Internal government documents show that the value of a contract to build a new software tool for managing IT services across the federal government has grown by nearly 70 per cent, to $55-million – an increase Shared Services Canada has not publicly revealed.
The documents also show that while the original contract required all work to be conducted on-site for security purposes, the department later allowed several people to work on the project from home in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic – provided they took precautions such as keeping their computer screens away from windows so that no one could see what they were doing.
Reporter’s Comment, Mr. Curry:“The federal government has made many pledges to increase transparency and to proactively disclose important information like federal contracting details, but the reality is that journalists and the public regularly face long delays and other hurdles when attempting to obtain these details.
“As this story shows, one IT contract grew from $32.4-million to $55-million two years ago, but this was not proactively disclosed on a website that claims to report quarterly on all contracts and contract amendments worth more than $10,000.
“This information only came to light via a request under Access to Information, a separate avenue for accountability that has been widely criticized as ‘broken’ by experts, [Background available here]
“Reporting to the public on how governments spend taxpayer money is one of the most important functions of journalism. A lack of timely disclosure in relation to multimillion-dollar contracts hinders the media’s ability to do this work.”
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
DIAS UNDER INVESTIGATION – Former union leader Jerry Dias, who abruptly announced his resignation on Sunday citing health issues, is being investigated by Unifor for an alleged breach of the union’s constitution, according to a statement issued by the union Monday. Story here.
DESPITE SOCIAL-MEDIA APPEARANCES, CHIEF NOT SUPPORTING POLIEVRE – The chief of one of Saskatchewan’s most economically successful nations says he is not endorsing Pierre Poilievre even though the front runner in the Conservative party race has been featuring him prominently in social media posts. Story here.
ANAND PLANS ARCTIC TRIP – National Defence Minister Anita Anand is planning a trip to the Arctic, as she gathers her allied counterparts in Arctic countries for a joint discussion on the security of the region in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine. Story here from CBC.
OMINOUS BYELECTION LOOMS FOR PREMIER JASON KENNEY – Political pundits say there will be one clear loser in Tuesday’s byelection in northern Alberta, but it won’t be any of the candidates. No matter the final tally in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, they say, Premier Jason Kenney faces an unfavourable outcome since the constituency’s three main contenders all oppose his leadership. Story here.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
BROWN’S IN – Patrick Brown has joined the race for the federal Conservative leadership, with a warning that the party needs to broaden its appeal beyond its core supporters if it hopes to wrestle power from Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. Story here.
AND THEN IT’S BROWN VS. POILIEVRE – Patrick Brown, the newest entrant in the Conservative leadership race, kicked off his campaign by blasting opponent Pierre Poilievre over his presence in the party in 2015 when it pushed creating a tip line for “barbaric cultural practices.”’ Story here.
MACKAY RULES OUT LEADERSHIP BID – Peter MacKay says he will not seek the leadership of the Conservative party when one is chosen this September. Story here.
CHAREST NAMES CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS – Former Quebec premier Jean Charest has named Tasha Kheiriddin, who considered a run for the Tory leadership, and Mike Coates, co-founder and executive chairman of a government-relations and digital-marketing firm Rubicon Strategy Inc., as co-chairs for his national leadership campaign.
POILIEVRE PROFILED – Shannon Proudfoot of Maclean’s magazine addresses the question of “Why is Pierre Poilievre so angry?” in an expansive profile of the Tory leadership candidate that you can read here.
There’s a Globe and Mail explainer here on the Conservative leadership race.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS -The House of Commons is not sitting again until March 21.
TUESDAY SPEECH BY UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be speaking, by video, to the House of Commons on Tuesday in a ceremony that begins at 11:15 a.m. Commons speaker Anthony Rota has released the schedule, including the order of speakers: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Senate Speaker George Furey, House Speaker Anthony Rota, Official Opposition Leader Candice Bergen, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Green Party Member Elizabeth May. The address will be broadcast and streamed live on ParlVU . And The Globe and Mail will have coverage of the speech. Meanwhile, please check here for live updates on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
WELLS AND SMITH EXIT MACLEAN’S – Paul Wells has announced his exit as a senior writer at Maclean’s. “Today I resigned from Maclean’s magazine. The new management team there have a wonderful opportunity to renew a legendary Canadian magazine. I wish them well,” Mr. Wells said in a LinkedIn post three days ago. “In my line of work, people sometimes assume these departures have something to do with disagreements about party politics. That’s not the case here.” He added that he has many ideas about what to do next, but no specific plan. Ottawa-based Maclean’s associate editor Marie-Danielle Smith, a writer in the Maclean’s Parliament Hill bureau, has also announced her departure from the magazine in a tweet. “I’ve decided to leave [Maclean’s]” she wrote. “I’ll miss my colleagues dearly and wish them all the best. On to the next adventure.”
GG HEADED FOR MIDDLE EAST – Governor-General Mary Simon will be travelling to the Middle East from March 17 to 23, with stops in the United Arab Emirates , Qatar and Kuwait. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office says that in each country, she will meet with Canada’s ambassadors, Canadian Armed Forces members deployed to the region, as well as heads of state and other senior leaders of the three countries.
IEN TO UN STATUS OF WOMEN MEETING – Marci Ien, the federal Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, is leading the Canadian delegation to the 66th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women to be held from Monday to March 25, both virtually and in New York. The delegation includes other ministers, MPs, provincial and territorial representatives and National Indigenous leaders and representatives.
THE DECIBEL
On Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Dr. Stacie Pettyjohn , a senior fellow and director of the defence program at the Center for a New American Security, explains the complexities of the no-fly zone concept. Ukraine wants its allies to set up a no-fly zone in its airspace. They believe it would give them the tactical advantage in the war that Russia started. But NATO, U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders have decisively said no to the idea.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings in the Ottawa area. And the Prime Minister speaks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
OPINION
Rita Trichur (The Globe and Mail)on Ottawa sending mixed messages about wireless competition as it mulls Rogers-Shaw deal: “The federal government needs to get its story straight about the state of wireless competition. Its market assessments of late seem to depend on which way the wind is blowing in Ottawa. And, let’s face it, there’s plenty of hot air gusting through the corridors of power in our capital on any given day. At the start of this year, for instance, the Trudeau government boasted that wireless prices were falling because it had the gumption to put the Big Three carriers in their place. Go ahead and snort. It will make you feel better. Because a nanosecond later, Ottawa was telling us too many Canadians are, in fact, still overpaying for wireless services. Confused? You’re not alone.”
Charles Burton (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on China’s potential long game – First dominate Russia, then on to the Arctic: “Today’s crisis between Russia and the West, engendered by President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, is seen by Beijing as furthering Mao’s vision of a China-dominated global order – renamed by the current strongman, General Secretary Xi Jinping, as “the community of the common destiny of mankind.” Whatever the outcome of the suffering in Ukraine, Russia will remain shunned by the West, blocked from financial transactions and trade with lucrative European markets. This risks ushering Russia into the arms of Beijing, which will be only too happy to facilitate the dependence of its “strategic partner” on Chinese economic support, under the guise of helping it weather cataclysmic sanctions. It will come at a humiliating cost to Mr. Putin, but make no mistake: Beijing will exploit Russia’s weakness to bring it into subordination to China’s overall geopolitical agenda.”
Thomas Juneau and Vincent Rigby (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on Canada having neglected its national security for far too long: “The most pressing threats to our national security call for a “whole-of-Canada” response, bringing together federal departments, provincial and municipal governments, the private sector, and civil society. The pandemic is illustrative: it was primarily a public health issue, but one with national security implications. Research institutions, for example, became vulnerable as hostile states aggressively sought to steal intellectual property related to vaccines. This pushed the intelligence community to strengthen ties with universities and the pharmaceutical sector. Yet the national security community’s ability to co-ordinate and share information amongst itself, let alone with such a diverse range of partners, is at times lacking.”.
Brian Kelcey (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on Ottawa’s police board crisis being just the tip of Canada’s police-governance problem: “It’s been a rough year so far for Ottawa’s Police Services Board. After a “trucker convoy” occupation, a council purge, two waves of resignations and the departure of its police chief, it is now so dysfunctional that it doesn’t even have the ability to legally meet quorum right now. This is a problem. But it’s also an opportunity. Ottawa isn’t the only city in Canada that needs help with a broken model of police oversight.”
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats who control both chambers of the Virginia legislature are hoping to make good on promises made on the campaign trail, including becoming the first Southern state to expand constitutional protections for abortion access.
The House Privileges and Elections Committee advanced three proposed constitutional amendments Wednesday, including a measure to protect reproductive rights. Its members also discussed measures to repeal a now-defunct state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and ways to revise Virginia’s process to restore voting rights for people who served time for felony crimes.
“This meeting was an important next step considering the moment in history we find ourselves in,” Democratic Del. Cia Price, the committee chair, said during a news conference. “We have urgent threats to our freedoms that could impact constituents in all of the districts we serve.”
The at-times raucous meeting will pave the way for the House and Senate to take up the resolutions early next year after lawmakers tabled the measures last January. Democrats previously said the move was standard practice, given that amendments are typically introduced in odd-numbered years. But Republican Minority Leader Todd Gilbert said Wednesday the committee should not have delved into the amendments before next year’s legislative session. He said the resolutions, particularly the abortion amendment, need further vetting.
“No one who is still serving remembers it being done in this way ever,” Gilbert said after the meeting. “Certainly not for something this important. This is as big and weighty an issue as it gets.”
The Democrats’ legislative lineup comes after Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, to the dismay of voting-rights advocates, rolled back a process to restore people’s civil rights after they completed sentences for felonies. Virginia is the only state that permanently bans anyone convicted of a felony from voting unless a governor restores their rights.
“This amendment creates a process that is bounded by transparent rules and criteria that will apply to everybody — it’s not left to the discretion of a single individual,” Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, the patron of the voting rights resolution, which passed along party lines, said at the news conference.
Though Democrats have sparred with the governor over their legislative agenda, constitutional amendments put forth by lawmakers do not require his signature, allowing the Democrat-led House and Senate to bypass Youngkin’s blessing.
Instead, the General Assembly must pass proposed amendments twice in at least two years, with a legislative election sandwiched between each statehouse session. After that, the public can vote by referendum on the issues. The cumbersome process will likely hinge upon the success of all three amendments on Democrats’ ability to preserve their edge in the House and Senate, where they hold razor-thin majorities.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have attempted to champion the three amendments. Republicans in a House subcommittee killed a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights in 2022, a year after the measure passed in a Democrat-led House. The same subcommittee also struck down legislation supporting a constitutional amendment to repeal an amendment from 2006 banning marriage equality.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted 16-5 in favor of legislation protecting same-sex marriage, with four Republicans supporting the resolution.
“To say the least, voters enacted this (amendment) in 2006, and we have had 100,000 voters a year become of voting age since then,” said Del. Mark Sickles, who sponsored the amendment as one of the first openly gay men serving in the General Assembly. “Many people have changed their opinions of this as the years have passed.”
A constitutional amendment protecting abortion previously passed the Senate in 2023 but died in a Republican-led House. On Wednesday, the amendment passed on party lines.
If successful, the resolution proposed by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring would be part of a growing trend of reproductive rights-related ballot questions given to voters. Since 2022, 18 questions have gone before voters across the U.S., and they have sided with abortion rights advocates 14 times.
The voters have approved constitutional amendments ensuring the right to abortion until fetal viability in nine states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Vermont. Voters also passed a right-to-abortion measure in Nevada in 2024, but it must be passed again in 2026 to be added to the state constitution.
As lawmakers debated the measure, roughly 18 members spoke. Mercedes Perkins, at 38 weeks pregnant, described the importance of women making decisions about their own bodies. Rhea Simon, another Virginia resident, anecdotally described how reproductive health care shaped her life.
Then all at once, more than 50 people lined up to speak against the abortion amendment.
“Let’s do the compassionate thing and care for mothers and all unborn children,” resident Sheila Furey said.
The audience gave a collective “Amen,” followed by a round of applause.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment. Kennedy, he said, would “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration.
He and Trump have since become good friends, with Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.
The expected appointment was first reported by Politico Thursday.
A longtime vaccine skeptic, Kennedy is an attorney who has built a loyal following over several decades of people who admire his lawsuits against major pesticide and pharmaceutical companies. He has pushed for tighter regulations around the ingredients in foods.
With the Trump campaign, he worked to shore up support among young mothers in particular, with his message of making food healthier in the U.S., promising to model regulations imposed in Europe. In a nod to Trump’s original campaign slogan, he named the effort “Make America Healthy Again.”
It remains unclear how that will square with Trump’s history of deregulation of big industries, including food. Trump pushed for fewer inspections of the meat industry, for example.
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines has also made him a controversial figure among Democrats and some Republicans, raising question about his ability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Kennedy has espoused misinformation around the safety of vaccines, including pushing a totally discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism.
He also has said he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water. The addition of the material has been cited as leading to improved dental health.
HHS has more than 80,000 employees across the country. It houses the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — In a Cypriot National Guard camp, Ukrainians are being trained on how to identify, locate and dispose of landmines and other unexploded munitions that litter huge swaths of their country, killing and maiming hundreds of people, including children.
Analysts say Ukraine is among the countries that are the most affected by landmines and discarded explosives, as a result of Russia’s ongoing war.
According to U.N. figures, some 399 people have been killed and 915 wounded from landmines and other munitions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, equal to the number of casualties reported from 2014-2021. More than 1 in 10 of those casualties have been children.
The economic impact is costing billions to the Ukrainian economy. Landmines and other munitions are preventing the sowing of 5 million hectares, or 10%, of the country’s agricultural land.
Cyprus stepped up to offer its facilities as part of the European Union’s Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine. So far, almost 100 Ukrainian armed forces personnel have taken part in three training cycles over the last two years, said Cyprus Foreign Ministry spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis.
“We are committed to continuing this support for as long as it takes,” Gotsis told the Associated Press, adding that the Cyprus government has covered the 250,000 euro ($262,600) training cost.
Cyprus opted to offer such training owing to its own landmine issues dating back five decades when the island nation was ethnically divided when Turkey invaded following a coup that sought union with Greece. The United Nations has removed some 27,000 landmines from a buffer zone that cuts across the island, but minefields remain on either side. The Cypriot government says it has disposed of all anti-personnel mines in line with its obligations under an international treaty that bans the use of such munitions.
In Cyprus, Ukrainians undergo rigorous theoretical and practical training over a five-week Basic Demining and Clearance course that includes instruction on distinguishing and safely handling landmines and other explosive munitions, such as rockets, 155 mm artillery shells, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells.
Theoretical training uses inert munitions identical to the actual explosives.
Most of the course is comprised of hands-on training focusing on the on-site destruction of unexploded munitions using explosives, the chief training officer told the Associated Press. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to disclose his identity for security reasons.
“They’re trained on ordnance disposal using real explosives,” the officer said. “That will be the trainees’ primary task when they return.”
Cypriot officials said the Ukrainian trainees did not want to be either interviewed or photographed.
Defusing discarded munitions or landmines in areas where explosive charges can’t be used — for instance, near a hospital — is not part of this course because that’s the task of highly trained teams of disposal experts whose training can last as long as eight months, the officer said.
Trainees, divided into groups of eight, are taught how to operate metal detectors and other tools for detecting munitions like prodders — long, thin rods which are used to gently probe beneath the ground’s surface in search of landmines and other explosive ordnance.
Another tool is a feeler, a rod that’s used to detect booby-trapped munitions. There are many ways to booby-trap such munitions, unlike landmines which require direct pressure to detonate.
“Booby-trapped munitions are a widespread phenomenon in Ukraine,” the chief training officer explained.
Training, primarily conducted by experts from other European Union countries, takes place both in forested and urban areas at different army camps and follows strict safety protocols.
The short, intense training period keeps the Ukrainians focused.
“You see the interest they show during instruction: they ask questions, they want to know what mistakes they’ve made and the correct way of doing it,” the officer said.
Humanitarian data and analysis group ACAPS said in a Jan. 2024 report that 174,000 sq. kilometers (67,182 sq. miles) or nearly 29% of Ukraine’s territory needs to be surveyed for landmines and other explosive ordnance.
More than 10 million people are said to live in areas where demining action is needed.
Since 2022, Russian forces have used at least 13 types of anti-personnel mines, which target people. Russia never signed the 1997 Ottawa Convention banning the use of anti-personnel mines, but the use of such mines is nonetheless considered a violation of its obligations under international law.
Russia also uses 13 types of anti-tank mines.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in its 2023 Landmine Monitor report that Ukrainian government forces may have also used antipersonnel landmines in contravention of the Mine Ban Treaty in and around the city of Izium during 2022, when the city was under Russian control.
