PUTIN'S HOMOPHOBIC LAWS SPREAD

'Grotesque': EU countries condemn Hungary over anti-LGBTQ law

By Sabine Siebold and Gabriela Baczynska

© Reuters/MARTON MONUS Protest against latest anti-LGBTQ law in Budapest

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, France and Ireland were among European Union countries condemning their peer Hungary on Tuesday for a new anti-LGBTQ law as the bloc zeroed in again on democratic failings in Budapest and its nationalist ally Warsaw.

The new law banning the "display and promotion of homosexuality" among under-18s clearly violates European Union values, Germany's European affairs minister said ahead of talks with his 27 EU counterparts about deep concerns that Hungary and Poland violate the rule of law by trampling the freedoms of courts, academics and media, as well as restricting the rights of women, migrants and minorities.

© Reuters/POOL FILE PHOTO: European Affairs ministers meet in Brussels

"The European Union is not primarily a single market or a currency union. We are a community of values, these values bind us all," Roth told reporters ahead of the meeting in Luxembourg.

"There should be absolutely no doubt that minorities, sexual minorities too, must be treated respectfully."

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg authored a joint declaration condemning the latest legal changes under Prime Minister Viktor Orban as violating the right to freedom of expression and a "flagrant form of discrimination based on sexual orientation."

The Swedish minister said the Hungarian law was "grotesque", his Dutch colleague called on Budapest to undo it while their Irish counterpart said the bloc's executive should sue it at the top EU court. Austria said it was wrong to park the anti-LGBTQ provisions in a bill penalising paedophilia.

"I am very concerned... It is wrong what has happened there and has to stop," said Ireland's Thomas Byrne. " It's a very very dangerous moment for Hungary, and for the EU as well."

Facing an election next year, Orban has grown increasingly radical on social policy in a self-proclaimed fight to safeguard what he says are traditional Christian values from the Western liberalism.

Arriving to the same meeting on Tuesday, Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the law was only aimed at paedophiles.

"The law protects the children in a way that it makes it an exclusive right of the parents to educate their kids regarding sexual orientation until the age of 18," he said. "This law doesn't say anything about sexual orientation of adults."

The other ministers also spoke of worries about media freedom in Hungary, as well as concerns over Poland's ongoing overhaul of the judiciary.

Saying that Polish courts need reforming, the ruling Law and Justice party has pushed out many critical judges across the judiciary, introduced more pliant replacements.

It most recently ignored an order from the top EU court to halt mining at its Turow plant on the Czech border for as long as a case Prague brought about it against Warsaw is not settled.

"We have to get assurances from Poland and Hungary that they are really going to follow what the EU court says in the future," said Sweden's Hans Dahlgren.

(Additional reporting by Marine Strauss, Philip Blenkinsop and Simon Johnson, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Leader behind bleach ‘miracle cure’ claims Trump consumed his product

Ed Pilkington

THE GUARDIAN

The leader of a spurious church which peddled industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for Covid-19 is claiming that he provided Donald Trump with the product in the White House shortly before the former president made his notorious remarks about using “disinfectant” to treat the disease.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Juan Karita/AP

 At the press conference on 23 April 2020 Trump hailed chlorine dioxide as a potential cure for Covid, saying it ‘knocks it out in a minute, one minute’.

Mark Grenon, the self-styled “archbishop” of the Genesis II “church”, has given an interview from his prison cell in Colombia as he awaits extradition to the US to face criminal charges that he fraudulently sold bleach as a Covid cure. In the 90-minute interview he effectively presents himself as the source of Trump’s fixation with the healing powers of disinfectant.

“We were able to give through a contact with Trump’s family – a family member – the bottles in my book,” Grenon says. “And he mentioned it on TV: ‘I found this disinfectant’.”

Grenon had previously revealed that he had written to Trump in the White House in the days leading up to the disinfectant episode, urging him to promote the healing powers of chlorine dioxide. But in the new interview Grenon goes considerably further, claiming that the bleach, which carries serious health warnings from federal agencies, was actually put into the hands of the then president who consumed it

Trump’s comments about disinfectant, made at the White House on 23 April 2020 as coronavirus was tearing through the US, reverberated around the world. They caused astonishment in scientific circles, attracted widespread ridicule, and have come to symbolize the maverick response of the Trump administration towards the pandemic.

At the press conference Trump hailed disinfectant as a potential cure for Covid, saying it “knocks it out in a minute, one minute”. He went on to muse whether “we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning”.

Why Trump suddenly embraced bleach as a possible Covid treatment has remained one of the mysteries of his presidency. Now Grenon claims that it was his product, marketed as Miracle Mineral Solution or “MMS”, that lay behind it.

The Guardian asked Trump’s office to clarify whether he had received and drank “MMS” bleach while in the White House, but received no immediate response.

Grenon made his claim that he supplied Trump with bleach solution to Zakariya Adeel, a London-based astrologer and psychic. The interview was conducted apparently over a prison telephone line.

Grenon and his son Joseph are both being held in Colombia as they await extradition. In April a federal grand jury sitting in Miami indicted them, along with two other sons, Jonathan and Jordan who are also in jail in Miami.

The four Grenon family members face charges of fraudulently marketing and selling industrial bleach as a cure for Covid, cancer, malaria and a host of other serious medical conditions. A criminal trial is expected in Miami later this year.

The US Food and Drug Administration has made it clear that drinking MMS is the same as drinking bleach. It warns that consumption can cause severe vomiting, diarrhea and low-blood pressure that can be life-threatening.

The FDA describes MMS as a “powerful bleach typically used for industrial water treatment or bleaching textiles, pulp and paper”.

In the video, Grenon repeats false claims that chlorine dioxide solution cures Covid. “We tried it with Covid – six drops every two hours for the first and second day. Boom! Gone, negative. You’re feeling great from feeling like you’re going to die – it works great,” he says.

Use of bleach as a miracle cure has proliferated across Latin America during the pandemic. Fiona O’Leary, a campaigner against pseudoscience, told the Guardian that MMS peddlers were using Trump’s comments on disinfectant as a marketing tool.

“You have the president of the United States telling people they can ingest bleach to treat Covid – so the response is hardly surprising. There’s been a dramatic increase in the use of the product in several Latin American countries after he made those comments,” she said.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M DRUG DEALERS
Former CannTrust execs charged after alleged illegal growing at Ont. facility

VAUGHAN, Ont. — Three former directors and officers at cannabis company CannTrust Holdings Inc. have been charged with several offences under the Securities Act

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Ontario Securities Commission and Royal Canadian Mounted Police say they have charged former vice-chairman Mark Litwin, former chairman Eric Paul and former chief executive Paul Aceto.

Each is facing charges of fraud, making false or misleading statements to the OSC and the market and authorizing, permitting or acquiescing in the commission of an offence.

Litwin and Paul also face insider trading charges and Litwin and Aceto are charged with making a false prospectus and false preliminary prospectus.

The charges come after CannTrust's licences were suspended for illegally growing thousands of kilograms of dried cannabis in unlicensed rooms in 2018 and 2019.

The OSC and RCMP allege the accused did not disclose to investors that about 50 per cent of the growing space at CannTrust’s Pelham, Ont. facility was not licensed by Health Canada and they allegedly used corporate disclosures to assert that they were compliant with regulatory approvals.

They also allege Litwin and Aceto signed off on prospectuses used to raise money in the U.S., which stated that CannTrust was fully licensed and compliant with regulatory requirements, and Litwin and Paul traded shares of CannTrust while in possession of material, undisclosed information regarding the unlicensed growing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2021.

'Harder than Everest': record-breaking female climber stranded in Nepal amid COVID crisis
By Gopal Sharma

Reuters/NAVESH CHITRAKAR Chinese climbers stranded in Kathmandu due to COVID-19 restrictions

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Hong Kong resident Tsang Yin-Hung, who made the fastest ascent of Mount Everest by any woman, and dozens of other mountaineers from China are unable to get out of Nepal because of COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Beijing, they said.

© Reuters/NAVESH CHITRAKAR Chinese climbers stranded in Kathmandu due to COVID-19 restrictions

Nepal has had a surge of infections including at the base camp of Everest, prompting several countries to block travel from there. The daily positive rate of infections in Nepal stands at more than 24%, among the highest in the world at this time.

The travel restriction was imposed after the climbing season began and there were fresh outbreaks in Nepal.

Tsang, 44, who climbed Mount Everest in 25 hours and 50 minutes last month, said getting back home appeared harder than her ascent to the 8,848.86 metre (29,032 feet) peak.

“I think the summit climb for me was possible and achievable,” she told Reuters at her hotel in Kathmandu. “But going back home (looks) hopeless. There is no way to go back.”

Video: Nepal official says climbing on Everest continued amid outbreak (Daily Mail)

Nepal officials say they have allowed two weekly flights from China, but these were not operational.

The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu did not immediately respond to a Reuters email on the lack of flights.

"There are no flights (from Nepal) to any place in China or Hong Kong,” she said.

Climbers from other countries have already returned on mainly chartered flights.

China's Sun Yi Quan, 34, who climbed Everest thrice before but gave up on his fourth attempt in May due to a coronavirus outbreak at base camp, said his team of 13 climbers too had failed to get a flight back home.

Kathmandu has been partially shut down since May due to the surge in COVID-19 with 622,640 infections and 8,772 deaths in he nation so far.

Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, a senior official at the Seven Summit Treks company said more than 30 Chinese climbers were stranded in Kathmandu.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Michael Perry)

SINISTER SUCCESS ON DED WED NIGHT TV

'Loki' is the biggest TV series in the world - and it reached the top faster than Disney+'s other Marvel shows


Travis Clark
Mon, June 21, 2021

Tom Hiddleston stars in "Loki." Courtesy of Marvel Studios


"Loki" is the most popular series in the world across all platforms, according to Parrot Analytics.

It rose in audience demand faster than Disney+'s other Marvel shows.

Disney+ is moving its future original shows from Fridays to Wednesdays after "Loki's" success.

Disney+'s latest Marvel series, "Loki," is the biggest show in the world.

"Loki" became the most in-demand series in the world across all platforms faster than Disney's other Marvel Cinematic Universe shows, including "WandaVision" and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," according to the research company Parrot Analytics. The company measures "audience demand," which reflects the desire of and engagement with, or overall popularity, of a series.

The data suggests that Disney+'s Marvel shows are growing in popularity with each new series.

By June 16, seven days after it debuted, "Loki" was 89.9 times more in demand than the average show worldwide, lifting it to the top. It took "WandaVision" 14 days after its premiere to become the most in-demand global series and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" eight days.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said last week that "Loki" was Disney+'s biggest premiere yet (Disney did not release viewership numbers and did not respond to a request from Insider on how it counts a view).

With "Loki's" success, Disney is moving its future original shows from Fridays to Wednesdays, including upcoming Marvel and "Star Wars" series. Shows like "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and "The Mandalorian" found success with Friday debuts, but "Loki" debuts weekly on Wednesdays.

The shift means that Disney won't be competing with Netflix, which typically releases new seasons all at once on Fridays.

Parrot Analytics said that it expects demand to build for "Loki" week over week as new episodes are released.

LOKI, LUCIFER, 

DO I DEDECT A LEFT HAND PATH ON TV 

Even after Biden tax hike, U.S. firms would pay less than foreign rivals

On average, the 52 U.S.-based companies had profit margins of 24%, well above than the average margin of 14% among their 200 foreign competitors

By Tom Bergin

© Reuters/Carlos Barria U.S. President Biden delivers update on administration's coronavirus response from the White House in Washington

(Reuters) - U.S. companies pay less income tax than their overseas competitors and would likely continue to do so under a tax hike proposed by President Joe Biden, according to a Reuters analysis of filings by hundreds of U.S. and international firms.

The analysis undercuts arguments by some company executives and trade groups that Biden's plan would leave U.S. firms paying some of the world’s highest taxes and struggling to compete against foreign rivals. Industry representatives have aggressively lobbied against the proposal, which would increase the corporate tax rate to 28%, from the current 21%. The president also wants a minimum tax of 21% on overseas income, up from 10.5%.

U.S. corporations typically pay less - sometimes much less - than those statutory rates because the U.S. tax code is unusually generous with tax breaks and deductions, and in allowing overseas tax planning, according to the Reuters analysis. The analysis was reviewed by four academics with experience in measuring corporate tax payments.

Reuters examined the effective tax rates – reflecting the actual tax payments companies reported – of 52 of the largest U.S.-based multinational firms, and then compared them to the rates paid by these companies’ main overseas competitors. The U.S. companies paid an average effective tax rate of 16% in 2020 compared to an average rate of 24% paid by 200 foreign companies that the U.S. firms named as their competitors in filings.

If Biden’s proposed tax rates were applied to the U.S. firms’ 2020 earnings, the companies would have paid effective rates averaging about five percentage points higher, or 21%, the Reuters analysis found.

That’s still lower than the average rate paid by their overseas competitors. Moreover, U.S. firms would likely retain a bigger tax advantage over their foreign rivals than the analysis shows, for two reasons. First, the Reuters calculations do not account for the impact of new tax breaks for U.S. firms that Biden proposes to encourage domestic manufacturing and clean-energy investments. Second, the Biden plan would also require foreign companies with U.S. operations to pay higher taxes on their U.S. income.

Business lobby groups have argued that the Biden proposal, which requires congressional approval, would leave domestic firms at the mercy of their foreign rivals.

“Such tax increases would make the United States uncompetitive as a place to do business and make U.S. companies uncompetitive globally,” said Joshua Bolten, chief executive of the Business Roundtable, which represents about 200 large U.S. companies, when the measures were first announced on March 31.

The trade group said comparisons of effective tax rates, as in the Reuters analysis, can be “informative” but are only one of many valid ways to analyze how taxes impact the global competitiveness of U.S. firms. The organization said that simpler comparisons of statutory tax rates among nations - without considering deductions, credits and overseas tax planning - also accurately reflect the incentives for firms to locate in one nation versus another.

Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, declined to comment on Reuters’ findings but said: “Higher taxes will hinder investment and competitiveness for U.S. businesses, ultimately hurting U.S. workers.”

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the Senate finance committee, dismissed such arguments. “The data are clear: U.S. mega-corporations are contributing far too little to federal revenues, particularly in comparison to foreign counterparts,” Wyden told Reuters.

Reuters ran its findings by Biden’s Treasury Department and the White House. The White House said in a statement: “This reporting highlights that the corporate tax code is broken. The largest corporations don’t pay their fair share in the United States, and pay less in other competitor countries.” Biden’s proposal, the White House said, is designed to address “the tax games and giveaways that underlie the rock-bottom tax rates described by this reporting.”

Republican leaders who have said the proposed hikes will damage U.S. firms’ competitiveness, including Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas, declined to comment on the Reuters analysis. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, did not respond to requests for comment.

Democrats in Congress are pushing a bill to implement Biden’s plan. It could come up for a vote any time in the divided Senate. Its success may rely on the support of one Democrat Senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has pushed for lower tax rates than Biden wants. All Republican senators are expected to oppose it.

All of the 52 U.S. firms Reuters examined, and in most cases their overseas rivals, published detailed reconciliations explaining the deviation between their actual tax bill and the statutory tax rate in their home countries. These disclosures show that the U.S. firms’ relatively low effective tax rates stem from business-friendly provisions unique to the United States.

For example, U.S. tax breaks to encourage research and other activities generate bigger savings than similar breaks in other nations. The U.S. allows tax deductions for many expenses - such as client entertainment, stock-based compensation and certain legal costs - that are not typically deductible elsewhere. And U.S. companies can save far more money by shifting profits into tax-haven nations than, for instance, their rivals in Japan, Germany or France, whose governments limit such maneuvers.

RIDDLED WITH LOOPHOLES

Analyses cited by several business groups have said U.S. businesses currently face an average combined state and federal statutory tax rate of nearly 26% and that Biden’s plan would raise their rates to 32%.

Consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers noted the average nominal tax rate among developed countries was 23% - lower than Biden’s proposed rate of 28% - and urged companies to lobby against the increases. Johnson & Johnson’s Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk told analysts in April that Biden’s plan would make the U.S. rate the highest among developed countries.

Such simplified comparisons, however, do not reflect actual taxes paid after deductions, credits and other advantages enjoyed by U.S. firms. Johnson & Johnson, for instance, paid an effective tax rate of less than 11% in 2020, according to the company’s annual report. The pharmaceutical giant did not comment on Reuters findings but said tax policy should create a “level playing field” for U.S. firms internationally.

PricewaterhouseCoopers declined to comment.

In another typical example, Activision Blizzard Inc – the California-based publisher of hit video games such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft – reported paying an effective tax rate of 16% last year. Two of its main competitors, Sony Corporation and Nintendo Co Ltd, are based in Japan and paid effective tax rates of 22% and 28%, respectively, according to their annual reports.

Activision declined to comment for this story.

The company slashed its tax payments through tax breaks and deductions and by operating subsidiaries in tax-haven nations. Activision has, for instance, saved hundreds of millions in taxes over the past decade, company filings show, by reporting billions of dollars in profits through a subsidiary based in Bermuda, an island with no corporate tax. Activision reported that it reduced its overall effective tax rate in 2020 by 4 percentage points because of the low tax rates paid by its foreign subsidiaries.

Activision rivals Sony and Nintendo each generate about three-fourths of their revenues outside of Japan, compared to about half for Activision. And yet Nintendo reported that taxes on overseas income reduced its effective tax rate by just 0.6 percentage points, while Sony reported a decrease of 2.4 percentage points.

Tax havens such as Bermuda don’t provide the same benefit to Japanese firms. Japan has a law that allows authorities to levy Japanese corporate taxes of about 30% on any income reported from operations in foreign jurisdictions with a tax rate of less than 20%. Similar rules are common in industrialized nations other than the United States.

STATE TAX BREAKS

Another reason Activision paid a relatively low effective tax rate is that its tax payments to U.S. states only increased the company’s total rate by 2 percentage points. That’s typical: On average, the effective rates of the 52 U.S. multinationals examined by Reuters were raised by just 1 percentage point by state tax payments. Business groups often cite 4% or 5% as the typical state tax burden, based on averages of statutory state rates that usually do not equate to actual taxes paid.

A host of factors lower companies’ state tax payments. States often lure companies with tax breaks, and compete with one another to offer the most generous incentives. Also, companies only pay state taxes on their U.S.-based income. And they can lower the bill further by apportioning earnings to relatively low-tax states.

At the federal level, companies drive down their tax bill through a host of deductions or credits that are often unavailable or limited in other nations. U.S. firms, for instance, can deduct the cost of share grants as compensation to executives and staff. Activision reported lowering its effective tax rate by 1 percentage point through such deductions. On average, the U.S. firms examined by Reuters reduced achieved savings of 2.6% from that provision.

The video game firm shaved an additional 3 percentage points off its tax bill by collecting tax credits for research and development spending. Its competitors Nintendo and Sony reported smaller tax savings from research credits.

Such credits are available to an array of U.S. firms, and not just in research-intensive sectors such as pharmaceuticals. Sport apparel giant Nike Inc, for instance, lowered its effective tax rate by 2 percentage points in 2020 through R&D credits. Two-thirds of the 52 U.S. companies Reuters examined reported similar benefits, with an average tax reduction of about 3 percentage points.

Research tax credits are common outside the United States, but typically worth less, often not enough to warrant company disclosure. Just 18 firms of the 200 foreign competitors to U.S. firms examined by Reuters reported benefits from research or other tax credits.

Some U.S. companies, to be sure, will take a bigger hit than others from Biden’s tax plan. But even if U.S. companies collectively sustain a bigger tax hit than foreseen, they would still be well-placed to compete, the analysis shows. On average, the 52 U.S.-based companies examined by Reuters had profit margins of 24%, well above than the average margin of 14% among their 200 foreign competitors.

“The argument on ‘competitiveness’ is code for ‘corporations should pay no taxes’,” said Senator Wyden, “and it doesn’t hold water.”

(Reporting by Tom Bergin; editing by Brian Thevenot)

Senior public servant receives first formal Parliamentary reprimand for non-MP since 1913 

PHAC president rebuked, still doesn't produce documents on fired scientists

OTTAWA — The Conservatives are asking that the Public Health Agency of Canada's offices be searched after a public shaming of the agency's president failed to persuade him to turn over unredacted documents related to the firing of two scientists at the country's highest-security laboratory.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

PHAC head Iain Stewart was hauled Monday before the bar of the House of Commons to receive a reprimand from Speaker Anthony Rota for his repeated refusal to provide the documents.

Stewart duly showed up — the first non-MP to be subjected to such a procedure in more than a century — and stood impassively at the brass rail at the entrance to the Commons, as ordered by a motion passed by the combined opposition parties last week.

Rota informed Stewart that the Commons possesses constitutional powers to order the production of any documents it sees fit. Those powers, he said, "are essential to the performance" of MPs' duties.

"The House has the power and indeed the duty to reaffirm them when obstruction or interference impedes with its deliberations," Rota said.

"As guardian of these rights and privileges, that is precisely what the House has asked me to do today, by ordering the Speaker to reprimand you for the Public Health Agency of Canada's contempt, refusing to submit the required documents."

Rota told the Commons that Stewart's lawyer had informed him earlier in the day that the PHAC head was still not able to release the unredacted documents, as twice ordered by the Canada-China relations committee and twice by the House itself.

Stewart was not given a chance to say anything Monday. But he told the health committee last week that he is bound by law to protect national security and privacy rights and nothing in the House order relieves him of that obligation.

In a sign of support from the minority Liberal government, the 27-year veteran public servant was accompanied to the chamber Monday by acting Privy Council clerk Janice Charette, who could be seen giving him an elbow bump before he walked in.

Opposition parties have joined forces to demand the documents in hopes that they'll shed light on why scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were escorted out of Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019 and subsequently fired last January.

They are also seeking documents related to the transfer, overseen by Qiu, of deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019.

Stewart has said the virus transfer had nothing to do with the subsequent firings. He's also said there is no connection to COVID-19, a coronavirus that first appeared in China's Wuhan province and which some believe may have been released accidentally by the virology institute.

Nevertheless, opposition parties continue to suspect a link and are, hence, determined to see the unredacted documents.

Video: Senior public servant receives first formal House of Commons reprimand for non-MP since 1913 (Global News)

Stewart was forced to stand at the bar for some 40 minutes while MPs debated what should happen next. Opposition MPs initially refused unanimous consent to let him depart but eventually relented.

"Having Mr. Stewart at the bar was very difficult for many of us to witness," Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux told the Commons later, questioning why "an outstanding" public servant who has done "such a wonderful job" during the COVID-19 pandemic was treated so badly.

"The amount of time he stayed at the bar was deeply offensive to many members."

But opposition MPs argued that the issue goes to the heart of Canada's democracy and the government's continuing refusal to comply with the will of the elected members cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged.

"This government is rolling back 18 decades of parliamentary evolution with its defiance of now four orders of this House and its committee," said Conservative MP Michael Chong.

"Why do Canadians send 338 of their fellow citizens to this chamber if their decisions are going to be ignored? Why do we spend $400 million a year on this chamber and the other one (the Senate), if our votes don't mean anything? Why do we vote to adopt orders if they don't have effect?"

Conservative House leader Gerard Deltell served notice that he will propose a motion calling on Rota to instruct the Commons sergeant-at-arms to search PHAC offices and seize the documents.

If Rota doesn't agree with that, Deltell said he'll move that the issue be referred to the procedure and House affairs committee to consider an enforcement mechanism. If the committee fails to issue a report within four weeks, then the sergeant-at-arms would be directed to search PHAC offices and seize the documents.

"Let me be clear," Deltell said. "This House has a job to do and this House shall be respected and, especially, shall be respected by its own members."

New Democrat MP Jack Harris signalled that his party supports the Conservatives' proposal. The Bloc Québécois reserved its opinion, as did Rota, who at several junctures noted that he was dealing with "a very touchy" and "unique" and "unprecedented" situation.

Liberal House leader Pablo Rodriguez proposed an alternative to the original House order, which ordered PHAC to turn over the documents to the parliamentary law clerk, who would redact them as needed, with members of the Canada-China relations committee retaining the right to publicly release redacted material.

Rodriguez said the government is prepared to go along with the law clerk vetting, provided that he is assisted by national security specialists.

He argued that the law clerk does not have "the necessary training or expertise" to determine what sensitive information could negatively impact intelligence agencies. Disclosing sensitive information, Rodriguez said, could inadvertently reveal "covert methods of operations," imperil human sources, identify employees and have "a severe impact on Canada's reputation as a responsible security partner."

Rodriguez also challenged the opposition's position that parliamentary privilege supersedes all other laws, pointing to a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that found legislatures "do not constitute enclaves shielded from the ordinary law of the land."

However, opposition parties countered that he should have made that argument before Rota ruled last week that the Commons and its committees have unfettered power to demand the production of documents, no matter how sensitive.

They similarly dismissed Rodriguez's proposal to let the law clerk vet the documents, with advice from security experts, as too little, too late.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2021.

The Canadian Press

PHAC president Iain Stewart reprimanded in House by Speaker for failing to produce documents

The president of the Public Health Agency of Canada appeared before the bar at the House of Commons today, where he was publicly admonished by Speaker Anthony Rota for failing to turn over to a Commons committee documents related to the the firing of two scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.

Rota called Iain Stewart into the House and began his reprimand by telling Stewart that the House of Commons and its parliamentary committees have defined powers outlined in law that must be followed.

"The powers in question, like all those enjoyed by the House collectively and by members individually, are essential to the performance of their duties," Rota said. "The House has the power, and indeed the duty to reaffirm them when obstruction or interference impedes with its deliberations.

"As guardian of these rights and privileges, that is precisely what the House has asked me to do today, by ordering the Speaker to reprimand you for the Public Health Agency of Canada's contempt, refusing to submit the required documents."

Stewart also was ordered to bring with him the unredacted documents demanded by opposition MPs. The Speaker said Stewart's lawyer had reached out to Rota's office earlier in the day saying he would be unable to produce the documents.

Calling someone to the bar of the House is a rarely used procedure meant to publicly shame a person who has committed "an offence against the dignity or authority of Parliament," according to House of Commons Procedure and Practice, third edition.

Since 1913, it has not been used against a private citizen. It has been used twice, in 1991 and 2002, to discipline MPs who had grabbed the ceremonial mace during heated Commons proceedings.

Opposition parties joined forces earlier this month to pass a motion in the Commons ordering PHAC to turn over all unredacted documents related to the firing of scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her biologist husband, Kending Cheng, who were escorted off the premises in 2019 and were officially fired in January of this year.

The motion called for the documents to be handed to the parliamentary law clerk, who would confidentially review them and redact anything he felt would compromise national security or the ongoing police investigation.

The motion specified that the Canada-China relations committee, after consulting with the law clerk, could choose to make public any redacted material.

In defiance of the House order, the minority Liberal government instead provided the unredacted documents to the all-party National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, NSICOP, whose members have top security clearance and are bound to secrecy.

NSICOP was established by the Liberal government in 2018 to review Canada's national security and intelligence activities.

The Liberal government argued that NSICOP was the appropriate body to examine the documents without putting at risk national security or compromising any ongoing investigations.

Last week, Rota ruled that sending the documents to NSICOP is not an acceptable alternative since it's a relatively new body and not a standing committee of Parliament.
Liberal government must obey House order: Chong

Today, Liberal House Leader Pablo Rodríguez said the government remains concerned about the possible impacts of releasing sensitive intelligence.

"While the government accepts that the Parliament and parliamentary counsel have the appropriate security clearance to review the information, we do not believe he has the necessary training or expertise in national security related information to make the necessary assessment" of what can be released, Rodríguez said.

Rodríguez said disclosing sensitive information could compromise covert investigative methods used in intelligence gathering or put at risk human sources of information and their families. "It can have a severe impact on Canada's reputation as a responsible security partner," he said.

Rodríguez proposed two possible methods that would allow MPs to review the documents.

The first involves striking an ad-hoc committee of MPs, as was done during the Afghan detainee debate under former prime minister Stephen Harper. MPs who took part in that committee were sworn to an oath of confidence in return for access to documents.

The second proposal was to have the law clerk and parliamentary counsel, assisted by national security experts, look at the documents together to decide what can be released.

Conservative MP Michael Chong argued that the House could not stand by and let a government refuse to deliver documents lawfully ordered by the House of Commons.

Rota said he would take the arguments into consideration and come back to the House with a ruling on what to do next.

ECOCIDE

Turtle carcasses wash ashore in Sri Lanka after ship fire

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Nearly a hundred carcasses of turtles with throat and shell damage, as well as a dozen dead dolphins and a blue whale, have washed ashore in Sri Lanka since a container ship burned and sank, raising fears of a severe marine disaster.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Ecologists believe the deaths were directly caused by the fire and release of hazardous chemicals while the Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl burned for 12 days and sank last week off Sri Lanka’s main port in the capital Colombo. Government officials, however, said these causes were “provisionally” confirmed and the investigation was continuing.

The fire started on the ship on May 20 and dead marine species started washing ashore days later.

A ship manifest seen by The Associated Press said 81 of the ship's nearly 1,500 containers held “dangerous” goods.

The Sri Lankan navy believes the blaze was caused by its chemical cargo, most of which was destroyed in the fire. But debris including burned fiberglass and tons of plastic pellets have severely polluted the surrounding waters and a long stretch of the island nation’s famed beaches.

Post-mortem analysis on the carcasses are being performed at five government-run laboratories and separately by the Government Analysts Department, said an official of the wildlife department who spoke on condition of anonymity as the official was not authorized to speak to the media.

Video: Raging container ship fire off Sri Lanka coast (Reuters)

“Provisionally, we can say that these deaths were caused by two methods — one is due to burns from the heat and secondly due to chemicals. These are obvious,” said Anil Jasinghe, secretary of the environment ministry.

He refrained from giving an exact cause, saying “post-mortem analysis are still being conducted.”

Thushan Kapurusinghe of the Turtle Conservation Project blamed the fire and chemicals the ship carried for killing the turtles.

With over three decades experience on turtle conservation, Kapurusinghe said the dead turtles had oral, cloacal and throat bleeding and "specific parts of their carapace have burns and erosion signs.”

The sea off Sri Lanka and its coastline are home to five species of turtles that regularly come to lay eggs. March to June is the peak season for turtle arrivals.

Lalith Ekanayake, a marine and coastal ecologist, suspects, based on the nature of the fire and amount of chemicals, that “at least 400 turtles may have died and their carcasses may have sunk in the sea or drifted to the deep sea.”

Sri Lanka plans to claim compensation from X-Press Feeders, the ship's owner, and already have submitted an interim claim of $40 million.

Bharatha Mallawarachi, The Associated Press

'Tip of a much larger iceberg': Report reveals more evidence of forced-labour goods imported to Canada

A workers-rights group has uncovered new evidence that goods possibly made with forced labour are entering Canada from China and elsewhere, despite being banned in the United States.

© James MacDonald Shipping containers are loaded onto rail cars at the Global Container Terminals Inc. (GCT) Vanterm container terminal in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday, March 21, 2020.

Dozens of shipments of Malaysian palm oil and clothing manufactured in China have arrived in this country from two companies blacklisted by the U.S., a report released Monday by Above Ground reveals.

The information adds to evidence that, despite a new Canadian law meant to keep out products of slave labour, such goods continue to flow into the country with impunity.

And the Ottawa-based organization says it has likely identified only a “small fraction” of what’s arriving

That’s partly because it could only obtain import records from the U.S., where such information is made public. In Canada, the federal government keeps data from shippers’ “bills of lading” confidential.

As well, the files only rarely indicate the manufacturer of the imports, and when they do it’s the maker of the finished product, not suppliers who might be using forced labour, the group says. Canadian firms, meanwhile, can petition American authorities to remove their shipments from the public record entirely.

Rights activists skeptical as Canadian fashion brands carefully deny using China forced labour

Trade minister dodges questions on whether Canada has curbed potential forced-labour imports from China

“What we’ve uncovered from this limited search may be just the tip of a much larger iceberg linking Canadian importers to forced labour overseas,” said Above Ground in its report, called Creating Consequences.

The federal government implemented legislation last year that bars the import of goods made wholly or in part with forced labour.

Much of that kind of product is believed to originate in China, where evidence suggests that Uyghur people and other minorities from Xinjiang province are coerced into working in cotton fields and factories.

But the government has yet to indicate that any shipment has been barred under the law.

One of the only clues to what is happening on the ground comes from U.S. shipping records, which indicate when an import arrives at an American port and then is sent to Canada. Previous media reports by the CBC, Toronto Star and Guelph Mercury have identified some products that are banned under the American forced-labour law but made their way here.

Above ground perused the same records and identified two more U.S.-blacklisted firms whose goods are ending up in Canada.

One is Hero Vast Group, a China-based clothing manufacturer that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (U.S. CBP) says employs prison labour. American records indicate that at least six Hero Vast shipments have entered Canada since 2018, imported by two separate companies here.

The other is palm oil made by Malaysia’s Sime Darby Plantation, which the U.S. CBP says shows the presence of 11 of the International Labour Organization’s forced-labour indicators.

Canada has received 29 shipments of Sime Darby palm oil since 2018, including five since last December, the report said.

Above Ground also looked at products that have not been blacklisted by the U.S., but for which there is other evidence pointing to possible use of forced labour.

That includes the products of Qingdao Taekwang Shoes, which received 8,900 Xinjiang minority members at its factories, where they were subject to after-hours re-education programs, according to media and NGO reports . Just under 200 shipments of its shoes have arrived in Canada since 2007, says the report.

Above Ground details as well what it considers an inadequate response from Ottawa, where the effort is led by the Canada Border Services Agency.

Responding to questions from the group, the CBSA declined to say if importers who violate the new rules would face any penalty, as they do in the States.

As well, the Canadian law requires “legally sufficient and defensible evidence” of forced labour before stopping an import. The U.S. rules, by comparison, talk of evidence that “reasonably but not conclusively” points to involvement of forced labour. It then allows the importer to prove the contrary and free up its shipments, said the report.

“Canada must move beyond words and use legal methods to cut Canadian business ties to forced labour abroad,” the report said.

That includes rigorously enforcing its current law and implementing “human-rights due-diligence” legislation that proactively obliges companies to rid their supply chains of forced labour.

Meanwhile, the CBSA told Above Ground that it would not be revealing the names of any importers subject to enforcement action under the existing forced-labour law, said the report.

“Overall, it’s just this blackbox,” said Lori Waller, a spokeswoman for the group, about Ottawa’s program.

CANADA

Environmental racism bill one step closer to becoming law

A private member’s bill aiming to address environmental racism successfully passed through committee Monday and will be reported to the House of Commons this week.

“This is a major step forward,” said Liberal MP Lenore Zann, who sponsored the bill. “It's an exciting day.”

All committee members except the Conservatives voted in favour of the amended bill.

If passed, Bill C-230 would require the federal government to collect data on links between environmental hazards, race, socioeconomic status and health, and compel the environment and climate change minister to develop a national strategy to address the harms caused by environmental racism.

The Bloc Québécois and Conservative Party opposed the bill initially, but the Bloc has changed its tune thanks to amendments removing references to measures that could infringe on provincial jurisdiction.

“This includes removing the requirement to assess the administration and enforcement of the environmental laws in each province,” Liberal MP Lloyd Longfield said in committee, acknowledging that “protection of the environment is a shared jurisdiction among the different levels of government.”

Bloc Québécois MP Monique Pauzé said the concern was that the bill would enable the federal government to interfere with provincial responsibility, but this amendment addressed those concerns.

“We're really pleased to see this, and we'll be supporting the Liberals,” she said in committee Monday evening.

According to Zann, several additional amendments also strengthened the bill.

The preamble was amended to include not just Indigenous and racialized communities but also other marginalized communities, expanding the scope of the bill.

An NDP sub-amendment strengthened language calling for the collection of data on links between race and environmental hazards by changing the word “may” to “must” to ensure data collection takes place.

The bill was also changed to include environmental justice and is now renamed “a national strategy respecting environmental racism and environmental justice,” with text amended to include the promotion of efforts across Canada to advance environmental justice and to assess, prevent and address environmental racism.

Zann said it was important to her that environmental racism remain the focal point of the bill and that she fought to keep it first in the title.

“I'm extremely relieved and very glad to see amendments that I believe will actually strengthen the bill,” Zann said in an interview with Canada’s National Observer. “It was a very nice collaboration between the Liberals and the NDP and the Bloc Québécois.”

The amended bill will be reported to the House of Commons this week, and if the Bloc’s newfound support continues, it will likely pass to third reading.

“The fact that this comes on National Indigenous Peoples Day, I think, is very symbolic and very emotional,” said Zann. “It's very moving for me, because it is their interests, and Black Canadians and racialized communities and marginalized communities, whose struggles and victories are at the heart of this bill.”

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer