Senior Canadian military officers at the North American Aerospace Defence Command say a suspected Chinese spy balloon passed near several military bases and through “radar gaps” during its flight over Canada.
Canadian and American officials won’t know exactly what the balloon was capable of — and what information it captured — until it is analyzed.
But Maj.-Gen. Paul Prevost of the Canadian Armed Forces strategic joint staff said it did not pass over particularly sensitive sites in Canada.
“It came down pretty much from Alaska down into Yukon and into central B.C.,” Prevost said.
“So pretty much between the border of Alberta and the coast. There was no Canadian Forces infrastructure of significance along its path.
Prevost made the comments before the House of Commons defence committee on Friday while appearing alongside the deputy commander of Norad, Lt.-Gen. Alain Pelletier.
It was the first opportunity parliamentarians have had to question senior military officers about the Chinese balloon and three other objects that have been shot from the skies over North America since Feb. 4.
That includes one shot down over central Yukon last Saturday, which Pelletier described as a “suspected balloon,” and another taken down over Lake Huron on Sunday.
Searches for those two objects as well as a third shot down off the coast of Alaska on Feb. 10 were launched, with the RCMP, Canadian military and Canadian Coast Guard all tapped to help. The search in Lake Huron has since been suspended.
Pelletier confirmed that the Chinese balloon, which was first detected entering Alaskan airspace on Jan. 28, travelled through Canada on Jan. 30 and 31 before re-entering the U.S., where its presence was publicly revealed.
“Norad monitored the flight path of the balloon for most of its flight path over Canada,” he said.
He added there were “some radar gaps throughout some of its flight path. … The high-altitude surveillance balloon of (the People’s Republic of China) came in proximity to some of the Canadian bases, but I cannot speak of the actual response of those Canadian bases.”
Canada has several military bases in Alberta and B.C., including one of its main fighter jet wings in Cold Lake, Alta. However, Prevost downplayed any security breach, saying: “There was no Canadian Forces infrastructure of significance along its path.”
Pelletier said the Canadian and American militaries are nonetheless keen to find out more about the balloon’s capabilities, including not only its ability to gather information but whether it could be used for other purposes.
The two senior Canadian military officers were also grilled about the other three objects taken down after the Chinese balloon, and whether Canada’s aging CF-18s were capable of destroying them.
U.S. President Joe Biden suggested on Thursday the three objects shot down over Alaska, Yukon and Lake Huron did not pose a threat to national security.
Pelletier and Prevost did not offer much in the way of additional details, and instead emphasized the importance of finding those objects to determine what they were. At the same time, they appeared to concede that those searches will come up empty.
The RCMP announced Thursday that it was suspending its search in Lake Huron, blaming deteriorating weather conditions and a low probability of success. Meanwhile, Prevost described the search in Yukon as trying to find “a needle in a snow bank.”
“The one in Yukon specifically landed in mountainous terrain with about a metre to a metre and a half of snow,” he said. “Picture an object falling from 20,000 feet into that snow.”
However, Prevost said whatever they were, “what we know is those objects were unauthorized and unwanted.”
Prevost also told committee members that an American F-22 destroyed the suspected balloon over Yukon instead of a Canadian CF-18 because of timing, saying two Canadian jets scrambled to the area were about five minutes away when the shot was taken.
“The F-18s had been scrambled,” he said. “The F-18s had a good chance of taking an engagement there. But we liked to go with the first opportunity, which was the F-22 just as it crossed the border.”
Some have questioned whether Canada’s aging fighter jets had the capability to destroy a small, slow-moving balloon at high altitude, particularly as their combat sensors and weapons are outdated and have yet to be upgraded.
Prevost said the CF-18s were carrying an older version of the type of missile that the F-22 used to destroy the balloon over Yukon, and that tests would have been conducted before a shot was taken.
“The F-18, we thought on that object, would have been able to attempt it,” he said. “It was going to be the first attempt from an F-18. And before taking that shot, there’s a few tests we would have been able to see if we had a good shot on it.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2023.
This is a corrected story. A previous version erroneously attributed remarks that the balloon did not pass over particularly sensitive sites in Canada to Norad deputy commander Lt.-Gen. Alain Pelletier.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
