Canada

Friday November 2, 2018

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 2, 2018

Statistics Canada’s request for banking data of 500,000 Canadians provokes privacy investigation

June 22, 2010

Federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien says he is investigating Statistics Canada’s request for private banking information on 500,000 Canadians.

Therrien said Wednesday that numerous people have complained to his office about the agency’s effort to gather detailed information on transactions held by Canadian financial institutions, from cash-machine withdrawals to credit-card payments to account balances.

The formal investigation will include an examination of the requests Statistics Canada has made to businesses in multiple industries for data they collect on their customers and business partners, he said.

Canada’s chief statistician, Anil Arora, said traditional methods of gathering data aren’t good enough to measure Canada’s economy and changes in society.

February 17, 2014

“More than 75 per cent of purchases are conducted online by Canadians and Statistics Canada has to have access to these data in order to provide all Canadians with the timely and quality statistics they need in areas such as housing and debt and the impacts of transitioning to a gig economy,” Arora said.

Therrien’s last report to Parliament mentioned Statistics Canada’s growing reliance on “administrative data sources,” mainly information collected by businesses about their customers. Many of those businesses have contacted the privacy commissioner to make sure that sharing it is OK, his report said.

Therrien suggested that wherever possible, Statistics Canada should tell the companies involved to strip names and identifying information from the data before sending it over.

August 23, 2016

“To ensure transparency, we recommended StatCan let the Canadian public know how and why it is increasing its collection of data from administrative and other non-traditional sources,” the report said.

Arora said the privacy commissioner was consulted as Statistics Canada planned its pilot project on financial data, but added he has asked Therrien to take a second look.

Statistics Canada can compel businesses to supply a wide range of data.

“I understand the concerns that Canadians have and want to assure them that their personal information is carefully protected and never shared publicly,” Arora said.(Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

Link to Cartoon on TheSpec.com. 

 

Thursday November 1, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 1, 2018

Two Former GGs on the hot seat for their lavish ways

Canada’s governors general deserve continued financial support once they retire but they need to be more transparent and accountable for their expenses, Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

February 20, 2004

The prime minister made the comment after a Postmedia report revealed that Adrienne Clarkson, who was governor general from 1999 to 2005, has billed more than $1 million in expenses since leaving the viceregal job.

Besides their pensions, former governors general get lifetime public funding for office and travel expenses through a program that has existed since 1979, on the premise that governors general never truly retire.

Trudeau said the federal government will review the program to determine “best practices” for supporting former governors general.

September 27, 2005

“These are people who’ve stepped up and offered tremendous service to this country but Canadians expect a certain level of transparency and accountability and we’re going to make sure we’re moving forward in a thoughtful way,” Trudeau said on his way into the Liberals’ weekly caucus meeting.

Clarkson has billed more than $100,000 to the government nine times in the 12 years since she left Rideau Hall.

That’s the threshold for reporting the billings separately, including identifying the claimant, in the federal government’s annual Public Accounts. The Public Accounts disclose no detail about the nature of the expenses.

Expenses of less than $100,000 billed by former governors general are lumped together in a general “temporary help services” category and do not identify who claimed them. (Source: Toronto Star) 

May 27, 2009

Earlier in October, another former Governor-General, Michaelle Jean failed, in her bid for a second term as secretary general of la Francophonie Friday as members chose Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo.

Three days after his government withdrew its support for Jean, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted the move was not part of a deal to advance Canada’s bid for a United Nations Security Council seat in 2020.

Jean had been dogged by stories of excessive spending and questionable expenses during her mandate.

After a four-year term marked by controversy, the former governor general was considered a long shot for a second stint, but she refused to withdraw her candidacy even as support dwindled. (Source: CTV News) 

 

Tuesday October 30, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 30, 2018

Hatred has no borders, including in Canada

Saturday’s horrific mass murder of 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue is somehow made even worse with the knowledge that it was the product of anti-Semitism.

September 13, 2012

The baseless hatred and xenophobia directed at Jewish people has been with us for generations. You could be forgiven for thinking that with hundreds of years of experience and practice, civilization should have learned by now to at least bottle up, if not stop, the violence that flows from such hatred.

But no. People of all religions have a right to safety and security, especially when in their places of worship. But even that seemingly inviolable right was ripped away from the people of Squirrel Hill and their religious and humanitarian colleagues around the world. There is no safety, even in a place of worship, certainly not in a country that is increasingly polarized and consuming itself, all the while being armed to the teeth.

But we must not overly compartmentalize this horror. The United States, which increasingly appears to be out of control on a downbound train, is a petrie dish with its militant gun worship and Trump-inspired culture of intolerance, hatred and revenge. Some of these characteristics are unique to America, like Trump himself. Mixed together they make a toxic fertilizer feeding the poisoned garden that is now the U.S.

But they’re not on a different road than much of the world, including Canada. They are only further along.

According to the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents in that country increased 60 per cent last year. The league found 1,986 incidents of physical assault, harassment and vandalism against Jews and Jewish institutions in 2017.

But consider Canada. Global News reported that 14 synagogues across the country received mail that said “Jewry Must Perish.” A high school was defaced with graffiti saying “Jews did 911” along with a Nazi flag.

According to Statistics Canada, Jews were the most targeted minority for hate crimes in 2016. B’nai B’rith Canada says anti-Semitic incidents increased 24 per cent that year and last year saw another increase. The reality in many other parts of the world, including Europe, differs only by a matter of degree. The U.S. is just the canary in the mine shaft.

What will we do? Doing nothing when confronted with hatred and intolerance is no option. If we choose to stand by and allow this poison to continue spreading, we are complicit.

It’s getting clearer with each incident that social media is another breeding ground. The Pittsburgh murderer spewed hatred on a web platform that claims to be a bastion for free speech. No one likes the idea of further limitations on free speech, but we need better ways to confront hatred when it hides behind freedom. This terrible crime could have been stopped had someone notified authorities to intervene earlier, given the shooter’s propensity for hate speech was well known.

Canada is not immune. Intolerance is growing, and its seeds are sown by extremists on social media and even by some politicians. Knowing that, what will we do about it? What will you do? (Source: Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

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Saturday October 28, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 28, 2018

‘Difficult contract’ binds Canada to Saudi LAV deal, Trudeau says

October 12, 2018

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it’s difficult to break Canada’s deal to supply light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia because of the way the contract was negotiated by the previous Conservative government. 

“The contract signed by the previous government, by Stephen Harper, makes it very difficult to suspend or leave that contract,” Trudeau told host Matt Galloway on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Tuesday. “We are looking at a number of things, but it is a difficult contract.

“I actually can’t go into it, because part of the deal on this contract is not talking about this contract, and it’s one of the binds that we are left in because of the way that the contract was negotiated.”

August 10, 2018

Saudi Arabia faces possible international repercussions over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trudeau, in Toronto today to announce how Canada will go about implementing the carbon tax, was asked in the Metro Morning interview what Canada could do.

Canada and many of its allies are trying to figure out what kind of diplomatic and economic pressure can be applied to Saudi Arabia to make it clear that the killing of the dissident journalist inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkey is unacceptable.

Germany, for example, has stopped its arms sales to the kingdom in light of this incident.

May 13, 2016

But Canada continues to fulfil its contract to supply the kingdom with LAVs built by General Dynamic Land Systems Canada, a military supplier in London, Ont.

Even before Khashoggi’s death, human rights advocates said Canada should not be supplying the Saudis with military vehicles that could assist in its ongoing military intervention in Yemen, where civilians have been brutally targeted.

Trudeau said he understands this situation “very well,” calling it “incredibly frustrating.” (Source: CBC News) 

 

 

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Friday October 26, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 26, 2018

Ontario Cannabis Store mum on backup delivery plan amid Canada Post strikes

October 17, 2018

As Canada Post strikes continue, the Ontario Cannabis Store is refusing to say when it will implement a so-called “contingency plan” to get pot to consumers.

That’s despite hundreds of people complaining online that their orders have been stalled or cancelled altogether in the week since legalization.

Cannabis became legal in Canada on Oct. 17 with provinces and territories launching a range of models using either retail or online stores, or both.

In Ontario, private stores will not open until April 2019 and in the meantime, the Ontario Cannabis Store is the only legal retailer for cannabis in the province.

September 15, 2016

But in the week since legalization, hundreds of Ontario consumers have taken to social media to complain the online retailer has failed to meet its promised one- to three-day delivery window, cancelled orders without notice and is failing to give any information to consumers about how they plan to deal with the ongoing Canada Post strike.

And as of Wednesday, its customer service hotline is also out of service “due to circumstances beyond our control.”

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Ontario Cannabis Store said it has processed 100,000 orders so far.

That’s roughly the same amount it had previously said had been placed by consumers over the first 24 hours of legalization. (Source: Global News) 

 

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