Blacklock's Reporter

Two former ArriveCan executives are attempting to quash a "scandalous" investigator’s report alleging criminal wrongdoing, according to Federal Court records. Cameron MacDonald and Antonio Utano, both ex-Canada Border Services Agency managers, were suspended without pay: 'Untested accusations are of such magnitude any reader could only be left to draw the conclusion of potential criminal activity.'

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland by cabinet order has granted herself authority to increase federal borrowing this fiscal year to a record $517 billion. The figure is $73 billion higher than estimated for the year ending March 31: "You’re simply saying, ‘Give me a blank cheque and then trust me.'"

MPs meeting behind closed doors have voted to cross-examine Liberal MP Anthony Rota (Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont.) over his “Canadian hero” tribute to a Nazi collaborator. Rota last September 26 became the first Commons Speaker in 66 years to resign under threat of censure: "It may not be good enough for some of you."

A national daycare program to date has created only a fraction of 276,000 spaces promised under a $30 billion subsidy, says a Department of Social Development briefing note. The department acknowledged the daycare system is short thousands of workers who left for higher paying jobs: "My office is getting calls from parents saying there are no spaces available."

The Department of Justice has surveyed Canadians' support for a separate Indigenous court system. The initiative followed a 2021 proposal to study adoption of ancient legal practices on First Nations lands: "People think we’re a lawless, savage people and that’s not true. Our people were very highly organized."

The Canada Border Services Agency last year assigned just 207 staff to criminal investigations nationwide including 48 in Greater Toronto, auto theft capital of Canada, records show. The disclosure follows a cabinet-sponsored conference on auto theft one MP dismissed as a “good photo op.”

A large number of health care workers including most nurses surveyed were reluctant to take Covid shots over fear of side effects, says in-house Public Health Agency research. “Many critical questions remain,” said the first-ever study of vaccine hesitancy among Canadian medical staff: "The prospect of losing their employment played a role in their decision to get vaccinated."

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1988 told his cabinet it had captured “the soul of Canada” and made the Progressive Conservative Party stronger than at any time in 100 years, newly declassified records show. The Party was reduced to two seats in the following election: 'Holding faithful to values would ensure the government retained office for years to come.'

Auditors have uncovered irregularities in spending by Canada’s embassy in Dakar, Senegal. The audit period coincided with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Senegalese tour in a failed bid to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council: "There is room for improvement."

Records show Edmonton leads the nation in applying for federal home equity loans under a CMHC program. Cabinet had no explanation for millions of dollars' worth of successful loan applications compared to other cities with similarly priced real estate: "Some were skeptical, calling this a Band-Aid solution."

Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes:, “Beneath a colourful display of peace and friendship, athletes in Sochi 2014 competed under the most unusual conditions, surrounded by security personnel, snipers, helicopter gunships…”

Popular culture is rich in metaphors for mothers as life-giving and delightful, with scant mention of the other biologically necessary parent. The few that exist are mean: Father Time (mortality), Fatherland (Nazi Germany), Old Man Winter, etcetera.

Groucho Marx said for all the Tin Pan Alley sheet music written in tribute to moms a century ago, he could recall a single dedication to dads entitled Everybody Works But Father. The lyrics went like this: “Mother takes in washing/so does sister Ann/Everybody works in our house’/but my old man.”

Into the breach steps Montréal novelist Heather O’Neill with Wisdom In Nonsense: Invaluable Lessons From My Father, a warm and funny collection of memories of O’Neill’s dad, a single parent. O’Neill beautifully recounts the point in all our young lives when the centre of a child’s universe is the space occupied by a dominant parent. Even trivial recollections attain mythological stature: dining on Pepsi in teacups, and Jell-O in a champagne glass, and delicious cubes of Camembert cheese Father O’Neill shoplifted from the local groceteria.

Inflation has dampened public support for costly climate programs, says confidential in-house Privy Council research. Canadians are willing to pay no more than a 10 percent premium for green products and services, figures show: "69 percent strongly or somewhat agree environmentally friendly options are too expensive."

The Commons government operations committee has ordered a ten-year audit of all federal payments to a contractor implicated in ArriveCan irregularities. Investigators found GC Strategies Inc. of Woodlawn, Ont. won millions without having to bid: "If there is something crooked – if, if, because we are not a court of law – but if something is not right, we have to identify it."

Cabinet yesterday budgeted more than $11 million for its judicial inquiry into election meddling by Chinese agents. Fifty-three lawyers are attending the Commission on Foreign Interference: "I will make every effort to get to the bottom of things."