Blacklock's Reporter

Fighting Words is a document of war, intriguing because so many of us know only peace. We learn the hanging of 1837 rebels was bungled so badly one prisoner was nearly decapitated, that rifles fired by Canadian troops in the Boer War sounded “like lightning humming birds," zzz-zzz-zzz, that Hitler on weekends wore a tweed coat one size too small. These are anecdotes of Canadian war reporting from the age of Vikings to al-Qaeda. “People seem to have a pathological need for conflict,” writes author Mark Bourrie. “They also have a very strong urge to tell stories about it.” Bourrie recounts the most poignant reporting of anonymous diarists and acclaimed war correspondents like Stewart Lyon, who pioneered Canadian Press coverage of WWI, Dieppe correspondent and future Edmonton Journal publisher Ross Munro, and Gregory Clark, who filed on deadline from liberated Paris for the Toronto Star in 1944 though his own son was killed in action days before. READ MORE

Health Minister Marjorie Michel yesterday said cabinet is still attempting to “sharpen” its multi-billion dollar dental program amid cost overruns and questionable claims. Critics faulted the health department for failing to determine whether claimants were gaming the Canada Dental Care Plan at taxpayers’ expense: "As you know with new programs, we are still looking to sharpen it." READ MORE

Grocery prices will rise by up to $1,000 next year for a typical Canadian household if high diesel costs persist, a leading food economist yesterday told the Commons human resources committee. “We have a trucking economy,” said Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab. READ MORE

A 9/11 agency mandated by Parliament to track suspicious cash transactions between terrorists and organized crime yesterday was faulted by auditors as so lackadaisical it compromised police investigations. Sarah Paquet, the $292,000-a year CEO, resigned last May 19 while the audit was underway: "This is a very sobering report." READ MORE

Cabinet quietly buried a promised ban on thermal coal exports announced with fanfare by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2021, auditors said yesterday. One auditor called it the first time he’d seen an entire federal program shelved without comment: "I don’t remember a time in the last 20 years where I’ve seen work stop like that." READ MORE

Commons Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia yesterday dismissed complaints Liberals fed favoured media confidential details of a cabinet bill before it was tabled in Parliament. There were not “sufficient grounds” to find wrongdoing, he said: 'The government’s assurance is it has no knowledge of a leak.' READ MORE

A federal inventory of surplus Department of National Defence properties earmarked for housing includes buildings so decrepit they failed health inspections, new records show. One century-old Nova Scotia armoury deemed unfit for occupancy was among 14 properties  listed “as potentially suitable for housing development under the Federal Lands Initiative.” READ MORE