STAMPEDE!:
The Spanish city of Ceuta, which sits on a tiny coastal patch of North Africa within eyesight of mainland Spain, was readying to celebrate its patron saint this weekend — and then it was overwhelmed by a migrant horde.
This is what happens when all of a country’s institutions orient themselves to help outsiders over their own people.
The festivities were called off, but that was the least of the locals’ concerns. Some 60,000 people, primarily young men, entered the city from Morocco over several days by swimming around the border fence. They were hungry, thirsty, barefoot and without a place to stay. Videos circulated online of the masses milling about, of street violence, of men scaling apartments and attempting to gain entry.
We’ll have a tally of the actual damage and crime once the dust settles, but the breakdown of law and order is plain enough. What the city experienced was nothing short of an invasion, which presents serious national security concerns.
Spanish officials estimated on Friday evening that 48,300 migrants had returned to Morocco , but the thousands who remain can’t immediately be forced to leave. That’s because, earlier this month, the Spanish Supreme Court made it illegal to summarily deport anyone who enters Spain by sea.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez set out earlier this year to mass-regularize those living unlawfully in Spain, and by late June had received more than one-million applications for the scheme. Before that, he embarked on an African strategy that involves funnelling aid abroad and providing work visas to migrants, with the overall effect of fostering warm ties with migrant-sending countries. The CBC has taken note, giving Spain’s uniquely welcoming approach to immigration a positive spin , contrasting it with souring attitudes over in the United Kingdom.
Reality hits hard. On Friday, Sánchez called Ceuta’s migrant tide a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” that deserves “condemnation at the strongest possible level.” He empathized with the locals, who had been advised to batten down and cower in place. Speaking words and sounding defensive is an easy thing to do. Much like our leaders in Canada, Sánchez’s apparent support for integrity and order was contradicted by his record of lax administration of the immigration system.
It's just a government:
The advocacy group obtained access to information records that showed the government handed out multiple bonuses, including a “bilingual bonus,” a “performance award” and “at risk pay,” among others, last year.
Most government executives take bonuses every year, and Public Services and Procurement Canada confirmed to CTF that roughly 88 per cent took one last year. This is despite the government’s own data showing that federal departments met just 54 per cent of their performance targets in 2024-25. The remaining targets were either not met, are to be achieved in the future, or data is not available.
“Bonuses are for when you go above and beyond, so why are most government executives taking bonuses every year when their departments can barely pass their own test?” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director, in the report.
“Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to end Ottawa’s entitlement culture because federal executives shouldn’t automatically get a bonus.”
An access to information request revealed that, in 2025, 15,898 of 18,041 executive employees received a bonus or other form of performance incentive, while 142,269 of 414,525 non-executive employees received one.
According to the records obtained by CTF, the $201.5 million in bonuses last year included 6,902 employees receiving a “bilingual bonus allowance” at a cost of $4 million, 9,173 employees receiving “at risk pay,” totalling $172 million, and 1,618 employees receiving a “performance award,” costing $24 million.
In total, federal bonuses have cost taxpayers about $2 billion since 2015, according to CTF.
Meanwhile, government data on departmental results shows that departments have not met or exceeded 55 per cent of targets since 2020 (the earliest year data is available for).
**
The cost of public health care insurance has skyrocketed in this century, outpacing growth in the cost of food, shelter and even wages, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute. It notes that a typical family of four will pay more than $21,000 for public health care insurance this year, more than twice the amount as in 1997, the first year for which data is available.
“Canadians pay a substantial amount of money for public health care through a variety of taxes, even if we don’t pay directly for medical services,” said Nadeem Esmail, the group’s director of health policy and co-author of the report, titled The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2026.
**
Newly-declassified records show the federal cabinet months before 9/11 was told Canadian charities were being used for terrorist financing. “Most of the world’s terrorist organizations had supporters in Canada,” read minutes of one confidential meeting: “One Minister commented on the need to closely examine the use of charities.”
**
Liberal MPs yesterday by a 5 to 4 vote blocked Commons committee hearings into secretly negotiated toll concessions on the Gordie Howe International Bridge at Windsor, Ont. One MP expressed resentment that Canadians would think the Prime Minister lied to taxpayers over terms: “I am a little offended by the insinuations.”
**
More than four years after the Freedom Convoy protesters arrived in Ottawa in late January 2022, it’s now clear the real threat to democracy was Justin Trudeau’s imposition of the Emergencies Act, not the actions of the demonstrators.
The federal government has already lost twice in court in its bid to justify that decision — first in June 2024 at the Federal Court and again at the Federal Court of Appeal in January this year.
The rulings in both cases regarding the government’s response to the protests — which began over federal vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers but quickly expanded into a larger protest about restrictive COVID-19 measures and the Trudeau government itself — were clear.
They were that the government’s use of the EA was unreasonable, illegal and unconstitutional in violating Charter rights.
**
More than four years after the Freedom Convoy protesters arrived in Ottawa in late January 2022, it’s now clear the real threat to democracy was Justin Trudeau’s imposition of the Emergencies Act, not the actions of the demonstrators.
(Sidebar: this Trudeau.)
The federal government has already lost twice in court in its bid to justify that decision — first in June 2024 at the Federal Court and again at the Federal Court of Appeal in January this year.
The rulings in both cases regarding the government’s response to the protests — which began over federal vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers but quickly expanded into a larger protest about restrictive COVID-19 measures and the Trudeau government itself — were clear.
They were that the government’s use of the EA was unreasonable, illegal and unconstitutional in violating Charter rights.
The government failed to establish that the actions of the protesters, including the blockades in Ottawa and elsewhere in the country, constituted a threat to national security, or a national emergency, under the wording of the EA.
Government actions such as directing financial institutions to freeze the assets of protesters and disclose confidential financial information — often on the basis of unverified news stories and social media reports — violated the Charter right of Canadians to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
All of this is now relevant because in March the federal government sought leave to appeal the Federal Court’s ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will hear the case.
Chief Supreme Court Justice Richard Wagner has raised widespread concerns about his objectivity by refusing to recuse himself, even though he made highly critical comments about the Freedom Convoy — telling Le Devoir it was “the beginning of anarchy” and akin to hostage-taking.
If the Supreme Court decides not to hear the case or hears it and upholds the ruling of the Federal Court of Appeal that won’t be an issue. If it decides to hear the case and sides with the federal government, it will be.
No country for anyone:
Some U.S. officials are condemning the apparent arson that destroyed a popular kosher restaurant in Montreal, with some characterizing the incident as part of a broader pattern of antisemitic attacks.
Illinois Congressman Paul Schneider, co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Congress, said he and his colleagues "are disgusted and outraged" by what he described as "yet another heinous attack on Jewish-owned business."
"As antisemitism is increasingly normalized, violence and other attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions continue to escalate around the world," he wrote on X. "This is a moment of crisis that requires all people of good conscience to speak up and condemn hate."
**
U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy for fighting antisemitism is urging Canada to revoke visas and expand terrorism listings to curb the rise of anti-Jewish hatred.
Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, who spent seven years of his childhood in Ottawa, was appointed last December as U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, an ambassador-rank position.
"My message is to Canada, you need to do better," Kaploun told The Canadian Press last week during a visit to Ottawa.
Kaploun said he chose to visit Ottawa because the United States is concerned about the spike in acts of anti-Jewish hatred in Canada documented in crime statistics and by Jewish organizations. Police in Canada reported 788 hate crimes targeting Jews in 2025, up from 492 in 2021.
Across Canada, Jewish schools, businesses and temples have been targeted by frequent shootings and bomb threats.
Kaploun noted that right before his arrival in Ottawa, shots were fired at the American consulate in Toronto for the second time since March and two Jewish-owned bakeries were attacked in Toronto, one by gunfire.
A fire heavily damaged a building housing a kosher restaurant in Montreal on the weekend; police said they are investigating it as an arson but had not identified a motive by Tuesday morning. At least two U.S. congressmen expressed solidarity with Montreal's Jewish community afterwards.
"The levels of hate in Canada are unbelievably high, and unfortunately with government inaction, I'm arriving here a day after our consulate was attacked with gunfire, (two) Jewish stores were attacked in Toronto — and yet the response seems to be muted," Kaploun said.
He said his office has been "inundated" with calls from Canadian citizens who don't feel safe in their country.
Kaploun said it's a far cry from the Canada he recalls from his childhood; he attended the former Hillel Academy elementary school in downtown Ottawa from 1974 to 1981. He said Canada did a better job at the time of teaching children about the Holocaust and the importance of inclusion.
"When I played in the streets, I played with non-Jewish children. We all played together. And if my kippah (skullcap) fell off, the game would stop and someone would bring it back to me. You don't see that today, anymore," he said.
**
“Canada remains one intelligence failure away from a mass casualty event, and that is something the Jewish community is keenly aware” of, said the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in the Canadian portion of the 52-page report that was published on Wednesday. It was the second annual report from the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism, representing the seven largest Jewish diaspora countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and U.S.
The Russians were desperate for any iron hand, too.
Then Lenin happened and things went to sh--:
But those who would prefer a “strong man” seem divided on what type they want. Abacus Data CEO David Coletto cautioned against ascribing the results to any particular party.
“Thirty-five per cent of Liberal voters, 35 per cent of Conservative voters, 34 per cent of NDP voters and 34 per cent of Bloc voters say an unconstrained strong leader would be a good way to govern,” he wrote in his introduction to the poll results.
“The authoritarian instinct in Canada appears to be more generational than partisan.”
This is decades of indoctrination, government dependence and
failure to even know history.
Also - quelle surprise:
Retirees, especially women in British Columbia and Québec, are most concerned about plastic pollution, says in-house demographic research by the Department of Environment. The findings followed psychosocial Statistics Canada data showing urban women over 65 were most upset by climate change: “Women are much more likely than men to feel plastic waste and pollution is an issue.”
The Canadian woman of Chinese origin held in Belgium on suspicion of spying inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) military command for a third country, and of membership in a criminal organization, was vetted by CSIS and the RCMP and cleared for the posting — despite a finding by Canada’s public service watchdog that she committed fraud in a hiring competition run by the CBSA, CSIS’s sister agency inside the Public Safety Canada portfolio.The Federal Court upheld that finding in a published judgment 11 months before she took up her post at allied command.
Whether the fraud finding ever surfaced in the screening, Ottawa will not say. As The Bureau reported Tuesday, CSIS referred questions about its vetting to Public Safety Canada, which declined to comment on specifics. Global Affairs Canada, which makes the final decision to grant, deny or revoke clearances for Canadians taking positions with international organizations including NATO, would not discuss the case.
She was arrested Friday, a day after searches of her home and her workplace at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons, after her conduct was flagged by alliance security services.
On Tuesday a Belgian pre-trial judge refused her release and ordered her held for at least another month as the investigation continues. Thursday, the prosecutor confirmed the suspect has appealed that decision.
She has not been officially identified; Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office told The Bureau it never discloses the identities of suspects in ongoing investigations, and The Bureau is currently withholding her name for that reason.
CBC News identified her Wednesday through open-source techniques, Reuters reported her earlier as Claire Z., and the European outlet Follow the Money published similar material. The Bureau had independently assembled the same online resume profile this week and held it.
Her trajectory through the Canadian government’s national security and sensitive information and technology departments is on the public record.
She was a data scientist at the National Research Council for six months in 2017, an economist at Statistics Canada from April 2018 to October 2022, and a systems engineer at the Canadian Space Agency from May 2022.
She lists a policy analyst role at the European Space Agency, work in the economic research and statistics division of the World Trade Organization, and seats on mirror committees of the Standards Council of Canada.
She took a master’s degree at the University of Ottawa in 2022. In July 2025 she posted in a Mons housing group that she was arriving for a six-month internship at allied headquarters, CBC reported. A security source told Reuters she worked in its information technology department.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree has previously committed to establishing whether the suspect worked for any Canadian agency.
“Ultimately, we need to get to the bottom of this, and we need to ensure that these types of incidents do not occur in the future,” he said. He has not yet commented on the CBC’s reporting.
What the minister says he intends to establish is already on the public record, in a Federal Court judgment issued last year. Public Safety Canada runs CSIS, the RCMP and CBSA — the two agencies that vetted her, and the agency whose own competition produced the fraud finding against her. Global Affairs Canada holds the final clearance.
In January 2019 she filed two applications to the same CBSA competition, 13 hours apart, from two university email addresses carrying two different orderings of her name.
The applications were nearly identical.
Invited to sit two standardized examinations under each, she signed confidentiality agreements for both. That March, CBSA asked her to re-sign one using her own full name rather than the other name she had used.
She complied without asking why.
She then sat the examinations twice inside 24 hours, against instructions imposing a 180-day wait before any rewrite. When the testing contractor flagged the duplication and CBSA asked directly which application was hers and whether she had filed two, she gave a single application number.
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