Blacklock's Reporter

9/11 was an inglorious episode for journalism. The reaction to extraordinary events ran the gamut from A to B: anxiety and bravura. When commentators weren’t beating the drum for war, they were cringing every time the floorboards squeaked. Consider the scare that started with an insect bite.

On October 15, 2001 Nancy Rochon, a Parliament Hill employee, went to a nursing station for calamine lotion. Rochon had been gardening and developed a rash on her hands after she was bitten by a ladybug.

A Senate security guard happened by: had Nancy opened mail recently? Why yes, she replied; Rochon worked in the Journals Branch and opened mail all the time. Mail – hands – rash — anthrax!

Cabinet will not detail any federal guidance on easing pandemic shutdown orders. Saskatchewan yesterday became the first province to fix a schedule for reopening by storekeepers, golf courses and campground operators: 'They don’t need handouts, they need to get back to work.'

A recession Black Friday will strike a week today as commercial rents fall due on small businesses hit with pandemic shutdown orders, MPs were told yesterday. Thousands face insolvency: "We’re on the cliff."

The Treasury Board yesterday invoked employee safety in withholding pandemic records including details of sole-sourced contracts. Opposition MPs cited “an awful lot of questions” over concealed files: 'Accountability is key.'

Mass photocopying of works for university course packs breaches the Copyright Act, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in a decision released yesterday. Authors and publishers blamed the practice for a disastrous fall in copyright income: "It is theft."

Lawmakers worried about physical distancing could reconvene Parliament in a hockey arena, the House affairs committee was told yesterday. It would be the first change of venue since a 1916 fire forced MPs to debate in a dinosaur museum: "I must admit it’s quite interesting."

Christmas came early at Canada Post as housebound consumers did so much shopping by internet, parcel deliveries soared to holiday levels. Management yesterday said deliveries on a single day, April 20, totaled 1.8 million parcels: 'Volumes are well over thirty percent higher.'

The manager of the nation’s $300 million pandemic medical supply stockpile yesterday admitted the Public Health Agency had no idea what shortages existed prior to Covid-19. Sally Thornton, vice-president of the Agency, told the Commons health committee that managers were having to make “course corrections” as acute care hospitals run short of masks, gowns and gloves: "I am in charge."

A hodgepodge of pandemic regulations has forced police to ticket Canadians for everyday activities, says the nation’s largest police union. The Canadian Police Association complained of a “general lack of consistency” by regulators: "Why are you trying to prevent me from going to this park?"

Cabinet yesterday said it will recall Parliament into emergency session for a third time to pass another pandemic relief bill, this one to provide $9 billion in aid to university and college students. Cost of the Canada Emergency Student Benefit puts the federal deficit close to $200 billion this year: "We’re working out those details."

The Department of Public Safety yesterday refused to say how many federal prisoners have been released as pandemic parolees, or what they were sentenced for. Minister Bill Blair earlier put the number at “literally hundreds”.

Cabinet is concealing thousands of pandemic records including details of contracts and ministerial memos. Cabinet in one case breached a direct order from the Commons health committee to disclose briefing notes, while the Library of Parliament has refused to disclose files it admits are public documents: "They were not so busy that they could not busy themselves with redacting the documents."

Gas and diesel use fell by billions of litres last month as cabinet invoked stay-home orders, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The Commons finance committee was told recession-bound motorists should have no difficulty meeting greenhouse gas emission targets this year: "Go home and stay home."

Corporations with offshore accounts qualify for taxpayer grants under a $73 billion wage subsidy though they may be publicly named, officials said yesterday. MPs protested companies with accounts in tax havens should be barred: "They hide their millions."

The Canada Revenue Agency expects a million employers or more to apply for wage subsidies starting Monday, April 27. Most claims will be automatically processed without audits under the largest pandemic relief program to date: "We are pretty confident."