The Canadian military found and retrieved Chinese monitoring buoys in the Arcticthis past fall, a development whose public exposure adds another item to a list of pressing concerns about Beijing’s interventions in Canadian affairs, including interference in recent federal elections.
The buoys were spotted by the Canadian Armed Forces as part of Operation Limpid, a continuing effort to provide early detection of threats to Canada’s security. Earlier this month, the North American Aerospace Defence Command shot down a different Chinese surveillance device: a high-altitude balloon that traversed North America before it was destroyed.
Daniel Le Bouthillier, head of media relations at the Department of National Defence, did not provide details on the effort to retrieve the buoys, but confirmed the interception.
“The Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are fully aware of recent efforts by China to conduct surveillance operations in Canadian airspace and maritime approaches utilizing dual-purpose technologies,” he said in a statement.Dual-purpose technology is equipment that can be used for both civilian and military applications.
“Under Operation LIMPID, the CAF monitors Canada’s air, land and sea approaches, and since 2022, it has stopped attempts to surveil Canadian territory,” he added.
He declined to elaborate on what was found. “To ensure the integrity of operations, we are unable to provide further information at this time,” he said.
Retired lieutenant-general Michael Day said the Chinese buoys would likely have been used to monitor U.S. nuclear submarine traffic in the Arctic, and for mapping seabeds and ice thickness. Beijing is eyeing shipping through northern waters, which are becoming more navigable as a result of climate change.
“China, like most nations, is super interested in the pretty significant changes that are happening up north. They do not have an icebound port, but they do have a rapidly growing icebreaking fleet,” he said. Travel through the Arctic would be significantly shorter for Chinese ships than navigating around the southern tip of South America, he noted.
Mr. Day said Beijing is also interested in trying to exploit the Arctic seabed’s significant resource deposits, and in keeping tabs on Canadian and U.S. military activities.
Since the fall, Parliament has been grappling with allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics. The Commons committee on procedure and House affairs has been probing whether Beijing meddled in the 2019 federal election.
The committee met Tuesday to expand its study to include the 2021 election, in response to a report in The Globe and Mail that Chinese diplomats and their proxies had worked toinfluence voters to elect a Liberal minority that year, and defeat Conservatives whom Beijing viewed as anti-China.
Based on secret and top secret Canadian Security and Intelligence Service documents, The Globe revealed that China’s tactics in 2021 included making illegal cash donations, spreading disinformation and using paid students to help preferred Liberal candidates.
“This should alarm every Canadian, and it should most certainly alarm those who have responsibility to protect Canada’s democratic institutions,” Conservative MP Michael Cooper told the committee on Tuesday. “It should have prompted immediate action by the government, but that did not happen.”
The Conservatives tabled a motion at the committee, supported by the Bloc Québécois, to call for testimony from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, as well as former public safety minister Bill Blair and former foreign affairs minister Marc Garneau. Both men held those portfolios during the 2021 election.
Liberal MPs, along with NDP MP Peter Julian, voted against calling those officials, and the motion failed. They agreed nevertheless to expand the scope of the committee’s study to include the 2021 election.
The Liberals and NDP have a confidence and supply agreement, under which the New Democrats support the Trudeau government on confidence matters.Mr. Cooper accused the NDP of helping the government block a fuller inquiry.
The Conservatives on the committee had also wanted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to submit all 2021-election-related documents, including those viewed by The Globe, to the Commons Law Clark for redaction and release to the committee. But that proposal was dropped when it became clear it would not have the support of the Liberals and NDP.
“We are seeing the Liberal-NDP coalition at work covering up the inaction of the Prime Minister to respond to this serious issue … They would like to whitewash and hide material from this committee,” Mr. Cooper said in an interview. “More than 18 months after the 2021 election there is no evidence that any action was taken by this government. There have been no charges laid. No diplomats expelled.”
The NDP’s Mr. Julian said The Globe’s reports about foreign interference in the past federal election “are rightly, incredibly concerning to Canadians.” He said he intends to introduce a motion to compel the government to produce documents about foreign interference.
“This has to be done in a thoughtful way, to ensure Canadians have the answers they need. The information in The Globe’s report shows that the Election Act was likely contravened – the law seems to have been broken – and this cannot stand,” he said.
In response to The Globe’s story on the 2021 election, Mr. Trudeau told reporters at a Friday news conference that he expects CSIS to find out who is leaking the secret reports. And he reiterated his long-held view that Chinese interference operations did not affect the overall results of the 2019 and 2021 elections.
“It’s certainly a sign that security within CSIS needs to be reviewed. And I’m expecting CSIS to take the issue very seriously,” Mr. Trudeau said.
Liberal MP Jennifer O’Connell accused the committee’s Conservatives on Tuesday of being “reckless” in seeking top secret documents in a public forum, calling their efforts “nothing more than a fishing expedition.”
The Globe has also reported that Canadian politicians, officials and business executives are main targets of Chinese government espionage that employs blackmail, bribery and sexual seduction, with Beijing even enlisting the Bank of China in its foreign-influence activities.
Secret and top-secret CSIS documents viewed by The Globe outline how China instructed its consulates and visa offices to alert Beijing to prominent and influential Canadians – whom it called “work targets” – planning to visit China.
In addition, the Bank of China has been told to inform consulates of the travel plans of Canadian business executives attending conferences sponsored by the state-owned financial institution, according to a Feb. 2, 2022 intelligence report that is rated top secret.
Documents also show that Chinese diplomats quietly issued warnings to “friendly” influential Canadians in early 2022, advising them to reduce their contact with federal politicians to avoid being caught up in foreign-interference investigations by Canada’s spy agency.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
