Blacklock's Reporter

When Powell River, B.C. marked its centennial in 2010 Powell River Living magazine in a special issue enthusiastically recalled the mill town’s first hotel, built in 1911, the first vaudeville theatre (1913), the first dial telephones (1921). There was culture, too, the founding of the annual music fest International Choral Kathaumixw. That’s Welsh, not Indian.

Elsie Paul read the articles in Powell River Living. Her great-uncle was last hereditary chief of the Sliammon people who thrived in the region for millennia. Paul did not enjoy the articles about vaudeville and dial phones. “They’re celebrating this and celebrating that, and how Powell River originated,” she said. “I’m thinking, we were here!”

Written As I Remember It is warm and honest, partly a memoir, part ethnography, part Farmer’s Almanac. It draws on a Sliammon Elder’s oral history of a skilled and prosperous people who lived and died here long before they built a company town and named it for an English surgeon.

The Department of Public Safety in internal memos acknowledged the Freedom Convoy was not a national security threat. The Access To Information documents contradict sworn testimony by Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and were withheld from Blacklock’s until Parliament adjourned for Christmas: "The RCMP is not aware of any national security criminal activity having taken place during the protest."

Senators yesterday endorsed another budget increase to almost $127 million a year. Figures show in six years the Senate payroll grew by a third while overall spending jumped 70 percent: "We are a publicly-funded monopoly. We don’t have an incentive to change."

Cabinet should act against “irresponsible speculation” by media that Chinese Communist agents targeted 11 candidates in the 2019 election, Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) said yesterday. Woo claimed allegations had turned into a witch hunt: "Why is the government not calling out this egregious example of disinformation?"

Millions in promised federal funding to retrain oil and gas workers has gone unspent, records show. The figures follow complaints cabinet was “very slow off the mark” in fulfilling its pledge to find jobs for energy workers through a Just Transition program: "It’s seven years since they’ve had notice they had to work on this."

Happy Days has escaped Canadian TV censorship. A national broadcasting panel yesterday upheld programmers’ right to rerun an old episode of the 1970s sitcom even if “it is highly unlikely it would be produced in today’s environment.”

Of thousands of new vehicles bought by federal departments and agencies in the past two years a small fraction, less than five percent, was electric. Records show Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department bought gas burners even as he warned Canadians to do their part for climate change: "We need to be doing something about it."

Foreign fugitives have a better than 50-50 chance of dodging deportation, new records show. Of thousands of foreigners ordered out of the country in the past six years fewer than half, 48 percent, were actually deported: "I don’t quite understand why we would tolerate this."

The Commons yesterday by a 213 to 114 vote passed a bill mandating that social media platforms share a portion of news-related ad revenues with online publishers. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez called it one part of his plan to “build a safer” internet: "The whole world is watching Canada right now."

The Commons on its last business day of the year yesterday unanimously passed into law a bill to criminalize organ trafficking. Advocates called it a shameful practice that sees wealthy patients buy organ transplants abroad: "Efforts to combat this practice have been ongoing in Canada’s Parliament for close to 15 years."

Complaints of cronyism and other misconduct in federal hiring jumped 14 percent last year, the Public Service Commission said yesterday. Allegations ranged from favouritism to fraud: "There are still areas for improvement."

A cabinet bill to restrict hunting rifles faces months-long delays that will drag into next spring. Opposition MPs yesterday voted 6 to 5 to block attempts to rush the bill through the Commons public safety committee: "We’re going to hold this legislation back until April at the earliest."

Green Party leader Elizabeth May in a private email to cabinet wrote she was sad a caucus colleague opposed the Emergencies Act. MP May also thanked Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino for “being so good at your job!”

The Department of Justice yesterday acknowledged Russia had no involvement in the Freedom Convoy. False claims of large amounts of foreign funding and disinformation by Russian agents were not supported by any proof, government lawyers wrote the Public Order Emergency Commission: "There was no evidence."

Trade Minister Mary Ng yesterday apologized but would not resign after admitting she directed sole-sourced contracts to a longtime friend and CBC-TV pundit. The Minister’s misconduct was an inexcusable breach of the Conflict Of Interest Act, said the Ethics Commissioner: "There is simply no excuse."