Blacklock's Reporter

Years ago as a documentary producer I learned true insight into public figures is rare and exceptional when the subject is still living. Only death loosens tongues and unlocks secret diary entries. But documenting our times is not all-or-nothing. We cannot wait decades to ask, who was Justin Trudeau?

Justin Trudeau On The Ropes by columnist Paul Wells is the first of many expected profiles. Wells calls it an essay and not an obituary. “Every time he’s in trouble he thinks, I’ve been in trouble before and they were wrong to count me out,” he writes.

“In June he’ll have had this job longer than Louis St. Laurent,” writes Wells. “Nobody can take that away from him. What are his qualities? I’ve spent less time talking to him than I had spent with Harper before he became prime minister, but politics in Canada is a village. Paths cross. I’ve seen him up close.”

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday denied any collusion with cabinet in contemplating pre-election interest rate relief. MPs questioned Macklem over remarks he and the Prime Minister made separately Wednesday afternoon regarding a rate cut: "Elections are elections."

A total 179 Gazans have received Canadian visas to date, figures show. Nearly 8,000 have applied, said the Department of Immigration: "This is Canada’s effort to get people out."

National greenhouse gas emissions are up again despite Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s repeated claims of reductions, new data showed yesterday. Only two provinces, both opposed to the carbon tax, reported lower emissions year over year: "We knew emissions were going to bounce back."

The Commons human resources committee yesterday by a 10 to 1 vote rejected a Bloc Québécois proposal to speed a ban on replacement workers. A cabinet bill if passed will not take effect until after the next election: "24 months from now it would finally come into force."

Dozens of First Nations communities still boil drinking water despite a $4.4 billion federal program to upgrade utilities, says the Department of Indigenous Services. Cabinet had promised to eliminate all long term tap water advisories three years ago: "This needed to be fixed yesterday."

A modest cut in interest rates “would be a confidence booster,” Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said yesterday. The next announcement on the interbank loan rate, unchanged for nine months, is due June 5: "We know Canadians would like to see lower interest rates."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday said he is “reviving the dream of home ownership for young Canadians.” His remarks followed new CMHC data showing housing starts are slowing, not growing: "Can the Prime Minister tell us in what year home building will actually rise?"

Canadians give cabinet little credit for fighting food inflation, says in-house Privy Council research. Participants in federal focus groups described initiatives as “reactive,” “insufficient” and “late.”

A CBC-TV pundit who commented on legal affairs while drawing thousands in consulting fees from the Privy Council Office yesterday was appointed a judge. Carissima Mathen, a University of Ottawa law professor, earlier denied any conflict: "I wish Justice Mathen every success."

The post office must “struggle to keep it all going” unless it adopts significant changes, management has written MPs. The remarks come ahead of new loss figures described by one executive as grave: "Canada Post is now at a critical juncture."

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is hiking the national debt ceiling for the second time in three years to a record $2.1 trillion. “Our government is at your service,” Freeland yesterday told reporters.

Cabinet will soon legislate a mandatory registry of foreign agents, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said yesterday. The pledge comes ahead of Friday’s first report of the Commission on Foreign Interference that documented Chinese subterfuge in Canada: "It’s very exciting."

Federal authorities now admit they waited too long to act against two scientists fired as Chinese spies at the National Microbiology Laboratory. A security investigation took more than two years: "It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out."

Liberal MP Parm Bains (Steveston-Richmond East, B.C.) yesterday sat silently at the Commons ethics committee as a former opponent seated metres away called him a “willing participant” in Chinese subterfuge. Bains did not reply to reporters’ questions: "Let me introduce my former opponent."