Blacklock's Reporter

A Liberal MP who pledged to work for housing affordability holds at least five mortgages on rental properties, according to newly-disclosed filings with the Ethics Commissioner. “We are addressing our housing affordability needs,” MP Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville) said July 29: "The housing crisis is a Canada-wide problem that is especially hard hitting right here in Vancouver Granville."

Foreign students in Canada are implicated in money laundering for organized crime, says a federal agency. Students from China and Hong Kong were named by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre: "A number of suspected ‘money mules’ are international students."

Competition in Canadian telecom is intense, lawyers for Rogers Communications Inc. wrote in a submission to the anti-trust Competition Tribunal. The company is attempting to counter a federal proposal to block its $26 billion buyout of Calgary competitor Shaw Communications: "Competition for wireless services in Canada is intense."

Western Canada within 20 years will grow by a third while Newfoundland and Labrador will be smaller and greyer, Statistics Canada forecast yesterday. Nationwide the seniors’ population next year will eclipse the number of children: "If Canada’s population continues to increase in the future it will be mainly because of immigration."

Canadian aid to Ukraine since the February 24 invasion by Russia now totals more than $3.1 billion. The figure includes grants, military aid and loans, said Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly: "Canadians stand with them in their defence."

Thousands of Covid body bags were quietly bought up by the Department of Public Works at the same time political aides looked for “success stories” to tell the public, Access To Information records show. Authorities feared a shortage of bags in the first weeks of the pandemic: "Do we need special ones to deal with people who died from Covid?"

Canada’s most Liberal city, Toronto, stands to lose a seat in Parliament under federal redistricting. Election planners said as large as Toronto has grown, the rest of Ontario has grown larger: "Over-representation in Toronto has emerged due to uneven population growth."

So many children have been infected with Covid there is increasingly “hybrid immunity” among elementary schoolkids, says the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. Most Canadian parents have not provided Covid shots to children under 12, the panel said: "Severe medical conditions in this age group should be rare."

Cabinet is preparing to write numerous loopholes into a promised ban on foreigners’ purchase of residential real estate. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised the ban last August 25 while campaigning for re-election: "We’ll crack down on the predatory speculators."

Canada's largest airport is so bad that competitors in nearby Buffalo, N.Y. ought to hold a parade for the transport minister, says a Conservative MP. The Commons transport committee listened as MP Tony Baldinelli (Niagara Falls, Ont.) read out TripAdvisor comments disparaging Pearson International Airport as the worst on Earth: "Just got back from a trip to Nevada flying out of Buffalo and I’m from Ontario. The airport is a dream."

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the great seeker of the “sunny ways” in politics, lived in a grand hotel just steps from Parliament Hill before he became prime minister. The Russell Hotel was Ottawa’s answer to 19th century elegance.  In time it descended into ruin.

Air cargo flights of Chinese medical supplies cost taxpayers $120 million in the first 90 days of the pandemic, say Access To Information records. Federal agencies said they had no choice but to charter planes after failing to maintain a national stockpile of masks, gloves and medical gowns: "The cost of flying one cargo plane from China to Canada is between $600,000 and $800,000."

Cable and satellite TV customers in Canada should be required to pay for gay programming, a CRTC commissioner said yesterday. A majority of federal regulators rejected mandatory carriage for Out TV Network Inc. of Vancouver, the self-described “world’s first LGBTQ network.”

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed an $825 million anti-trust lawsuit against the NHL and junior hockey leagues. Former players alleged breach of the Competition Act: 'The statement of claim alleging a conspiracy between leagues has no chance of success.'

Nearly a third of Canadians say they’re concerned about health effects of everyday use of cellphones, Wi-Fi, Smart Meters and other products that emit radiation, says in-house research by the Department of Health. Regulators have consistently maintained wireless devices pose no danger to human health: "There is no evidence that using a cellphone causes brain tumours."