OTTAWA —
The Trudeau government is pressing ahead with efforts to counter economic-based threats to national security, such as theft of valuable intellectual property and damage to critical energy and information networks.
In its newly published plan for the coming year, Public Safety Canada says it will lead the development of a comprehensive framework across the government to deal with the broad range of risks to Canada’s economic well-being.
The move comes as security agencies warn Canadians of the rising danger of hostile nations pilfering trade secrets and cybercriminals demanding ransom for sensitive files.
The government says in a few short years, the threat landscape — once dominated by the scourge of international terrorism — has evolved dramatically as potential adversaries develop new and aggressive tactics made possible by the rapid spread of technology.
Canada has already taken steps during the economic uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic to more strictly scrutinize foreign investments.
Public Safety says it will continue to work with partners on assessing foreign investments under the national-security provisions of the Investment Canada Act and generally raise awareness about economic-based security threats.
It is important for the government to turn its attention to a strategic understanding of what constitutes threats to Canada’s economic security and what can be done to defend against them, said Wesley Wark, an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa and a senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
“This will require a greater investment in economic intelligence-gathering and economic threat assessments, which currently have no central focus or high priority within the Canadian security-and-intelligence community,” Wark said.
“It is yet another adjustment we will need to make in a post-terrorism-centred national security world.”
The Public Safety plan singles out ransomware, the malicious use of software to penetrate a computer system and hold data hostage, as “an increasingly common and indiscriminate threat.”
While it notes some measures underway, the plan says addressing ransomware at the national level will require federal-provincial and private-public co-operation.
Public Safety also proposes:
Supporting development of a new framework for protection of Canada’s critical cybersystems in the finance, telecommunications, energy and transportation sectors;
Creation of a “forward-looking picture” of risk and capabilities through a national risk profile, intended to help ensure resilience to disasters such as floods, wildfires and earthquakes;
Development, with other departments and agencies, of a federal risk assessment strategy to promote better co-ordination across government.
The risk profile is an important but slow-rolling project first launched years ago, Wark said. “It should have been produced before COVID-19 and if it had, it might have helped raise general government awareness of pandemic threats.”
COVID-19 has also illustrated the need for a proper whole-of-government risk assessment strategy, he said.
Wark recommends going further by reviewing the overall mandate of Public Safety, created in 2003 “when a very different threat environment prevailed.”
He suggests carving the department into three entities, one to deal with emergency management, one to address national security and another for public safety issues such as human security and policing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 1, 2021.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
