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 “In truth,” Maisonneuve says, the CAF have “very little capability to help” due to shrinking ranks and mostly outdated equipment.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 “In truth,” Maisonneuve says, the CAF have “very little capability to help” due to shrinking ranks and mostly outdated equipment.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 |
 DRDC Valcartier Research |
 EZ Raider |
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
1 February 2019
(Global News)
Starting this week, many of the more than 64,000 asylum seekers in Canada waiting for their cases to be heard could be eligible for a new fast-tracked approach to processing refugee claims, according to Global News.
31 January 2019
NATO's chief is calling on China to treat two Canadians detained in the country "fairly and with due process." In his first public comments about the case, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said today that he was following their case "with concern."
30 January 2019
(Globe and Mail)
United States intelligence officials and politicians are escalating their fight against Chinese espionage in the wake of two wide-ranging indictments of Huawei Technologies Co. and they’re calling for American allies to join the battle.
29 January 2019
(Defense News)
A new low-yield nuclear warhead, created at the behest of the Trump administration, has officially entered production. The first production unit of the W76-2 warhead is underway at the Pantax Plant in Texas, according to a statement from the National Nuclear Security Agency.
29 January 2019
(Montréal Gazette)
It’s a doomsday 1969 game: Cities will be vaporized and millions will be annihilated unless you act fast to stop it all. That is the premise behind an escape room game now being developed inside a decommissioned nuclear fallout shelter an hour’s drive north of Halifax in the rural community of Debert.
28 January 2019
(ABC News)
At least 60 people are dead and 305 have been reported missing so far after a containment dam of waste from a Vale iron ore mine collapsed in Brazil on Friday. Fire officials expect the number of confirmed fatalities will grow “exponentially” on Monday as rescue and recovery efforts resume.
28 January 2019
(Global News)
Beefed-up borders and stricter refugee screening won’t do much to reduce the threat of Islamist terrorism in Canada, which is largely homegrown, according to one of Canada’s top experts on terrorism and national security.
28 January 2019
(CBC)
The RCMP's national security team has arrested and charged an Ontario youth with a terrorism-related offence, the police force said Friday following an investigation in Kingston, Ont.
28 January 2019
(Global News)
At a town hall in New Brunswick last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is relying on “national security experts” as it weighs any potential security concerns associated with 5G wireless technology.
25 January 2019
(The Telegraph)
Britain's MI6 has launched a new recruitment drive on Google and YouTube so as not to miss out on potential employees that might switch channels from a TV advertisement. The new advertisement, launched yesterday, says being a spy is 'not about finding the button for the ejector seat'.
25 January 2019
(CBC)
The RCMP have arrested two people following raids on two homes in Kingston, Ont., in what officials are calling a national security investigation involving multiple police forces. CBC News reports that the arrests included a minor and involved both Kingston police and the help of the FBI in the United States.
25 January 2019
(Global News)
Quebec's Davie Shipbuilding has condemned a storied Coast Guard ship as beyond repair, declining to bid on a lucrative contract to overhaul the 56-year-old CCGS Hudson on the grounds that it “presents a serious and real threat to the safety of life at sea.”
