In the News

Social media messaging on behalf of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has been labelled “manipulated media” by Twitter. The tweets in both official languages show Conservative leader Erin O'Toole saying last year in a party leadership debate that he supported “for profit” private health care but did not include his additional comment that universal public access would remain paramount.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says Canadian special forces in Afghanistan have been given the “flexibility” to help get Canadians, Afghan interpreters and support staff to Kabul airport for evacuation. The U.S. has refused to deploy troops outside the airport but British and French special forces have carried out rescues in Kabul.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed today that the land border will remain closed to non-essential travel by Canadians until at least Sept. 21. “Given the outbreak and continued transmission and spread of COVID-19 within the United States and globally, the Secretary has determined that the risk of continued transmission and spread of the virus associated with COVID-19 between the United States and Canada poses an ongoing specific threat to human life or national interests,” it explained.

The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has called for the Director of National Intelligence to assess the GPS’s vulnerability to hostile interests. A law enacted in 2018 was not acted on by the previous administration and now it’s President Joe Biden’s opportunity to act – but the challenge isn’t without its difficulties.

A proposed £29-billion takeover of the British chip designer Arm by the California-based Nvidia technology company worries the U.K Competition and Markets Authority. Calling for a more in-depth review of the deal, it says the proposal raises “serious” concerns about competition and the potential for stifling innovation.

A member of Ontario’s governing Progressive Conservative caucus has been expelled for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations. Rick Nicholls confirmed the decision Aug. 19, saying only that he and his wife opted not to be vaccinated for “personal reasons,” disregarding a warning two days earlier by Premier Doug Ford.

The mission to evacuate U.S. citizens, third-country nationals and vulnerable Afghans as the Taliban tighten their grip is ramping up. U.S. officials say that while they could handle up to 9,000 evacuees daily, the average has been around 2,000, the flow evidently blocked at Taliban checkpoints.

The Taliban’s behaviour since taking control of most of Afghanistan belies its earlier messaging that there would be “no revenge” against military members and others who worked with the NATO alliance. The Islamist militants have been doing door-to-door searches and a Norwegian analyst who advises the UN says “there are a high number of individuals that are currently being targeted by the Taliban and the threat is crystal clear.”

The International Monetary Fund says Afghanistan no longer has access to IMF resources now that the Taliban are in control. An IMF spokesperson cited a “lack of clarity within the international community” about recognizing Afghanistan’s government as the Washington-based organization was preparing to release funds. “The potential . . . to provide nearly half a billion dollars in unconditional liquidity to a regime with a history of supporting terrorist actions against the United States and her allies is extremely concerning,” the IMF said.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has promised that two of the RCAF’s five CC-177 Boeing Globemaster III transports are set to resume “flying regularly” into Kabul as part of the international effort to evacuate civilians and citizens. Details are vague but he said “flights to and from Hamid Karzai International Airport will resume shortly.”

The U.S. Transportation Security Agency today said it would continue to require employees and passengers on airlines and other public transport to continue wearing masks against CVOVID-19 for at least five more months. The current order was scheduled to expire Sept. 13. The Federal Aviation Administration reported Aug. 17 that of 3,889 incidents with unruly airline passengers so far this year, 74 per cent involve mask refusals.

The Progressive Conservatives unseated the incumbent Liberal administration in the Aug. 17 Nova Scotia general election in which health care funding emerged as the key issue. With two seats to call, they had 39.1 per cent of the vote, which translated to 31 seats with at least 28 required for a legislative majority.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is determined to have all federal employees vaccinated against COVID-19. “If anyone doesn't have a legitimate medical reason for not getting fully vaccinated — or chooses to not get vaccinated — there will be consequences,” he said Aug. 17 without explaining what the repercussions might be.

Efforts to evacuate Canadian expatriates and Afghan support staff are being hampered by Taliban checkpoints in Kabul as well as what are described as unreasonable requests for exit documents. Some 800 former translators and others who worked for Canada, as well as an unknown number of Canadians, are said to be in hiding, uncertain how they can get to the airport.

The federal government is dropping its request that the Federal Court block the release of documents related to the dismissal of two scientists at the country’s Level 4 containment laboratory in Winnipeg. The Public Health Agency of Canada had refused to provide the information to a House of Commons committee, a decision which prompted the government’s action and pitted the Speaker again his own party.

A flight with Canadian special ops personnel and embassy staff from Kabul arrived in Ottawa late Aug. 16. There were no Afghans aboard but an unspecified number arrived in Toronto about the same time.

A recent spike in gun violence in several major centres has revived debate about the federal government’s gun-control agenda. Bill-21, which introduced in the House of Commons February and would have included a buy-back program, saw only minimal debate before Parliament was prorogued for the Sept. 20 general election. The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights says the group opposes any measure leading to “confiscation of legal guns.”

Russia's 819 COVID-19 deaths Aug. 14 was a daily record, confirmed on the heels of a report that Moscow had the highest toll since the pandemic began. The country’s daily deaths are on the rise after infections peaked in July and the authorities blame the Delta variant and a slow vaccination rate.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that global average temperatures in July were the hottest since record-keeping began 142 years ago. The combined land and ocean-surface reading was 0.93°C above the average for the last century and in the northern hemisphere, land temperatures in July were an “unprecedented” 1.54° higher than average.

As the state of New South Wales prepared for a COVID-19 lockdown which went into effect Aug. 14 in response to what the government says is “literally a war,” the state government said military personnel were being deployed to enforce restrictions in the Sydney area. As well, fines for non-compliance were being increased.

No sooner had Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a general election for Sept. 20 than the group which coordinates televised debates confirmed the dates for two broadcasts from the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. The French debate is set for Sept. 8 with the English debate the following evening; topics will be announced three days in advance.

Still recovering from the effects of a massive earthquake in 2010, Haiti was struck by another one on the weekend. At last count, there were nearly 1,300 confirmed fatalities with thousands of people still unaccounted for and the rescue effort was expected to be hampered by a major tropical storm bearing down on the island today.

The federal government announced today that it plans to require all public service employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 and “expects” the initiative to be taken up by federally-regulated industries such as air and rail transport, banking, broadcasting and telecommunications. The government says it will work with public service unions and employers to have the mandate in place by the end of October.

A provincial court judge in Manitoba has stayed the charge of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl a decade ago because inaction and miscommunication by the RCMP and Crown prosecutors stalled the case for seven years. led to seven years of delays. The judge acknowledged the seriousness of the allegation but “even the most serious charges cannot diminish the right to trial within a reasonable time.”

As Canada and its allies prepared to evacuate remaining diplomatic personnel from Afghanistan, the Taliban continued their encirclement of Kabul today, capturing four more provincial capitals in a lightning offensive. Their capture of half the 34 capitals, including two of the largest cities in recent days, means they now control more than two-thirds of the country.

The cost of acquiring three used Norwegian icebreakers the government is buying through the Quebec shipyard Chantier Davie has topped $921 million, some 50 per cent higher than the original 2018 estimate. The yard recently received additional payment to continue converting them for Canadian Coast Guard use until new ships are built.

An Ontario man returning home by taxi from the U.S. at the Detroit-Windsor crossing says he has been fined $6,255 for being unable to provide proof of his COVID-19 vaccination status quickly enough for a Canada Border Services Agency officer. Saadi Kadhum had forgotten his email password and when locked out of his account, evidently was refused permission to leave the vehicle for “two, three minutes” to have access to a computer to verify his status.

After recording its first COVID-19 case in more than a year, the Australian Capital Territory today began a one-week lockdown. The region around Canberra has a population of some 400,000. The country is struggling to contain the Delta variant as other large centres also have locked down and New South Wales Governor Gladys Berejiklian is prepared to use the military to ensure compliance.

The federal government plans to have proof of COVID-19 vaccination documents ready for international travel in the fall. Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said today that Ottawa is working with the provinces, which hold the necessary data, so that the passports also could facilitate internal travel as the pandemic continues.

A Chinese court has sentenced Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison for alleged espionage and providing state secrets to other countries. The ruling comes more than two and a half years after he was detained in what many see as a political response to Canada’s detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the U.S. Spavor has been ordered deported but it was not immediately clear whether that would occur before or after his prison term.

Canada will become home to Moderna’s first foreign vaccine research and manufacturing facility within two years. The Massachusetts company confirmed today that it has signed an MoU with the federal government to set up the facility but location and financing details were not disclosed.

Lithuania was asked today to withdraw its ambassador to Beijing after permitting Taiwan to open a Representative Office in Vilnius. Also announcing that it would recall its envoy to the Baltic state, Beijing said Lithuania had disregarded its “representations and articulation of potential consequences” when the plan was announced last month.

Canada has received several planeloads of Afghans fleeing the Taliban but Canadian veterans say unrealistic bureaucrats are undermining the process by, among other things, requiring prospective refugees to have passports and proof of COVID-19 testing. One veteran involved in the rescue effort says that if the process is not improved, “people will get left behind and innocent people will die.”

A program designed to facilitate online tracking of child abuse has been unveiled by Apple Inc. It would check imagery on a country-by-country basis, subject to local laws but with built-in safeguards to prevent governments from using it for other purposes.