Blacklock's Reporter

Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “If I could tune my radio to the exact frequency of the Royal Canadian Air Force…”

Acquired Tastes is ingenious. Researchers at six universities take a bird’s-eye view of Canadian supper tables. They interview families nationwide, rich and poor, from Vancouver to Halifax, and ask: why do you eat that? Interestingly, nobody replies: “Because I’m hungry.”
Food, it turns out, is an expression of Canadians’ intimate values and ideals of self-worth. We are highly opinionated on the subject. Consider those who rate themselves “virtuous or moral individuals as they differentiated between their eating habits and those of other people,” editors note. One mother recalls the time she volunteered on a class field trip: “Kids would bring a little mini pop. I mean, it was just horrible”; “Cinnamon rolls and those Vachon cakes. I haven’t even seen them for years. One guy had an extra-big Coffee Crisp and a pop, and his dad was there on the field trip, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is just awful!’ I couldn’t believe it.”

Confidential Transport Canada reports predict little gain in Arctic shipping despite climate change that’s expected to see ice-free summer passage within 20 years. Two studies conclude the Northwest Passage will remain too risky and expensive to generate commercial traffic: 'Insurance is costly'.

MPs will debate legislation to radically overhaul VIA Rail as the Crown passenger service braces for record deficits and cabinet prepares to appoint a new chair. The private bill would curb service cuts and permit employees to purchase VIA shares: "It would be a good first step".

The Canadian Transportation Agency is ordering airlines to formally adopt family-friendly seating policies. The order, effective March 2, says carriers must take steps to seat parents and children together: "We put consumers first".

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is indicating support for a bill to appoint a new Inspector General to oversee the Canada Border Services Agency. The Senate bill, scheduled for hearings, would see a chief inspector granted broad powers to scrutinize the agency’s work: 'We should be alarmed such powers are wielded by an agency with no independent oversight'.

Cabinet will enact a contentious union bill C-525 within five months by speeding legislative amendments to correct technical garbling. The Department of Labour said the bill must become law before a fall election: "It will come into force on June 16".

Environment Canada is being sued after approving a scheme to sink a toxic warship in fish habitat. The department quietly issued a Disposal At Sea permit to a scuba diving society to scuttle HMCS Annapolis, a decommissioned destroyer, in a marine park in British Columbia: "This is costing a fortune".

Railways may insert vague “surcharges” into shipping contracts that go to final arbitration, a federal judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of a Nova Scotia shipper overcharged by Canadian National Railway Co.: "We lost".

Environment Canada’s refusal to target road salt as toxic will see wider use of the substance despite evidence of ecological damage, says a green manufacturer. Canadians use five to seven million tonnes of road salt each winter, primarily in provinces west of Manitoba: "There is nothing here".

The first fungicide ever registered in Canada now faces a federal ban after sixty years of use. Health Canada proposes to begin phasing-out quintozene this year amid concerns it is environmentally toxic: "Even if you have it on the shelf in your garage you can’t use it".

A federal rail and air regulator, the Canadian Transportation Agency, has been cited as “rigid”, “inflexible” and lacking common sense by a federal court. The stinging judgment came in an uncomplicated case involving a dog aboard an airplane: "Form took over substance".

A Senate committee next month will take up clause-by-clause scrutiny of a bill to enact Canada’s first federal privacy protection for genetic testing. The proposal still faces “exaggerated” complaints from insurers, says its Liberal sponsor: 'Everybody else says we need it'.

A Nova Scotia government department is charging $37 an hour to photocopy public documents under its Access To Information law. The charges come as MPs propose raising fees on all Canadians who ask to see federal records: "It's just outrageous".

Shared Services Canada claims it imposed a national blackout on all government employees’ access to Blacklock’s website as a “potential threat” to federal internet usage. The department invoked security in justifying its media ban, confirmed through Access To Information files: ‘There was no voodoo security peril’.