An anonymous veteran federal public servant was identified today as the source for a series of internationally embarrassing disclosures about foreign interference in Canadian affairs and about seeming government indifference or reluctance to act over the years. Acknowledging the prospect of eventual prosecution if identified, the whistleblower explains the reasons for sharing concerns about an evolving threat.
Canada’s Veterans Ombud is challenging Veterans Affairs Canada’s arbitrary reduction in the pensions of some retired RCMP officers and civilian employees because they received a one-time lump sum compensation for many years of “horrific” on-the-job abuse and harassment which drove many into early retirement.
ALEXANDER LANDRY and CONNOR HUNERFAUTH
All future activities in the Northwest Passage should be assessed through an Environmental, Social, and Governance lens, advise Hunerfauth and Landry as they provide an overview of key considerations.
(National Post)
As the Army officer who oversaw Canada’s refugee verification mission in Kosovo some three decades, retired Lieutenant-General J.O. Michel Maisonneuve is asking why the internationally-respected Disaster Assistance Response Team hasn’t been deployed to help in the aftermath of the earthquakes that have killed more than 25,000 persons in Turkey and Syria. “In truth,” Maisonneuve says, the CAF have “very little capability to help” due to shrinking ranks and mostly outdated equipment.
(National Post)
As the Army officer who oversaw Canada’s refugee verification mission in Kosovo some three decades, retired Lieutenant-General J.O. Michel Maisonneuve is asking why the internationally-respected Disaster Assistance Response Team hasn’t been deployed to help in the aftermath of the earthquakes that have killed more than 25,000 persons in Turkey and Syria. “In truth,” Maisonneuve says, the CAF have “very little capability to help” due to shrinking ranks and mostly outdated equipment.
Mar 27
(CTV)
The multi-billion-dollar renovation of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill, which is not expected to be finished until at least the end of this decade, is being managed effectively, Auditor General Karen Hogan said today. However, she cautioned, “rigorous” cost management will be needed “as the program moves more into the construction phase, where making changes to elements that are built or in the process of being built becomes more difficult.”
Mar 27
(National Post)
Auditor General Karen Hogan reported today that 1.4 million Canadian households in rural and remote areas do not have access to the level of Internet services promised by the federal government. “When services are of poor quality, unaffordable or unavailable, people are effectively excluded from participating fully and equally in the digital economy, accessing online education, banking, medical care and government services or working remotely,” she said.
Mar 25
(CTV)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden used a day of talks in Ottawa March 24 to tackle a range of shared issues, including defence and security, third-country refugees, Haiti, clean energy and trade in what Trudeau said was a demonstration of how their countries’ interests are “interwoven.” Biden, on his first visit to Canada as President, agreed, saying, “I can't think of a challenge we haven’t met together.”
Mar 23
(CP)
The Transportation Safety Board says that the capsize of a Nova Scotia fishing boat with the loss of six crewmembers during a gale in December 2020 can be linked to federal inaction on recommended stability standards. Modifications by the vessel’s owners, Yarmouth Sea Products, had raised its centre of gravity but the TSB said in its March 22 report that Transport Canada inspectors had had not told the company about the heightened risk of instability.
 Accenture |
 EZ Raider |
 DRDC Valcartier Research |
Aug 18 –
Interference is typically an extremely valid and indisputable concern, but in the case of the NS shooting spree, that argument is being used to obfuscate the real issue of communication negligence which resulted in deaths that could have been avoided.
Aug 10 –
Alberta awarded third prize of “Her Vision Inspires” contest to an essayist who argues that women should pick babies over careers, writing that importing "foreigners to replace ourselves is a sickly mentality that amounts to a drive for cultural suicide.”
Jun 27 –
Keeping Russia "at bay" is not a solution to the carnage happening in Ukraine. With Russia firing 10 times the amount of ammunition than Ukraine, Putin knows he will win, unless something changes.
Jun 20 –
It is now 11 years since I served in Afghanistan, and almost a year since those who helped us were abandoned to the increasing brutality of Taliban rule, it's time the govt cut the red tape and made good on its promises.
TBD July/Aug 2023
St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
26 March 2023
(CBC)
Draft amendments the Official Languages Act, introduced by the government 13 months ago as Bill C13 and still before a House committee, is raising concerns about how it could affect minority English-language rights in Quebec. The main point of contention is a reference to the province’s Charter of the French Language and how it could further entrench use of the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights.
26 March 2023
(AP)
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto says “inacceptable” criticism of his country’s democratic and cultural issues is undermining cooperation within NATO and the EU. Members of the European Parliament say Hungary is “a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy” under President Victor Orban, who has not criticized Russia for invading Ukraine and continues to block Swedish and Finnish membership for Sweden and Finland.
25 March 2023
(The Hill)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called today for an “immediate cessation” of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Appealing directly to President Vladimir Putin during a telephone call, he also thanked the Russian leader for extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative which enables Ukrainian grain exports during the conflict.
25 March 2023
(CBC)
Two key members of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet, Finance Minister Travis Toews and Environment & Protected Areas Minister Sonya Savage, announced March 24 that they will not contest the province’s next general election, expected on May 29. Both cited family reasons for their decision but said they would serve out their mandate.
25 March 2023
(CTV)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden used a day of talks in Ottawa March 24 to tackle a range of shared issues, including defence and security, third-country refugees, Haiti, clean energy and trade in what Trudeau said was a demonstration of how their countries’ interests are “interwoven.” Biden, on his first visit to Canada as President, agreed, saying, “I can't think of a challenge we haven’t met together.”
24 March 2023
(CNN)
A proposed European Parliament ban on the sale of new internal combustion engined cars by 2035 is being challenged by Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, all of which have large automotive industries. They have put the brakes on the plan by calling for the deadline to be extended for ICE-powered vehicles which run on “green” fuels.
24 March 2023
(Al Jazeera)
Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today that his involvement in plans to overhaul the country’s fourts is an illegal conflict of interest. “You must refrain from […] initiatives to change the judiciary, including the makeup of the committee for the appointment of judges,” she said in a letter to the PM, who faces prosecution for corruption.
23 March 2023
(NY Times)
Almost simultaneously with the arrival in Ottawa of President Joe Biden today, it’s reported that Canada and the U.S. have an agreement permitting them to turn away asylum seekers at their borders. Disclosed by an official in Washington, the agreement evidently is scheduled to be signed before Biden heads home March 24.
23 March 2023
(BBC)
Legislation which would prevent a prime minister from being declared unfit by the attorney general to hold office was approved today by the Israeli parliament. Part of the right-wing coalition government’s widely-criticized plan to curtain judicial powers, the law is generally seen as benefitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption during his previous term in office.
23 March 2023
(CBC)
Two B.C. First Nations and a Norwegian-owned salmon farming company are challenging the legality of a federal government refusal to renew their aquaculture open-net licences off north Vancouver Island. The government’s decision was predicated on concerns that farmed fish pose a parasitic threat to wild salmon. Neighbouring Washington state banned open-net farms in state waters last year.
23 March 2023
(CP)
Mohamed Amine Assal, 18, of Montreal has been arrested by the RCMP acting on information from the FBI and was expected to have a video court appearance today. No charges have been laid and the RCMP say the operation was designed to have Assal sign a peace bond because there were “reasonable grounds to fear that Mr. Assal may commit a terrorism offence.”
23 March 2023
(AP)
Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president once seen by some in the West as a liberal hope, today resurrected the rising threat of a nuclear war and blasted a German minister for threatening President Vladimir Putin with arrest as a war criminal if he stepped foot in Germany. Now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, Medvedev said any action by Germany would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
