For a Monday

That must hurt:

Canada’s privacy commissioner has found the federal government broke privacy rules when it revealed the identity of a Postmedia reporter to Irving Shipbuilding last March.

In a recent letter to Conservative MP Peter Kent, who filed complaints about the issue earlier this year, the privacy commissioner’s office concluded the Department of National Defence (DND) contravened the disclosure provisions of the Privacy Act when an employee “inappropriately disclosed the journalist’s information to a third party who did not have a need to know.”

The privacy commissioner decided that Kent’s complaint was “well-founded and resolved,” given that the department has already conducted an internal investigation and plans to provide additional training to its employees as a result of the privacy breach.

In March, Postmedia reporter David Pugliese sent questions to DND and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) about possible problems with the welding on the first of six Arctic patrol ships Irving is building for the Royal Canadian Navy.

Ninety minutes after submitting the questions, and before either department had responded, Pugliese received an email from an Irving representative saying the company had been made aware of his inquiry. In a subsequent telephone conversation, Irving Shipbuilding President Kevin McCoy threatened legal action against Postmedia, saying Irving’s lawyers would be “making sure you understand that if you write something false about our reputation we will pursue it.”

DND later confirmed there were minor welding problems with the ship, but nothing requiring it to be docked for repairs.

The two departments subsequently acknowledged they had provided Irving with Pugliese’s name and said they were investigating whether they had violated federal privacy law. They also said they had directed employees to make media requests anonymous going forward.

Also:

Alberta Queen’s Bench Judge Robert Hall says BC can’t block Alberta’s ‘Turn Off The Taps’ legislation – at least not in an Alberta or BC court.

In his ruling, the Judge said only the Attorney General of Alberta or the Attorney General of Canada can bring the matter to court:

“The only parties with standing to bring this action in this court are the (Attorney General of Alberta) and the (Attorney General of Canada).” 

“Neither party could direct me to any cases in which one province has sued another province seeking a declaration of constitutional invalidity of legislation enacted by the defendant province,” added Hall.

Is this a plea for pity or the aftermath of the Jody Wilson-Raybould affair? You decide:

Struggling construction and engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc on Monday withdrew its forecast for 2019, citing significantly lower results as it considers options for its resources unit and exits fixed-price contracts.

SNC’s shares, which have fallen more than 44 per cent in 2019, fell nearly 8 per cent in morning trade.

Montreal-based SNC has been facing a trial in Canada over fraud and corruption charges related to allegations that former executives paid bribes to win contracts in Libya under Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, which fell in 2011. The company’s unsuccessful attempts to reach a settlement led to a political scandal engulfing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Economies, like promises, are made to be broken:

The trade wars also will force Canadian executives to recognize that the U.S. — the only international market most of them care about — is an unreliable business partner.

Unreliable? Try fatigued.

Canadian voters handed a working economy to a frat-boy and truly believed that they could weather a storm like Trump. Trump was elected to represent American interests. That meant going toe-to-toe with China, a country the frat-boy believed he could replace the US with as a major trading partner.

Oops.




Let them fight:

Legault was insinuating the Liberals — who had held power for almost 15 years before the October 2018 election — were the party of English-speaking Montreal, while the new Coalition Avenir Quebec government had the support of the francophone majority.

The premier’s comments might have been directed at the Official Opposition, but they reflected a new government tone and approach towards anglophones — particularly to the lobby groups and other institutions, such as school boards, that claim to speak for them.

Legault’s Coalition has its support base outside Montreal, and it isn’t afraid of making policy decisions it knows are going to be massively unpopular with English speakers.

Liberal member Greg Kelley, who represents a riding in Montreal’s English-speaking West Island, said in a recent interview that Legault’s government uses the rhetoric of us versus them.

“It’s frustrating, because it’s not the tone you want to hear from the premier,” Kelley said of Legault’s March comments.

This is what happens when a country props up a linguistic minority and treats it like a separate entity above all others. The Liberals believed that they could manage this oligarchy until it got big enough to demand more, more and more.

These separatist movements don't like Justin or the Liberals. It will be interesting to watch them duke it in this very tight election.


Also:

Unbeknownst to most, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were on the hunt, too, scrambling to retrace FLQ ringleader Paul Rose’s steps — and to determine whether he had fled to the United States, according to the FBI’s newly released file on Rose.

Released almost 50 years after the October Crisis, the FBI file contains an untold story from one of the darkest periods in modern Quebec history.

It's just money:

Nearly four years after Justin Trudeau opted not to move into the prime minister's official residence over concerns about its crumbling state, the building remains vacant — except for staff who continue to use the kitchen to prepare meals for Trudeau and his family.

And it appears no decisions will be made on the future of the residence until well after the fall federal election.

The federal Conservatives accuse the Trudeau government of dithering over "critical" upgrades to the stately yet run-down home, and needlessly costing taxpayers more money in the process.

At the same time, none of the main federal party leaders appears willing to opine on whether the building should be torn down or renovated, or whether they would live in the residence if it were upgraded.

If this was truly about recognition, the apologies would have ended with the Mulroney government.

But it's about inflicting a permanent shaming practice on a country that - thanks to political multiculturalism - is comprised of people who don't see themselves as Canadians but extensions of the Chinese and Sikhs, the people who have a beef with the Japanese.

Who would have thought that political multiculturalism would be so divisive?:

Japanese Canadians across the country are meeting to discuss how an apology by the British Columbia government could be backed by meaningful action for those who were placed in internment camps or forced into labour because of racist policies during the Second World War.

The federal government apologized in 1988 for its racism against "enemy aliens" after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941 but the president of the National Association of Japanese Canadians said British Columbia's apology in 2012 did not involve the community.

Lorene Oikawa said the association is working with the provincial government to consider how it could follow up on the apology to redress racism. The majority of about 22,000 interned Japanese Canadians lived in B.C. before many were forced to move east of the Rockies or to Japan, even if they were born in Canada.

"We weren't informed about the apology so it was a surprise to us," Oikawa said about B.C.'s statement, which, unlike with the federal government's apology, did not go further to resolve outstanding historic wrongs that saw families separated and property and belongings sold.

"We accepted the apology but we just want to have that follow-up piece that was missing so that is what the current B.C. government has agreed to and started with this process of having community consultations," she said of the redress initiative funded by the province.

Release every name:

Since Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest, the speculation has mounted. Will any among the rich and powerful he courted be caught up in the case?

Some answers might come soon. A judge could decide on July 24 how and when to unseal a trove of documents — some 2,000 pages worth — in connection with a civil lawsuit filed by an Epstein accuser against his one-time companion Ghislaine Maxwell. The papers may reveal allegations of sexual abuse involving people described in court filings as “prominent individuals.”

Just in time for Shark Week:

The great white sharks move torpedo-like through East Coast waters, cruelly efficient hunters with multiple rows of serrated teeth devouring seals and other prey.

But the “fascinating” creatures are themselves being closely watched by international teams of scientists who are attempting to document their apparent renaissance in the northwest Atlantic.

“We are seeing signs the conservation measures we’re taking are giving the animals a chance and enabling a comeback,” says Frederick Whoriskey, a marine biologist and ecologist at Dalhousie University.

“But we don’t have the numbers (of their abundance) yet.”