In the News

Premier John Horgan has called a provincial election a year earlier than scheduled, seeking a majority for his New Democratic Party minority government a year earlier than scheduled. Citing significant economic and health challenges, he said “stability will come by asking the people of British Columbia where they want to go and who they want to lead.,” he said. Voting will take place 24 October.

Career public servant Iain Stewart has been named President of the Public Health Agency of Canada only two years into his appointment as President of the National Research Council. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision was precipitated by the sudden resignation of PHAC President Trina Namiesniowksi, who said the country needed “someone who will have the energy and the stamina to take the agency and our response to the next level” in tackling COVID-19.

A suburban Montreal condominium is being searched by RCMP for potential connections with envelopes containing ricin which were sent to the White House and several Texas locations. A spokesman says the home is connected to a woman arrested at the border after one of the envelopes was intercepted last week before it reached the presidential residence in Washington.

David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2016 to 2019, has been cited by the federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner for improper lobbying less than a year after he left office. Nine ministers, aides and senior public servants were involved in the meetings requested by MacNaughton on behalf of Palantir Technologies Canada, a subsidiary of a privately-held U.S. software company.

A U.S. billionaire was cleared by the Canada Border Services Agency to enter Canada without following the federal government’s 14-day quarantine requirement. “No special entry exemptions were provided,” said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, referring to the fact that several cabinet ministers can approve exemptions under special circumstances. “Entry should not have been permitted,” the government is “working with the CBSA to ensure that similar cases do not occur.”

On Tuesday, New Westminster police arrested a man suspected of setting fire to the city's historic pier. The historic site succumbed to flames late Sunday night, destroying one of the oldest parts of the long-standing pier, which had been incorporated into a new park that opened in 2012. The fire is now contained, but continues to smoulder underneath the deck surface.

The Boeing 737 MAX crashes which killed 346 passengers and crew, in October 2018 and March 2019 and grounded the global fleet, are described in a U.S. House of Representatives committee report as the “horrific culmination” of engineering flaws, mismanagement and a lack of oversight. “It could have been prevented,” says the committee chairman. “We’re going to take steps in our legislation to see that it never happens again.”

Iran has rejected two proposed Canadian class-action lawsuits over its missile shoot-down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 shortly after takeoff from Tehran last January. “The Canadian court has no jurisdiction,” a foreign ministry spokesman says. However, a Toronto lawyer involved in one action says the case is within Canadian jurisdiction through the 2012 Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.

Michael Caputo, a politically-appointed spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is on a leave of absence after a conspiracy theory rant on Facebook amid the ongoing COVID-19 dispute between the White House and the scientific community. Among other things, he accused government scientists of “sedition” and trying to undermine the White House.

Less than three hours before Canada was set to announce an estimated $3.6 billion in countervailing tariffs, the U.S. agreed 15 September to scrap President Donald Trump’s 10 percent import tariffs on Canadian aluminum. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the reversal is a sign of common sense in Washington, but the U.S. administration promises monthly reassessments.

U.S. intelligence source say that Iran, seeking retaliation for the drone killing of MGen Qassem Soleimani last January, has been considering killing the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, Lana Marks, who has been made aware of the threat.

With little more than a week left before the second session of the 43rd Parliament begins 23 September, the federal cabinet is meeting for two days to address the ongoing challenge of COVID-19 and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s commitment to “a detailed vision for the future and a plan to keep Canadians safe while we rebuild a stronger Canada that works for everyone.”

French and Swedish laboratories have confirmed German conclusions that Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a binary chemical weapon initially developed by a Soviet research agency in the 1970s. Navalny, the most visible opponent of President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany last month after falling ill on a domestic flight. The Kremlin continues to deny responsibility.

A group of mayors from Canadian cities and towns close to the U.S. border has called on the federal government to keep the border closed after the current lockdown ends 21 September even though local businesses and the tourism sector feel the pinch.

Protesting the “injustice and ineffectiveness” of the federal government's prohibition on civil ownership of “assault” rifles, an estimated crowd of 800 marchers descended on Parliament Hill 12 September even though most MPs had gone home to their ridings when the previous was prorogued. The event was coordinated by the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights.

In the run-up to the Liberal Party’s 12-15 November national convention, the concept of a guaranteed basic income for Canadians has emerged as a caucus priority. MPs are calling on the government to endorse the idea in a policy resolution which evidently is at the top of their wish-list for the convention.

A year after Cameron Ortis, director its national intelligence coordination centre was charged with sharing information with a foreign entity, the RCMP evidently has not upgraded its protocols despite an internal review. “If the RCMP is publicly saying that they haven't done anything or haven't implemented any of the changes that maybe need to happen in terms of increasing the security posture, what are they telling allies?” asks Jessica Davis, formerly with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and now head of a private consultancy, “They’re obviously still receiving intelligence from the allies. So is the messaging the same to them? And if so, how are they taking that?”

Raj Grewal, a short-term Ontario MP who quit the Liberal caucus in 2018 after a police investigation of his gambling debts, now faces a handful of criminal charges for allegedly failing to report to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner that he had secured large personal loans. The RCMP say the circumstances “constitute a criminal breach of trust” but Grewal’s lawyer says his client “adamantly denies these allegations.”

Some 8,800 unaccompanied children have been expelled from the U.S. into Mexico, a pandemic-related measure that effectively ended their political asylum. Confirmation by the U.S. Border Patrol brings the total number of deportations to more than 159,000 since March.

Israel and Bahrain have agreed to normalize relations, a month after Israel struck a peace deal with the United Arab Emirates. The news was tweeted by U.S. President Donald Trump, who is reported to have “brokered” the accord. Bahrain is only the fourth Arab country in the Middle East, the others being Egypt and Jordan, to recognise Israel since its founding in 1948.

Microsoft Corp. says a Russian military intelligence unit which attacked the U.S. Democratic National Committee four years ago is back, this time with stealthier hacks aimed at campaign staff, consultants and think-tanks associated with Republicans as well as Democrats. The dislosure comes a day after White House and Homeland Security officials were accused of suppressing intelligence because it “made the president look bad.”

Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne and European Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell have reaffirmed their transatlantic commitment to tackle COVID-19 as well and other challenges. In a statement issued 10 September, they said that, among other things, they fully support the World Health Organization’s pandemic work, continue to cooperate in identifying and responding to foreign threats such as state-sponsored disinformation, and remain committed to the Paris Agreement climate goals.

Russian and Chinese business deals in Latin America and the Caribbean threaten to destabilize the Western Hemisphere, says U.S. Air Force LGen Michael Plehn, deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command, likening them to activities by “transnational criminal organizations."

Anecdotal rumblings within government about the impact of COVID-19 on spending priorities are raising questions about whether the ballooning debt from various economic support programs will affect departments and agencies. One approach, to "anchor" budgets at a fixed percentage of gross domestic product, is being advanced by Robert Asselin, a advisor to former Finance Minister Bill Morneau and now Senior Vice-President, Policy at the Business Council of Canada.

Cheng Lei, an Australian citizen who had worked as a TV network presenter in China, has been detained since mid-August on suspicion of “criminal activity endangering China's national security.” Beijing’s vague explanation came after the last two Australian journalists working in China had flown home after a diplomatic standoff. The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China says 17 foreign journalists were expelled in the first half of 2020.

Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the G7 countries are taking Russian denials about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny “with a grain of salt.” The opposition politician is said by Germany to have been poisoned with a Soviet-era neurotoxin but the Kremlin is denying any involvement. Canada is working on a coordinated G-7 response but Champagne has not said what it might be.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission estimates it would cost smaller telecommunications providers $1.6 billion to replace Chinese equipment in their systems and has called for government compensation. Having listed the Chinese technologies as national security threats, the FCC warned last year that service providers which continued to use them would not be eligible for government funding to expand their customer base.

Two days after a cattle transport capsized and sank in the Coral Sea during a typhoon 2 Sept., some 40 crewmembers were still missing. Two survivors from the 18-year-old Panama-registered Gulf Livestock have been found by Japan's coast guard.

As the U.S. Navy shifted increasingly to remote work for many personnel early in the COVID-19 pandemic, its chief information says there was a jump in malicious cyber activity. Aaron Weis says it began with basic phishing activity but ramped up to spoofing and outright attacks from ostensibly “trustworthy” sources even after the U.S. deployed countermeasures.

Senior officers of the International Criminal Court, including its chief prosecutor, are being sanction by the U.S. for what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says are “illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction.” Created by the UN in 2002 and never recognized by the U.S., which calls it a “corrupted institution,” the ICC is currently investigating whether U.S. forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

Career diplomat Christian Burgsmüller has begun a four-year assignment as Deputy Head of Mission in the EU Delegation’s Ottawa office. Previous postings have been at EU headquarters in Brussels as well as with delegations in Washington and Brasilia. He also had been involved in trade negotiations with Canada, U.S., Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

The U.S. administration has confirmed that it will not participate in an international effort to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine because the initiative is tied to the “corrupt World Health Organization” and influenced by China. However, a White House spokesman says the U.S. would “continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus” which now has killed more than 180,000 Americans and some 2.2 million worldwide.

British Columbia has renewed its COVID-19 state of emergency for the 13th time since it was invoked 18 March. Subject to fortnightly renewal, it enables the government to use “extraordinary powers” during the pandemic.

This month’s UN General Assembly, scheduled to begin 15 September, will include a Security Council discussion of potential security threats in a post-pandemic world. The council’s current president, Nigerian Ambassador Abdou Abarry says the online discussion is planned for 24 September.