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Thursday, October 26, 2023
Experts rebuke politician's claim supervised drug sites 'destroy' cities
Story by The Canadian Press •
The warning was apocalyptic: Bringing a supervised drug-use site to Woodstock "would destroy the city," a civic politician there declared.
In a 4-3 vote, Woodstock city council last week nixed the idea of allowing a site where drugs can legally be consumed under medical supervision, despite pleas by public health authorities that such a facility – increasingly common in Ontario – is needed to help curb the deadly toll of opioid drugs in the Southwestern Ontario city of 40,000.
Coun. Deb Tait's language equating such facilities with higher crime rates around them hit a level the other opponents did not, inviting fact-checking follow-up questions about her assertion.
"The crime is off the scales around these places," Tait said during the council debate. "Talk to any police officer in a city that has them, and it's at least a six-block radius (that's affected).
"It would destroy the city."
Tait said later she has no facts to back up her claim, but relied on what police officers from London and Brantford – she wouldn't identify them – told her.
"I don't have statistics," she said in an interview. "That came from the police forces that I talked to."
London has had a supervised drug-use site since 2018, when an emergency centre opened. Another site is proposed in Brantford.
Often controversial when they first arrive to a community, the sites divide many people into two camps.
Proponents argue they're an effective way to reduce harm in the teeth of an opioid drug crisis, saving lives by allowing people who might risk deadly overdoses to consume drugs under medical supervision.
Critics, on the other hand, see the centres as enabling addicts and some go even farther, arguing anything that attracts drug users will also draw in those who prey on them, driving up nearby crime.
Megan Van Boheemen of the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection, who works at London’s supervised drug-use site, said she knows of no statistics to support Tait’s assertion about higher neighbouring crime rates.
“That's not accurate in our experience,” Van Boheemen said. “I have children that attend (H.B.) Beal personally, and many of them (students) aren't even aware that this exists here. It's not an issue.
“I've not seen it. I've not heard that. I'd be open to reading it if somebody wanted to share that, but we have not had that experience."
Earlier this month, Ontario paused approval of new supervised drug-use and treatment sites pending a review of all such sites after a 44-year-old Toronto woman was struck and killed by a stray bullet near an east-end Toronto facility.
Studies in scholarly journals, and government reviews and discussion papers, have been done in Canada and elsewhere exploring drug-use sites and crime, often finding either no change in criminal activity near them or a need for more study.
One expert in the United States, widely published on substance abuse and treatment, said supervised drug-use sites are often found in areas with high crime rates – but there's no proof they cause the crime.
“Most studies that have looked find that crime does not change in response to the opening of these sites,” Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at California's Stanford University, wrote in an email exchange.
“There is one study that showed a rise, and one that showed a drop, and all the rest show no change. On balance, then, I think we should expect no change in crime when one opens,” said Humphreys, who was a drug policy advisor to former U.S. president Barack Obama.
In Canada, only government-sanctioned drug-use sites are allowed and communities where they locate usually have to approve needed rezoning.
Last week's vote essentially kills the possibility of one opening in Woodstock, even before the area public health office could complete its research into how it would help reduce the opioid drug toll.
One politician who voted to keep the door open to one said she's troubled that needed research won't continue.
“Unfortunately, this motion (that passed) is answering a question that hasn't even been asked yet,” Coun. Bernia Martin said. “That's what the biggest frustration is. It’s saying stop the study, because we don't want this in the downtown. Well, we haven't even determined if it's going to be, (or) could be in the downtown."
- With file by Canadian Press
bwilliams@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/BrianWatLFPress
Brian Williams, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, London Free Press
Story by The Canadian Press •
The warning was apocalyptic: Bringing a supervised drug-use site to Woodstock "would destroy the city," a civic politician there declared.
In a 4-3 vote, Woodstock city council last week nixed the idea of allowing a site where drugs can legally be consumed under medical supervision, despite pleas by public health authorities that such a facility – increasingly common in Ontario – is needed to help curb the deadly toll of opioid drugs in the Southwestern Ontario city of 40,000.
Coun. Deb Tait's language equating such facilities with higher crime rates around them hit a level the other opponents did not, inviting fact-checking follow-up questions about her assertion.
"The crime is off the scales around these places," Tait said during the council debate. "Talk to any police officer in a city that has them, and it's at least a six-block radius (that's affected).
"It would destroy the city."
Tait said later she has no facts to back up her claim, but relied on what police officers from London and Brantford – she wouldn't identify them – told her.
"I don't have statistics," she said in an interview. "That came from the police forces that I talked to."
London has had a supervised drug-use site since 2018, when an emergency centre opened. Another site is proposed in Brantford.
Often controversial when they first arrive to a community, the sites divide many people into two camps.
Related video: Advocates frustrated by ‘State of Indecision’ around drug use sites (WWLP Springfield) Duration 2:06 View on Watch
Proponents argue they're an effective way to reduce harm in the teeth of an opioid drug crisis, saving lives by allowing people who might risk deadly overdoses to consume drugs under medical supervision.
Critics, on the other hand, see the centres as enabling addicts and some go even farther, arguing anything that attracts drug users will also draw in those who prey on them, driving up nearby crime.
Megan Van Boheemen of the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection, who works at London’s supervised drug-use site, said she knows of no statistics to support Tait’s assertion about higher neighbouring crime rates.
“That's not accurate in our experience,” Van Boheemen said. “I have children that attend (H.B.) Beal personally, and many of them (students) aren't even aware that this exists here. It's not an issue.
“I've not seen it. I've not heard that. I'd be open to reading it if somebody wanted to share that, but we have not had that experience."
Earlier this month, Ontario paused approval of new supervised drug-use and treatment sites pending a review of all such sites after a 44-year-old Toronto woman was struck and killed by a stray bullet near an east-end Toronto facility.
Studies in scholarly journals, and government reviews and discussion papers, have been done in Canada and elsewhere exploring drug-use sites and crime, often finding either no change in criminal activity near them or a need for more study.
One expert in the United States, widely published on substance abuse and treatment, said supervised drug-use sites are often found in areas with high crime rates – but there's no proof they cause the crime.
“Most studies that have looked find that crime does not change in response to the opening of these sites,” Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at California's Stanford University, wrote in an email exchange.
“There is one study that showed a rise, and one that showed a drop, and all the rest show no change. On balance, then, I think we should expect no change in crime when one opens,” said Humphreys, who was a drug policy advisor to former U.S. president Barack Obama.
In Canada, only government-sanctioned drug-use sites are allowed and communities where they locate usually have to approve needed rezoning.
Last week's vote essentially kills the possibility of one opening in Woodstock, even before the area public health office could complete its research into how it would help reduce the opioid drug toll.
One politician who voted to keep the door open to one said she's troubled that needed research won't continue.
“Unfortunately, this motion (that passed) is answering a question that hasn't even been asked yet,” Coun. Bernia Martin said. “That's what the biggest frustration is. It’s saying stop the study, because we don't want this in the downtown. Well, we haven't even determined if it's going to be, (or) could be in the downtown."
- With file by Canadian Press
bwilliams@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/BrianWatLFPress
Brian Williams, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, London Free Press
Refinery strike causes Metro Vancouver sugar shortage
Sugar has been scarce on grocery store shelves since workers at the Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver walked off the job a month ago. Local businesses say sugar is getting harder to source and prices are going up. As CBC's Michelle Gomez reports, businesses are concerned about having enough for the holiday season.
Archaeologists unearthed the ruins of a 5,000-year-old tomb on one of the Scottish Orkney Islands, National Museums Scotland said in a statement Tuesday.
The "incredibly rare" tomb, which is from the Neolithic era, was largely destroyed without record in the 19th century, according to the museum. Only 12 of such tombs have been found in Orkney. They're considered "the pinnacle of Neolithic engineering in northern Britain," the museum said.
The tomb, unearthed after a three-week excavation, has a large stone chamber at the center of a cairn, which is a human-made pile of stones usually raised as a marker for a burial mound. The stone chamber is surrounded by six smaller rooms.
Archaeologists found 14 articulated skeletons of men, women and children in one of the smaller side rooms, according to the museum. Other human remains and artifacts, including pottery, stone tools and a bone pin, were also discovered.
"The preservation of so many human remains in one part of the monument is amazing, especially since the stone has been mostly robbed for building material," Vicki Cummings, head of Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said in a statement.
Archaeologists found 14 articulated skeletons of men, women and children in one room. / Credit: National Museums Scotland© Provided by CBS News
Cummings co-directed the excavation with Dr. Hugo Anderson-Whymark of National Museums Scotland.
The Holm tomb was buried beneath a pasture field. It had been largely destroyed in the late 18th or early 19th century in order to supply a nearby farmhouse with building material, according to the museum. In 1896, the farmer's son came across eight skeletons while digging in the ruins. His discovery was reported in The Orcadian, a newspaper.
The 1896 discovery prompted archeologists to search in the area.
"Orkney is exceptionally rich in archaeology, but we never expected to find a tomb of this size in such a small-scale excavation," Anderson-Whymark said. "It's incredible to think this once impressive monument was nearly lost without record, but fortunately just enough stonework has survived for us to be able to understand the size, form and construction of this tomb."
The "incredibly rare" tomb, which is from the Neolithic era, was largely destroyed without record in the 19th century, according to the museum. Only 12 of such tombs have been found in Orkney. They're considered "the pinnacle of Neolithic engineering in northern Britain," the museum said.
The tomb, unearthed after a three-week excavation, has a large stone chamber at the center of a cairn, which is a human-made pile of stones usually raised as a marker for a burial mound. The stone chamber is surrounded by six smaller rooms.
Archaeologists found 14 articulated skeletons of men, women and children in one of the smaller side rooms, according to the museum. Other human remains and artifacts, including pottery, stone tools and a bone pin, were also discovered.
"The preservation of so many human remains in one part of the monument is amazing, especially since the stone has been mostly robbed for building material," Vicki Cummings, head of Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said in a statement.
Archaeologists found 14 articulated skeletons of men, women and children in one room. / Credit: National Museums Scotland© Provided by CBS News
Cummings co-directed the excavation with Dr. Hugo Anderson-Whymark of National Museums Scotland.
The Holm tomb was buried beneath a pasture field. It had been largely destroyed in the late 18th or early 19th century in order to supply a nearby farmhouse with building material, according to the museum. In 1896, the farmer's son came across eight skeletons while digging in the ruins. His discovery was reported in The Orcadian, a newspaper.
The 1896 discovery prompted archeologists to search in the area.
"Orkney is exceptionally rich in archaeology, but we never expected to find a tomb of this size in such a small-scale excavation," Anderson-Whymark said. "It's incredible to think this once impressive monument was nearly lost without record, but fortunately just enough stonework has survived for us to be able to understand the size, form and construction of this tomb."
"Australia review of indigenous group’s application on Barossa pipeline project"
Originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.
The emergency application has been filed under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.
Credit: Dragon Claws/shutterstock.com.© Dragon Claws/shutterstock.com.
The application has been filed under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act to the Australian Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek.
The group is seeking a special declaration from the minister to prevent ‘serious and immediate harm to significant underwater cultural sites’ in the Timor Sea, where Barossa Gas Project is planned to be developed.
A press statement from the non-profit, non-government entity, Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) reads: “The Santos has announced that it intends to begin work on the pipeline as soon as this Wednesday, despite being aware of Tiwi concerns that it will traverse an area of significant underwater cultural heritage.”
Plibersek has been urged by six indigenous elders on the Tiwi Islands to issue a declaration safeguarding their heritage, reported Reuters.
The indigenous group claim that their heritage is immediately in danger of being desecrated by the development of the planned Barossa pipeline.
A spokesperson for the environment department was quoted by the news agency as saying in an e-mail: "Applications are considered in order of urgency and have different assessment requirements.
"The department is considering the short-term emergency application."
In a recently issued quarterly update, Santos said an independent expert determined presence of no specific underwater cultural heritage places along the proposed Barossa pipeline route.
However, according to EDO, the pipeline route will cross a sea floor area where Tiwi people believe it could cause ‘significant harm to ancient Tiwi burial grounds, songlines and other sacred ancestral sites’.
Santos aims to commission the Barossa field project in the first half of 2025.
EDO Special Counsel Alina Leikin said: “Tiwi elders have sought emergency protection for an area that they consider holds cultural significance and which they fear is under serious and immediate threat.
“They have asked the Minister to make a special declaration under cultural heritage laws, to protect their cultural heritage. This is a step our clients take very seriously, but given the importance of the cultural heritage at risk, it is a step they feel they must take to protect and preserve their precious cultural heritage.”
The application has been filed under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act to the Australian Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek.
The group is seeking a special declaration from the minister to prevent ‘serious and immediate harm to significant underwater cultural sites’ in the Timor Sea, where Barossa Gas Project is planned to be developed.
A press statement from the non-profit, non-government entity, Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) reads: “The Santos has announced that it intends to begin work on the pipeline as soon as this Wednesday, despite being aware of Tiwi concerns that it will traverse an area of significant underwater cultural heritage.”
Plibersek has been urged by six indigenous elders on the Tiwi Islands to issue a declaration safeguarding their heritage, reported Reuters.
The indigenous group claim that their heritage is immediately in danger of being desecrated by the development of the planned Barossa pipeline.
A spokesperson for the environment department was quoted by the news agency as saying in an e-mail: "Applications are considered in order of urgency and have different assessment requirements.
"The department is considering the short-term emergency application."
In a recently issued quarterly update, Santos said an independent expert determined presence of no specific underwater cultural heritage places along the proposed Barossa pipeline route.
However, according to EDO, the pipeline route will cross a sea floor area where Tiwi people believe it could cause ‘significant harm to ancient Tiwi burial grounds, songlines and other sacred ancestral sites’.
Santos aims to commission the Barossa field project in the first half of 2025.
EDO Special Counsel Alina Leikin said: “Tiwi elders have sought emergency protection for an area that they consider holds cultural significance and which they fear is under serious and immediate threat.
“They have asked the Minister to make a special declaration under cultural heritage laws, to protect their cultural heritage. This is a step our clients take very seriously, but given the importance of the cultural heritage at risk, it is a step they feel they must take to protect and preserve their precious cultural heritage.”
NJ
Former coal-fired power plant being razed to make way for offshore wind electricity connection
UPPER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — For decades, tourists heading to the New Jersey beach resorts of Ocean City and Cape May saw the towering smokestack of the B.L. England Generating Station as they zipped past it on the Garden State Parkway.
The 463-foot-tall (141.1-meter) stack was a local landmark and even a weather forecaster for some residents who glanced outside to see which way emissions from its top were blowing, and how fast, as they decided what to wear for the day.
But the power plant, which burned coal and oil over the decades, closed in May 2019, a casualty of the global move away from burning fossil fuels.
And the smokestack, the last major remaining piece of the plant, will be imploded at 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, brought down by explosives strategically placed by a demolition company known in the area for razing the former Trump Plaza casino in nearby Atlantic City in 2021.
The demolition will clear the way for the waterfront site on Great Egg Harbor Bay to enter its next role in providing energy to New Jerseyans: As the connection point for several of the state's planned offshore wind farms.
Because the power plant already had connections to the electrical grid, much of the infrastructure to plug offshore wind into the power system already exists nearby, making it a logical site to bring the offshore wind power onshore.
A cable from the first such wind farm, to be built by energy company Orsted, will come ashore on a beach in Ocean City, run underground along a roadway right-of-way before re-entering the waters of the bay and finally connecting to the grid at the former B.L. England site.
That route, and the very existence of the project itself, has generated significant opposition from residents in Ocean City and other Jersey Shore communities, who are fighting them in court and in the court of public opinion.
The power plant opened in 1961. A cooling tower there was demolished in September 2022, and boilers at the site were demolished in April.
The property is currently owned by Beesley's Point Development Group, a New York company that says it specializes in redeveloping “distressed” heavy industrial sites.
___
Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly known as Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
Wayne Parry, The Associated Press
UPPER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — For decades, tourists heading to the New Jersey beach resorts of Ocean City and Cape May saw the towering smokestack of the B.L. England Generating Station as they zipped past it on the Garden State Parkway.
The 463-foot-tall (141.1-meter) stack was a local landmark and even a weather forecaster for some residents who glanced outside to see which way emissions from its top were blowing, and how fast, as they decided what to wear for the day.
But the power plant, which burned coal and oil over the decades, closed in May 2019, a casualty of the global move away from burning fossil fuels.
And the smokestack, the last major remaining piece of the plant, will be imploded at 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, brought down by explosives strategically placed by a demolition company known in the area for razing the former Trump Plaza casino in nearby Atlantic City in 2021.
The demolition will clear the way for the waterfront site on Great Egg Harbor Bay to enter its next role in providing energy to New Jerseyans: As the connection point for several of the state's planned offshore wind farms.
Because the power plant already had connections to the electrical grid, much of the infrastructure to plug offshore wind into the power system already exists nearby, making it a logical site to bring the offshore wind power onshore.
A cable from the first such wind farm, to be built by energy company Orsted, will come ashore on a beach in Ocean City, run underground along a roadway right-of-way before re-entering the waters of the bay and finally connecting to the grid at the former B.L. England site.
That route, and the very existence of the project itself, has generated significant opposition from residents in Ocean City and other Jersey Shore communities, who are fighting them in court and in the court of public opinion.
The power plant opened in 1961. A cooling tower there was demolished in September 2022, and boilers at the site were demolished in April.
The property is currently owned by Beesley's Point Development Group, a New York company that says it specializes in redeveloping “distressed” heavy industrial sites.
___
Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly known as Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
Wayne Parry, The Associated Press
Unionized Starbucks workers in Sherwood Park, Alta. vote to accept 1st collective agreement
Story by Stephen Cook • CBC
Workers at two Starbucks locations in Sherwood Park, Alta. previously voted to unionize with one having ratified a collective agreement this week.© Eric Risberg/The Associated Press
Unionized Starbucks employees at a Sherwood Park, Alta. location have successfully negotiated their first-ever collective agreement.
Workers at the Beaverbrook Plaza coffee shop recently voted to accept the new three-year contract, according to a news release from the United Steelworkers (USW) union. The agreement covering around 25 employees was ratified Tuesday.
It's the second of its kind negotiated by the USW in Alberta and the third in Canada, following in the footsteps of a collective agreement at the Calgary Millrise Centre Starbucks this summer.
"It's good news and it shows that the process works," Scott Lunny, western Canadian director for USW, said in an interview Wednesday.
"It's a slow process, it's a legalistic process, sometimes, to organize in Alberta. It's not very favourable to workers easily joining a union but it is possible."
Lunny said USW hopes to see more locations unionize and achieve collective agreements.
Last year saw a flurry of unionization activity at Starbucks across Canada and the United States. A second Sherwood Park Starbucks on Sherwood Drive also voted to join the USW but has yet to negotiate a collective agreement.
Previous unionization efforts
Meanwhile, a unionization effort at five Lethbridge, Alta. locations was unsuccessful after a tied vote by workers.
USW also represents Starbucks workers at stores in Edmonton as well as in B.C. and Ontario. Vancouver's only unionized Starbucks was set to close at the end of September after its lease expired.
The USW release said the collective agreement at Beaverbrook Plaza includes improved working conditions, better job security and mechanisms for resolving disputes. Workers will also receive wage increases of five per cent on ratification and another five per cent increase over the following two years.
"It's not perfect, but it's the first agreement and we'll build on that," Lunny said. "And in a couple years, we'll be bargaining again for the Beaverbrook store."
A statement posted online from Starbucks Canada says the agreement was able to be reached as "the result of respectful and constructive in-person conversations at the bargaining table."
"Starbucks has always been committed to bargaining in good faith," read the statement.
"We agree that partners at each of our union-represented stores deserve to see progress towards first contracts. That's why Starbucks is committed to progress negotiations towards a first contract where union representatives have approached contract bargaining with professionalism and have allowed both parties to discuss proposals."
Story by Stephen Cook • CBC
Workers at two Starbucks locations in Sherwood Park, Alta. previously voted to unionize with one having ratified a collective agreement this week.© Eric Risberg/The Associated Press
Unionized Starbucks employees at a Sherwood Park, Alta. location have successfully negotiated their first-ever collective agreement.
Workers at the Beaverbrook Plaza coffee shop recently voted to accept the new three-year contract, according to a news release from the United Steelworkers (USW) union. The agreement covering around 25 employees was ratified Tuesday.
It's the second of its kind negotiated by the USW in Alberta and the third in Canada, following in the footsteps of a collective agreement at the Calgary Millrise Centre Starbucks this summer.
"It's good news and it shows that the process works," Scott Lunny, western Canadian director for USW, said in an interview Wednesday.
"It's a slow process, it's a legalistic process, sometimes, to organize in Alberta. It's not very favourable to workers easily joining a union but it is possible."
Lunny said USW hopes to see more locations unionize and achieve collective agreements.
Last year saw a flurry of unionization activity at Starbucks across Canada and the United States. A second Sherwood Park Starbucks on Sherwood Drive also voted to join the USW but has yet to negotiate a collective agreement.
Previous unionization efforts
Meanwhile, a unionization effort at five Lethbridge, Alta. locations was unsuccessful after a tied vote by workers.
USW also represents Starbucks workers at stores in Edmonton as well as in B.C. and Ontario. Vancouver's only unionized Starbucks was set to close at the end of September after its lease expired.
The USW release said the collective agreement at Beaverbrook Plaza includes improved working conditions, better job security and mechanisms for resolving disputes. Workers will also receive wage increases of five per cent on ratification and another five per cent increase over the following two years.
"It's not perfect, but it's the first agreement and we'll build on that," Lunny said. "And in a couple years, we'll be bargaining again for the Beaverbrook store."
A statement posted online from Starbucks Canada says the agreement was able to be reached as "the result of respectful and constructive in-person conversations at the bargaining table."
"Starbucks has always been committed to bargaining in good faith," read the statement.
"We agree that partners at each of our union-represented stores deserve to see progress towards first contracts. That's why Starbucks is committed to progress negotiations towards a first contract where union representatives have approached contract bargaining with professionalism and have allowed both parties to discuss proposals."
Saskatchewan throne speech outlines plans for province's future
NO MENTION OF PRONOUNS OR PARENT RIGHTS
Wednesday's throne speech read by Lieutenant Governor Russell Mirasty was tame compared with the last two weeks at the Legislature.© Provided by Leader Post
When Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre talked last week about Saskatchewan’s need to “right the imbalance,” she couldn’t have been more right … although perhaps not in the way she intended.
Imbalance , as articulated by the justice minister, is dog-whistle nonsense — a bone to the extreme right in this province to quietly inform them that this government was all about family values pushed by the modern-day U.S. Republicans and their ultra-conservative religious base.
It might have been dressed up in the more palatable catchphrase of “parental rights,” but make no mistake that this was a blatant attempt to curry favour with voters thinking of bolting to the Saskatchewan United Party, which has had Premier Scott Moe’s government spooked since the Aug. 10 Lumsden-Morse byelection.
Things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
In that special emergency sitting to pass amendments to the Education Act to include the “parental right” to be informed when under-16 children’s preferred name or pronoun use changes at school, the Sask. Party government was absolutely lambasted by the courts, lawyers, teachers, child psychologists, the children’s advocate and the Human Rights Commission.
It was a three-blown-tire car wreck. Something more than a tire “rebalancing” was required. The government needed to find smoother road.
Enter this week’s throne speech, which — perhaps surprisingly — didn’t even so much as mention parental rights. Not in the press release. Not in the 19 pages read by Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty.
Moe’s explanation for this was something less than clear — almost as strange as his explanation of why the government has suddenly dropped its defence of its pronoun case in court after hiring private legal counsel to defend it. (The premier essentially said pronouns are now old news … although that hardly explains why they weren’t mentioned, given that “old news” might very well have been the theme of a throne speech that largely harped on past accomplishments like adding 180,000 people since 2007.)
The nature of Wedensday’s throne speech only heightens suspicion that the pronoun bill and emergency sitting was truly a spur-of-the-moment thing, decided after Justice Michael Megaw ruled the policy would cause “irreparable harm”.
So the better strategy was to curtail the politics and move back toward a more relatable agenda, which Wednesday’s throne speech largely did.
Sure, there were the usual shots at the federal Liberal government — specifically the need to apply last year’s Saskatchewan First Act to the federal Clean Electricity Regulations. But now, we’re pretty much numb to the gore of jousting with Ottawa.
There is pending legislation guarding people’s right to wear a poppy in the workplace on Nov. 11. (Again, Moe was less than specific when it came to which workplaces prohibited poppy wearing.)
Similarly bizarre is the announcement of sending a substantial Saskatchewan delegation to the United Arab Emirates for the COP28 Conference, which sounds like more questionable ministerial travel.
But most of the throne speech clearly fit with “building and protecting,” like the new provincial sales tax rebate for new homeowners, retroactive to last April.
There was nothing for renters, but the government claims its Secondary Suite Program to more easily build rental accommodation in single-family dwellings will alleviate shortages.
Other issues to address needs included presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters, hiking the smoking and vaping age to 19 years from 18, the new Saskatchewan Employment Incentive program to bolster low-income working families with dependent children, 500 new addiction treatment spaces under the Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions and 30 new complex needs emergency shelter spaces in Regina and Saskatoon.
Add in new or previously announced health facility projects in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Weyburn, La Ronge and Grenfell and new schools in Regina, Saskatoon, Lanigan, Moose Jaw and La Loche.
There was actually little new in this housekeeping throne speech — perhaps surprising giv en that an election i s just a year away.
But less surprising is the government’s desire to see things simmer down a bit. That’s pretty much what this throne speech tries to do.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Wednesday's throne speech read by Lieutenant Governor Russell Mirasty was tame compared with the last two weeks at the Legislature.© Provided by Leader Post
When Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre talked last week about Saskatchewan’s need to “right the imbalance,” she couldn’t have been more right … although perhaps not in the way she intended.
Imbalance , as articulated by the justice minister, is dog-whistle nonsense — a bone to the extreme right in this province to quietly inform them that this government was all about family values pushed by the modern-day U.S. Republicans and their ultra-conservative religious base.
It might have been dressed up in the more palatable catchphrase of “parental rights,” but make no mistake that this was a blatant attempt to curry favour with voters thinking of bolting to the Saskatchewan United Party, which has had Premier Scott Moe’s government spooked since the Aug. 10 Lumsden-Morse byelection.
Things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
In that special emergency sitting to pass amendments to the Education Act to include the “parental right” to be informed when under-16 children’s preferred name or pronoun use changes at school, the Sask. Party government was absolutely lambasted by the courts, lawyers, teachers, child psychologists, the children’s advocate and the Human Rights Commission.
It was a three-blown-tire car wreck. Something more than a tire “rebalancing” was required. The government needed to find smoother road.
Enter this week’s throne speech, which — perhaps surprisingly — didn’t even so much as mention parental rights. Not in the press release. Not in the 19 pages read by Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty.
Moe’s explanation for this was something less than clear — almost as strange as his explanation of why the government has suddenly dropped its defence of its pronoun case in court after hiring private legal counsel to defend it. (The premier essentially said pronouns are now old news … although that hardly explains why they weren’t mentioned, given that “old news” might very well have been the theme of a throne speech that largely harped on past accomplishments like adding 180,000 people since 2007.)
The nature of Wedensday’s throne speech only heightens suspicion that the pronoun bill and emergency sitting was truly a spur-of-the-moment thing, decided after Justice Michael Megaw ruled the policy would cause “irreparable harm”.
So the better strategy was to curtail the politics and move back toward a more relatable agenda, which Wednesday’s throne speech largely did.
Sure, there were the usual shots at the federal Liberal government — specifically the need to apply last year’s Saskatchewan First Act to the federal Clean Electricity Regulations. But now, we’re pretty much numb to the gore of jousting with Ottawa.
There is pending legislation guarding people’s right to wear a poppy in the workplace on Nov. 11. (Again, Moe was less than specific when it came to which workplaces prohibited poppy wearing.)
Similarly bizarre is the announcement of sending a substantial Saskatchewan delegation to the United Arab Emirates for the COP28 Conference, which sounds like more questionable ministerial travel.
But most of the throne speech clearly fit with “building and protecting,” like the new provincial sales tax rebate for new homeowners, retroactive to last April.
There was nothing for renters, but the government claims its Secondary Suite Program to more easily build rental accommodation in single-family dwellings will alleviate shortages.
Other issues to address needs included presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters, hiking the smoking and vaping age to 19 years from 18, the new Saskatchewan Employment Incentive program to bolster low-income working families with dependent children, 500 new addiction treatment spaces under the Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions and 30 new complex needs emergency shelter spaces in Regina and Saskatoon.
Add in new or previously announced health facility projects in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Weyburn, La Ronge and Grenfell and new schools in Regina, Saskatoon, Lanigan, Moose Jaw and La Loche.
There was actually little new in this housekeeping throne speech — perhaps surprising giv en that an election i s just a year away.
But less surprising is the government’s desire to see things simmer down a bit. That’s pretty much what this throne speech tries to do.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland lead the nation on supplying $10-a-day child care
Story by Peter Zimonjic
In June, the federal government told provinces and territories how much of $625 million in infrastructure funding they would be getting to create those spaces.
Fees remain high in Alberta, Ontario, B.C.
The Measuring Matters survey has been conducted every year since 2014. This is the first to assess the impact of the new child-care policy on fees.
Researchers conducting the survey made about 11,000 calls to child-care centres across the country to track the median fees in those cities for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children.
The survey classifies children under 18 months or two years of age as infants, children 18 months to three years of age as toddlers, and children aged three to five who are not yet in kindergarten as preschoolers.
The report found that in Newfoundland and Labrador, fees fell to $10 for all three categories of children by the end of 2022, well before the 2026 target date. Saskatchewan also hit the benchmark in 2022, while Manitoba hit it earlier this year.
Nunavut also hit the $10-a-day target in 2022, bringing median fees in Iqaluit down to just $217 per month in all three categories in 2023. That's a drop of 82 per cent for toddlers and preschoolers, and of 83 per cent for infant care.
Median child care fees in Quebec actually went up over the survey period. The province already had its own child-care program limiting fees to $8.25 a day when Ottawa introduced its program. Even with the 7.3 per cent increase in fees, which brings them up to $8.85, child care in Quebec is still the least expensive in Canada.
While not all provinces met the $10 a day benchmark or cut fees by 50 per cent, all provinces and territories managed to reduce fees for child care significantly, the report said.
Alberta managed to cut fees by between 45 to 48 per cent, depending on the level of care.
In Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge, the only three cities in Alberta that were surveyed, fees dropped by 24 to 48 per cent, depending on the location and level of care.
Median child-care fees for toddlers in Calgary dropped from $1,100 during the survey period to $838 a month. That was still the second-highest level recorded in any city in Canada, after Richmond B.C. ($905 a month) and ahead of Toronto ($725 a month).
Calgary recorded the highest costs in the country for preschoolers, at $810 a month (down from $1,075), followed closely by Richmond B.C. at $800 a month.
For infants, child-care fees in Calgary dropped by 40 per cent to $780 a month, and by as much as 48 per cent in Edmonton, bringing the median price down to $555 a month from $1,075.
Infant care was most expensive in Richmond B.C. and Toronto, at just over $900 a month. Markham came in third at $818 per month.
Spaces remain an issue
The report says that if no new spaces are created, the reduced fees will simply increase the number of people on waiting lists for child care spaces — and the national child-care program will have failed.
To determine capacity in the system, researchers asked child-care centres if they had space to accept a new child "in the next week."
"Of the 30 cities with data, half (14) had little to no spare capacity for an additional preschool-aged child," the report said. "For infants and toddlers, little or no spare capacity was reported in 22 of the 30 cities."
The report said that even in Edmonton and the Ontario cities of Richmond Hill, Windsor and Vaughn, the four municipalities with the most access to unused capacity, only one third of child-care centres contacted said they could enrol a full-time child within a week.
The report's authors said that all provincial and territorial governments should follow the examples of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, P.E.I., New Brunswick, B.C. and Nunavut by cutting net fees to a maximum of $10 a day.
The report also asks governments to develop strategies to increase the number of child care spaces and boost wages for child-care workers.
Story by Peter Zimonjic
CBC
Median child care fees for toddlers in Calgary are the second highest in the country at $838 a month, behind Richmond B.C. at $905 a month, and ahead of Toronto at $725.© Steve Bruce/CBC
Cities in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador are leading the country on offering $10-a-day child-care services, but the availability of spaces remains an obstacle, says a new survey.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Martha Friendly, director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, published the "Measuring Matters" survey Thursday. It's the first survey from the centre to assess fees paid by parents nationwide since the federal government's new child-care policy took effect.
"Overall, the findings related to child-care fees by city and age group show that Canada is making solid progress in offering more affordable child care," the report said.
Researchers surveyed child-care centres in 37 cities across the country — five cities in Quebec (which already had child-care fees below $10 a day) and 32 cities in provinces and territories that joined the federal child-care program.
It found that in 18 of the 32 cities, median child care fees had been reduced by more than half. Another eight to 10 cities saw fees drop by 40 to 47 per cent, depending on the level of care.
In April 2021, the federal government offered provinces and territories roughly $30 billion over five years to help them offset the costs of a national early learning and child-care program.
The goal was to cut the cost of child care in half in the first year and then bring daily fees down to $10 a day per child by 2026. The plan also calls for creating 250,000 new child-care spots by 2026.
Median child care fees for toddlers in Calgary are the second highest in the country at $838 a month, behind Richmond B.C. at $905 a month, and ahead of Toronto at $725.© Steve Bruce/CBC
Cities in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador are leading the country on offering $10-a-day child-care services, but the availability of spaces remains an obstacle, says a new survey.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Martha Friendly, director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, published the "Measuring Matters" survey Thursday. It's the first survey from the centre to assess fees paid by parents nationwide since the federal government's new child-care policy took effect.
"Overall, the findings related to child-care fees by city and age group show that Canada is making solid progress in offering more affordable child care," the report said.
Researchers surveyed child-care centres in 37 cities across the country — five cities in Quebec (which already had child-care fees below $10 a day) and 32 cities in provinces and territories that joined the federal child-care program.
It found that in 18 of the 32 cities, median child care fees had been reduced by more than half. Another eight to 10 cities saw fees drop by 40 to 47 per cent, depending on the level of care.
In April 2021, the federal government offered provinces and territories roughly $30 billion over five years to help them offset the costs of a national early learning and child-care program.
The goal was to cut the cost of child care in half in the first year and then bring daily fees down to $10 a day per child by 2026. The plan also calls for creating 250,000 new child-care spots by 2026.
Related video: Food bank usage in Manitoba keeps rising (cbc.ca)Duration 2:09 View on Watch
In June, the federal government told provinces and territories how much of $625 million in infrastructure funding they would be getting to create those spaces.
Fees remain high in Alberta, Ontario, B.C.
The Measuring Matters survey has been conducted every year since 2014. This is the first to assess the impact of the new child-care policy on fees.
Researchers conducting the survey made about 11,000 calls to child-care centres across the country to track the median fees in those cities for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children.
The survey classifies children under 18 months or two years of age as infants, children 18 months to three years of age as toddlers, and children aged three to five who are not yet in kindergarten as preschoolers.
The report found that in Newfoundland and Labrador, fees fell to $10 for all three categories of children by the end of 2022, well before the 2026 target date. Saskatchewan also hit the benchmark in 2022, while Manitoba hit it earlier this year.
Nunavut also hit the $10-a-day target in 2022, bringing median fees in Iqaluit down to just $217 per month in all three categories in 2023. That's a drop of 82 per cent for toddlers and preschoolers, and of 83 per cent for infant care.
Median child care fees in Quebec actually went up over the survey period. The province already had its own child-care program limiting fees to $8.25 a day when Ottawa introduced its program. Even with the 7.3 per cent increase in fees, which brings them up to $8.85, child care in Quebec is still the least expensive in Canada.
While not all provinces met the $10 a day benchmark or cut fees by 50 per cent, all provinces and territories managed to reduce fees for child care significantly, the report said.
Alberta managed to cut fees by between 45 to 48 per cent, depending on the level of care.
In Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge, the only three cities in Alberta that were surveyed, fees dropped by 24 to 48 per cent, depending on the location and level of care.
Median child-care fees for toddlers in Calgary dropped from $1,100 during the survey period to $838 a month. That was still the second-highest level recorded in any city in Canada, after Richmond B.C. ($905 a month) and ahead of Toronto ($725 a month).
Calgary recorded the highest costs in the country for preschoolers, at $810 a month (down from $1,075), followed closely by Richmond B.C. at $800 a month.
For infants, child-care fees in Calgary dropped by 40 per cent to $780 a month, and by as much as 48 per cent in Edmonton, bringing the median price down to $555 a month from $1,075.
Infant care was most expensive in Richmond B.C. and Toronto, at just over $900 a month. Markham came in third at $818 per month.
Spaces remain an issue
The report says that if no new spaces are created, the reduced fees will simply increase the number of people on waiting lists for child care spaces — and the national child-care program will have failed.
To determine capacity in the system, researchers asked child-care centres if they had space to accept a new child "in the next week."
"Of the 30 cities with data, half (14) had little to no spare capacity for an additional preschool-aged child," the report said. "For infants and toddlers, little or no spare capacity was reported in 22 of the 30 cities."
The report said that even in Edmonton and the Ontario cities of Richmond Hill, Windsor and Vaughn, the four municipalities with the most access to unused capacity, only one third of child-care centres contacted said they could enrol a full-time child within a week.
The report's authors said that all provincial and territorial governments should follow the examples of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, P.E.I., New Brunswick, B.C. and Nunavut by cutting net fees to a maximum of $10 a day.
The report also asks governments to develop strategies to increase the number of child care spaces and boost wages for child-care workers.
Child-care fees have halved in 18 Canadian cities, report says. Who’s falling short?
Story by Saba Aziz •
Experts say there's too few workers for too high a demand for child-care in Manitoba.
Story by Saba Aziz •
Experts say there's too few workers for too high a demand for child-care in Manitoba.
© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Putting your child in daycare has become much more affordable
Some Canadian provinces have daycare deserts, study finds
Child-care fees have been cut in half in 18 big Canadian cities across all age groups, but some are still falling short on meeting the federal government’s target, according to a new report.
Five jurisdictions — Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut — have already reached Ottawa’s long-term goal of $10-a-day-child care, three years in advance, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which conducts 11,000 telephone calls as part of its data collection, said in its annual report Thursday.
But some experts say there's still more work to be done to make child care more accessible and inclusive.
The federal government signed separate, five-year funding agreements with provinces and territories in 2021, committing up to $30 billion toward the establishment of $10-a-day child care by 2025-26.
As part of that agreement, provincial and territorial government governments also promised to reduce daycare fees by 50 per cent by the end of 2022.
Provincial and territorial capitals as well big cities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut, have successfully met that target or exceeded it.
“This is quite a win given the ambitious timeframe of this goal, 50 per cent reduction in fees,” said David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“It was to happen within about a year and a half of the initial legislation being laid down. That's very quick when it comes to a big national program like this,” he told Global News in an interview.
Video: Alberta government taking steps to create more private child-care spaces
Big cities in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick have not been able to slash their child-care fees in half, the report showed.
Macdonald said both P.E.I and Alberta have low-income subsidies in place that they’re counting toward a 50 per cent reduction, which partly explains why they're falling short of hitting the federal goal.
In British Columbia, the picture is “more mixed,” he said, with Kelowna and Vancouver close to hitting the 50 per cent target, while others are further away.
“In part, the reason for that is in Vancouver, for instance, the province has been pushing $10-a-day spaces where they are expanding their small $ 10-a-day program that brought fees down in Vancouver, but the same sort of thing isn't happening in other places like Surrey or Burnaby.”
Quebec, which reached an asymmetric agreement with Ottawa in 2021 to receive $6 billion over five years to support care in the province, had child-care fees below $10 per day in 2019. It was the only province to see daycare fees go up this year for all groups compared with 2019.
Despite that, Quebec cities have the lowest monthly child-care fees in the country right now, at $192 for infants and toddlers.
Video: Ontario to boost early childhood educator wages in bid to ease staff shortage
Richmond, B.C., and Toronto have the most expensive infant care for the under 18-month age group, costing a median of over $900 per month, the report said.
Richmond also has the highest child-care fees for toddlers aged one and a half to three years, with a median of $905 per month, followed by Calgary with $808 a month and Toronto with $725 a month.
For preschoolers, aged 2.5 to five years, Calgary is the most expensive city at $810 a month, followed by $800 a month in Richmond and $600 a month in Oakville, Ont., Vaughan, Ont., Toronto, Burnaby and Surrey, the CCPA report showed.
Provinces and territories have taken different approaches to getting their fees down.
More than half of the jurisdictions — Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I., New Brunswick, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut — now have set fees, which means that all parents pay the same amount, oftentimes the same fees for all age groups.
The rest, in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories, are using market fees, reducing them either by a flat dollar amount or a percentage.
“I think what's important going forward is we continue to move towards the set fee model that half of the provinces and territories are at, where all parents pay the same amount across all age groups and then ratchet those fees down to the long-term goal, three years from now of $10 a day,” Macdonald said.
As Canadian families continue to grapple with a high cost of living, the lower daycare fees have offered some relief to parents across the country.
But there is still work to be done to make child care more accessible and inclusive, said Marni Flaherty, interim CEO of the Canadian Childcare Federation.
Putting your child in daycare has become much more affordable
Some Canadian provinces have daycare deserts, study finds
Child-care fees have been cut in half in 18 big Canadian cities across all age groups, but some are still falling short on meeting the federal government’s target, according to a new report.
Five jurisdictions — Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut — have already reached Ottawa’s long-term goal of $10-a-day-child care, three years in advance, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which conducts 11,000 telephone calls as part of its data collection, said in its annual report Thursday.
But some experts say there's still more work to be done to make child care more accessible and inclusive.
The federal government signed separate, five-year funding agreements with provinces and territories in 2021, committing up to $30 billion toward the establishment of $10-a-day child care by 2025-26.
As part of that agreement, provincial and territorial government governments also promised to reduce daycare fees by 50 per cent by the end of 2022.
Provincial and territorial capitals as well big cities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut, have successfully met that target or exceeded it.
“This is quite a win given the ambitious timeframe of this goal, 50 per cent reduction in fees,” said David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“It was to happen within about a year and a half of the initial legislation being laid down. That's very quick when it comes to a big national program like this,” he told Global News in an interview.
Video: Alberta government taking steps to create more private child-care spaces
Big cities in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick have not been able to slash their child-care fees in half, the report showed.
Macdonald said both P.E.I and Alberta have low-income subsidies in place that they’re counting toward a 50 per cent reduction, which partly explains why they're falling short of hitting the federal goal.
In British Columbia, the picture is “more mixed,” he said, with Kelowna and Vancouver close to hitting the 50 per cent target, while others are further away.
“In part, the reason for that is in Vancouver, for instance, the province has been pushing $10-a-day spaces where they are expanding their small $ 10-a-day program that brought fees down in Vancouver, but the same sort of thing isn't happening in other places like Surrey or Burnaby.”
Quebec, which reached an asymmetric agreement with Ottawa in 2021 to receive $6 billion over five years to support care in the province, had child-care fees below $10 per day in 2019. It was the only province to see daycare fees go up this year for all groups compared with 2019.
Despite that, Quebec cities have the lowest monthly child-care fees in the country right now, at $192 for infants and toddlers.
Video: Ontario to boost early childhood educator wages in bid to ease staff shortage
Richmond, B.C., and Toronto have the most expensive infant care for the under 18-month age group, costing a median of over $900 per month, the report said.
Richmond also has the highest child-care fees for toddlers aged one and a half to three years, with a median of $905 per month, followed by Calgary with $808 a month and Toronto with $725 a month.
For preschoolers, aged 2.5 to five years, Calgary is the most expensive city at $810 a month, followed by $800 a month in Richmond and $600 a month in Oakville, Ont., Vaughan, Ont., Toronto, Burnaby and Surrey, the CCPA report showed.
Provinces and territories have taken different approaches to getting their fees down.
More than half of the jurisdictions — Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I., New Brunswick, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut — now have set fees, which means that all parents pay the same amount, oftentimes the same fees for all age groups.
The rest, in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories, are using market fees, reducing them either by a flat dollar amount or a percentage.
“I think what's important going forward is we continue to move towards the set fee model that half of the provinces and territories are at, where all parents pay the same amount across all age groups and then ratchet those fees down to the long-term goal, three years from now of $10 a day,” Macdonald said.
As Canadian families continue to grapple with a high cost of living, the lower daycare fees have offered some relief to parents across the country.
But there is still work to be done to make child care more accessible and inclusive, said Marni Flaherty, interim CEO of the Canadian Childcare Federation.
\
“The investment federally is awesome and the concept of $10 a day is awesome, but we do have to start to focus more so on building a system,” she said in an interview with Global News.
“We have to start to focus on the workforce and then as part of expansion, improve quality for children and families,."
With the fees reducing, the wait-lists for daycare spots are also getting bigger, she said.
In addition to adding more daycare facilities, hiring and retaining staff is another challenge, Macdonald said.
“One of the big challenges in terms of building out spaces isn't only properly planning where those spaces will be built, but who will staff them and how do we keep those folks in the sector longer term,” he said.
-- with files from The Canadian Press
“The investment federally is awesome and the concept of $10 a day is awesome, but we do have to start to focus more so on building a system,” she said in an interview with Global News.
“We have to start to focus on the workforce and then as part of expansion, improve quality for children and families,."
With the fees reducing, the wait-lists for daycare spots are also getting bigger, she said.
In addition to adding more daycare facilities, hiring and retaining staff is another challenge, Macdonald said.
“One of the big challenges in terms of building out spaces isn't only properly planning where those spaces will be built, but who will staff them and how do we keep those folks in the sector longer term,” he said.
-- with files from The Canadian Press
Secret files show CSIS worried Canada has ‘no consequences’ for foreign state interference
Government's Response
A public safety official has stated that the current government has implemented several robust mechanisms to combat foreign interference since it assumed power. The plan is to further strengthen these mechanisms, including a national registry of foreign agents, while closely examining the recommendations made by an ethics committee on foreign interference.
Prompted by accounts of foreign nations targeting this country's MPs and their families abroad, the ethics committee's report has given 22 recommendations. These include calls for the intelligence agency to release more relevant information to the public and for the government to impose penalties on all kinds of foreign interference operations including harassment and intimidation by a foreign state.
Increased Transparency on Foreign Interference
The documents present clear indications of the intelligence agency's attempts to communicate its concerns about foreign interference, particularly from Beijing, to top government officials. They painted a picture of foreign interference networks embedded in the country's internal affairs at all levels of government and present within the country's political and social fabric.
With foreign countries targeting influential personalities to gain support for their authoritarian regimes, there is also a concerning attempt to control diaspora communities and local language media for propagating their agendas and limiting political dissent.
Accusations of Foreign Meddling
There is also evidence that some foreign states are monitoring views expressed by students and academics, and in some cases, threatening retribution if those views are deemed inappropriate. The documents single out China for specifically targeting certain language media outlets and members of the respective diasporas in their foreign influence campaigns.
Earlier this year, there was a political uproar over alleged foreign meddling with media outlets publishing leaked intelligence reports. Officials, including top security figures, reiterated that there was no evidence of the results of the past two federal elections being compromised due to such interference. To delve into this issue further, a public inquiry has been initiated.
Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference
The appointed official to look into these allegations concluded in his report that while foreign interference is indeed a growing concern, the specific instances reported in the media were less potent than suggested. Notwithstanding the government's reassurances about the integrity of the recent federal elections, the official pointed to "serious shortcomings" in how intelligence is shared within government bodies.
However, partisan allegations surfaced against the official, questioning his close relationship with high-ranking government officials, undermining his attempts at ensuring trust in democratic institutions. The official subsequently resigned from his position. Despite his opposition to an inquiry, the government eventually called for a public inquiry to thoroughly probe the issue of foreign interference.
BNN Breaking
In recently made public documents, the leading intelligence agency of a country has raised alarms over 'no consequences' for foreign state actor interference in their democratic processes. Based on recently obtained access-to-information documents, the country’s top spy agency has repeatedly expressed these concerns to high-level government officials, including the nation's Prime Minister.
A High-Reward, Low-Risk Endeavour
According to the documents prepared by the intelligence service, the lack of legal or political consequences for foreign interference makes it a low-risk high-reward endeavour for state actors. The agency's worries about state-sponsored foreign interference has escalated over the past four years, with a particular focus on alleged activities by Beijing.
In response to these pressing concerns, the intelligence agency has been focusing on delivering 'defensive briefings' to various politicians and staffers. The identified targets of alleged foreign interference efforts include not only federal, provincial and municipal governments but also academics and members of diaspora communities.
In recently made public documents, the leading intelligence agency of a country has raised alarms over 'no consequences' for foreign state actor interference in their democratic processes. Based on recently obtained access-to-information documents, the country’s top spy agency has repeatedly expressed these concerns to high-level government officials, including the nation's Prime Minister.
A High-Reward, Low-Risk Endeavour
According to the documents prepared by the intelligence service, the lack of legal or political consequences for foreign interference makes it a low-risk high-reward endeavour for state actors. The agency's worries about state-sponsored foreign interference has escalated over the past four years, with a particular focus on alleged activities by Beijing.
In response to these pressing concerns, the intelligence agency has been focusing on delivering 'defensive briefings' to various politicians and staffers. The identified targets of alleged foreign interference efforts include not only federal, provincial and municipal governments but also academics and members of diaspora communities.
Government's Response
A public safety official has stated that the current government has implemented several robust mechanisms to combat foreign interference since it assumed power. The plan is to further strengthen these mechanisms, including a national registry of foreign agents, while closely examining the recommendations made by an ethics committee on foreign interference.
Related video: Canadian spy chief stresses co-operation on research security at Five Eyes summit? (The Canadian Press) Duration 2:48 View on Watch
Prompted by accounts of foreign nations targeting this country's MPs and their families abroad, the ethics committee's report has given 22 recommendations. These include calls for the intelligence agency to release more relevant information to the public and for the government to impose penalties on all kinds of foreign interference operations including harassment and intimidation by a foreign state.
Increased Transparency on Foreign Interference
The documents present clear indications of the intelligence agency's attempts to communicate its concerns about foreign interference, particularly from Beijing, to top government officials. They painted a picture of foreign interference networks embedded in the country's internal affairs at all levels of government and present within the country's political and social fabric.
With foreign countries targeting influential personalities to gain support for their authoritarian regimes, there is also a concerning attempt to control diaspora communities and local language media for propagating their agendas and limiting political dissent.
Accusations of Foreign Meddling
There is also evidence that some foreign states are monitoring views expressed by students and academics, and in some cases, threatening retribution if those views are deemed inappropriate. The documents single out China for specifically targeting certain language media outlets and members of the respective diasporas in their foreign influence campaigns.
Earlier this year, there was a political uproar over alleged foreign meddling with media outlets publishing leaked intelligence reports. Officials, including top security figures, reiterated that there was no evidence of the results of the past two federal elections being compromised due to such interference. To delve into this issue further, a public inquiry has been initiated.
Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference
The appointed official to look into these allegations concluded in his report that while foreign interference is indeed a growing concern, the specific instances reported in the media were less potent than suggested. Notwithstanding the government's reassurances about the integrity of the recent federal elections, the official pointed to "serious shortcomings" in how intelligence is shared within government bodies.
However, partisan allegations surfaced against the official, questioning his close relationship with high-ranking government officials, undermining his attempts at ensuring trust in democratic institutions. The official subsequently resigned from his position. Despite his opposition to an inquiry, the government eventually called for a public inquiry to thoroughly probe the issue of foreign interference.
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