Blacklock's Reporter

Any book that examines the human condition through diet is welcome. Who is not wiser on learning Lester Pearson was so bland his favourite lunch was a poached egg, or that Britain’s Ministry of Food recommended rice soup as a wartime Christmas meal in 1917?

In Eat Local, Taste Global Professors Glen Filson and Bamidele Adekunle of the University of Guelph look at vegetables in documenting Canada’s demographic revolution. The nation has never seen so many different immigrants from so many varied lands – Asian, African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern. Authors note the nation imports 24.9 million pounds of okra annually, a third of it in the Toronto area through the largest vegetable wholesaler in the nation, the Ontario Food Terminal Board.

“While humans are often viewed as rational beings who make informed decisions to optimize their benefits, food decisions are not always rational,” says Eat Local. “This is evident as food serves many purposes beyond nutritional value, including construction of personal identity and pleasure.”

A federal agency struggled to give away millions in subsidies to businesses it claimed suffered due to Freedom Convoy protests in downtown Ottawa. Access To Information records show organizers extended deadlines and went door to door pleading with business owners to apply for cheques: "Go door to door to boost awareness and increase applications."

CMHC in Access To Information records for the first time acknowledged intense opposition to its promotion of a home equity tax. Staff in internal emails uncovered by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation concluded it was “not worthwhile” to pursue the idea: "Reaction both in the media and by the public was swift."

Global News is “on the brink,” an executive with the country’s number three television network yesterday told a Senate hearing. The assessment came despite millions in federal subsidies and a 38 percent profit margin in TV: "We can no longer do this alone."

MPs including one member who choked back tears yesterday lamented the Queen’s death at 96. Observances for a Day of Mourning Monday range from a moment’s silence by Toronto streetcar operators to church carillons at Anglican congregations nationwide that will ring out God Save The King: "Does it make sense to act as if someone we have only ever seen from a distance is a member of our own family?"

Rates of compliance with public health orders varied widely nationwide, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Analysts said they were able to identify a handful of characteristics shared by Canadians who defied masking orders and other mandates: "Individuals aged 34 or younger were less compliant overall."

The Canada Revenue Agency polled the public on sharing information from tax returns with police and debt collectors, records show. Taxpayers in an internal report called it a bad idea, something akin to “Big Brother.”

A cabinet bill to regulate legal internet content is a “power grab over human communications,” a former CRTC commissioner testified last night at Senate committee hearings. Bill C-11 would classify YouTube videos as TV broadcasts subject to mandatory regulation: "It’s a kind of reverse takeover of the internet."

The Department of Justice yesterday said giving legal advice to parliamentarians is not its job. The comment drew a rebuke from Senator Leo Housakos (Que.), chair of the Senate transport and communications committee: "Some have been in civil service for far too long."

Parks Canada has approved numerous out of court settlements involving injuries or deaths in national parks, says a report. “Serious incident reports” included an average 11 fatalities a year excluding motor vehicle accidents: "Twenty-one visitor safety-related legal claims were made against the agency."

A costly federal program to clear derelict vessels from the nation’s lakes and harbours will not achieve its 2022 clean-up target, says an internal audit. The program was budgeted at $107 million: "We want to stop the runaround and have rules and regulations in place."

Executives at the Canadian Tourism Commission paid themselves five-figure quarantine bonuses even as tourism collapsed, records show. Access To Information documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation detailed Covid bonuses and pay raises approved at the same time the Commission publicly lamented tourism bankruptcies: "We are facing the spectre of an industry in deep crisis with many parts of it on the brink of collapse."

Federal employees are increasingly unlikely to disclose corrupt practices out of fear of reprisal, says a report for the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner. “The reality is the workplace culture is dominated by an attitude that no one should ‘rock the boat,’” it said: "Participants described themselves as having ‘become less naïve,’ ‘more pessimistic,’ ‘more cynical.’"

Inflation relief for lower income Canadians will cost about $4 billion, according to federal records. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday promised “a plan to deliver relief to millions,” mainly individuals earning under $49,000: "These will be the very first pieces of legislation we will introduce."

Federal managers continue to resist an Act of Parliament that mandates priority hiring of medically-released veterans. A Public Service Commission report detailed numerous complaints from managers who would not hire ex-soldiers, sailors or air crew: "They were concerned about the impact on their flexibility."