The Department of Health has confidentially polled Canadians on whether to post warning labels on beer, wine and liquor, records show. A narrow majority supported the initiative though 28 percent said it would have no effect on their drinking habits: "Many Canadians associate drinking with pleasurable social events,"
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in a legal notice Christmas Eve proposed to allow pawnbrokers to charge 60 percent interest on loans. Freeland had promised reforms to 1980 usury laws to protect “the most vulnerable people in our communities.”
We wish you a happy New Year. Blacklock's pauses this week for our annual holiday break and will return January 2 -- The Editor
Warmest regards to friends and subscribers for a safe and happy holiday. Blacklock's wishes you the best of Christmas -- The Editor
If focus groups were infallible every candidate would be a winner, every movie would be a blockbuster, every toothpaste would be recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists. Dilbert creator Scott Adams described focus groupers as people thrilled that somebody asked their opinion and gave them a free lunch at the same time. “There are actually some people who admitted in focus groups that they would sometimes taste soap,” he wrote.
Yet the mythology of focus group infallibility persists due in no small part to the claims of pollsters paid to conduct them, which brings us to The Big Blue Machine, J. Patrick Boyer’s account of “how Tory campaign backrooms changed Canadian politics forever.” Boyer is a former two-term Progressive Conservative MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore. He is also an honest correspondent and skillful writer. The subtext to Big Blue Machine is failure. Boyer admits as much.
The Canada Revenue Agency will spend more than a half billion chasing ineligible claimants for repayment of pandemic relief cheques, records show. Cabinet was warned in 2020 the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program was open to abuse: 'There were only the flimsiest prepayment controls.'
The Department of Immigration says it is researching whether climate refugees will attempt to enter Canada. Current law does not recognize “climate considerations” as grounds to claim refugee status: "Canada is investing in projects that aim to strengthen data and evidence related to climate mobility."
Two provinces with the richest rebates for electric vehicles accounted for 74 percent of national sales last year, Department of Transport figures show. The department acknowledged it relied on rebates for “increasing the number of zero emission vehicles on the road.”
Chinese Canadians and Filipinos are more likely to be homeowners than Arab Canadians or Black people, Statistics Canada said yesterday. No reason was given: "Chinese, Southeast Asian and South Asian populations had the highest home ownership rates."
Cabinet yesterday said it will waive immigration rules to permit a limited number of Gazans, fewer than 1,000 with family here, to enter Canada. Security checks will be strict and applicants will be vetted by Israel, said Immigration Minister Marc Miller: "The Israelis have their say. They will screen people."
Toronto developer Toni Varone, a longtime Liberal donor and organizer with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2013 leadership campaign, yesterday was named a senator. The appointment follows Trudeau’s pledge to abolish “patronage in the Senate.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault used misleading data and inaccurate generalizations in defending cabinet’s electric car mandate, records show. Guilbeault’s own department acknowledged banning the sale of inexpensive gas vehicles will result in net costs of billions for drivers and “disproportionately impact” the working poor: "Amendments are estimated to have incremental zero emission vehicle and home charger costs of $54.1 billion."
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc yesterday deferred more gun regulations until after the next election. LeBlanc earlier postponed a federal buyback of prohibited firearms he said would criminalize his rural New Brunswick constituents: "People I know go hunting."
Cabinet yesterday brought into force long-promised regulations guaranteeing prompt payment to small subcontractors on public works. Reforms followed six years of review and evidence unpaid trades faced blacklisting if they complained: "We had men in tears here talking about this problem."
Cabinet yesterday officially listed the iconic Monarch Butterfly as endangered. The insect famed for wintering in Mexico faces disaster with loss of its sole food source, milkweed: "This is a population that has been dropping like a stone."
