Blacklock's Reporter

The National Gallery of Canada’s director of publishing and new media was on the line. Blacklock’s asks: What is your acquisition policy on folk art please? Pause. “Well, we don’t have a collection of folk art.” Pause. “What you consider folk art and what I consider folk art is probably not the same thing.”

The Gallery’s Acquisitions Policy running to 16 pages decrees the national collection must reflect aesthetic qualities “of the highest possible nature.” No whirligigs. No macramé. Folk art gets no respect.

It is the squeezebox accordion of the Canadian art world, so ill-defined it’s confused with Christmas crafts or macaroni glued to a tin. “The term is unclear,” note authors John Fleming and Michael Rowan, and is hobbled by raw assumptions that folk art “is aesthetically unsatisfying,” “empty of any serious purpose or moral end,” “unimportant and even trivial” and “requires no formal training.”

A Tax Court judge has faulted the Canada Revenue Agency for misunderstanding its own regulations in penalizing a couple over an RRSP withdrawal. Parliament to date has rejected Opposition calls for an enforceable "duty of care" owed taxpayers when the Revenue Agency is wrong: "There really isn’t any legal recourse."

A Liberal-sponsored petition is asking the Commons to criminalize political lies. MP Karim Bardeesy (Taiaiako’n-Parkdale, Ont.), parliamentary secretary for industry, sponsored the petition: "MPs have been accused of making important public statements that are false and without evidence."

The number of long-term boiled water advisories on First Nations is up 32 percent from last year, says Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty’s department. Dozens of First Nations still have tap water unfit to drink more than four years after cabinet promised to eliminate all water advisories at a $3.6 billion cost: "Advisories remain in effect."

The president of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group yesterday said he will “continue to work with like-minded colleagues” in the Liberal caucus despite the Prime Minister's unilateral recognition of Palestine as a country. MP Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal, Que.) in the past called legitimization of Palestine “a really bad precedent.”

Canadian banks typically disregard federal guidelines requiring that they answer all customer complaints, says a Financial Consumer Agency of Canada report. Access To Information records show the Agency itself disregarded tens of thousands of consumer complaints: "Banks failed."

Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday made diplomatic history with Parliament in summer recess by announcing recognition of Palestine as a country. MPs including members of the Liberal caucus voted down an identical proposal in 2024: "I am speaking for Canada now."

Federal employees who post partisan, self-serving or vulgar comments on social media even by anonymous personal accounts should expect scrutiny and criticism, says a new Treasury Board directive. The policy, the strongest yet, warned provocative posts on Twitter, Instagram and other social media undermined public trust in the Government of Canada: "Ask yourself how this post could be perceived by a reasonable person."

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday repeated assurances there will be no recession this year though the economy shrank in June. Macklem acknowledged an “unusual degree of uncertainty” in months ahead.

The Canada Revenue Agency is so reliant on consultants an internal audit warns that managers developed “an employer-employee relationship” with contractors. The Revenue Agency spent millions on private advisors last year though it has more than 55,000 employees: "The relationship between the employer and the consultant could result in legal, financial or tax liabilities for the Revenue Agency."

Federal meteorologists propose to improve weather forecasting using artificial intelligence, says a Department of Environment briefing note. It follows a 2020 audit that found Environment Canada was still relying on radar stations so obsolete they couldn't find parts for repairs: 'AI could provide earlier warnings of weather and environmental events.'

The Department of Transport has sealed all records regarding Confederation Bridge tolls until November 2026. Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday had no comment on costs of ongoing subsidies to the Bridge operator whose investors included then-Transport Minister Anita Anand's husband: "It is the taxpayer who is getting dinged on that."

The Department of National Defence is relying on “approximately 300” members of the Canadian Armed Forces to patrol the territories, an area six times the size of France, according to figures detailed in a briefing note. Allies were welcome to send troops to the Canadian Arctic, it said: "New activities aim to support a near year-round military presence."

Twenty-two Canadian diplomats were fired last year for fraud, theft, embezzlement, soliciting kickbacks and other wrongdoing, according to Department of Foreign Affairs figures. No police were called: "We are all responsible."

The Department of Health is documenting pushback by cannabis users over new federal warnings linking marijuana to psychosis. “I’m confused,” federal researchers quoted one focus group participant who questioned the timing of new warnings seven years after Parliament legalized marijuana: "How do we know it affects the brain?"