Canada has not exported lethal weapons to Israel in six years, Department of Foreign Affairs documents show. Shipment records were compiled at the request of New Democrat MP Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona) who claimed Canadian weaponry “killed over 12,000 children” in Gaza.
The Jewish National Fund is asking a federal judge to review an August 10 ruling by the Canada Revenue Agency that stripped the longtime charity of its tax status. The Fund best known for its fundraising Negev Dinners attended by successive Conservative and Liberal cabinet members alike said it was singled out by auditors: “That is an egregious mistake.”
The Canada Savings Bonds program, a fixture for 100 years, is now being targeted by scammers, says the Bank of Canada. The last bonds were issued seven years ago: ‘If you called since February you may have been exposed to a scam.’
An Enigma.
12 years old, briefcase in hand,
ready to be Prime Minister.
Credits and debits yet to be counted.
The sum of his parts.
A Footnote.
Hedged into irrelevance.
Words and actions in perfect dissonance.
Remembered by the historians,
and puzzled over.
A Gardener.
Experience and intention.
A couple winters in Prince Albert,
are all that’s needed to adjust the policies.
And save her soul.
An Actor.
Pushing forward blindly.
When the fog lifts off the highway,
Wreckage and shattered lives emerge.
And a nation laments.
Was Borden the Best?
The lines are rote.
The lights are dim.
The stage is set.
The curtain rises…
By W.N. Branson 
Canada has the richest cuisine of any northern country, though Canadians are so defensive on the point it once provoked official protest. In 1959 Ottawa publicly flailed the U.S. publisher Bantam over a cookbook that depicted Canada as a nation of spud-eating hillbillies.
“Canadians are exceedingly fond of potatoes and they eat enormous quantities of them prepared in countless ways,” reported the Complete Round-The-World Cookbook, a promotion for Pan-American Airways written by New York food editor Myra Waldo. “The basic items of Canadian diet are few and simple: potatoes, homemade bread and maple syrup.”
Gibberish, said Northern Affairs Minister Alvin Hamilton: “This is more than slightly out of date.” Was it ever in date? Canadian food heritage is Winnipeg goldeye, tourtière and partridgeberry jam, roast duck, strawberry soup and Indian pudding.
In Nothing More Comforting, retired museum curator Dorothy Duncan assembled the best of her Century Home magazine columns chronicling the national diet from pre-Confederation times through the early 20th century. It is “an incredibly complex culinary heritage,” wrote Duncan. An example: The diary entry of a York pioneer who recounted Christmas supper at Lake Ontario in 1800: “Soup, roast beef, boiled pork, turkey, plum pudding and minced pies.”
Nothing More Comforting is a jolly collection of recipes early Canadians enjoyed, adapted to the modern kitchen, with a narrative recounting the rituals of cookery. From 1837, “To Cure Hams: Let a leg of pork hang for three days, then beat it with a rolling-pin and rub into it one ounce of saltpeter.”
Duncan delves into “the seductive and sensual properties associated with many vegetables.” She exposes the medicinal value of the common onion. From 1884, “Onion Porridge: Take a Spanish onion as big as you can procure, peel and split into quarters, and put these into a small stewpan with a pint of water, a pat of butter and a little salt; boil gently. An excellent remedy for colds.”
In praising “our long tradition of food,” Duncan rescues heritage recipes lost to time like blueberry grunt and rhubarb fool, potted cheese, cherry soup and Solomon Gundy, a dish of pickled herring. And, yes, there is maple syrup and potatoes.
By Holly Doan
Nothing More Comforting: Canada’s Heritage Food by Dorothy Duncan; Dundurn Press; 256 pages; ISBN 978-1-4597-0669-9; $19.99
New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh last night expressed disgust after cabinet forced an end to a national rail lockout in 17 hours. Singh said he was prepared to dissolve Parliament rather than support action against 9,300 Teamsters. “Whether it’s a confidence motion or not, I don’t care,” he said.
Chinese Communist Party agents allegedly acted as Elections Canada poll workers in the 2021 campaign, according to documents submitted to a federal inquiry. Former Conservative MP Leona Alleslev (Aurora-Oak Ridges, Ont.) in a sworn affidavit said she was told by Chinese Canadian constituents they knew of foreign operatives working at polling stations: “Half the Chinese Canadian constituents she canvassed would tell Ms. Alleslev they were afraid to vote.”
Canadians attending pro-Palestinian street protests face blacklisting and workplace reprisal, the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association says in a brief to the Commons justice committee. It follows complaints by a cabinet advisor that employers won’t hire activists: ‘There is persistent misconduct by co-workers.’
The Canada Border Services Agency is spending millions a year monitoring contraband without any evidence it’s curtailed cross-border gun smuggling, says an internal audit. It follows 2023 reports confirming seizures were few and far between: “When data was available it was often incomplete, under-reported or mis-reported.”
Parliament must repeal $54 million-a year tax breaks for real estate investment trusts, says the nation’s largest union. The 750,000-member Canadian Union of Public Employees also petitioned MPs to limit pension fund holdings in residential real estate: “The federal government must act immediately.”
Disruption of national rail service is “sabotage,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said yesterday. Speaking to reporters hours ahead of a shutdown of Canada’s two largest railways, Freeland said any strike or lockout was intolerable: “It is totally unacceptable.”
Broadcaster Charles Adler has not yet met legal requirements to become a Senator, authorities confirmed yesterday. The delay grants First Nations a matter of days to pre-empt his appointment over derogatory remarks he had made about Indigenous Manitoba “boneheads.”
Buying an $8.8 million Manhattan penthouse for Consul Tom Clark was “a smart investment,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. MPs on the Commons government operations committee expressed outrage, noting the luxury condo was equipped with a $19,000 oven: “When you’re playing with other people’s money I guess you can have as many options as you need.”
The Commons trade committee yesterday agreed to open hearings on new tariffs against China. “Our inaction invites further aggression from countries like China that will see our delay as weakness,” said Conservative MP Ryan Williams (Bay of Quinte, Ont.), sponsor of the motion: “The stakes really could not be higher.”
Health Minister Mark Holland’s pharmacare bill is deficient and may ultimately be pointless without changes, says a Canadian Medical Association commentary. It follows criticism by a pensioners’ group that called the bill “a burlap sack.”
