Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s electoral processes on Wednesday.
Trudeau ‘expressed frustration’ about ‘sensationalized’ leaks of intelligence
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed frustration to a federal inquiry into foreign interference that intelligence leaked to the media had been “sensationalized” and taken out of context.
In a classified February interview with the commission of inquiry, Trudeau said it was extremely damaging to the confidence of Canadians in the democratic process.
A public summary of the interview was disclosed Wednesday at the inquiry, where Trudeau testified at an open hearing.
The summary says Trudeau observed that the leaks were “particularly frustrating” because the Liberal government had put in place robust mechanisms to detect and combat interference, yet it was “painted as negligent in the media.”
“PM Trudeau also considered that the leaks illustrate the dangers of drawing conclusions based on a single piece of intelligence, without sufficient context, and without any analysis of its reliability.”
Allegations of foreign interference in the last two general elections — suggestions fuelled by anonymous leaks to the media — led to a chorus of calls for the public inquiry.
During the hearing Wednesday, Trudeau spoke of the “explosive nature of the media stories, stemming from unsubstantiated and uncorroborated intelligence shared by a leaker.”
“There are also things that were flat-out wrong.”
Trudeau said the leaks were of “deep concern” because the government could not correct the record, in some cases, without revealing the tradecraft Canadian security agencies use to keep citizens and their institutions safe.
“If we say certain things, or if we contradict or deny other things, we could be giving our adversaries tools to actually understand how we go about detecting their interference.”
One of the leaks involved allegations against MP Han Dong, who left the Liberal caucus last year after a media report suggested he told a Chinese consular official to delay the release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in 2021.
Dong denied the allegation, which the prime minister only learned about in the media.
Trudeau said categorically Wednesday he believes the allegation is untrue, but couldn’t elaborate as to why, citing a need for confidentiality and national security concerns.
“There have been significant questions around both translation and summary of the actual exchange,” he said.
Trudeau’s appearance followed several days of testimony from members of his cabinet, political party representatives, senior bureaucrats and intelligence officials.
At the hearing, the prime minister listed measures his government had taken to address foreign interference since assuming power in 2015.
Under a protocol ushered in by the Liberals, there would be a public announcement if a panel of bureaucrats determined that an incident — or an accumulation of incidents — threatened Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election.
There was no such announcement concerning either the 2019 or 2021 general elections. In both ballots, the Liberals were returned to government with minority mandates while the Conservatives formed the official Opposition.
The inquiry has already heard that China and other state actors attempted to interfere, but there has been little evidence so far to indicate whether or not they were successful.
The former minister of democratic institutions said she was told after the October 2019 federal election that Canada’s spy agency had seen low-level foreign interference activities by China.
Karina Gould, who held the portfolio from early 2017 to November 2019, said in a classified interview last month that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service indicated the activities were similar to what had been seen in the past.
“That foreign interference did not affect Canadians’ ability to have a free and fair election,” says a public summary of Gould’s interview.
Liberal member of Parliament Karina Gould appears as a witness at the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Gould, now government House leader in the Commons, is on parental leave.
As democratic institutions minister, she oversaw design of the protocol for making a public announcement about electoral meddling.
She told the inquiry Wednesday that if Canadians are to be informed “that a foreign actor has interfered in our election, the threshold needs to be high.”
Before any public announcement from the panel, “they need to be certain that this is something of significant enough value” to the national interest that it be made public, she said.
Gould said the process was designed to allow for a public announcement due to meddling at a national level or “something that’s happening in one, singular riding.”
“It could be either,” she said. “Canada doesn’t have one national election, we have 338 individual elections that make up an electoral event. And so everything is context-specific.”
Dominic LeBlanc succeeded Gould as the cabinet minister responsible for democratic institutions after the Liberals returned to power in 2019.
He was asked to review how the measures she implemented worked in practice.
In that role, LeBlanc rarely received classified intelligence, but he said Wednesday he was given a “sufficiently precise” understanding of the “threat landscape” by the Privy Council Office, which worked with the national security agencies.
“I had every confidence that I had all the information I needed,” he told the inquiry.
A screen displays the dictation of Defence Minister Bill Blair’s answer as he appears as a witness during the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
In his view, the plan Gould put in place worked.
Gould wasn’t briefed on irregularities in the 2019 nomination race in the Toronto riding of Don Valley North, where Dong was named Liberal nominee. She told the commission it was outside her purview as democratic institutions minister.
Bill Blair was told about the irregularities after the election in his role as public safety minister at the time, but Blair said in a classified interview with the commission that he “was not concerned.”
During the public hearings Wednesday, Blair said security officials had no additional supporting information. “They indicated to me that they did not, at that time, have other corroborating evidence in any way to substantiate that.”
Blair, now defence minister, also told the inquiry CSIS did not indicate that Dong had any knowledge of the irregularities. He trusted the spy agency to take the appropriate action, he said.
Trudeau recalled receiving a briefing about Dong’s nomination race from the Liberal campaign director in an Ottawa airport lounge during the 2019 election campaign.
Trudeau said he asked several questions about whether the allegations were substantiated, and whether any complaints were made during the nomination process. He was left with a choice: allow Dong to continue as the Liberal candidate or remove him.
“I didn’t feel that there was sufficient, or sufficiently credible, information that would justify this very significant step … to remove a candidate in these circumstances,” Trudeau told the commission.
He noted that as Liberal leader he has previously made the choice to remove candidates in other circumstances.
Late Wednesday, a parliamentary committee released a lengthy final report after digging into allegations of foreign threats against MPs.
The committee concluded that China took aim at Canada’s democracy with threats aimed at all MPs. It found that a Chinese diplomat who was expelled over allegations of involvement in an intimidation campaign against Tory MP Michael Chong should be held in contempt of Parliament.
The report includes 29 recommendations, including that the House of Commons do a better job briefing parliamentarians about threats and that CSIS undertake “culture change” to ensure more effective and clearer communication.
Committee members also seek efforts to better declassify and track intelligence, urgent legislation to establish a foreign agent registry, improved briefings for election officials and a “thorough national security review.”
A supplementary report from the Conservatives accuses Liberals on the committee of trying to protect Trudeau from political embarrassment and preventing a complete investigation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2024.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning selected Victor Hedman as the team captain on Wednesday as training camp opened, making the big defenseman the successor to Steven Stamkos.
Hedman, who is going into his 16th season with Tampa Bay, was considered the obvious choice to get the “C” after the Lightning did not re-sign Stamkos and their longtime captain left to join Nashville.
“Victor is a cornerstone player that is extremely well respected by his teammates, coaches and peers across the NHL,” general manager Julien BriseBois said. “Over the past 15 seasons, he has been a world-class representative for our organization both on and off the ice. Victor embodies what it means to be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and is more than ready for this exciting opportunity. We are looking forward to watching him flourish in his new role as we continue to work towards our goal of winning the Stanley Cup.”
The 33-year-old from Sweden was a key contributor in the Lightning hoisting the Cup back to back in 2020 and ’21, including playoff MVP honors on the first of those championship runs. Hedman also took home the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2018 and finished in the top three in voting five other seasons.
Ryan McDonagh, who was reacquired early in the offseason in a trade with the Predators, and MVP finalist Nikita Kucherov will serve as alternate captains with the Lightning moving on to the post-Stamkos era.
TORONTO – While Toronto FC is looking to improve its position on the pitch, general manager Jason Hernandez is trying to do the same off it.
That has been easier said than done this season.
Sending winger Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty to CF Montreal for up to $1.3 million (all dollar figures in U.S. funds) in general allocation money before the secondary transfer window closed in early August helped set the stage for future moves.
But there have been plenty of obstacles, which Hernandez has been working to clear.
“We feel a lot more confident going into this upcoming off-season that we did the one prior,” said Hernandez. “There’s a level of what I would say booby-traps that were uncovered when I first got the (GM) role at the end of last summer.”
The club is paying off departed forwards Adam Diomande and Ayo Akinola as well as a $500,000 payment due in 2024 to Belgium’s Anderlecht for Jamaican international defender Kemar Lawrence. That payment was part of the transfer fee for Lawrence, who joined TFC from Anderlecht in May 2021 and was traded to Minnesota United in March 2022.
Diomande was waived while Akinola’s contract was terminated by mutual agreement.
“That comes to an end in ’25, which is nice,” said Hernandez. “We had to suffer from a salary cap perspective this season. But those things coming off, the Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty money coming in, we’re going to be in a position to make some good additions, which is positive.”
While MLS clubs are allowed one contract buyout per year, Toronto had already used its on former captain Michel Bradley, who retired after last season. Bradley had previously restructured his contract, deferring money.
TFC’s only other move during the summer transfer window was the signing of free-agent defender Henry Wingo. Hernandez said the club knew going into the window that it was likely limited to the one acquisition “unless other business happened”
“We knew we had this bucket of money and we knew we were going to go get Henry,” said Hernandez.
While the sale of the highly touted Marshall-Rutty opened up other possibilities, it came on the eve of the transfer window closing. And the team did not like what it saw in the free-agent market.
“A lot of the opportunities we were presented in the free agency space felt more like a short-term, Band-Aid decision versus what actually the club probably needs.”
Hernandez was not willing to take in players who came with a “club-friendly” salary cap charge in 2024 and a much bigger number in 2025.
Instead, Toronto promoted forward Charlie Sharp and wingback Nate Edwards to the first team from TFC 2 ahead of last Friday’s roster freeze.
MLS teams are operating on a salary budget of $5.47 million this season, which covers up to 20 players on the senior roster (clubs can elect to spread that number across 18 players). But the league has several mechanisms that allow those funds to go further, including using allocation money (both general and targeted) to buy down salaries.
Designated players only count $683,750 — the maximum salary charge — against the cap no matter their actual pay. Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne is actually earning $15.4 million with fellow Italian Federico Bernardeschi collecting $6.295 million and Canadian Richie Laryea $1.208 million.
Hernandez says Laryea’s contract can — and “very likely” will — be restructured so as to remove the designated player status.
There are benefits in going with just two designated players rather than three.
Teams that elect to go with two DPs can sign up to four players as part of the league’s “U22 Initiative.” The pluses of that structure include a reduced salary cap charge for the young players and up to an extra $2 million in general allocation money.
Hernandez says the club is currently pondering whether that is the way to go.
Captain Jonathan Osorio who is earning $836,370 this season, restructured his deal to allow the team to sign Laryea as a DP. In doing so, Osorio had his option year guaranteed so his contact runs through 2026.
Hernandez and coach John Herdman will have decisions to make come the end of the year.
The contracts of goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh ($94,200), defenders Kevin Long ($277,500), Shane O’Neill ($413,000) and Kobe Franklin ($100,520), midfielder Alonso Coello ($94,050) and Brandon Servania ($602,710), and forward Prince Owusu ($807,500) — all on the club’s senior roster — expire at the end of 2024 with club options to follow.
While there is more work to do, Hernandez believes TFC is on the right road.
Toronto, which finished last in the league at 4-20-10 in 2023, went into Wednesday’s game against visiting Columbus in a playoff position at eighth in the East at 11-15-3.
“By every metric, we are miles ahead of where we were at this point last year,” said Hernandez.
“That’s a low bar, so that’s not saying much,” he added.
But he believes TFC is “quite competitive” when it has all its players at its disposal.
“To get results in this final stretch, we’re going to need our prominent players to really show up and have big performances, and be supported by the rest of the cast.”
After Columbus, TFC plays at Colorado and Chicago and hosts the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami. The club also travels to Vancouver for the Canadian Championship final.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
Mackenzie Hughes might just be what the International team needs as this year’s Presidents Cup.
Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., is one of three Canadians on the squad competing in the match-play event at Royal Montreal Golf Club next week.
His putting skills, cool demeanour under pressure, pre-existing connections with teammates and clubhouse leadership could help the team — made up of non-American players outside Europe — end a nine-tournament losing skid to the United States at the biennial event.
“I’ve had this one circled on the calendar for a few years now,” said Hughes on joining fellow Canadians Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners as captain’s picks on the 12-player International team. “I pretty much knew that when it was announced the tournament would be in Canada and that Mike Weir was going to be the captain, you pretty much knew where that was going to go.
“To get that call from (Weir) is really special because he’s the guy that I looked up to, we all looked up to, as Canadian golfers.”
Pendrith and Conners are returning to the team after a disappointing 17 1/2 to 12 1/2 loss to the United States at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. in 2022.
Hughes was ranked 14th on the International team standings in 2022 and could have easily been included on that squad after Australia’s Cameron Smith and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann were ruled ineligible after jumping ship to the rival LIV Golf circuit.
However, captain Trevor Immelman of South Africa instead chose the lower ranked Christiaan Bezuidenhout (16th) of South Africa, Pendrith (18th), South Korea’s Kim Si-woo (20th) and Australia’s Cameron Davis (25th).
“I certainly wanted to be on that team but also I understood the picks,” said Hughes, who lives in Charlotte and plays at Quail Hollow regularly. “I think that like a lot of guys that don’t get picked you more so look back on your own play and I wish I had made that selection easier for them.
“I didn’t do myself any favours in the six weeks leading up to it and that’s a hard pill to swallow.”
It may have been a costly oversight on Immelman’s part, as finishing holes was an issue for the International team in 2022 and Hughes is one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. This season he’s third in shots gained around the green and fifth in shots gained from putting.
“It doesn’t mean that just because I was there it would have turned the tide, but I’d like to think maybe I could have helped,” said Hughes. “That’s why you play the matches. You have to get out there and do it.”
This year Hughes made it easier for Weir, the Canadian golf legend from Brights Grove, Ont., to choose him. Hughes is 51st in the FedEx Cup Fall standings and has made the cut seven tournaments in a row, including a tie for fourth at last week’s Procore Championship.
“Mac played very solidly all year. Really like his short game, an all-around short game,” said Weir on Sept. 3 after announcing his captain’s picks. “He’s one of the elite and best short game guys on the PGA Tour
“I also love Mac’s grit. So that was the reason I picked him.”
Hughes’s intangible qualities go beyond grit.
He, Pendrith and Conners will arrive at Royal Montreal as a unit within the International squad, having become close friends while playing on Kent State University’s men’s golf team before turning pro. They’re also part of a group of Canadians, including Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., that regularly practice together before PGA Tour events.
“To have those guys with me is really icing on the cake, it’s very special,” said Hughes. “Opportunities like this don’t come around very often: to play this kind of team competition, which is already hard to do, but to play with some of your best friends, it almost seems scripted.”
An 11-year professional, Hughes has also been a member of the PGA Tour’s player advisory council the past two years and has been an outspoken advocate for making professional golf more accessible to fans.
Although Weir relied heavily on analytics to make his captain’s selections, Hughes’s character came up again and again when asked why he was named to the team.
“I just have a gut feeling with Mac that he has what it takes in these big moments,” said Weir. “They’re big pressure moments, and I have a feeling he’s going to do great in those moments.”
DP WORLD TOUR — Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., continues his chase for a spot in the Europe-based DP World Tour’s playoffs. The top 50 players on the Race to Dubai standings make the DP World Tour Championship and Cockerill moved eight spots up to 39th in the rankings after tying for ninth at last week’s Irish Open. He’ll be back at it on Thursday at the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.
KORN FERRY TOUR — Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., is ranked 38th on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour’s points list. He leads the Canadian contingent into this week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. He’ll be joined at Ohio State University Golf Club — Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio by Edmonton’s Wil Bateman (53rd), Etienne Papineau (65th) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju (99th) of Mississauga, Ont.
CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames is the lone Canadian at this week’s Pure Insurance Championship. He’s No. 2 on the senior circuit’s points list. The event will start Friday and be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Monterey, Calif.
LPGA TOUR — There are four Canadians in this week’s Kroger City Championship. Savannah Grewal (97th in the Race to CME Globe Rankings) of Mississauga, Ont., Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (115th), and Maude-Aimee Leblanc (142nd) of Sherbrooke, Que., will all tee it up at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio.
EPSON TOUR — Vancouver’s Leah John is the low Canadian heading into the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout. She’s 54th in the second-tier tour’s points list. She’ll be joined by Maddie Szeryk (118th) of London, Ont., and Brigitte Thibault (119th) of Rosemere, Que., at Mystic Creek Golf Club in El Dorado, Ark.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
