector rate…”

Historical figures are ready props in any political argument. They are dead and in no position to complain. But this cuts both ways. Historical facts are set in stone: names, dates, embarrassing diary entries. Public figures who invoke history to justify a political impulse are taking a chance, which brings us to The Riel Problem. This is not another book about Louis Riel. It is much better.

In my Manitoba school days Riel was given short treatment as a messianic rebel leader who maybe didn’t deserve to be hanged for treason. The first public speech I heard in praise of Riel as a national icon was not by any Manitoba MLA but a Bloc Québécois MP, in Ottawa, in 1993. Today he is “a Franco Catholic martyr,” “an Indigenous hero,” “a Father of Confederation,” writes Albert Braz, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta’s Literature and English department.

Auditors have uncovered routine irregularities in the hiring of consultants in Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s department. The review followed a public outcry over billions spent on consultants government-wide, said an internal audit report: "In the last five years the department signed more than 8,000 consulting service contracts totaling $567 million."

Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s office yesterday did not comment after Miller told a U.S. radio interviewer Canada was “open country” for foreigners. Illegal immigration was a minor issue since Canada was surrounded by oceans, the United States and “a block of ice to the north,” he said.

Federal subsidies for the electric vehicle industry are now up to $52.5 billion, triple the $16 billion annual GDP of the entire Canadian auto industry. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday would not say how much his cabinet was willing to pay per job in the sector: "How much is the government paying for each of those jobs?"

An Afro-Canadien Museum dedicated to documenting slavery in pre-Confederation Québec has been cited for breach of migrant labour rules. Management yesterday did not comment: "The pay or working conditions didn’t match."

A media “fact checker” yesterday was fined for 2019 Facebook messages targeting then-Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer. The paid posts by Canada Fact Check were not fact checks but “partisan advertising,” said the Elections Commissioner.

A federal inventory of vacant Crown-owned property lists fewer than 400 nationwide including many unsuitable for housing like cattle barns and boat sheds, records show. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday repeated his claim that unused federal property will create thousands of new homes: "Anyone who says we don’t need to put everything on the table right now is not listening."

New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh yesterday said he did not want a 2024 election though the Prime Minister reneged on terms of his Supply And Confidence Agreement. A quarter of Singh’s caucus is not seeking re-election: "I want to hear from Justin Trudeau."

Canadian shippers yesterday cheered another delay in what one called the “big bang” launch of a new digital Customs collection scheme criticized as onerous and costly. The Canada Border Services Agency program mandated to launch May 13 has been postponed until October: 'Every single stakeholder has said it won’t work.'