Blacklock's Reporter

Federal commemoration of Anne Of Green Gables will be reworked with “new narratives” from Indigenous, Black and French perspectives, Parks Canada said yesterday. Novels depicting the red-haired orphan raised by a white, English-speaking Presbyterian couple on Prince Edward Island have been bestsellers since 1908: 'Cultures not currently presented, e.g. Acadians, Black, Indigenous and people of colour, will be shared with visitors.'

Cabinet will detail draft regulations this spring to impose a billion-dollar ban on food advertising to children on TV and the internet, says a Department of Health briefing note. Regulations will still permit fast food ads on radio, billboards, movie theatre screens and sponsorships of minor sports leagues by restaurant chains: "Industry self-regulation is not enough to protect children."

A federal consultant who boasted to clients that he had a secret contact in Chrystia Freeland’s office yesterday testified he made it all up. “I don’t even have those relationships,” said Vaughn Brennan, director TeaLav Consulting Limited of Ottawa. “I don’t have a Rolodex.”

The Commons ethics committee yesterday by a 7 to 3 vote rejected Opposition requests for internal emails regarding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s latest sun holiday. “There has been a change in the story three times,” said Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville, Ont.).

A Canadian Armed Forces program to recruit immigrants has seen only 77 applicants successfully enlist to date, says a briefing note for Defence Minister Bill Blair. Many thousands more applied but faced lengthy security checks: "Security clearances generally take longer for permanent residents."

The husband of Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner (Hamilton Mountain, Ont.) must repay pandemic relief cheques improperly claimed under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program, records show. MP Hepfner yesterday had no comment but earlier praised cabinet for “rolling out these programs to help Canadians.”

More than $900,000 in federal subsidies were paid last year to insolvent Black Press Group Limited, one of Canada’s largest publishers. The company in bankruptcy court filings blamed the internet, Covid and a disastrous foray into Ohio publishing for its financial troubles: "The company is insolvent."

Federal inspectors have found traces of a bestselling weed killer in food, tap water and Canadians’ blood and urine samples albeit at safe levels, says a Department of Health briefing note. The document is dated two weeks after an Ontario judge certified a class action lawsuit against the makers of glyphosate commonly sold under the Roundup brand: "The Canadian government takes pesticide safety very seriously."

Key housing starts fell seven percent last year, CMHC said yesterday. New construction figures followed Housing Minister Sean Fraser’s pledge to “build more homes faster.” Starts in some cities were down as much as 40 percent or more: "No there is not a plan."

“Aggressive and threatening” lunch room remarks have brought censure for a B.C. employer facing a union drive. The British Columbia Labour Relations Board called the case “particularly troubling.”

Gambling has grown in Canada under a 2021 cabinet bill that legalized bookmaking, says a federal briefing note. Authorities appeared powerless to curb black market gaming or match fixing, wrote the Department of Canadian Heritage: "Illegal sport betting has expanded."

MPs investigating the $54 million ArriveCan project tomorrow will question an Ottawa insider who reportedly boasted he “rubbed shoulders with every assistant deputy minister in town.” The Commons government operations committee to date has been unable to find who approved sweetheart contracts that paid millions to federal consultants: “It should be evident to everyone in this room as well as Canadians there is systemic corruption within this government.”

A taxpayer-subsidized electric auto battery factory is under Department of Fisheries review over “potential for the destruction of wetlands and fish habitat." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had called the Northvolt plant "the world's cleanest."

CBC News says it published an inaccurate “fact check” of Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre. The Crown broadcaster had sought recognition as a Facebook fact checker in the last federal election: "CBC’s video has been edited to remove inaccurate mortgage comparisons and clarify information."

Employers opposed to assisted suicide should be disqualified from Canada Summer Jobs funding, an advocate has written MPs. The submission to the Commons human resources committee is from the same group that successfully lobbied for denial of funding to pro-life employers: "Regardless of the Canada Summer job, even if it is to mow the lawn, that work gives sustenance to the group’s harmful mandate and activities."