Blacklock's Reporter

So much Canadian literature is to history what McLobster is to shellfish, an ersatz experience in which facts are processed to the point of blandness. It fills but never satisfies, and makes you pity those who never tasted the real thing.

And then there is this gem by historian Carmen J. Nielson of Mount Royal University. Private Women documents social welfare on the frontier. The narrative turns on a specific time and place – Hamilton, Ont., circa 1850 – but it could be Anytown Canada in the age before government initiatives. This is history no TV producer could re-enact.  The film set would be raided by the Children’s Aid Society.

Hamilton in 1846 was a brawling port of Protestant burghers and Catholic labourers that prided itself as the Manchester of Upper Canada. It was home to mills and factories, a steamboat landing and the Great Western Railway, three newspapers and periodic outbreaks of cholera.

Millions of Canadians are drawing down savings or borrowing money to meet household expenses, Statistics Canada said yesterday. New data came as the Commons agriculture committee opened hearings on food prices and supply: "27 percent reported they had to borrow money from friends or relatives, take on debt or use credit to meet day to day expenses."

Ambassador Reid Sirrs and staff failed Canada in Kabul, say MPs. “The risks were known,” said a Commons committee report that expressed puzzlement over diplomats’ failure to help fellow Canadians and Afghan allies escape the Taliban before saving themselves: "The way Canada left Afghanistan in August was a betrayal."

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino yesterday served notice he will attempt to speed passage of a bill to freeze national handgun sales. Cabinet asked MPs to pass the bill without any committee hearings or testimony from gun owners, police or the public: "Pass this bill as quickly as possible."

Thirty percent of mortgage buyers are at risk from rising interest rates, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said yesterday. The warning came as Bank data showed the typical Canadian grew their net worth an average $230,000 last year with the historic run-up in real estate prices: "More Canadians have stretched to buy a house."

Parliament must spend billions more on the military if Canada is to meet its NATO commitments, the Budget Office said yesterday. A large gap remained even when counting as military expenses the Coast Guard budget and employee pensions: "Canada would need to spend an additional $18.2 billion in 2022."

Nearly a quarter of Canadians disapprove of the CRTC, according to in-house research. The rise in the agency’s unfavourable ratings coincided with cabinet attempts to have the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission regulate the internet: "Where opinion has changed it has declined significantly."

Demand for oil will remain constant through 2030, says the Department of Environment. It follows a similar earlier forecast from a separate federal department that Canadians will rely on oil and gas for “years to come.”

A seventh wave of Covid infection is “very likely” after Labour Day into next winter, the chief public health officer said yesterday. Dr. Theresa Tam said Canadians should prepare for the pandemic to continue into 2023: "We think it is very likely we will get some more viral activity in the future."

Enough is enough with vulgar lyrics in prime time music, a national radio ombudsman has ruled. The Canada Broadcast Standards Council yesterday cited a Québec City station for playing pop tunes with expletives at eight o’clock in the morning: "Even if a station’s music targets a younger audience there is always a choice to be made."

A federal judge has reopened an investigation into racial discrimination in the Senate. It follows the 2015 firing of the first South Asian to be appointed a manager in Senate administration: "Matters regarding employment cannot be taken lightly."

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s long term deficit reduction plan is not believable, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Freeland in her April 7 budget predicted the federal deficit will fall from $113.8 billion to $8.4 billion by 2027, a 93 percent decline: "I personally don’t believe it’s credible."

Deputy Justice Minister François Daigle last night said he supported use of emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy after watching TV news coverage of the truckers' blockade. Members of the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency expressed unease with Daigle’s testimony: "I saw by watching TV."

Almost a quarter of the nation’s airport security screeners were laid off as a pandemic cost savings, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority figures disclosed yesterday. The Authority said contractors were scrambling to rehire staff amid hours-long waits for travelers: "It is not a funding problem."

Canada’s fastest growing provinces are short dozens of seats under electoral redistricting, the House affairs committee was told yesterday. A cabinet bill C-14 would guarantee Québec a minimum 78 seats and permit other provinces to gain additional representation: "The Band-Aid that we are applying today is only going to have to be ripped off."