The Auditor-General released findings on Tuesday about systemic barriers at the Correctional Service of Canada, including that a majority of offenders were released on parole before the end of their sentences, but Indigenous and Black offenders remained in custody longer and at higher levels of security.
The audit was released as part of a batch of spring reports from the office of Parliament and looked whether the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) programs address the diversity of the population in prison to provide a successful and safe return to the community.
Its main findings include the CSC has failed to address and eliminate the systemic barriers that persistently disadvantaged certain groups of offenders in custody identified in previous audits. It also said the CSC failed to develop a plan for its work force to better reflect the diversity of the offender population.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
HARD DRUGS DECRIMINALIZED IN BC – British Columbia will become the first jurisdiction in Canada to decriminalize possession of “hard” drugs such as illicit fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Story here.
Reporters Comment, Andrea Woo: “When this exemption comes into effect in January, British Columbia will be the first province to remove criminal penalties for possessing personal amounts of illicit drugs. Spurred by the catastrophic death toll in our toxic drug crisis, it is a significant change that supporters say reflects evolving societal attitudes and understanding about substance use. It also brings B.C. closer in line with provincial and federal government messaging about addiction being a health issue that cannot be cured with punitive measures.”
NG UNDER ETHICS INVESTIGATION – The federal ethics commissioner has opened an investigation into the conduct of International Trade Minister Mary Ng over a contract given to a company co-founded by a Liberal strategist. Story here.
GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES HANDGUN FREEZE – The federal Liberals have introduced new firearms-control legislation that would freeze the import, sale and transfer of handguns, but would not go as far as banning them outright. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the new legislation, Bill C-21, at a news conference on Monday. The measures would allow existing owners to keep their handguns. Story here.
CANADA ANNOUNCES NEW SANCTIONS – Canada has imposed sanctions on Alina Kabaeva, who is reportedly the girlfriend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Story here.
REPORT URGES ARMED FORCES TO NEW SEXUAL MISCONDUCT MEASURES – The Canadian Armed Forces has failed in its attempts to stamp out sexual misconduct and should permanently move all criminal sexual offences to the civilian system, turn over harassment complaints to the human rights commission, appoint an external monitor and consider scrapping Canada’s military colleges, finds a sweeping new report. Story here.
PM OFFERS A PRAYER – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a prayer of peace and spoke of moving together on the difficult path of reconciliation at Tuesday’s National Prayer Breakfast. Story here.
NEW LOCATION FOR CANADA DAY CELEBRATIONS IN NATION’S CAPITAL – Large-scale Canada Day celebrations will return to the national capital July 1, with most of the action taking place in a park just west of Parliament Hill instead of on the Hill. Story here.
B.C.’S “TEETERING” HOSPITAL SYSTEM NEEDS FEDERAL FUNDING: HORGAN – British Columbia’s “teetering” hospital system needs more federal funding, Premier John Horgan said, as he addressed recent temporary ward closures at hospitals in rural communities. Story here.
ONTARIO ELECTION: As Thursday’s Ontario election looms, there’s a Globe and Mail guide here to the leaders and party platforms. Meanwhile Ontario Election Today traces the campaign commitments today of the major party leaders.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Scott Aitchison is campaigning across Ontario this week. Jean Charest is campaigning in Montreal. Leslyn Lewis is in Newfoundland and Labrador, campaigning in Grand Falls-Windsor and Corner Brook. Meanwhile Pierre Poilievre is holding a meet and greet with supporters and party members in Saskatoon. No details available for Roman Baber and Patrick Brown.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, May 31 , accessible here.
GUILBEAULT IN STOCKHOLM – In Stockholm, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault hosted the sixth Ministerial meeting on Climate Action, which occurs at the halfway point between COP26, held in Glasgow in late 2021, and COP27, to be held in Egypt in late 2022.
ALGHABRA AND PROJECT RAMADAN – Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and Senator Salma Attaullahjan were at the Sir John A. McDonald Building in Ottawa for Project Ramadan, a non-profit initiative under the Muslim Welfare Centre of Toronto that fundraises, assembles and distributes baskets containing staple food items during the holy month of Ramadan to families in need, regardless of their race, religion, or ethnicity.
DION REPORTS ETHICS HIGHLIGHTS – Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has tabled a report on the highlights of his office’s activities activities and performance in the 2021-2022 fiscal year. The report is here.
TRUDEL HAS COVID – Denis Trudel, Bloc Québécois MP for the Montreal-area riding of Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, has tested positive for COVID-19 with a rapid test, and, as a result, placed himself in isolation in his residence.
THE DECIBEL
On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Mahdis Habibinia talks about the subscription fatigue streaming services and subscription services more broadly (like fitness apps, grocery delivery, and meal kits) are facing after they saw a surge of consumers at the beginning of the pandemic. Ms. Habibinia reported on the story for The Globe’s Report on Business. She explains why this fatigue is setting in, what companies are doing about it and why, even though many of us are overwhelmed with the amount of choice, subscription-based services are likely here to not only stay, but actually increase in number. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
In Ottawa, the Prime Minister was scheduled to attend a National Prayer Breakfast of Canada and deliver remarks, and then to chair the cabinet meeting and attend question period.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a media scrum on the federal government’s firearms legislation, and attended question period.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was scheduled to attend the groundbreaking, in Oshawa, of the waterfront park named for former federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent, and attend a luncheon celebrating the park.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Boardon how Employment Insurance was supposed to offer employment insurance, and what happened to that goal: “Reforming something as old and big as EI won’t be easy. The changes of the 1990s were provoked by a budget crisis. The pandemic – which reminded everyone of the need for a robust unemployment insurance program, even as it revealed EI’s limitations – provides a new urgent impetus.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail)on whether the Liberals will finally find the guts to oversee the military: “Now, it is a good thing Mr. Trudeau seemed to recognize this failing, albeit under the duress of political controversy. His government appointed Ms. Arbour. A new minister, Anita Anand, was tasked with delivering reform. Better late than never. Maybe. The problem now is that Mr. Trudeau and his ministers still don’t seem to have found the guts to oversee the military. You know – beyond rhetoric. It is a basic duty of the government of the day to ensure civilian control of the military, but the Liberals have been too distracted, and too scared, to exert control.”
Jeanette Ageson, Matthew DiMera, Jeff Elgie, and Lela Savic (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how Canada’s Online News Act needs to be transparent and equitable: “When the Liberal federal government announced its intention to support Canada’s news industry, it said it wanted to sustain local journalism, support innovation in news and ensure diversity in the news industry. Bill C-18, the Online News Act currently before Parliament, guarantees none of these things.”
Ake Blomqvist and Rosalie Wyonch (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on trying to fix the Dutch model to fix Canadian health care: “Canada should give serious thought to drawing on the Dutch example and modifying our model of universal health insurance so that it would also allow consumers to choose among alternative competing plans, whether public or private. The Dutch multipayer model of “managed competition” preserves the principles of universal insurance and an equitable sharing of health care costs. Universality is ensured by means of compulsory insurance, and equity is attained through requirements that plans have open enrollment.”
Don Braid (The Calgary Herald) on Alberta’s finance minister entering the leadership race, with others in a holding pattern: “Alberta is entering a strange leaderless period just as the province needs strong, sensible government. Premier Jason Kenney is entering a lame-duck phase. There will be no new legislation before fall. He’s said to be going on vacation soon. Another politician who will run is Todd Loewen, the Central Peace-Notley MLA who was kicked out of caucus for demanding that Kenney resign. [Finance Minister Travis] Toews, from Grande Prairie-Wapiti, will be backed by many (although not all) of Kenney’s campaign team, and by some donors. The Kenney connection may not be the best recommendation to the voters. Toews’ candidacy would remind some veterans of Jim Dinning, who ran as the steady-hand successor to Ralph Klein in 2006.He lost. It’s hard to maintain a lead over many months while dragging along the history of your government.”
Vaughn Palmer (The Vancouver Sun) on what B.C. will do if Ottawa refuses a health-care funding boost: “[Premier John] Horgan has been reluctant to entertain the possibility that talks with Ottawa on increasing the health transfer could fail. “I don’t want to imagine that,” he told reporters earlier this month. “I believe the federal government understands their role. We had a very collaborative relationship through COVID. … So I don’t want to imagine what will happen if we don’t come to agreement.” That was the premier on May 19. On Monday, he indicated that the province is having to consider the possibility that Ottawa’s cheque will never be in the mail. “We are planning, assuming, that we don’t get the money,” he conceded.”
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OTTAWA – The federal agency that investigates election infractions found insufficient evidence to support suggestions Beijing wielded undue influence against the Conservatives in the Vancouver area during the 2021 general election.
The Commissioner of Canada Elections’ recently completed review of the lingering issue was tabled Tuesday at a federal inquiry into foreign interference.
The review focused on the unsuccessful campaign of Conservative candidate Kenny Chiu in the riding of Steveston-Richmond East and the party’s larger efforts in the Vancouver area.
It says the evidence uncovered did not trigger the threshold to initiate a formal investigation under the Canada Elections Act.
Investigators therefore recommended that the review be concluded.
A summary of the review results was shared with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP. The review says both agencies indicated the election commissioner’s findings were consistent with their own understanding of the situation.
During the exercise, the commissioner’s investigators met with Chinese Canadian residents of Chiu’s riding and surrounding ones.
They were told of an extensive network of Chinese Canadian associations, businesses and media organizations that offers the diaspora a lifestyle that mirrors that of China in many ways.
“Further, this diaspora has continuing and extensive commercial, social and familial relations with China,” the review says.
Some interviewees reported that this “has created aspects of a parallel society involving many Chinese Canadians in the Lower Mainland area, which includes concerted support, direction and control by individuals from or involved with China’s Vancouver consulate and the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in China.”
Investigators were also made aware of members of three Chinese Canadian associations, as well as others, who were alleged to have used their positions to influence the choice of Chinese Canadian voters during the 2021 election in a direction favourable to the interests of Beijing, the review says.
These efforts were sparked by elements of the Conservative party’s election platform and by actions and statements by Chiu “that were leveraged to bolster claims that both the platform and Chiu were anti-China and were encouraging anti-Chinese discrimination and racism.”
These messages were amplified through repetition in social media, chat groups and posts, as well as in Chinese in online, print and radio media throughout the Vancouver area.
Upon examination, the messages “were found to not be in contravention” of the Canada Elections Act, says the review, citing the Supreme Court of Canada’s position that the concept of uninhibited speech permeates all truly democratic societies and institutions.
The review says the effectiveness of the anti-Conservative, anti-Chiu campaigns was enhanced by circumstances “unique to the Chinese diaspora and the assertive nature of Chinese government interests.”
It notes the election was prefaced by statements from China’s ambassador to Canada and the Vancouver consul general as well as articles published or broadcast in Beijing-controlled Chinese Canadian media entities.
“According to Chinese Canadian interview subjects, this invoked a widespread fear amongst electors, described as a fear of retributive measures from Chinese authorities should a (Conservative) government be elected.”
This included the possibility that Chinese authorities could interfere with travel to and from China, as well as measures being taken against family members or business interests in China, the review says.
“Several Chinese Canadian interview subjects were of the view that Chinese authorities could exercise such retributive measures, and that this fear was most acute with Chinese Canadian electors from mainland China. One said ‘everybody understands’ the need to only say nice things about China.”
However, no interview subject was willing to name electors who were directly affected by the anti-Tory campaign, nor community leaders who claimed to speak on a voter’s behalf.
Several weeks of public inquiry hearings will focus on the capacity of federal agencies to detect, deter and counter foreign meddling.
In other testimony Tuesday, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis told the inquiry that parliamentarians who were targeted by Chinese hackers could have taken immediate protective steps if they had been informed sooner.
It emerged earlier this year that in 2021 some MPs and senators faced cyberattacks from the hackers because of their involvement with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which pushes for accountability from Beijing.
In 2022, U.S. authorities apparently informed the Canadian government of the attacks, and it in turn advised parliamentary IT officials — but not individual MPs.
Genuis, a Canadian co-chair of the inter-parliamentary alliance, told the inquiry Tuesday that it remains mysterious to him why he wasn’t informed about the attacks sooner.
Liberal MP John McKay, also a Canadian co-chair of the alliance, said there should be a clear protocol for advising parliamentarians of cyberthreats.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
