Blacklock's Reporter

On October 6, 1920 the city of Ottawa prepared for a riot. The mayor dispatched police to ring St. Patrick’s Hall. Inside, 700 Canadian Catholics, Sinn Féiners and sympathizers rallied for Irish nationalism. Eamon de Valera, a founder of the Irish republic, sent a note to delegates: “No enlightened Canadian will be able to stand by and see an unoffending people massacred.” Outside 3,000 Protestants from nearby Carleton County threatened to descend on the hall and crack heads.

Historian Robert McLaughlin captures the moment in Irish Canadian Conflict, a vivid account of a story now strangely erased from the Canadian experience, the clash of Canadian Protestants and Catholics on the Irish question.

Ancient hatreds from the old country were layered over all the raw nerves that jangled in the new homeland: English versus French, monarchist versus republican, wealthy versus poor. Irish independence was among the great political upheavals of the 1920s and there were more than a million Irish in Canada. When an Irish nationalist, Terrence MacSwiney, starved himself to death in a British jail in 1920, sympathy marches were held in Halifax, Montreal and Québec City.

Canadians are “done with Trudeau,” New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh said yesterday. But Singh said he will stick to terms of a Supply And Confidence Agreement that would keep the Prime Minister in office until June 30, 2025: "We are not trying to plan for an election."

Lawyers and schoolteachers are petitioning Parliament to reject private bills to ban spanking in correcting children’s behaviour. Two separate bills in the Commons and Senate would repeal a corporal punishment provision of the Criminal Code dating from 1892: "It is impossible to imagine how a parent could successfully foster their child’s development without ever applying reasonable and minimal force."

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is still “exploring options” to enforce a ban on thermal coal exports he announced three years ago, says a federal memo. Thermal coal exports went up after the announcement: "This makes Canada the first country in the world to make this commitment to address climate change."

Parliament must allow professional sports to self-regulate gambling promotions, says CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie. The Canadian Football League in a letter to senators said federal controls were unnecessary: "We do not agree."

Building only low cost rentals is not the best way to restore housing affordability, CMHC said yesterday. The federal mortgage insurer in a report said mixed construction including expensive rentals was more effective in lowering costs overall: "I don’t want to be building cheap homes in a bad part of town."

The Canadian Human Rights Commission yesterday did not comment on Chief Commissioner Birju Dattani’s past advocacy for Muslim prayer in schools. Dattani as a Muslim Students' Association activist endorsed Qur'an readings at the University of Calgary campus and a local high school: "It seems clear to us he can no longer carry out his mandate."

Independent MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) has stepped down as co-chair of a Canada-China Legislative Association, records show. Dong as co-chair admitted to at least a dozen phone calls with Chinese Communist Party diplomats under security surveillance: "These conversations were recognized methods of diplomatic communications."

Cabinet says it will publicly detail millions spent on legal fees at taxpayers’ expense for Charter cases of “national significance.” Critics have long complained of secrecy surrounding the Court Challenges Program: "No one is able to tell me who got the money."

Voters just want to jeer or cheer politicians and “blame the government,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said yesterday. The loss of a Liberal seat in a byelection Monday was not a confidence boost as cabinet seeks a fourth term, he added: "That’s a message we can’t ignore."

Auditors rate a federal program to promote hiring of Black employees as a failure. It was launched following 2020 Black Lives Matter protests that saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau join demonstrators in kneeling outside Parliament: 'There is little evidence of increased career opportunities for equity seeking groups.'

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday blamed hard times for the loss of a longtime Liberal seat in a Toronto byelection. Conservatives won Toronto-St. Paul’s for the first time since 1988: "Can the Prime Minister still stay on?"

Police have recovered a tiny fraction of firearms blacklisted by cabinet four years ago as a risk to public safety, records show. The figures follow Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s deferral of a mandatory gun buyback program until after the next federal election: "People I know go hunting."

Auto executives yesterday said billions more in subsidies are needed to meet cabinet’s electric car mandate. Subsidies to date total more than $150 billion: "There is clearly no turning back at this point in time."

High level amateur athletes including future Olympians in Canada typically earn less than the minimum wage and carry credit card debts, says in-house Department of Canadian Heritage research. “Money is a significant barrier,” said the report.