Former Aussie PM Tony Abbott's new British trade role called into question as gig exposes European jaunt

Greens called for Abbott to be stripped of his parliamentary pension, worth $300,000 a year 

By Latika Bourke Sydney Daily Herald
August 27, 2020 — 
London: British Labour is stepping up its opposition to the appointment of former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott as an adviser to the British Board of Trade and is demanding UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson explain the details of the plum job.
In Australia, Abbott's critics have called on him to be stripped of his $300,000-a-year parliamentary pension while he is working for a foreign government that is negotiating a trade deal with Australia.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has been hired by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for a role in the British Board of Trade.
Abbott, born in Britain, was appointed by British Trade Secretary Liz Truss and the pair had breakfast together in London on Tuesday to confirm his new role.
A spokesman for Abbott said he applied to travel overseas under the rules and was granted approval by the commissioner of the Australian Border Force
Abbott's successor in the federal seat of Warringah, independent MP Zali Steggall, questioned the double standards of Abbott being allowed to travel when families trying to reunite had been barred, as well as his work for a foreign government.
Abbott's travel costs, including the mandatory two weeks of hotel quarantine upon return, would be met privately, his spokesman said. Abbott had not sought an exemption from any of these requirements nor would he, the spokesman said.



Abbott does not intend to make any further comment, he said.
Originally a Remain supporter, Abbott won over arch-Brexiteers after the referendum by advocating that Britain follow the most economically disruptive form of leaving the EU – a so-called no-deal Brexit.
But mystery surrounds the exact nature of Abbott's appointment, which was met at an official level with silence. No statement was issued on Wednesday, London time, by either the British Department for International Trade nor No.10, despite widespread reporting of the appointment.
Abbott's exact title with the Board of Trade is still to be confirmed. Questions about whether the job is paid or not have also gone unanswered by both the British government and Abbott himself, and neither Johnson nor Truss have said anything of the decision to recruit Abbott to their ranks.


Zali Steggall, federal MP for Tony Abbott's old seat of Warringah, has asked why Abbott was allowed a travel exemption to leave the country.
Labour's trade spokeswoman Emily Thornberry told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that she would be demanding answers, amid concerns over the secretive nature of the appointment.
"Boris Johnson needs to explain why he believed Tony Abbott was the right person to appoint to this role, but he also needs to explain the appointment itself," Thornberry said.
"What exactly is the job? Is it paid? Will Abbott be accountable to the British Parliament? Did the appointment process follow Cabinet Office rules? When was the job offer made, and when was it accepted?"
Thornberry also queried what personal meetings were held in the lead-up to the job offer.
"What meetings did Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have with Tony Abbott over the last year, and were they conducted in line with the Ministerial Code?
"The rules around public appointments and ministerial meetings exist precisely to stop the government cutting corners to suit their cronies, or hiding their dealings from public scrutiny.
"That’s why the answers to these questions matter, and we’ll be demanding them loudly in the coming days."
Tony Abbott granted travel exemption to take on UK Brexit job
Arch-Brexiteer and Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg acknowledged the move, saying it was "an excellent appointment".
The report was also welcomed by Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage but strongly criticised by a range of MPs in both Britain and Australia, who questioned Abbott's trade credentials, his opposition to gay marriage and his climate-change denialism.
Steggall said she was surprised to see Abbott's new role, given he had supported both Leave and Remain.
"Like many Australians, I’m surprised at his appointment in light of his previous changing positions on Brexit and his very divisive and combative style.
"I would also question the appropriateness of a former Australian prime minister in a senior trade role now negotiating for the benefit of another nation.
"What would the reaction be if a former prime minister like Kevin Rudd was appointed in a trade advocacy role for China?" she said.
Greens leader Adam Bandt called for Abbott to be stripped of his parliamentary pension, worth $300,000 a year.
"Tony Abbott’s job is now to promote another country, even if it means disadvantaging Australian farmers, producers and exporters," he said.
"The Australian public should not be paying him to advance another country’s interests.
"He should be stripped of his hefty prime ministerial pension," Bandt said.
Former South Australian premier Mike Rann, a former high commissioner to Britain and Italy, questioned whether Abbott, who infamously gave a knighthood to Prince Philip, was after his own title.
"Maybe this could be Tony’s pathway to a knighthood," Rann said, speaking from his home in Puglia, Italy.
"If the story is true, it is an indictment of the UK’s capacity to take back control from unelected foreigners".
Travel ban exemption
This masthead revealed that Abbott had breakfast with Truss in London this week to confirm the role after being granted an exemption by the Australian government from its ban on citizens from leaving the country.
Abbott would not respond to questions about why his travel, which included attending a golf tournament in Wales, warranted an exemption.
He is in Italy and is due in London again next week to give a speech to the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange about the international response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Steggall said Abbott's travel exposed the double standards at play, with many of his former constituents denied the chance to see their loved ones overseas.
"I wonder whether he has had to make numerous applications like many of his former constituents.
"His permitted travel unfortunately only adds to the perception that there is a double standard in who can travel in and out of Australia and will be distressing for those who have repeatedly been turned down for important travel."

If You Think Coronavirus Profiteering Is Bad, Wait Till the Climate Heats Up


From testing for coronavirus to treating the health impacts of climate change, universal healthcare and publicly owned medicine production are critical components for adapting to the coming crisis.
by Josue De Luna Navarro




Rich or poor, Americans already spend more on medicine than any other people in the world. (Photo: Elvert Barnes/flickr/cc)


COVID-19 is testing the U.S. public health system. And, unfortunately, things don’t look so good — especially if you’re one of the 87 million underinsured people in this country.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has promised that coronavirus tests would be free. But that doesn’t mean that you can expect a free trip to the hospital. The New York Times recently reported that hospital trips for even a “free” test can cost thousands of dollars — which could be devastating for a family that doesn’t have insurance.

Hospitals aren’t the only winners here — Big Pharma and biotech companies are cashing in, too. Take Novacyt PLC, a French biotech company that developed a test for COVID-19. The day they released the tests to the public, their stock surged more than 30 percent.

But if you think companies profiting off the coronavirus is bad, wait until the climate crisis worsens. Beyond even novel outbreaks like COVID-19, more familiar health threats are set to spread like wildfire.

A sick planet, in short, means a sick public.

Already, hotter temperatures are increasing the rate of heat strokes and heat exhaustion, while expanding the range of diseases like malaria or West Nile virus. Droughts spread food insecurity, wildfires cause respiratory illnesses, and floods expose people to unsanitary conditions.

A sick planet, in short, means a sick public. And, as Naomi Klein and other journalists have reported, corporations have devised a number of ways to profit off our planet’s sickness — from companies patenting “climate-ready” crops to property insurance companies contracting private firefighters for rich clients in the path of wildfires.

One of the biggest beneficiaries, again, is Big Pharma. According to the European Pharmaceutical Review (EPR), the pharmaceutical industry expects to “benefit from a warming planet, as the spread of disease will become more prevalent, revealing opportunities for medicine markets.”




Even before coronavirus was a household name, the EPR estimated that between 385 and 725 million people worldwide will be exposed to infectious diseases as the climate crisis worsens. No wonder they find that “almost 70 percent of biotech, healthcare and pharma companies have climate change integrated into their business strategy.”

According to Morgan Stanley, $50 to $100 billion will be needed to produce vaccines alone in the coming years. Unfortunately, many pharmaceutical giants are investing in reducing access to these medications. Pfizer, J&J, and Merck Co. together spent over $19 billion in 2019 alone on lobbying efforts to keep prescription drug and health care costs high — and thus inaccessible to many vulnerable communities.

Indeed, like everything else in the U.S., the climate crisis doesn’t impact everyone equally. The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, concludes that the poor, people of color, the elderly, and children are most at risk from the health effects of pollution and climate change. And communities of color, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports, are most likely to be uninsured.

Rich or poor, Americans already spend more on medicine than any other people in the world. Numerous studies show that Medicare for All could reduce these costs while expanding coverage. So could investing in a “public option” for prescription drugs.

After all, taxpayers already heavily subsidize pharmaceutical development. One study published last year found that National Institute of Health (NIH) funding — that is, taxpayer money — “was associated directly or indirectly with every drug approved from 2010–2016.” If it’s our own tax money funding this business, why not make medicine production benefit the people who need those medicines the most?

Another recent study by the Democracy Collaborative imagines a publicly owned supply chain to produce needed medications — a “public option” for drugs. Publicly owned drug production, they find, would “combat the increasingly harmful impacts of Big Pharma which decades of regulation have failed to counteract,” from skyrocketing drug prices to the opioid epidemic.

It would also ensure that all communities get the medicine they need as the climate crisis worsens — especially communities disadvantaged by the health care system today. From testing for coronavirus to treating the health impacts of climate change, universal healthcare and publicly owned medicine production are critical components for adapting to the coming crisis.

Josue De Luna Navarro is the New Mexico Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Find him on Twitter at @Josue_DeLuna.

Lightning Siege' Sparks Hundreds of Fires in California as New Flames Overwhelm Resources

"Throughout the state of California right now, we are stretched thin for crews."

by

Andrea Germanos, staff write

A sign warning people about Covid-19 is surrounded by flames during the Hennessey fire near Lake Berryessa in Napa, California on August 18, 2020. The Hennessey fire has merged with at least 7 fires and is now called the LNU Lightning Complex fires. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin. (Photo: by Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)

Authorities in California announced Wednesday evacuations for thousands of people as multiple wildfires left firefighters facing "depleted" resources and area residents dealt with rolling blackouts, high heat, poor air quality, and possible loss of homes—all as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage.

"This is bad," climate advocacy group Rainforest Action Network said of the situation in the state—which just days ago may have recorded the hottest temperature officially verified.

Those battling the blazes expressed concern about adequate capacity. 

"Throughout the state of California right now, we are stretched thin for crews," state fire spokesperson Will Powers told the Associated Press.  "Air resources have been stretched thin throughout the whole state."

At a press conference Wednesday, Cal Fire spokesperson Jeremy Rahn said, "Over the past 72 hours, California has experienced a historic lightning siege." An estimated 11,000 lightning strikes sparked 367 new wildfires, he said, adding that over 300,000 acres have burned across the state.

The fires include the LNU Lightning Complex, which encompasses multiple fires spanning five northern California counties and has blamed for the loss of at least 50 homes. "Two other lightning-caused fire groups, the SCU Lightning Complex fires and the CZU August Lightning Complex fires, have similarly impacted residents and firefighters across the greater Bay Area," CBS San Francisco reported.  

In California, the current outbreak of wildfires has completely overwhelmed the state's fire protection system.

"firefighting resources are essentially depleted" https://t.co/LjnTsX8lJn

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) August 19, 2020

"Firefighting resources are depleted as new fires continue to ignite," said Rahn. 

Bay Area dealing with some of the worst air quality in the world. #BAAQMD has some tips:
- Avoid going outside
- Keep windows closed
- If you have AC, put it on circulate
- If it's too hot inside your house, find a cooling center.https://t.co/Z4yrsD1wz3@nbcbayarea #purpleair pic.twitter.com/1JDd5EpBiQ

— Janelle Wang (@janellewang) August 19, 2020

The #GOESWestgeocolor imagery shows smoke over much of central and northern California this morning as a result of the numerous wildfires. #CAwx #CAfire pic.twitter.com/3WcOFwMDTP

— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) August 19, 2020

Journalists and others on social media have been sharing dramatic images of the fires:

Hairy conditions as the #LNULightningComplex fire burns along both sides of Berryessa Knoxville Road near Lake Berryessa. @GettyImagesNews @CAL_FIRE pic.twitter.com/EVWKsgsump

— Justin Sullivan (@sullyfoto) August 19, 2020

#Timelapse: Sudden explosive development of the #CZUAugustLightningComplex #fire burning tonight in San Mateo & Santa Cruz Counties. @NWSBayArea @CALFIRECZU #CAwx pic.twitter.com/pADZ3B4Trk

— Jeff Boyce (@Negative_Tilt) August 19, 2020

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who on Tuesday declared a statewide emergency, said at a press conference Wednesday, "This fire season has been very active and, not surprisingly, that activity is taking shape in a number of counties up and down the state of California."

Among those who were forced to evacuate their homes was Taylor Craig.

Speaking to the Marin Independent Journal Tuesday from a Walmart parking lot in Santa Cruz County, Craig said, "I'm a climate refugee."

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

Opposition Urges EU to Follow Suit in Cambodia After Decision to Pursue Sanctions For Belarus

2020-08-19

Opposition supporters protest after polls closed in Belarus' presidential election, in Minsk, Aug. 9, 2020.  AFP

The European Union should sanction officials responsible for human rights abuses in Cambodia, the country’s banned opposition party said Wednesday, citing the bloc’s decision to prepare a list of Belarusian officials to be hit with sanctions following a post-election crackdown on demonstrators.

In a statement, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) expressed “great concern” over developments in Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko has violently suppressed protesters and strikers in the capital Minsk who have rejected what they say was a fraudulent Aug. 9 election that resulted in an extension of his 26-year rule.

The recent events had prompted an emergency summit Wednesday in which Charles Michel, the head of the European Council, called the polls in Belarus “neither free nor fair” and promised sanctions “on a substantial number of individuals responsible for violence, repression and election fraud.”

“The events in Belarus remind us of the oppressive methods used by the Cambodian regime, which has captured the state in the hands of limited circle of people close to the dictator Hun Sen through abuse of institutions and sham elections without participation of the opposition,” the CNRP said.

“Both Belarus and Cambodia face orchestrated unconstitutional oppression of the citizens by dictators who identify the state with themselves and want to destroy any notion of free thought.”

The CNRP was dissolved in November 2017 for its role in an alleged plot to topple the government. Along with a broader crackdown on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media—the removal of the popular party paved the way for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in parliament in the country’s July 2018 general election.

“Just like in Belarus,” the CNRP noted, authorities in Cambodia have in recent months been arresting those who speak out against Hun Sen’s nearly three decades of rule and driven much of the opposition into self-imposed exile to avoid what they say are politically motivated charges and convictions.

The opposition party pointed to the arrest two weeks ago of outspoken union leader Rong Chhun, who was charged with “incitement to commit a felony or create social unrest” after alleging that the government had allowed Vietnam to encroach on Cambodian territory, as well that of six of his supporters who had joined near-daily protests in the capital Phnom Penh calling for his release.

“The situation in Cambodia, just as the situation in Belarus, requires the immediate attention of the international community,” the statement said.

“Those who oppress the people cannot enjoy the privileges of free communication, travel, cooperation and business with the democratic world. They need to bear the consequences of their actions, being directly and severely sanctioned by the international community.”

The CNRP said it welcomed a decision by the European Council to begin the process of sanctions against those in Belarus deemed responsible for violence, arrests, and fraud in connection with the election, as well as calls from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to bring “additional sanctions against those who violated democratic values or abused human rights” in the country.




European Council President Charles Michel gestures as he addresses a press conference at the end of a European summit in Brussels, Aug. 19, 2020. AFP
EBA withdrawal

On Aug. 12, the EU implemented the withdrawal of duty-free, quota-free access to its market under the “Everything But Arms” (EBA) scheme for some 20 percent of Cambodia’s exports—a decision that was announced in February.

The EU’s move came in response to the Hun Sen government’s failure to reverse rollbacks on democracy and other freedoms required under the trade arrangement—demands the prime minister has said are an encroachment on Cambodia’s sovereignty. Affected exports include goods from Cambodia’s vital garment and footwear industries.

Following the withdrawal, the CNRP last week condemned the government for failing to implement reforms required by the EU to avoid trade sanctions and called on the bloc to sanction Hun Sen and other officials deemed responsible for rights violations in Cambodia through visa restrictions and the freezing of their assets, saying that the tariffs would largely only impact the country’s workers.

However, the recent developments in Belarus and the EU’s decision to pursue sanctions against officials in Lukashenko’s government for similar violations, prompted the opposition party to redouble its efforts Wednesday.

Responding to the CNRP statement, CPP spokesman Sok Ey San told RFA’s Khmer Service that the situation in the two countries is “completely different,” adding that the opposition in Cambodia is “jealous” of development under Hun Sen’s government and will do anything it can to disrupt peace.

“They envy us—when they could not have power, they fled overseas and urged the EU to withdraw the EBA,” he said. “And now they want the EU to punish Cambodia just like Belarus.”

But CNRP Deputy President Mu Sochua told RFA that if Hun Sen does not accede to EU demands, which also include the reinstatement of the opposition, he and his officials will also face sanctions.

“I believe sanctions can include travel to the EU and the freezing of their assets,” she said. “These kinds of sanction won’t affect regular people.”

An investigation by Reuters last October revealed that Hun Sen’s niece Hun Kimleng and her husband, National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun, were among eight politically connected Cambodians to obtain citizenship in EU member state Cyprus through a controversial scheme that allows anyone willing to invest U.S. $ 2.2 million in the prosperous island nation’s business or real estate sectors to obtain it.




Supporters urge the government to release and drop charges against union leader Rong Chhun at a protest in Phnom Penh, Aug. 3, 2020. Reuters
Use of violence condemned

The CNRP call for EU sanctions came a day after a group of 80 Cambodian civil society groups issued a joint statement condemning the Cambodian authorities’ use of violence against peaceful demonstrators and the recent arrest of more than a dozen activists since the arrest of Rong Chhun.

The groups noted that in addition to six more individuals who have been sent to pre-trial detention after advocating for the union leader’s release, authorities have also beaten and arrested relatives—most of whom are women—of former members of the CNRP who were protesting against their family members’ arrests.

“It is not a crime to call for your family to be released from prison. It is not a crime to speak out against your friends' arrest. It is not a crime to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with people in your community and demand justice,” the statement read.

“All Cambodians have the right to peacefully protest without being shoved, beaten or dragged off by police. We call on the government to immediately release those arrested, drop charges against them and fully respect the Cambodian people's rights to free expression and assembly.”

Responding to the statement on Wednesday, Ministry of Justice spokesman Chhin Malin called on the Ministry of Interior to investigate whether the civil society groups had violated rules of impartiality as defined by the controversial Law on Association and Nongovernmental Organizations (LANGO).

Chhin Malin said that some of the group who signed Tuesday’s statement are “inactive” and sought to criticize the government “without foundation.” He added that the Cambodia’s courts are “independent” and would not yield to pressure from civil society.

“The government has implemented the law in general without targeting any specific group—if someone acts in breach of the law, they will be punished,” he said.

“The statement from the civil society groups is not the legal way to protect a defendant in a democratic society. If they want to help the defendants, they can only do so through due process.”

Koul Panha, the former executive director of and currently an advisor to local electoral watchdog Comfrel, questioned Chhin Malin’s right to make such a statement on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

“This institution was not established to defend the authorities’ actions; it is supposed to uphold justice and human rights,” he told RFA.

“Our rule of law is very weak. The people can’t rely on the government and the government doesn’t understand its own role. The people are weak and powerless, and they don’t know who to ask for help.”

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Morneau’s office, Kielburgers described as ‘besties’ in newly released documents

PAUL WALDIE
PUBLISHED AUGUST 19, 2020

Co-founders of WE Charity Craig, left, and Marc Kielburger, right, arrive for WE Day California at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on April 25, 2019.
ROBYN BECK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Former finance minister Bill Morneau’s office was so close to the co-founders of WE Charity that his department referred to them as “besties” and Mr. Morneau pushed hard to ensure the charity administered the government’s $543.5-million volunteer program, newly released documents reveal.

The documents include 5,000 pages of internal memos, e-mails and handwritten notes made by officials as they scrambled to put together the Canada Student Service Grant in April and May. The program was supposed to pay students up to $5,000 for volunteer work over the summer. The government expected as many as 100,000 students to participate and WE Charity was in line to receive up to $43.5-million to cover expenses for administering the program. The charity pulled out on July 3, weeks after the program was announced, amid a growing controversy over WE’s close ties to Mr. Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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Michelle Kovacevic, an associate deputy minister at finance, added in another email to officials that 'WE is connecting with my [minister]. They are all besties.'

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The documents portray the chummy relationship between WE co-founders – Craig and Marc Kielburger – and government ministers and bureaucrats. E-mails from Craig Kielburger to Mr. Morneau begin with “Hi Bill” and in one, Mr. Kielburger thanks the minister for a phone call about the volunteer program. “It was incredibly thoughtful of you to call,” Mr. Kielburger wrote Mr. Morneau on April 26. Youth Minister Bardish Chagger also had high praise for Mr. Kielburger and added in a memo on April 20: “I believe there is a lot of complementarity in our efforts.”

In another e-mail, Michelle Kovacevic, an assistant deputy minister at Finance, thanked departmental colleagues for “keeping the relationship with WE strong. I think this is the right organisation for a call to action for national service. They are pretty snazzy. Like me.” She added in another e-mail to officials that “WE is connecting with my [minister]. They are all besties.”
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In another email, Michelle Kovacevic thanked departmental colleagues for 'keeping the relationship with WE strong.'

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Rachel Wernick, a senior assistant deputy minister at Employment and Social Development Canada, which developed the volunteer program, held so many weekend phone calls with Craig Kielburger that he told her in an e-mail, “I embrace our Sunday phone calls.” In return, Ms. Wernick thanked Mr. Kielburger for his “thoughtful engagement.” In an e-mail to Marc Kielburger, she joked about him being late for a meeting because of a speaking engagement. “No rush if your speech runs a bit late (or you want to keep listening to all the applause),” she wrote.


Prime Minister Trudeau and WE Charity: The controversy explained

How WE got here: A timeline of the charity, the contract and the controversy

Mr. Morneau, who resigned as finance minister this week, and Mr. Trudeau have apologized for not recusing themselves from a cabinet meeting on May 22 when the program was approved. It was announced on June 25. Mr. Morneau later revealed that he and his family had taken trips with WE to Kenya and Ecuador. He also confirmed that his two daughters had ties to WE. Last month, Mr. Morneau paid WE $41,000 to cover the cost of the trips. Mr. Trudeau’s family also has close ties to WE and his mother, Margaret Trudeau, received $312,000 for speaking at 28 WE events.

The documents were released by the House of Commons finance committee, which is investigating the volunteer program and the WE contract. However, on Tuesday Mr. Trudeau prorogued Parliament until Sept. 23, which will suspend the committee’s work.
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Rachel Wernick, a senior assistant deputy minister at Employment and Social Development Canada, which developed the volunteer program, held many weekend phone calls with Craig Kielburger.

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The documents reveal that in early April, Craig Kielburger approached Mr. Morneau as well as Small Business Minister Mary Ng and Ms. Chagger about a $12-million Social Entrepreneurship Initiative that WE would run to encourage up to 8,000 young people to become engaged in voluntarism. Mr. Kielburger said the charity would leverage its network of corporate sponsors, including Royal Bank of Canada, Telus, KPMG and Microsoft, to provide mentorships. Participants would also take a course and receive a $500 grant to help set up a social enterprise along with a letter from Mr. Trudeau.

Officials contacted WE in late April to rework the idea so that it would fit into the national volunteer program the government was drafting at the time. On April 21, Mr. Morneau earmarked $900-million toward the volunteer program and approved WE’s social entrepreneurship venture. A few days later, his staff pressed officials at Employment and Social Development to pull the volunteer program together. Amitpal Singh, a policy adviser in the Department of Finance, said in an e-mail that Mr. Morneau was “concerned the government will drop the ball” on the idea.
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The documents portray the chummy relationship between WE co-founders – Craig and Marc Kielburger – and government ministers and bureaucrats.

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The social enterprise venture was eventually dropped, but WE’s role in the volunteer program intensified despite indications the charity had run into financial issues. In an e-mail on May 23, WE’s executive director Dalal Al Waheidi told Ms. Wernick that the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly affected the charity and that it had to suspend its travel service, which operates tours to countries such as Kenya and India, and halt its annual WE Day events for 18 months. As a result, she said the charity had to “significantly reduce our staffing numbers.” Ms. Al Waheidi did not say how many jobs were cut and she insisted that WE would still be able to deliver the volunteer program. The documents don’t include any follow-up from Ms. Wernick or any indication that bureaucrats examined WE’s operations more closely.




During testimony to the finance committee last month, WE Charity’s former chair, Michelle Douglas, indicated that the organization was embroiled in turmoil in late March. Ms. Douglas said she was asked to resign on March 25 by Craig Kielburger after she raised concerns about more than 200 layoffs and expressed discomfort at the lack of financial transparency. Several other directors were replaced in April. Craig Kielburger has said the board was fully informed of the financial situation and that changes to the board had been planned.
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In an email to Marc Kielburger Wernick joked about him being late for a meeting because of a speaking engagement.

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Officials also raised few questions about the WE Charity Foundation, which WE initially set up in 2019 to hold the organization's real estate assets. No assets were put into the foundation and it had no operations. It was repurposed for the volunteer program and the government contract to run the Student Service Grant was with the WE Charity Foundation, not WE Charity.

Sofia Marquez, who handled government relations at WE, told officials in an e-mail on May 26 that the foundation had been created to “receive, hold and disburse funds to other registered charities in the WE family for greater accounting ease and administrative simplicity.” The documents don’t indicate that there was any follow-up by government officials about why the contract was with the WE Charity Foundation.

Craig Kielburger told the finance committee last month that the foundation was used for the volunteer program to shield the charity from legal liability. Ms. Douglas told the committee that the board had “a number of concerns” about the foundation and did not understand its purpose.
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What appears to be messages between officials after the program is cancelled. Wernick starts to worry about her conduct.

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WE Charity did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The documents show that some concerns were raised about the volunteer program. The charity Volunteer Canada refused to participate because it was “uncomfortable with the notion of providing a grant for volunteer work.” Some government officials also objected to one of WE’s volunteer proposals, which involved students writing and collecting recipes that were “easy to make” for seniors and front-line health care workers. The idea drew a rebuke from Ms. Wernick, who said in an e-mail to colleagues that it was “going to become the poster child of not being ‘quality’ – I have to say it doesn’t communicate well.”

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said documents revealed that Bill Morneau was so close to the co-founders of WE Charity that they were referred to as "besties." In fact, the documents refer to his office, not Mr. Morneau himself.

OPINION
The body cam video of Masai Ujiri’s (PRESIDENT OF THE RAPTORS) NBA Finals encounter with a cop will only further erode public trust in police

CATHAL KELLY
PUBLISHED AUGUST 19, 2020
O
Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, centre left, walks with guard Kyle Lowry following an altercation after the Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 to win the NBA Finals, in Oakland, Calif., on June 13, 2019.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Shortly after the story broke that Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri had been in a courtside altercation with a cop after the end of the NBA Finals, a spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office explained what happened.

In that telling, Ujiri was the aggressor. He’d been asked to display his credential and would not.

“And that’s when he tried to push past our deputy, and our deputy pushed him back, and there was another push that kind of moved up and struck our deputy in the face,” Sergeant Ray Kelly told the San Francisco Chronicle.

It’s not that none of that is true. It’s that it bears just enough resemblance to the truth that you can hide a bunch of nonsense behind it.

At the time Kelly was speaking, he said he’d already seen video of the incident.


A few days later, he doubled down: “I’ve watched the video. The video is very compelling and descriptive and shows that our deputy was acting in accordance with his training and within the guidelines to work that event.”

More than a year later, the rest of us have now seen that footage. And it shows how much dirt you can hide behind phrases like “acting in accordance” and “within the guidelines.”

The officer who had the set-to with Ujiri, deputy Alan Strickland, has been off work since then, claiming a variety of injuries. He’s in the midst of suing Ujiri.

On Tuesday, Ujiri launched a countersuit. As part of that filing, the footage Kelly used as reference was released publicly. It hit the internet like the wave that flattens Manhattan at the end of Deep Impact.

In it you can see (and, in one case, hear) Ujiri approach Strickland, who is manning the perimeter of the court moments after the Raptors won the championship. A man who appears to be an arena security staffer is also standing there

As he nears Strickland, Ujiri is in the midst of taking his NBA credential out of his inside jacket pocket. The security staffer is the one who asks to see it. Before Ujiri can get it out, Strickland shoves him, two-handed, hard enough that he staggers backward. The shove is so ambitious that Ujiri almost takes down the staffer, bowling-pin style.

“Back the fuck up,” Strickland shouts. Ujiri stands there stunned for an instant.

“What are you pushing me for? I’m the president of the Raptors,” Ujiri says. With his hands at his side, he advances again.

Strickland shoves him once more, just as hard. Ujiri is a big guy and less caught by surprise the second time. He opens his arms in the universal gesture for “Are you for real, man?” 

At this point, bystanders jump in, one shouting, “Please, please, please.” The longer-range security footage then shows Ujiri shove Strickland in the chest. The shove does not “kind of move up” or strike anyone in the face. It’s just a shove. This time, Strickland is staggered.

By this point, several people are involved, and the fight is broken up. This is where the TV footage from that night picked up. After a few beats, Raptor Kyle Lowry finds Ujiri, wraps a protective arm around him and escorts him onto the court.

So after a year of flights to Oakland to parlay with cops and prosecutors, back-and-forth lawsuits, getting knee-deep in lawyers’ fees and aggravation, Ujiri is vindicated – at least in the public square.

Some will still say he should not have tried to walk past a cop who wanted him to stop. To which I would say: When did people stop using their words to solve problems?

Other people may say it is never right, under any circumstances, to manhandle a police officer. To which I would say: If “law,” as a concept, means that anyone in uniform can put their hands on me, with or without cause, and that I cannot do similarly to protect myself, then they ought to put the word “martial” in front of it.

You don’t want people shoving you? Then don’t shove people. Like most good rules for life, we all learned that in kindergarten.

In a lot of ways, this incident went well in its aftermath.


There was no rush to pillory Ujiri on the say-so of some random guy with a beef. Strickland’s story – that in Ujiri’s moment of joy at reaching the pinnacle of his professional life he decided to celebrate by attacking the first person he encountered – never passed the sniff test. Common sense still rules in most corners of real life, if not on the internet.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment backed Ujiri immediately and resolutely, as did the NBA. As is his habit in all things, Ujiri played the incident super-cool.

So one way of looking at this is that good intentions won the day (a year later).

The loser in this, as far as I can see, is public trust as it applies to cops. Not just the cops in Alameda County (based on this chain of events, if I lived there and saw one coming, I’d run), but cops everywhere.

Strickland may be the prime mover in this, but he is not the worst offender. The Sergeant Ray Kellys of the world, the ones who saw what happened and then backed Strickland’s play, what’s their angle here?

Did they not think the video would get out? Do they honestly believe that it is within their rights to manhandle the citizens they are sworn to protect just because they’re feeling frisky? Is it their understanding that, by law and “acting in accordance” with “guidelines,” nothing they do can ever be wrong? And that those protections then extend to (this is being charitable) massaging the truth after the fact?


I assume most police officers do not think this way, because I’d like to believe we live in a civil society and – this part is more important to me – that most people don’t like hurting other people just because they can.

But after listening to what was claimed and then watching those videos, it’s clear I may be wrong.

OPINION
It’s clear as ice: The Arctic is unravelling
GLENN MCGILLIVRAY
CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED AUGUST 19, 2020
Open this photo in gallery  

Sled dogs wade through standing water on the sea ice during an expedition in North Western Greenland on June 13, 2019.
STEFFEN OLSEN/DANISH METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE VIA AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Glenn McGillivray is managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, a not-for-profit research organization.

Unsettling news about climate change and the current state of the Arctic has been piling up as of late.

Last week saw ominous reports that Canada has lost its last permanent ice shelf. Using satellite photos, ice analysts noted that roughly more than 40 per cent of the 4,000-year-old Milne Ice Shelf, located on the northwestern edge of Ellesmere Island, broke off the main shelf into two very large and several smaller icebergs. The largest piece is nearly the size of Manhattan Island. The calving is thought to have occurred some time around July 30 or 31.

Glaciologists place the loss of the shelf squarely on the shoulders of climate change, with the Arctic facing summer temperatures this year that were about five degrees warmer than the 1980 to 2010 average. This, in a region already warming about three times faster than the global average.

And, in a study published Aug. 13 in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers concluded that the warming Greenland ice sheet could pass the point of no return. The findings come after analysis of almost four decades of data indicated that even if climate change were to stop immediately, Greenland ice could continue to shrink under certain circumstances.


This news is sobering. It’s one thing to lose temporary sea ice. There is still a fair bit of annual variability with that – we have good years and bad years.

But loss of permanent ice (both sea and land) is another story.

Because loss of permanent ice is, well, permanent. Once gone, it doesn’t come back, and there are implications with that.

Other recent (bad) news includes a June report that permafrost at outposts in the Canadian Arctic is melting 70 years earlier than predicted, and a July study indicating that polar-bear populations could be wiped out by the end of the century if the current warming trend continues.

These stories are punctuated by the fact that Earth’s temperature is currently “warmer than at any time in the last 5,000 or more years.” The last time there was 415 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Homo sapiens didn’t exist.

It’s clear as ice – the Arctic is more than just fraying at the edges. It is unravelling altogether.

But why should we care? After all, what possible effect can melting sea ice and exhausted, hungry polar bears have on the lives of those in the urban south?

Science is quickly connecting the dots between the loss of Arctic ice and severe weather.

Well-publicized science has made a solid connection between disappearing Arctic sea ice and a weakening, meandering jet stream that is contributing to what some have characterized as “stuck” weather patterns. The uncharacteristically long blocking patterns being linked to the weakening circulation of upper atmospheric winds in the Northern Hemisphere are being connected not only to the bitter North American winter of 2013-14 (remember the polar vortex?) and to the uncommonly cool summer of 2014, but also to extreme weather events, many of them involving prolonged periods of extreme heat or copious amounts of precipitation.

So while many used to think that changes in the Arctic brought by a warming climate served as nothing more than as a canary in the coal mine for the rest of us, we now have a better understanding – and appreciation – of how changes in the high north are directly affecting the lives of people hundreds and even thousands of kilometres away.

The reasons why natural hazards become disasters are many and complex to be sure. To boil it down to the base concepts, however, three main drivers can be identified: concentration of assets, the state of public infrastructure, and climate change.


On the latter, there is speculation that 2020 could go down as the warmest year on record, when compared against the 20th-century average.

It’s clear that climate change is not coming. It’s already here.

I can’t help but think that Earth’s systems can be equated to the systems that reside in each of us. Just as we have skeletal, muscular, nervous and circulatory systems, the Earth has its analogues.

Thus, we can no longer view a problem in the Arctic in isolation and consider the ramifications only on that region and to those who live and do business in it, just as we cannot view a problem with one part of our body in isolation.

We can say with strong confidence that loss of sea ice at the North Pole is beginning to affect the weather where large numbers of people reside.

So we must understand, the Arctic is not the canary in the coal mine – it is the coal mine.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF KAMALA HARRIS
Harris sets off Democratic donor stampede

Biden's new running mate has energized some donors who were disappointed after the primary, piling on top of Biden's robust fundraising.

PRESIDENT HARRIS 2024

Kamala Harris flashed her fundraising muscle with jaw-dropping totals: The Biden campaign raised $25.5 million the day following her addition to the ticket. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo


By ELENA SCHNEIDER
08/19/2020 

Kamala Harris is tapping into a new tranche of campaign cash for Joe Biden: money from both big and small donors who were reluctant to give to the white, male and over-70 nominee-in-waiting before she arrived.

Biden has turned things around since struggling to raise money in 2019, but Harris’ addition is exciting contributors anew. She has a deep familiarity with Democratic mega-donors from Silicon Valley to New York, and her history-making candidacy is now drawing interest from more casual givers as well as big donors who got a shot of excitement from Harris’ elevation.

The combination has jarred loose support among key constituency groups, according to interviews with more than a dozen Democratic donors, fundraisers and strategists, including women, Black and Indian American donors who still harbored feelings of concern about a Democratic primary that passed over the women and candidates of color.

Among Black donors, Biden’s new running mate has created “a much deeper level of enthusiasm that comes from Harris, a Black woman on the ticket,” said Steve Phillips, founder of Democracy In Color. Now, Phillips continued, “this is a chance to get someone who is in the family elected.”

While the money troubles that once plagued Biden disappeared the moment he notched his first primary win in South Carolina, Harris has quickly become a key piece of Biden’s finance operation. She is a more practiced manager of donor relationships than Biden, who has never counted that as a top priority, people familiar with his past fundraising struggles said. And enthusiasm for Harris’ elevation has pushed a new stream of donors toward the ticket.

Stacey Mason, executive director of Electing Women Bay Area, said that female donors were disappointed after the Democratic presidential primary, which saw four female senators ultimately pull out of the race without success. But now, Mason likened Harris’ selection as Biden’s running mate to an “awakening” among those contributors, adding there was “clearly a community of donors who were waiting for someone they wanted to get behind in a bigger way.”

“I’ve had a dozen calls from large donors, at least half of whom were sitting on the sidelines … now they’re saying, ‘What can we do to help? How can we give?” said Shekar Narasimhan, founder of the AAPI Victory Fund. “This takes it all to another level [because] she’s got a base she’s built over years that she can now bring to the table.”

A half-dozen donors and fundraisers said they expect Harris to take a larger role in donor management. And donors with an eye on the future are rushing not only to invest in a potential November victory but in a top potential contender for a future Democratic presidential nomination.

“Obviously, there’s a sense of — this is a two-fer here,” said Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC. “Not just for this moment and getting over the finish line in November, but setting up for the next Democratic presential race as well.”

For Wall Street executives and Big Tech megadonors worried Biden might select a foe, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Harris’ selection triggered a sigh of relief – and a willingness to fork over even more cash.

“For those that identify as more politically moderate, they see Harris as someone they deem as acceptable, so her selection was a signal – ok, it’s time to give,” said Cooper Teboe, a donor adviser and Democratic strategist based in Silicon Valley.

Harris flashed her fundraising muscle with jaw-dropping totals: The Biden campaign raised $25.5 million the day following her addition to the ticket. That number ballooned to $48 million in two days. The top four fundraising days for Biden’s campaign have now all come within a week of Harris’ selection.

For comparison, the campaign’s previous single best fundraising day came in at $10 million on June 30, at the close of the second quarter fundraising period. These totals also benefit from higher rates for individual giving, after Biden’s campaign merged forces with the Democratic National Committee to jointly fundraise earlier this year.

Before Harris joined the ticket, Biden had already nearly closed the cash gap between Democrats and President Donald Trump, outraising him in back-to-back months this summer.

A Women for Biden fundraiser, Harris’ first solo fundraising event as the vice presidential nominee, is already at capacity for $250,000-level tickets, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO. Biden and Harris appeared together for their first fundraiser last week, drawing over 40,000 attendees and nearly $10 million in cash from more than 200,000 contributors.

“It’s been Joe, Joe, Joe or his surrogates for weeks, and now they’ve got a new person to roll out and they’re taking full advantage of it,” said one Democratic donor. “She’s the one who everyone wants right now, but it’s also the logical time for Joe to pull back to prepare for debates, too.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, as fundraising has converted to a virtual world, fundraisers are still figuring out how to recreate a sense of intimacy without in-person connection. But donors said Harris hasn’t skipped a beat despite moving her fundraising to Zoom, “where she greets people one-by-one, making it very intimate, recreating that sense of a personal connection,” Narasimhan said.

Some donors said they expect a steady crescendo in Harris’ fundraising events, as well as more direct donor engagement shifting to her.

Those donors who expect Harris to take a leading role with contributors said it matches the pair’s skill sets: Harris is well-practiced in donor management, while Biden, who struggled to raise money for his previous presidential bids, “would be the first to tell you that” fundraising “was not at the top of his priority list because Joe went home every night to see his kids,” said former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who served as the DNC’s chairman from 2001 to 2005. “But he’s put together a perfect ticket that’s going to maximize our ability to do the fundraising.”

“She’s been much more geared toward modern campaigning and fundraising, which requires the cultivation of the donor class,” said Ami Copeland, the former deputy national finance director during Obama’s 2008 campaign. “Biden, meanwhile, as a senator from Delaware, that’s not something you really need to do.”

Harris is “very good at cultivating those warm and fuzzy friendships with donors,” Teboe said. “She will be the more front-facing of the two with donors.”

Harris isn’t the only new surrogate on the fundraising circuit. Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband, is also taking on solo fundraising events, like he did during the Democratic primary. On Thursday, Emhoff, who is taking a leave of absence from his legal firm, is headlining a fundraiser with musician James Taylor, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO. On Friday, the Democratic ticket-mates and their spouses will appear again together at a grassroots event, according to another invitation.

But the stakes for Harris’ role in the fundraising operation differ greatly than even when Biden joined Obama on the ticket, several donors said. Back in 2008, Biden wasn’t expected to run for higher office, while Harris backers see her as a rising leader in the party. Biden himself has regularly acknowledged that he sees himself as a “bridge” to the next generation of Democratic leaders.

“Donors weren’t investing in Obama thinking they’d also get Biden in 2016,” Copeland said. “I’m betting that everyone in Harris-land is thinking about 2024.”

Even though it’s early, donors are taking note — though they’ll only acknowledge it privately.

"There’s a dash among donors, who have ingratiated themselves to Biden, to now ingratiate themselves to Harris, which certainly wasn’t the case with Kaine in 2016 or Biden in 2008,” said one New York-based bundler. “People are getting their ducks in a row for 2024.”

The turnaround in fundraising capacity is a marked shift from the presidential primary, when Biden struggled to keep up with his Democratic rivals and Harris, too, saw her fundraising dry up in the back half of 2019, particularly among small-dollar givers.

Still, many of her high-dollar backers remained loyal, assembling a super PAC just hours before Harris ultimately withdrew from the presidential race. Now, those same backers are shelling out money anew.

“We have so much on the line in this election. There is so much on the line and it is certainly about, as Joe talks about, the soul of our nation,” said Harris at a recent grassroots fundraiser. “[And] I'm just thrilled to be with you Joe. I'm just thrilled.”

Dutch online store to halt sales depicting ‘Black Pete’
Activists say the character from the children’s holiday is a racist stereotype. 

The sale of Black Pete products will be halted by Bol | Valerie Kuypers/AFP via Getty Images

By HANNE COKELAERE
8/19/20

Online retailer Bol.com will ban products that reference Zwarte Piet or Black Pete, a character from a popular children's holiday, it announced Wednesday.

The company will also drop 'Black' from the character's name and will only refer to the character as "Piet" from late September.

Bol.com is a leading online store in the Netherlands and Belgium, where the winter tradition of Sinterklaas has come under fire for including a character called “Black Pete,” a blacked-up helper many see as a racist stereotype.

"Bol.com is a store for every one of us. ... Feeling welcome cannot be reconciled with an assortment that encourages discrimination/hate and is therefore experienced as hurtful," the web store said in a statement.

The retailer's announcement comes in the wake of anti-racism protests that began in the U.S. after the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by the police in May. The protests also spread through Europe, including Belgium and the Netherlands.

Bol.com said it will halt sales of books, movies or toys that depict or reference Black Pete as a "stereotypical caricature." Costumes of the character will remain available on the condition that they don't include caricatural elements such as a black wig, golden earrings or a ruff, it said.

The platform carved out an exception for products that are important from a historical or educational perspective, for instance books explaining the history of the character. It may decide to keep those online, but add a label to highlight their content as controversial, it said.

The web shop banned pictures containing blackface last year.

ALSO ON POLITICO
European schools grapple with Black Pete
ESTHER KING



ALSO ON POLITICO
Europe’s buried history of racism and slavery
MARGARETA MATACHE

Facebook last week announced it had updated its hate speech policy to include racist depictions of Jewish and Black people — including blackface — a decision the Belgian far right denounced as censure on the part of the social media giant.

WALL ST. AIN'T MAIN STREET

Global trade plumbs lowest level since 2007 
WTO cautions rebound might take longer than expected.

The Volkswagen factory in Zwickau, Germany | Jens Schlueter/Getty Images

By GIORGIO LEALI
8/19/20,

Trade in goods hit the lowest level since 2007 in the second quarter of 2020 and a V-shaped rebound "may prove overly optimistic," the World Trade Organisation said on Wednesday.

During the second quarter of the year, global trade in goods registered a "historic fall" and touched the levels of the 2008 financial crisis. Wednesday's figure "was the lowest on record in data going back to 2007," the WTO said.

A "goods trade barometer" published by the WTO takes into account recent trends in order to draw a real-time trajectory of global trade. Wednesday's reading was 84.5 on a scale where 100 corresponds to a trade growth in line with medium-term trends. Automotive goods and air freight were the worst-hit.

Wednesday's data are consistent with a previous WTO forecast that merchandise trade would have fallen by 18.5 percent in the second quarter, the organization said.

The WTO also noted the first signs of a recovery next year but cautioned the rebound might take longer than expected.

"The heavy economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that the projections for a strong, V-shaped trade rebound in 2021 may prove overly optimistic," the WTO said, adding that "an L-shaped recovery is a real prospect."