Unexploded bombs from Second World War still buried in Ottawa bog: National Defence

TORONTO – Lifelong journalist, broadcaster, author and editor Robert Fulford is being remembered for his vibrant mind and insatiable curiosity.

Fulford’s son-in-law Stephen Marche says the prolific writer died Tuesday afternoon in Toronto surrounded by family. He was 92.

Marche says Fulford suffered several health setbacks in his later years, including a stroke in his late 70s and vascular dementia in the past five years.

The essayist and former “Saturday Night” editor leaves behind a staggering body of work spanning 72 years that includedmagazine and newspaper columns, arts reviews and books.

He cycled through virtually every major Toronto media outlet including Maclean’s, the Toronto Star, CBC Radio, and National Post, and spent nearly 20 years as editor of “Saturday Night,” which Marche described as a watershed for Canadian magazines under Fulford’s watch.

Former colleague and friend John Fraser says Fulford’s family protected his privacy as his health declined so that he would be remembered for his sharp mind and voracious intellectual appetite.

“He had a big public persona and that’s the persona they wanted most people to remember,” said Fraser, executive chair of the National NewsMedia Council and former “Saturday Night” editor.

A biography on Fulford’s website lists a broad array of passions including jazz, the visual arts, architecture, city planning, museums, archeology, literature, theatre, film and politics.

He was born in Ottawa on Feb. 13, 1932 to Frances Fulford and A.E. Fulford, a journalist with The Canadian Press.

He grew up in Toronto where his neighbour and best friend was celebrated pianist Glenn Gould. Fulford began his career writing about high school sports at age 16 and producing a weekly teen radio show. He joined the Globe and Mail as a reporter at 18.

Fulford’s books include the Expo ’67 coffee table book “This Was Expo” and a 1968 collection of his columns, “Crisis at the Victory Burlesk: Culture, Politics and Other Diversions,” the 1974 collection “Marshall Delaney at the Movies: The Contemporary World as Seen on Film” and 1995’s “Accidental City: The Transformation of Toronto.”

Celebrated writer and editor Gary Ross, who edited Fulford for years at “Saturday Night,” said Fulford never went to university but had a remarkable mind driven by insatiable curiosity “and interest in more things than you can imagine.”

“It was an education to be around him,” Ross said Wednesday.

“He knew so much it was remarkable. He formed opinions that were the result of critical thinking, not just passion or bias or whatever, and he articulated them with such grace and ease. It was astonishing.”

Fraser says that like a lot of news people, he and Fulford “were very big gossips,” and Fulford, in particular, was a stimulating conversationalist who could talk about anything.

“We’d like to know everything about everything. But what I admired about him so much was that he was an unpretentious intellectual. In other words, he could write for the general public on quite serious things and bring ordinary readers along,” he said.

“He was able to take something that was right in front of people’s faces and turn it upside down and make them ponder what it was that they were missing and what they should know more about. And to me, that made him a great journalist, one who really made people think and to dig deeper into stories.”

Fulford leaves behind widow and fellow journalist Geraldine Sherman, and children, James, Margaret (and her husband Jeffrey Rosenthal), Rachel (and her husband Nicholas Power), Sarah (and her husband Stephen Marche); and grandson Elijah Robert Marche and granddaughter Aviva Janet Marche.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

MONTREAL – Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says contract talks at the Port of Montreal have reached an impasse, as he tries to convince dockworkers and their employers to reset relations.

With negotiations faltering, MacKinnon told reporters Wednesday his proposal to appoint a special mediator and bar work stoppages for 90 days aims to rekindle hopes for a deal down the line.

“These are very challenging talks, I won’t try and sugarcoat it,” he said outside a workforce summit in Montreal.

“We’ve hit a bit of a logjam, and we need some new momentum.”

MacKinnon said both sides need to “take a timeout” and “get serious,” adding that a new mediator could inject fresh energy into the stop-and-go discussions.

“Sometimes you just need a change of scenery. And in this case, what we’ve proposed to the parties is that we do just that — we mix it up a little bit.”

The Maritime Employers Association and the union have until Friday to accept or reject the minister’s offer. Both sides say they are considering it.

Nearly 1,200 dockworkers launched a strike on overtime shifts at the port last Thursday, a week after they walked off the job at two container terminals for three days.

The employers association, which represents shipping companies and port operators, struck back by warning that employees assigned to shifts with incomplete crews will not be paid because they slow or halt the flow of freight.

Lisa Djevahirdjian, a spokeswoman for the union local, which is affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said that “no one has been affected in this way” so far.

The minister sat down with both sides in Montreal on Tuesday. However, the union says actual bargaining, overseen by two federal mediators, has ground to a halt.

“There have been no talks. That’s why the minister stepped in with this suggestion. The two former mediators could not go any further,” Djevahirdjian said.

Montreal longshore workers have been without a contract since Dec. 31.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

OTTAWA – Immigration Minister Marc Miller says Palestinians who have fled Gaza will receive transitional financial assistance and supports after they arrive in Canada.

The Immigration Department says the funds will help cover basic needs, such as shelter, food and clothing, with more details to be shared at a later date.

The government will also offer temporary health coverage for three months, settlement services such as language training as well as the ability to apply for study and open work permits without fees.

The assistance will be available to Palestinians who fled the conflict in Gaza, regardless of whether they came to Canada via the special temporary immigration pathway for extended family or as regular temporary residents.

More than 4,000 applications have been accepted for processing under the temporary pathway but the federal government says only 334 people have arrived in Canada.

Another 248 Palestinians have approved temporary resident visas or permits and would also be eligible for the assistance when they arrive in Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.