Blacklock's Reporter

If the government can’t run a passport office, it can’t regulate the subtleties of parenting. Still they try. For twenty years advocates have sought repeal of section 43 of the Criminal Code that sanctions “reasonable” spanking to correct youngsters’ behaviour. It was written in 1892 by a Catholic justice minister with nine children, and survived numerous court challenges and parliamentary hearings.

Québec author Marie-Aimée Cliche examines the practice: “Once it was accepted that the aim of parenting was to bring children up in the way they should, without spoiling or terrorizing them, what was the appropriate method to achieve this objective?”

Abuse or Punishment? is a lively investigation of spanking rooted in Biblical law and family culture. Cliche examines corporal punishment in Old Québec dating from the 19th century, but the research would interest any parent anywhere. This, from the first-ever Canadian parenting guide published in 1851: “Have you ever seen the little boy who can never be satisfied, who asks for bread and jam but throws it on the floor after a single bite?”

The Privy Council yesterday would not comment on recommendations of two parliamentary committees that it renew Yves Giroux’s term as $255,000-a year Budget Officer. Giroux, a frequent critic of the Liberal cabinet, is out of office September 2: "I work for the benefit of taxpayers and Canadians. I don’t have a vested interest."

A federal agency secretly changed its rules on historical designations rather than honour Brian Mulroney as a “national historic person,” according to Access To Information records. Members of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board “held a lively debate” four months after Mulroney’s death on whether to grant him the same tribute given his predecessors: "Once time has passed it will be possible to better understand his impact."

Parliament must “look at ways we can penalize the regime in Beijing” over tariffs on 40,000 canola farmers, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said yesterday. He proposed immediate cancellation of $1.1 billion in federally-financed contracts with Chinese shipyards: "That is crazy, at a time when they are targeting our farmers."

Federal agencies are concealing names of Nazi collaborators let into postwar Canada for fear that disclosure “might cause them harm,” a B’nai Brith Canada executive said last evening. The advocacy group has asked a federal judge to quash secrecy orders on decades-old files: "I think we have to balance whether or not you can harm a former Nazi."

Millions of Canadians still carry cash in their wallet and keep banknotes at home, Bank of Canada researchers said yesterday. The latest study followed new restrictions on cash by retail banks: "Cash holdings have increased."

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne yesterday doubled down in a tariff war with China only hours after the People’s Republic announced punishing surcharges on Canadian canola. It was a question of “Canadian values,” said the finance department.

Only the private sector can solve Canada’s housing crisis, CMHC said yesterday in a report. It followed Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise to revive a 1974 tax shelter for builders: "Governments do not have the resources to meet overwhelming demand."

Hundreds of thousands of people who took out Liberal memberships during the Party’s March 9 leadership race were never counted as casting ballots, according to new figures released yesterday by Liberal headquarters. The Party did not explain the large discrepancy: "We have to be very realistic to the threats of foreign interference."

Deportation of foreign criminals would be made easier under a Conservative bill to be introduced in the Commons, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill) yesterday told reporters. “Becoming a Canadian is a privilege, not a right,” said Rempel Garner, vice-chair of the Commons immigration committee.

Charities are entitled to compensation for libel that harms their reputation, says the Yukon Supreme Court. A judge awarded $50,000 in damages to a local charity that “has a reputation it seeks to maintain and uphold in the Yukon,” she said.

A federal agency in an internal memo admits it did no “due diligence” before sinking millions of taxpayer dollars into a money-losing Kenyan cellphone company. FinDev Canada, the agency that approved the spending without parliamentary scrutiny, withheld the memo for six years under the Access To Information Act: "We will need to ensure the rationale for our involvement is articulated clearly and convincingly."

Immigration levels in the first third of the year outpaced Prime Minister Mark Carney promised cap on quotas. Figures released by the Department of Immigration for the first 120 days set a pace that would see nearly 400,000 new landed immigrants in 2025: "The system isn't working."

Canada must “source domestically for federal contracts,” Public Works Minister Joel Lightbound said yesterday after touring a British Columbia shipyard. He made no mention of outsourcing shipyard jobs to China through a billion-dollar contract currently under investigation by the Commons transport committee: 'We're creating a prosperous economy.'

Parks Canada yesterday without comment deleted all reference to “genocide” in its latest historic site designation of an Indian Residential School. The agency as recently as last February 12 called the schools "cultural genocide."