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BY NEIL MOSS

Canada has continuously talked about the declining

democratic shift in Hong Kong

and the detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor with Chinese officials, but experts say the words need to be met with action.

As a new national security law imposed on Hong Kong threatens the safety of pro-democracy activ-ists, Canada has repeatedly raised the issue with Chinese and Hong

Kong authorities.Since April 21, Canadian offi-

cials have highlighted its concern

BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

The Liberal government’s ap-peal of a recent “damning”

Federal Court decision striking down Canada’s 16-year asylum agreement with the United States is disappointing and will likely end up before the Supreme Court, say lawyers and a Senator who once practiced refugee law.

Justice Ann Marie McDonald was “bang-on,” said Independent Senator Mobina Jaffer, when she found the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) violates Sec-tion 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights, which guarantees everyone “the right to life, liberty and security of the person.” In

BY NEIL MOSS

With the United Kingdom pushing for a multitude

of free trade deals as the Brexit transition period nears its end,

BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

Technical issues and a new “Cadillac” software system to

track inmates likely explains the Correctional Service of Canada’s failure to provide promised data

Canada continues to diplomatically press China on Hong Kong, two Michaels—is it working?

Canada could have added leverage in trade talks with U.K. as activists push for stronger environmental protections

Software likely to blame for CSC’s ‘unfortunate’ failure to report solitary confinement data, says watchdog

‘They are just buying time’: Lawyers weigh feds’ appeal of judgment suspending Canada-U.S. asylum agreement

Continued on page 15 Continued on page 13

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 11

News

News

News

News

THIRTY-FIRST YEAR, NO. 1759 Canada’s PolitiCs and Government newsPaPer WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 $5.00

The appeal means the STCA is in place indefinitely, say lawyers who predict that the question of whether the agreement infringes Charter rights, as recently ruled, will ultimately be put to the Supreme Court to hear.

TimPowers

p.9

COVID causes slew of firsts for Vietnam envoy

Whither informed

discourse?Diplomatic Circles p. 12

Andrew Caddell p. 9

Nay-saying Navarro not necessary

Scott Taylor p. 7

Legion planning toned-down Nov. 11

Heard on the Hill p. 2

LisaVan Dusen

p.10

Independent Senator Mobina Jaffer, left, and NDP MP Jenny Kwan both say they’re disappointed by the Liberal government’s appeal, while Conservative MP Peter Kent says it's the right call after the government has failed on the refugee file. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade, file

In a typical year, thousands of Canadians gather near the National War Monument

to mark Remembrance Day. But 2020 isn’t a typical year.

While the Royal Canadian Legion will still hold a ceremony, it will do so with a maximum of 100 people present, as specta-tors are being discouraged from attend-ing. There will be no veterans parade, nor Armed Forces—hallmarks of the National Remembrance Day Ceremony.

Traditionally wreaths are placed by the Governor General, prime minister, Speakers of the House of Commons and Senate, Vet-erans Affairs minister, Silver Cross mother, and chief of the defence staff, among others, as cannons sound. But this year, the wreaths will be set in place beforehand so wreath bearers and assistants are not needed.

“The importance of a live ceremony honouring our veterans and their sacrifices is considered paramount by the Legion, especially during the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War,” National Ceremony director Danny Martin said in a press release.

“At a time when we have all been iso-lated for months by the pandemic, ensuring the symbolism of the Legion and commu-nity leaders paying homage to our veterans is more important than ever,” he said.

There will be a smaller colour party and no members of the Cadets or Junior Rangers will attend in the ceremony where attendees will be standing two metres apart and wearing masks unless undertak-ing certain tasks.

The ceremony will be broadcast on Facebook Live and other plans for broad-cast are being considered.

The Legion announced in the release that similar scaled-back ceremonies will be held by local Legion branches across Canada.

Earliest date for Toronto Centre byelection is Oct. 12

A riding that has been home to a string of high-profile Liberal MPs since the early 1990s will get its next representative in Ot-tawa by next April at the latest.

Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Per-rault received a notice from House Speaker Anthony Rota of an empty seat on Aug. 24, which triggers the countdown to a byelec-tion.

A byelection has to be announced within six months, leaving Feb. 20, 2021, as the last possible date for a byelection to be called. It can be announced as early as Sept. 4. The byelection period has to be 36 days, but cannot exceed 50 days, which means the first day for voters in Toronto Centre, Ont., to pick the successor to de-parted Liberal MP Bill Morneau is Oct. 12. The byelection has to be held on a Monday, according to Elections Canada.

Mr. Morneau won the riding in the 2019 election with 57.37 per cent of the vote, defeating NDP runner-up Brian Chang by a margin of more than 35 percentage points. Prior to redistribution, the area was represented by new Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland from 2013 to 2015 in the House, past interim Liberal leader Bob Rae from 2008 to 2013, and past defence minister and short-lived opposition leader Bill Graham from 1993 to 2007.

Polling aggregator 338Canada suggests that the riding is a safe seat for the Grits.

Kelsey Johnson leaves Hill scrums for grad school

Hill reporter Kelsey Johnson is leav-ing the Reuters newsroom to take on grad school, she announced last week.

“After a whirlwind of year covering eco-nomics, including the recent hang-on-to-your hat adventure (thanks COVID-19), I’m headed to grad school to do my Masters in Public Policy and Administration [at Carleton University],” Ms. Johnson tweeted.

Before joining Reuters in 2019, she was a Hill reporter at iPolitics from 2013 to 2019, where she cov-ered agriculture and trade. She was also a columnist at The West-ern Producer.

“I’m very excited for the new adven-tures to come, includ-ing a few I can’t talk about just yet,” Ms. Johnson tweeted. “To my Parliamentary Press Gallery col-leagues, it’s been an honour to work alongside you these last 7 years. Keep fighting the good fight. This isn’t good-bye, just a ‘see you later.’”

The Reuters parliamentary newsroom is led by bureau chief Steven Scherer, and in-cludes Julie Gordon and David Ljunggren.

Envoy goes overboardA weekend sailing outing turned into a

swim for Canada’s second-in-command at the United Nations.

Ambassador Louise Blais, Canada’s deputy permanent representative at the UN, tweeted that she took an inadvertent tumble while out sailing on Aug. 30.

“Went sailing today. An activity I do regularly,” she tweeted. “But went over-board in high winds. Got knocked by the hull and rudder.”

“Just glad I am living to tell the tale.”Ms. Blais has been posted in Canada’s

mission at the UN since 2017. She was previously consul general in Atlanta and was the director of the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.

Trudeau condemns toppling of Sir John A. Macdonald statue as one sits untouched on Parliament Hill

Following the upending of a statue of Canada’s first prime minister in Montreal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “deeply disappointed,” but added a “more critical eye” can be used to examine the legacies of past Canadian PMs—even his own father.

The public commemoration of John A. Macdonald has come under the micro-scope in recent years, due to his role in the residential school system. A statue of Mr. Macdonald is featured on Parliament Hill, as is one of former prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier who increased a head tax to discourage Chinese immigrants from entering Canada.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole tweeted in defence of Mr. Macdonald.

“Canada wouldn’t exist without Sir John A. Macdonald. Canada is a great country, and one we should be proud of. We will not build a better future by defac-ing our past,” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s time politicians grow a backbone and stand up for our country.”

Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault tweeted that “dialogue is a bet-ter engine for progress than isolated acts of vandalism.”

In 2017, Mr. Trudeau announced the Langevin Block was to be renamed the Of-fice of the Prime Minister and Privy Coun-cil due to Hector-Louis Langevin’s role in establishing the residential school system.

nmoss@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES2

by Neil Moss

Heard on the Hill

Scaled-down Remembrance Day Ceremony to mark 75th anniversary of end of Second World War

Wreaths will be set in place before the National Remembrance Day Ceremony begins at the War Memorial on Nov. 11 so there will be no need for wreath bearers and assistants. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, is pictured with his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay at the 2019 National Remembrance Day Ceremony. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Past Finance Minister Bill Morneau represented Toronto Centre, Ont., from 2015 to 2020, before resigning in the midst of the WE Charity controversy. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Kelsey Johnson is pictured with Winnipeg Free Press reporter Dylan Robertson on Feb. 13. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Louise Blaise has been an ambassador in Canada’s UN mission since 2017. Photograph courtesy of Twitter/Louise Blais

A statue of Sir John A. Macdonald is located between Centre Block and East Block on Parliament Hill. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Threats to Childhood

AND THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

THREATS TO CHILDHOOD IN CANADA

There are 8 million children in Canada, and their future is in your hands.

One-third of children in Canada do not

enjoy a safe and healthy childhood, one in

three Canadians has experienced abuse

before the age of 15, one in five children live

in poverty, and suicide is now the leading

cause of death for children aged 10 to 14.

Childhood is threatened for millions of

children, but the odds are particularly stark

for Black, Indigenous (First Nations, Métis

and Inuit) and other racialized children.

In recent months, the harsh realities

facing young Canadians have been

exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Children and their families are now facing

unprecedented challenges due to the crisis

and ongoing restrictions.

Children’s most basic rights to life, survival

and development are in jeopardy and their

best interests must be given paramount

consideration in Canada’s recovery efforts.

Children need and have a right to a safe

and stable home and family, the support

of trusted adults outside of their homes,

access to health and social services, a good

quality education, and healthy interactions

with others to survive and thrive.

As challenging a time as this pandemic

is for children, we must remember that

along with their vulnerability they have

incredible strength, resilience and wisdom.

Children must be able to freely express

their views, and adults have a duty to listen

to and involve children in decisions that

affect them – within their family, schools,

communities, public institutions, and public

policy making and judicial procedures.

Children and youth are ready to partner

with us, to work together as we continue to

move towards action. The development of

true child-centred policies can only happen

when we act with children, rather than

acting for them.

To learn more about the Top 10

Threats to Childhood and how you

can join in Raising Canada – which

launched on September 1 – go to

childrenfirstcanada.com

#RaisingCanada

4

July, Justice McDonald ruled the agreement, which halts people entering Canada at official border crossings because they must instead claim asylum in the U.S., is “over-broad” and the risks of de-tention and loss of security of the person is “grossly disproportion-ate” to the administrative benefit of the agreement.

The B.C. Senator said during her 20 years practicing refugee law—before the 16-year-old agreement was brought into force—she worked on many cases where refugees crossed the U.S. border seeking asylum. None in government can be “blind or deaf to what is happening in the United States,” she said, where reports continue of parents being separated from their children and placed in cages, according to Human Rights Watch, which has called the practice a human rights violation.

Sen. Jaffer took issue with the government’s argument that end-ing the agreement would cause an uptick in claims and put Canada’s refugee system at risk, saying that fear was likely pushing its appeal.

“This is a fairly new thing we are doing [with the agreement]. I find it almost insulting to say we will be overwhelmed with ap-plications… so we don’t need to follow Section 7, that’s how I see it,” she said, highlighting the con-tradiction in Canada’s experience compared to other nations. Before the pandemic, she travelled to Lebanon and Turkey, which each house millions of refugees, while Canada has seen 58,255 irregular crossings from the U.S. since the beginning of 2017.

“I just think they are buying time to continue the same system

because they know they don’t have a strong case,” Sen. Jaffer said.

The evidence presented to Justice McDonald was “damn-ing,” said Jamie Liew, an associ-ate professor at the University of Ottawa, and it was the most evidence presented that Sharry Aiken, an associate law professor at Queen’s University, had seen in 30 years practicing and teaching immigration and refugee law.

“It is curious to me that the government has chosen to ignore all this evidence and instead find that there is still grounds in this agreement to operate as usual… to operate as if the U.S. is acting as an honest partner in meeting its obligations under the Refugee Convention, which it clearly isn’t,” said Prof. Liew.

The appeal means that the STCA is in effect indefinitely now, and a decision is likely years off. The Federal Court of Ap-peal doesn’t have “a great track record in recognizing the rights of refugees,” explained Prof. Liew, and the applicants would likely appeal an unfavourable ruling.

She and her University of Ottawa colleague Errol Mendes, a professor of constitutional law, both said they think the case is destined for the Supreme Court.

“The issues at stake are so complex, it may require a final court determining some critical issues not only relevant to this case but many other cases that involve the Charter and in par-ticular Section 7,” Prof. Mendes said by email.

Errors in judge’s findings, feds say

The government took a month to appeal the July 22 ruling, and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.) explained in a statement Aug. 21 it was because there are “important legal principles to be determined in this case” and it’s necessary to appeal ”to ensure clarity on the legal framework governing asylum law.”

Asked for more clarity on the legal groundings of that appeal, Mr. Blair’s spokesperson, Craig MacBride, said by email that the government is appealing the rul-ing because it believes there are errors in some of the key findings of fact and law.

“The decision suggests all asy-lum claimants who are ineligible under the Safe Third Country Agreement and turned back to the U.S. are automatically de-tained as a penalty,” he said. “This

is not the case. The U.S. remains a party to the UN Refugee Conven-tion.”

Prof. Mendes said he expects the government to attack a “cru-cial” part of the court decision, in which Justice McDonald said that with the agreement, the risks of detention and loss of security of the person “are grossly dispro-portional to the administrative benefits of the STCA,” and that the impact on a refugee of being found ineligible is “out of sync” with the objective of the legisla-tion, and responsibility sharing between the countries “cannot be positively balanced against imprisonment or the deleteri-ous effects of cruel and unusual detention conditions,” including solitary confinement.

The federal government may attack Justice McDonald’s assess-ment that the STCA’s main objec-

tive is in fact an administrative benefit of sharing responsibility for refugees, he suggested.

“Instead, they will claim that getting rid of it will destabilize the entire present refugee system in Canada, given that the present system with the STCA is already backlogged with those that are not caught by the STCA,” said Prof. Mendes, though he thinks this defence likely would not succeed. “The Court has said on the many cases that it would be undermining the Charter if all that [the] government had to do to violate Charter rights is to pro-claim the administrative burdens that come from living up to them.”

Prof. Liew said she hopes the Supreme Court takes up the issue, especially the question of an “al-ternative remedy,” which she said is often a legal argument the gov-

ernment invokes when it comes to Charter challenges. In this case, she said the government argues there are other avenues open to refugee claimants, when in reality most aren’t aware of their rights and when turned back to the U.S. are immediately detained.

“Once a Charter right is infringed… can it be affected by what the government calls alter-native remedies? I think that’s where I anticipate their argu-ment will rest,” she said. “If you want to look at taking Charter right infringements seriously, we should be really looking at how it operates on the ground.”

The only Charter argument Prof. Mendes could imagine the government using is a point the government has already asserted: that the U.S. has a fair detention review system, which can allow for due process and release from detention.

The experience of one of the applicants in the case, Nedira Mustefa, directly challenged that claim. She was detained in the U.S. after trying to enter Canada and spent a week in solitary confinement, which Justice Mc-Donald said meets the test that a foreign law would “shock the conscience.”

“So the government will argue theoretical fair detention review possibilities [versus] the ‘Trumpian era’ reality of harsh treatment of refugees and increased risk of de-portation to countries where life, liberty, and security of the person is endangered,” said Prof. Mendes

“Here, the appeals court will have to factor into what I call

real-time realities of the life of refugees in Trump’s America versus the theoretical due process safeguards under the STCA.”

That Justice McDonald de-clared the STCA invalid based on the treatment of a couple refugees could also be contested by the government, he added, but the Supreme Court has said in the past—in rulings on assisted dying or anti-prostitution laws—that if a process violates the Section 7 rights of even a few people, or a small number disproportionately, the law can still be struck down, he noted.

Political issues likely at play

Prof. Aiken called Mr. Blair’s rationale that legal principles are in play a “specious” argu-ment, seeing the choice to appeal instead as a “very transparent

commitment” to a Liberal political agenda to not only maintain, but extend, the STCA.

“It is a highly charged po-litical issue and in my view it’s almost been served up as a kind of marker or proxy for a wider political discourse on refugees and border security in a way that completely distorts the impact and implications of this agree-ment,” she said.

“Every day it continues in effect is another day of refugee rights being violated.”

When the agreement was brought in following 9/11, Prof. Liew said it was in part to address backlogs at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. There are more innovative ways to expedite that process and address policy problems than putting people at risk of returning to places where they could endure persecution or death, she said.

“I’m very perplexed, if we’re concerned about that policy rationale, why it has to be done with a heavy-handed manner in a way that’s totally ignorant to the dire situations that refugee claim-ants face in the U.S.,” she said, who stressed this is not a “tempo-rary problem” unique to Trump’s America.

The Conservative Party sup-ports the government’s decision to appeal, said immigration critic and MP Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.), but he expressed surprise it took so long. He said there are a number of “inconsistencies” in the ruling, which he also expects will ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court.

There are clearly issues with the agreement, said Mr. Kent, but those mainly lie in the “loophole” that those who don’t cross at offi-cial ports of entry don’t fall under the agreement.

Justice McDonald’s ruling is based on the specific experiences of three claimants, that he said are “exceptions to the broader context” of the agreement, which he called part of a “fair and com-passionate and orderly” immigra-tion system.

“There is the issue of those in the United States who fear and may have legitimate concerns that if they’re discovered in the United States, they will experi-ence improper treatment, but the broader intent of the Safe Third Country Agreement addresses those like the overwhelming ma-jority of illegal border crossers,” who he said had the economic means and visas to pass through the U.S. and enter the border improperly.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Van-couver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration critic, called the government’s decision “horren-dous” and its rationale for appeal “nonsense.”

She said she sees it as the Liber-als catering to a Conservative-leaning perspective on borders and a “backdoor way” to close them.

“Has our federal government completely set aside the need for Canada to do the right thing, abide by our international obliga-tions, and to be on the right side of history? Is their politics and the gamesmanship in politics more important than the lives of people facing persecution?”

swallen@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

‘They are just buying time’: Lawyers weigh feds’ appeal of judgment suspending Canada-U.S. asylum agreement The appeal means the STCA is in place indefinitely, say lawyers who predict that the question of whether the agreement infringes Charter rights, as recently ruled, will ultimately be put to the Supreme Court to hear.

News

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

Continued from page 1

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, pictured outside a Liberal cabinet meeting in January, says the ruling was challenged to make clear the legal framework governing asylum law. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

5

OTTAWA—The Conservatives have anointed a new leader at a moment

when the currents of history are coalescing into a dramatic turning point for Canadi-ans.

Erin O’Toole and the heads of all federal parties will be put to the test over the next several months as the country comes to grips with Canada in the age of COVID. What that means in terms of the shape of the country’s politics, social policy framework, and economy will hang in the balance as leaders manoeuvre for advan-tage around the upcoming speech from the throne.

The WE charity uproar has greatly raised the stakes around Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s attempt to reset his minor-ity government’s agenda and trajectory. And the package of proposals to be laid out Sept. 23 will challenge the country to envi-sion a new reality that includes extending the government’s massive financial life supports to restart the economy and priori-tizing big social programs and justice for minorities—all while positioning Canada for hoped-for success in an epochal transi-tion toward a non-carbon future.

O’Toole is in a position to possibly take advantage of the Liberals’ gaffes and broaden his party’s appeal. But it’s unclear whether the new Conservative leader, a self-described transactional politician, is ready for the generational political issues and the re-imagining of Canada needed at this crossroads during the beginning of the COVID decade. Like his former boss Stephen Harper, O’Toole appears to be focused on boosting the Alberta oil sector, attacking Trudeau as an elitist celebrity with a penchant for selfies, and talking up the practicalities of job-creation rather than focusing on an overarching vision for Canada’s economic future.

Conservatives remain committed to Harper-style austerity policies, but the pan-demic has opened the potential for a major shift in Canadians’ thinking about the need for activist government. So, O’Toole will need to move fast to come up with a theme that makes his party relevant and holds out hope for a recovery based on plans that go beyond cutting spending in the name of curbing the deficit.

The make-or-break potential is simi-larly huge when it comes to the conflict between climate change and Canada’s petroleum sector. Trudeau more than ever

wants a national commitment to phase out the country’s dependence on carbon, whereas O’Toole will try somehow to balance global warming concerns with Alberta’s pro-oil interests. The Conserva-tive leader would end Trudeau’s carbon tax, preferring the dubious Harper/Ken-ney/Scheer approach of working with industry to putatively reduce emissions. And, in the coming election, O’Toole also appears ready to gamble that he can dodge social conservative entanglements and count on only limited support among voters for increased Indigenous rights and the Black Lives Matter movement. Although O’Toole has backed off a bit on his party’s determination to force an im-mediate election, the Conservatives will of course vote against the Liberals on the throne speech.

As for the NDP, the showdown Trudeau is forcing may put party leader Jagmeet Singh in an extremely tricky spot now that the Bloc Québécois is ready to hit the ejection button. As of the weekend, conven-tional thinking that the NDP is too broke to go to the voters was being shrugged off by Singh. At the same time, he has been stressing his party’s interest in working with Trudeau to get things done rather than causing an election.

The Liberals are certain to deliver on many of the NDP’s demands, which so far include $12-billion for childcare and more money for education and health care. If so, Singh will be able to claim a fair bit of the credit. On the other hand, to the extent that the Liberal package extends Trudeau’s practice of taking over policy ground oc-cupied by the NDP, Singh and his party—already stalled in the polls—run the risk of losing their 24 Commons seats.

The balancing act for Singh is reminis-cent of 2005, when Paul Martin’s minority government had enlisted Jack Layton’s support with $4.6-billion in social spend-ing. The Liberals had also established the $5-billion Kelowna Accord to sup-port Indigenous communities and set up a national childcare program. But with the Liberals battered by the sponsorship scandal, Layton decided to forego his influence on the minority Liberals’ policies and vote with the Conservatives to defeat Martin. In the resulting 2006 election, the NDP increased its Commons seats to 29. Among other things, the newly elected Harper Conservative government dropped Kelowna and national childcare.

Looking ahead, there’s also the obvious question of whether to force Canadians to go through an election and turn up at

the polls during the tension of an ongoing pandemic and who might be blamed for doing so, since a campaign would obviate substantial government action on CO-

VID-19 for months.Les Whittington is a regular columnist

for The Hill Times.The Hill Times

Comment

O’Toole, other leaders to be tested in historic COVID-era political showdown The shape of the country’s politics, social policy framework, and economy will hang in the balance as leaders manoeuvre for advantage around the upcoming speech from the throne.

THE HILL TIMES | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA) is currently looking for a Coordinator, Government Relations and Parliamentary Affairs to join the Government Relations team to complement and enhance the work currently underway by the Vice President and Manager, Government and Industry Relations.

As the Coordinator, Government Relations and Parliamentary Affairs, you will be primarily responsible for monitoring legislation and key policy developments, analysis of policy files, and act as the key interlocutor between the offices of Parliamentarians and government officials and CCGA.

As an ideal candidate, you have relevant educational and work experience in a field related to politics, parliamentary process, public administration or trade association. You have a great understanding of Canadian government and regulatory structure and ability to communicate effectively with internal and external audiences, liaise and coordinate with officials and stakeholders on external relations matters.

CCGA, with offices in Winnipeg and Ottawa, is the national voice for Canada’s 43,000 canola farmers. Our main business functions include: delivering the Advance Payments Program – a federal government financing program – to approximately 10,000 farmers across western Canada each year; conducting agricultural policy development research; advocating on issues, programs, and policies that impact canola farmers.

If you have the experience, skills, and drive to excel in this role and would like to join our team, please apply by visiting CCGA’s career web site at www.ccga.ca/about/careers by September 10, 2020. We look forward to hearing from you!

We thank all applicants, however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

If you may require accommodation in completing the application process, please email hr@ccga.ca . Information received by us relating to any accommodation needs of applicants will remain confidential.

Coordinator, Government Relations and Parliamentary Affairs

JOIN OUR TEAM!

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and the heads of all federal parties will be put to the test over the next several months as the country comes to grips with Canada in the age of COVID, writes Les Whittington. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade

Les Whittington

Need to Know

CAREERS

6

In early June, Facebook an-nounced that it had begun

labelling content originating from state-controlled media organi-zations. This is the most recent manifestation of an ongoing discussion about the distinction between state and public media organizations that is vitally im-portant for citizens of democra-cies worldwide.

Both state and public media are created by and can be funded via national governments, but their roles are utterly different.

State media exist to further the interests of governments. Their role is to ensure that the informa-tion people receive conforms to the account of events preferred by those in power. While some of their reporting may be accurate and uninflected, too often they are used by states as a means of countering critical voices and writing problems, opponents, and embarrassments out of history.

Public media organizations, by contrast, have been established to serve the needs of citizens. While no two are the same—re-flecting different countries and cultures—they all embody a set of core values that include commit-ments to independence, the public interest, impartiality, universality of service, diversity, accuracy, and high journalistic standards. It is because of these values that many public media organizations enjoy high levels of trust among the publics they serve.

Public media organizations likewise share a common duty to inform, educate, entertain, and engage with the peoples of their respective nations. They play an essential role in reflecting the

diversity and creative cultures of the countries they serve. Most importantly, public media share a common duty to support democ-racy by informing citizens and holding governments to account.

For any government to support and protect the remit of an orga-nization whose purpose includes public scrutiny of its activities re-quires courage and a commitment to the public good; yet, for much of the past century, governments of democratic nations have done exactly that, often with broad par-liamentary support. Their nations are stronger for it.

Implicit in this is a recogni-tion that the information needs of democracies cannot be fulfilled solely by the market, let alone placed in the hands of those who might seek to use it to further their own power. There is a clear value to society from media that provide a strong and attractive alternative, free from commercial influence.

The value of public media organizations—and the trust that citizens place in them—has been particularly clear throughout the COVID-19 crisis. As awareness of the pandemic grew, audiences turned to public media in record numbers for the trusted, accurate, and reliable news and informa-tion that they provide; as popula-tions isolated, record numbers likewise turned to public media to keep them entertained and as a place to come together.

At a time when the need for public media organizations has

never been greater, a disturbing trend is discernible around the world. In a number of countries, governments are undermining the independence and values of public media organizations and pressing them to function increas-ingly as state broadcasters. More-over, it appears that this shift has gone largely unnoticed and unchallenged as societies grapple with the realities of COVID-19.

In Poland, the sudden removal of a song critical of the govern-ing party from the playlist of the music radio station Trojka in May this year has renewed debate about media freedom and political interference in Poland’s media. Recent reports of televi-sion service Telewizja Polska’s coverage of the presidential election indicate that it is be-ing increasingly co-opted by the state. A post-election report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) published on June 29 even stated that “it acted as a campaign ve-hicle for the incumbent.”

In recent months, representa-tives of Slovenia’s largest and the most powerful government party have been openly attacking the nation’s public broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija. These attacks have increased in the wake of investigative reporting on aspects of the government’s response to the pandemic. Gov-ernment representatives are now openly threatening personnel changes and drafting legislation

that would reduce the broadcast-er’s funding.

In the Czech Republic, recent appointments to the council overseeing the public television service, Ceská televize, have included a number of individuals whose stance towards the broad-caster has been highly political. These members have sought to downplay and cast doubt on the achievements of the service, particularly during budget evalu-ations and when assessing the performance of its leadership.

In Hong Kong, the public broadcaster RTHK, which is established under a charter that guarantees its editorial indepen-dence, is being subjected to a government review of its manage-ment and practices. The review not only lacks independent oversight, but closely follows the suspension of a popular, long-run-ning current affairs program after Hong Kong police complained about a satirical segment.

As the ability of these organi-zations to independently inform public debate is reduced, so, too, is the public benefit they can deliver and the level of trust that citizens place in them. By weak-ening a vital democratic institu-tion in this way, democracy itself is weakened within these nations.

At a time when truly inde-pendent public service media has never been more precious to democracies around the world, it is vital that policy makers and politicians support and defend

the independence of public media and of journalism more broadly. This is especially true at a time when journalists worldwide are being increasingly threatened and attacked.

Healthy public media are a source of strength for the world’s democracies. Now is the time for courage and leadership—for democratic governments to demonstrate their commitment to public media and the principles that underpin it. They should do so confident in the knowledge that it makes for stronger, richer, and more cohesive societies.

Catherine Tait, president and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada, is chair of the Global Task Force for pub-lic media, which exists to defend the values and the interests of public media. The Global Task Force was formed to develop a consensus and single, strong voice around the issues and challenges facing public media. It offers a perspective that spans countries, languages and cul-tures. Other members are: David Anderson, managing director, ABC (Australia); Thomas Bellut, director general, ZDF (Germany); Delphine Ernotte Cunci, presi-dent and CEO, France Télévisions (France); Tony Hall, director gen-eral, BBC (United Kingdom); Jim Mather, chair of the board, RNZ (New Zealand); Hanna Stjärne, director general, SVT (Sweden); and Yang Sung-dong, president and CEO, KBS (South Korea).

The Hill Times

Opinion

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

Catherine Tait

Opinion

Attacks on public media are an attack on democracyIn a number of countries, governments are undermining the independence and values of public media organizations and pressing them to function increasingly as state broadcasters.

As awareness of the pandemic grew, audiences turned to public media in record numbers for the trusted, accurate, and reliable news and information that they provide, writes Catherine Tait, on behalf of the Global Task Force for public media. Pexels photograph by Ketut Subiyanto

7

OTTAWA—Last week, there was a brief, but intense, me-

dia feeding frenzy over Canada’s long-since discontinued contribu-tion to the war in Afghanistan. The genesis for this controversy was previously taped comments

from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Na-varro. The recordings were made by White House reporter Jim Sciutto as part of the research for his new book The Madman Theo-ry: Trump Takes on the World.

The context of Navarro’s com-ments were related to trade nego-tiations and whether or not Canada had been able to curry favour at the bargaining table by sending our troops to fight in Afghanistan.

Navarro said: “Were they doing us a favour or were they brought into the idea they needed to do that as part of the global effort against terrorists?”

Answering his own question, Navarro continued: “I mean, if they were just doing us a favour, maybe their government should have been thrown out of office. I mean every time a Canadian shows up in uniform, it’s doing us a favour? How’s that work?”

The knee-jerk reaction to Na-varro’s callous dismissal of Cana-da’s sacrifice in that war was bit-ter anger. Former chief of defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier was beside himself with rage. Hillier had been one of the leading architects in shaping Canada’s combat role in Kandahar back in 2005, and he seemed to take the slight from Navarro personally. In numer-ous subsequent media interviews Hillier referred to Navarro as an “idiot,” and questioned why a

trade adviser was discussing mili-tary affairs in the first place.

While it was good to see Hilli-er’s blunt and emotional defence of Canada’s “sons and daughters” on the airwaves, and while Na-varro may have been misguided in telling a reporter those thoughts, he was simply telling the truth.

If anyone in high political office in Canada thought that our soldiers’ sacrifice in a U.S.-led unwinnable war would earn us a bargaining chip at trade talks, then they do de-serve to be turfed from power.

That is not how capitalism works under a protectionist U.S. administration.

In 2001, when the Twin Towers were attacked in New York and the so-called Global War on Ter-rorism began, Canada enjoyed a total annual trade volume with

the U.S. of US$380-billion, of which US$52-billion was a trade surplus in Canada’s favour.

Over the subsequent two decades, Canada has sent tens of thousands of soldiers to both Afghanistan (2001-2014) and Iraq (2014-present). Of that total, 159 soldiers were killed and at least an-other 2,000 were wounded, injured, or continue to suffer from the invis-ible scars of PTSD. The Afghanistan mission alone is estimated to cost Canada in excess of $22-billion, once long-term care costs for veter-ans are factored into the equation.

Despite this “investment” of blood and gold, the 2019 figures show that our total annual trade value with the U.S. has risen to more than US$600-billion, but of that increased number, our sur-plus dropped to US$26-billion.

By comparison, Mexico sent not a single soldier to Iraq or Afghani-stan and saw a huge increase in trade with the U.S. In 2001, their to-tal trade value was US$232-billion of which US$30-billion was surplus in Mexico’s favour. Last year, Mexico’s total trade value with America had grown over those two decades to eclipse Canada at US$613-billion, of which US$101-billion was a Mexican surplus.

While Navarro’s remarks are in-sensitive, they are accurate. While we were allegedly trying to curry favour by participating in U.S.-led foreign military misadventures, the Mexicans have been quietly eating our lunch at the trade table.

What I found far more insult-ing to Canadian martial pride dates back to a January 2008 article published in the New York Times. It quoted then-U.S. sec-retary of defence Robert Gates, claiming “NATO forces in south-ern Afghanistan do not know how to combat a guerrilla insurgency and that could be contributing to rising violence in that country.”

That’s right folks, even as our sons and daughters were fighting and dying in Kandahar, the top U.S. defence official was publicly blaming us (and our NATO part-ners) for losing the war.

Now that is ingratitude.Scott Taylor is the editor and pub-

lisher of Esprit de Corps magazine.The Hill Times

It has been moving to experience and witness the generosity of Canadians over

the last six months. It was not uncommon to hear stories in the midst of fears around food scarcity and grocery store paranoia, of neighbours delivering baskets of hard-to-find supplies and food. During COVID-19, Canadians across the country have rallied to support their neighbours, whether by joining the chorus of pots and pans each night, by visiting those that are most isolated from a distance, or donating to a local food bank. So much so, that the term “caremongering”

was coined to describe the trend of generos-ity and compassion. Despite experiencing threats to their own health and that of their families, as well as job and financial insecu-rity, Canadians have continued to give.

Now it is time for our country to match Canadians’ levels of generosity. While Canada has mobilized to respond to COVID-19 at home, the impacts of the virus extend well beyond our borders. It is in Canada’s gener-ous nature that we should do our fair share in the global response to COVID-19. The needs are urgent and the safety and well-being of the most vulnerable hang in the balance. The impacts that Canadians felt at home, including strained health-care systems, poverty, food insecurity, increased cases of gender-based violence, among others, are felt around the world, but on a much greater scale. It is estimated that COVID-19 will push 71 million people into extreme poverty and 265 million into acute food insecurity, and result in 117 million missed child vaccinations and 31 million additional cases of gender-based violence. In low- and middle-income

The road from recovery to prosper-ity will be hard and may be long, but

it cannot be done without the emerging generation of top talent coming out of Canada’s post-secondary institutions. This is especially true when we consider the young innovators who, in normal times, infuse high-potential enterprises with new knowledge and fresh ideas. These gradu-ates are the highly skilled workers who will fuel success and help companies suc-ceed in the face of new economic realities.

Transitioning from strong academic training to the labour market has its chal-lenges, and Canada has struggled in the past to adequately support this progres-sion, but the current economic crisis cre-ates a new urgency to get it right.

Since the pandemic slowed much of the economy in March, Canada has rightly been focused on the immediate needs of individu-als and families at a time of massive job losses. And when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tables her inaugural budget, we must not lose sight of the new cohort of graduates and the serious difficulty they face in launching their careers during these challenging times. Without their success-ful transition to careers and contributions to innovation, Canada’s future economic prospects will be bleak, affecting Canadian productivity for years to come. After all, the goal should be more than just recovering what existed before the pandemic.

The situation is no fault of the compa-nies where these “highly qualified person-nel” (HQP) would make good hires. When a cash crunch hits, enterprises understand-ably cut back spending on innovation in order to stay afloat. But thanks to Harvard Business School professor Dr. Ranjay Gu-lato, we know that companies that invest in talent and in R&D will recover stronger and faster after a recession.

But when innovation stops or stalls, and graduates from advanced degrees lack

Opinion

THE HILL TIMES | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

Nicholas Moyer

Opinion

John Hepburn

Opinion

Navarro’s comments stung, but they weren’t untrue

Caremongering started at home but it shouldn’t end here

Why Canada can’t afford to lose a generation of top talent

If anyone in high political office in Canada thought that our soldiers’ sacrifice in a U.S.-led unwinnable war would earn us a bargaining chip at trade talks, then they do deserve to be turfed from power.

The only way out of this global crisis is through multilateralism, international co-operation, mutual support, and solidarity. Without this, the crisis will cut deeper and last longer. When innovation stops

or stalls and graduates from advanced degrees lack opportunities to join industry and drive economic growth, prospects for those businesses and Canadians’ quality of life are at risk.

Continued on page 14 Continued on page 14

Peter Navarro, Donald Trump’s trade adviser, may have been misguided in telling a reporter his thoughts on whether Canada had been able to curry favour at the bargaining table by sending our troops to fight in Afghanistan, but he was simply telling the truth, writes Scott Taylor. U.S. Mission Geneva photograph by Eric Bridiers

Scott Taylor

Inside Defence

8

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau added his voice to those

expressing discontent and condemnation for the protestors in Montreal who de-faced and decapitated a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald over the weekend.

At his Aug. 31 media availability, Mr. Trudeau expressed his disappointment over the act of vandalism, saying those actions “are not advancing the path towards greater justice and equality in this country.”

“Choices like this, to rely on vandalism to advance causes, is not going to help anyone move forward the right way,” Mr. Trudeau said.

The prime minister’s words followed those of Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault over the weekend, who, in addition to wag-ging the finger at the vandalism, nonsensi-cally noted that his government “has always stood with those who do not have a safe space to express themselves” and that it would “continue to advocate for public places that are inclusive, safe, and free from all forms of violence or harassment.”

(Maybe statutes of people responsible for entrenching the systemic racism that has destroyed the lives of racialized peo-ple and literally tore First Nations people from their homes being set up in pride of place in public might have something to do with those non-inclusive safe spaces?)

“I understand the impatience, the frustra-tion, of Canadians who faced systemic dis-crimination and racism throughout their lives and their concern that we act quickly on that. Because I, myself, am impatient,” Mr. Trudeau said on Monday, without a hint of irony.

As The Hill Times’ Beatrice Paez report-

ed on Aug. 24, the government has yet to engage with the Parliamentary Black Cau-cus on its suite of recommendations aimed at reducing structural racial inequities in Canada that were released in mid-June.

The prime minister made a pledge in early July to commit his cabinet to develop a “work plan” on a range of policies, from jus-tice reforms to improving access to capital for racialized communities. When asked for com-ment on the delay, the Prime Minister’s Office referred The Hill Times to the government’s statement on its work plan, adding, “these are plans to work on across the summer months, and we’ll have more to say at that time.”

On Monday, Mr. Trudeau said: “We need to move forward quickly and in the right ways on countering systemic discrimination, and our government will do just that.”

However, more than year after it was presented, and now months after it was promised, the government still hasn’t come out with an action plan to address the inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

If you’re impatient, Mr. Prime Minis-ter, then you only have yourself and your government to blame. People have been waiting for centuries.

Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole said that “it’s time politicians grow a backbone and stand up for our country.” He’s right; but not in the way the politician—who won’t acknowledge systemic racism in Canada—means.

Stand up for the people who have been the most marginalized and oppressed. Stand up for people, not statues. Stand up for hu-man lives that are under threat today.

Re: “Alleged Russian assassins keep going for style over substance,” (The Hill Times,

Aug. 26, p. 6). Scott Taylor’s opening line admits that until last week, he “had never heard of Alexei Navalny.” Mr. Taylor should be thanked for the honesty of his disclaimer. But that ought also to disqualify him from writing anything credible about Mr. Navalny.

Mr. Navalny has, since at least 2011, been a leading figure in Russia’s strangled and persecuted opposition. Mr. Navalny is the leader of the Russia for the Future party and has been a strong anti-corruption advocate who has worked tirelessly—while under constant threat—for the cause of freedom of speech and democracy in Russia. Mr. Na-

valny’s is one of just a few remaining voices that counter the Putin regime’s authoritarian narrative and repressive actions. The woeful fate of Russian dissidents and opponents of the Putin regime is no secret.

The author’s disparaging tone and igno-rant claims make a tasteless mockery of a poisoned man who is, to millions of Russian citizens, a symbol of hope and reform. Mr. Taylor’s comparison of Mr. Navalny to the murderous Qassem Soleimani is nonsensical and ugly; this conspiratorial column discred-its your newspaper.

Kairi HemingwayPresident, Estonian

Central Council in Canada

In the course of my career at the helm of the Ottawa Valley Chapter of the Canadian

Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), I have had the opportunity to meet Parliamen-tarians from every region and every party. The one common thread is their appreciation for Gatineau Park and the respite it provides from busy schedules and stressful lives.

Many people think Gatineau Park is a national park and that it benefits from the same protections as those afforded to parks like Banff, Jasper, or Nahanni—iconic Canadian landscapes known around the world. The truth, however, is that Gatineau Park is a “park” in name only. As a National Capital Commission (NCC) property, its boundaries have never been recognized in an act of Parliament, park lands have been sold, developed, and forever lost without parliamentary approval or public input, private inholdings and ongoing residential construction within the park have a negative impact on the park’s environment and, as illustrated recently, create conflicts between legitimate park users and residents.

Furthermore, unlike the National Parks Act, the National Capital Act (the legisla-tion under which the NCC exists) provides no mandate for putting nature first in deci-sions relative to the way in which the park is managed. The park’s location, on the doorstep of a large and growing urban area is both a blessing and a curse—easy access provides residents and visitors with count-less recreational activities within minutes of the core. That same proximity means that natural and undeveloped areas adja-cent to the park are being developed at a rapid rate—it is not unreasonable to foresee a time when the park could be completely surrounded by development if steps are not taken today to address these issues. While

legislation may not prevent municipalities from allowing development to extend to the boundaries of the park, a mandate to put nature first will force the park man-ager to work with partners to ensure that connections between the park and other natural areas are maintained, restored, and ultimately protected through partnerships with public and private entities. Finally, the NCC needs the resources, encouragement, and support, including that of local federal Members of Parliament to acquire private properties as they become available to pre-vent further residential construction within the park’s boundaries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demon-strated that, in times of crisis, people will seek solace in nature, as illustrated by the record levels of visitation being observed in Gatineau Park this summer. The pandemic has also laid bare the need to fundamen-tally rethink our relationship with nature and the need to set aside more space for the species which share our environment. Gatineau Park can serve both purposes, while supporting more than 4,000 full-time jobs (according to the NCC), provided it has a strong legislative framework provid-ing the same protections as those provided to our national parks. We would welcome a commitment to amending the National Capital Act, to protect Gatineau Park, in the upcoming speech from the throne.

Canada has made bold promises to protect 25 per cent of landmass by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030. Let us show the world our commitment by making Gatineau Park, visible from Parliament Hill, a real park.

John McDonnellExecutive director,

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society—Ottawa Valley Chapter

If statues are falling, it’s time to get off your knee and stand up for those who need action now

Taylor column ‘disparaging’ and ‘ignorant’ of Russian

leader Navalny: council head

The time has come to make Gatineau Park a ‘real’ park

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

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9

KAMOURASKA, QUE.—The internet flummoxes me. As I

have written before, when I was in journalism school in 2000, we speculated on the influence of the internet on conventional me-dia. We know now that it has had a devastating impact on newspa-per advertising and resulted in the deaths of many publications.

We also speculated on what it would be like if everyone were their own editor, and there were no rules or filters in the reporting of news. Would the news be more direct, more populist? Would stories be uncovered that would otherwise not see the light of day?

Today, we are in the throes of an American election campaign, with protests, violence, and boycotts fed to social media every minute. Stories that might never have been covered, like the police murder of George Floyd, have given impetus to social move-ments, like Black Lives Matter.

However, there are many voices which skew the debate on social media. It is not surprising Twitter has been a battleground of extreme politics and fake news for some time now, due to Donald Trump, his followers, and the limitations of the 280-character universe. Instagram and TikTok may soon follow.

But Facebook has lost its in-nocence as well: it is no longer the forum for catching up with friends and relatives and sharing jokes, photos, and cartoons that it once was.

Recently, an article appeared in The New York Times, asking if Facebook is the real silent majority. The expression, “the silent major-ity,” was originally used to describe the dead before Richard Nixon hijacked it. Now, perhaps, it refers to the brain-dead. According to the Times, right-wing content does well because the “platform is designed

to amplify emotionally resonant posts, and conservative commenta-tors are skilled at turning pas-sionate grievances into powerful algorithm fodder.”

Into this morass rides the Canadian equivalent of the Trumpers, the people suffering from “Trudeau Derangement Syndrome.” While I have criti-cized the prime minister and his government on many occasions, my criticisms deal with policy and substance. Not so much the ultra-Conservatives on Facebook.

On a Facebook page devoted to Conservative Pierre Poilievre, I found many objectionable comments. Fortunately, Poilievre disassociated himself from the comments and the page, saying “he does not post on it or decide what other people post on it,” adding his office contacted the page and “encouraged everyone to

throw their support behind (new CPC) leader Erin O’Toole.”

The most inflammatory com-ments I read on the page were from a man in Leduc, Alta. I tracked him down and inter-viewed him. I won’t name him, as that would give him undeserved attention. He is attempting to organize a million-person rally across Canada on Sept. 12 to call for the resignation of Justin Trudeau. Why Sept. 12, I asked. “Well, Sept. 11 was taken, and it is a Saturday.” The last time he or-ganized a similar event in Leduc, thirty people showed up.

He claimed Justin Trudeau was the son of Fidel Castro, and called him a “career criminal.” His typo-laden screed called on “militias” in Canada to rise up: I suggested his material incited violence against Trudeau, but he assured me he was a “peaceful person.” Days

later, he posted more incendiary material; when I complained, he blocked me and I received threat-ening messages from his “friends.”

I accept the COVID quaran-tines have left people with time on their hands to write on the internet, and the frustration with the government’s inaction to deal with the crushing debt and get people working again is weighing on many Canadians.

But the flood of online pro-paganda and extremist views, whether from the right or left, is disheartening. As Hannah Arendt wrote, the purpose of propaganda “has never been to instill convic-tions, but to destroy the capacity to form any.”

In Montreal this week, the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald was torn down by hoodlums, with cheers from those on Facebook, using the most vile terms to describe the Father of Confedera-tion. To me, their extremism puts them in the same camp as the yahoo from Leduc.

I genuinely fear for the future of public discourse in Canada if the political agenda is set by the ignorant and the vandals, not the knowledgeable and the civilized. We can’t let democracy become another casualty of the internet.

Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a principal of QIT Canada. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com.

The Hill Times

OTTAWA—Making predictions is often a fool’s errand. But,

being a fool, I am prepared to

make the leap. There will be no election this fall. Especially one perpetrated by confidence mo-tions stemming from the Sept. 23 speech from the throne.

Let me lay out two caveats, though. The first: unless the Liberals have some stunning poll numbers that show them winning a massive majority and a broad public desire for an election, they will not write a throne speech odious enough to scare away a voting partner. The second caveat is: if the national return to school goes swimmingly across all juris-dictions, then perhaps all parties view a key element of going to the polls de-risked.

Election calls always come with variables. There is a never a certainty that when you precipi-tate one you will get the result that you want. Campaigns matter and all of that, but you want to control as many elements as you can. The problem with forcing an election is there is so much multi-layered anxiety in the land, it is unwieldy and touches everyone, so a vote now would look like a self-interested ploy. Canadians may punish who-ever they feel put their interests ahead of them.

For the last six months, po-litical co-operation across many levels of government for our benefit has generally been met with acceptance. Shaking that up now, nationally, while we are being told by public health of-ficials every day that we are still in the middle of COVID-19 would seem to be a politically stupid thing to do for any party—even the governing one. Yes, there is an election happening in New Brunswick, but its minority was already tenuous before COVID-19

struck, they are closer to making a legitimate argument for being in a recovery stage, and the election was engineered to happen just as school reopened so that could be the focus of whoever wins.

Also, in New Brunswick both the governing Progressive Conservatives and the opposi-tion Liberals were on more stable ground with their organizational trajectory, which helped de-risk things for them. Other than the Bloc Québécois, the parties sitting in the House of Commons are not as strongly situated as they would like to be to plunge into the polls.

The Greens are amid a leader-ship race. They would no doubt like to get a chieftain picked first while using a sitting Parliament, in whatever fashion, to make some incremental progress with govern-ment legislation that they can then take to the public as proof of their worth. There is no public-opinion proof out there at this point that a pandemic-ridden Canada current-ly wants to elect more Greens.

The state of the NDP is well documented. They need to work on replenishing their war chest to fight a campaign. Also, Jagmeet Singh appears to be channeling the late Jack Layton, and looks

like he wants to be this Parlia-ment’s Monty Hall of Let’s Make A Deal. If he can pull it off as well as Mr. Layton did, it could be a wise strategy.

The Conservatives have a new leader. While they have oodles of money, neither the new leader nor his campaign narrative have had any time to take shape. An elec-tion for the Conservatives now would be another runoff about not being Justin Trudeau. Despite the WE scandal, not enough Canadians oppose Trudeau to the benefit of the Conservatives. O’Toole needs time to lay track.

As for the Liberals, they have been rickety since the WE mess broke. Their confidence is off, even though there seems to be nothing wrong with their cheque-writing skills. A chaotic Canadian version of the U.S. election is not high on anyone’s priority list.

A big risk for the government is also pandemic opportunism. If the return to school is a mighty mess and wave two of the virus hits with force in the fall, they might get a mighty smack in the chops from a tired, angry, disheartened public. The prime minister’s better bet is to continue to play healer-in-chief. It benefit-ted him before.

A fall election is a fallacy, so says this fool.

Tim Powers is vice-chairman of Summa Strategies and manag-ing director of Abacus Data. He is a former adviser to Conservative political leaders.

The Hill Times

Comment

Facebook is no longer fun and games

A fall election has few benefits, so don’t hold your breath for its call

I fear for the future of public discourse if the political agenda is set by the ignorant and the vandals, not the knowledgeable and the civilized. We can’t let democracy become another casualty of the internet. 

If the return to school is a mighty mess and wave two of the virus hits with force in the fall, the Liberals might get a mighty smack in the chops from a tired, angry, disheartened public.

THE HILL TIMES | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

A statue of Sir John A. Macdonald was toppled by protestors in Montreal on Aug. 29. The flood of online propaganda and extremist views, whether from the right or left, is disheartening, writes Andrew Caddell. Screenshot courtesy of CBC News

Andrew Caddell

With All Due Respect

Forcing an election now, when there is so much multi-layered anxiety in the land, would look like a self-interested ploy and Canadians may punish whoever they feel put their interests ahead of them, writes Tim Powers. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Tim Powers

Plain Speak

In “The 300,000-year case for the 15-hour work week,” a major es-

say in the Financial Times recent-ly, anthropologist James Suzman soothingly offered an evolution-ary rationale for a re-think about

the nature of employment, fram-ing the discussion as one about leisure time. “For more than 95 per cent of Homo sapiens’ history, people enjoyed more leisure than we do now.”

In a possible concession to people who don’t view unemploy-ment as leisure and to a previ-ously unthinkable scenario in which a coerced cyber-servitude between leisure and destitution becomes more common as de-mocracy is extinguished, Suzman also writes, “As jobless numbers surge as a result of COVID-19’s spread, practices once seen as fringe are accepted as an almost inevitable part of the new world order.” At the risk of understating

the case, not a bad subject for a follow-up piece.

While noting that “the goal of universal employment remains the mantra of politicians of all stripes,” Suzman neglects to speci-fy that universal employment has really only been the mantra of politicians in democracies.

Inequality is only an existential threat to power when its victims vote, or when they fill the streets—“when the people go hungry, governments topple.” The systematic degradation of democracy is neutral-izing the first threat and the global militarization of police and infil-tration and operationalization of protests is neutralizing the second. The surveillance-capitalism titans of Big Tech and the surveillance-state imperialists currently corrupting political narratives know that, unless democracy is restored, the world won’t get any less Hobbesian.

The inequality that was begin-ning to reverse course a decade after the Great Recession is now being amplified by the force multiplier of

the COVID-19 lockdown. Since the pandemic went global, “The rich are getting richer than ever before” per an Aug. 15 Toronto Star headline, “and economists are getting con-cerned.” Many of those billionaires are the same cyber plutocrats—Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg—who’ve built fortunes on the unchecked disrup-tion, unregulated political influence, and commodification of privacy of the exploitation era of the fourth industrial revolution.

The impact of the past two decades on the definition of work has implications much deeper and broader than the number of hours in a work week. The prioritization of profit over collective quality of life has made more human beings incidental, rather than indispens-able, to production. Now, they are being distracted and disen-franchised as money and power are concentrating in the hands of interests suddenly no longer compelled by the accountability of democracy to invest in solutions

through taxation, and who are instead licensed by corruption and impunity to double down on greed.

So, the most significant foreshadowing generated by Donald Trump’s performative, norm-obliterating, expectation re-setting presidency may be his brutal disregard for the value of human life in acting as a crisis mismanagement vector for the worst COVID-19 infection and death numbers in the world.

Trump’s disproportionate value to the geopolitical, political, and industrial interests benefiting from this perfect sh*tstorm of narra-tive engineering—especially in the country most identified with democracy as an aspirational brand—puts him under enormous pressure to front the obfuscation, obstruction, hijacking, and/or bulldozing of this election.

It’s not about the dystopian Cin-derella story of a reality-show host transformed into a guy who plays a preposterous dictator on TV. It’s about his propaganda-protected plausibility as an agent of transfor-mation and walking rationale for a revolutionary outcome that would otherwise be too incredible to even contemplate peddling, and beyond which plausibility will cease to be a requirement.

As is often said, elections are about the future. This one is about the future of elections, and all of human fate that that implies.

Lisa Van Dusen is associate editor of Policy Magazine and was a Washington and New York-based editor at UPI, AP, and ABC. She writes a weekly column for The Hill Times.

The Hill Times

10

Global

As America is predictably besieged by pre-election chaos, the consequences for humanity in the weaponization of Donald Trump could not be higher.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

It’s the economics, stupid: corruption, greed, and the war on democracy

U.S. President Donald Trump gives his nomination acceptance speech at the White House during the Republican National Convention on Aug. 27. YouTube screenshot via PBS NewsHour

Lisa Van Dusen

What Fresh Hell

11

Canada could be in a position of increasing leverage in trade talks with Britain, say analysts, while activists hope for increased environmental protections in a new pact.

When the transition period ex-pires in four months, Canada-U.K. trade will no longer be covered un-der the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the deal Canada signed with the Eu-ropean Union in 2016. The British government has indicated it wants to have free trade agreements with countries covering 80 per cent of U.K. trade by 2023.

Former Canadian diplomat Mel Cappe, who served as high com-missioner in London from 2002 to 2006, said in the negotiations, Canada is in the driver’s seat.

“The U.K. needs us more than we need them,” he said.

Currently, the U.K. has rolled over free trade arrangements with mostly smaller countries. Of the more than 70 countries that it had free trade pacts with as a member of the EU, it has rolled over deals with 50 countries and territories, according to the BBC. But it still is in the midst of negotiations with the EU, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and wants to complete a pact with the U.S.

Trade lobbyist Peter Clark, president of Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates, said the quick timeline to get a new trade pact is being pushed by London and not Ottawa.

“I don’t see anybody parad-ing up and down in front of the Pearson building demand that Canada get going on [trade nego-tiations with the U.K.],” said Mr. Clark, a former trade official for the Canadian government, noting that Canada’s trading relation-ship with the U.S. and China is far more of a concern, as well as trade negotiations with ASEAN member countries.

“Not saying the U.K. isn’t important, but their expectations and their ability to provide a bal-anced package just don’t jive,” he said.

“The U.K. wants the same deal as the Europeans had—or better. I would sit back and say, ‘Tell me what’s in it for me?’”

Former British high commis-sioner to Canada Anthony Cary said in an email that the British government is still “floundering

about” and “unable to make the trade-offs required,” such as be-tween producers and consumers, as Leave supporters said every-one would benefit from Brexit.

A Telegraph report last month suggested that trade talks are set to resume “imminently,” with the objective of a deal being reached before the end of 2020.

Neither Global Affairs nor the U.K. Department of International Trade commented on the timeline for trade negotiations or for a deal to be concluded.

“[The] U.K. and Canada are both committed to protecting and strengthening our trading relationship now the U.K. has left the EU,” said a Department of International Trade spokesperson. “We’re engaging constructively with the Canadian government on transition of the CETA at the end of the transition period and maintaining continuity for busi-nesses in both our countries. This will inform the approach we take to individual policy issues.”

“The Government of Canada understands how important it is for Canada to maintain market access to the U.K. beyond the Brexit transition period in order to ensure continuity, predictably, and stability for Canadians and our businesses. That is why we remain in close communication with the U.K., including [Interna-tional Trade] Minister [Mary] Ng’s recent calls with U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade, Liz Truss,” noted a Global Affairs spokesperson.

Steve Verheul, Canada’s top trade negotiation official, told the House Committee on Interna-tional Trade in July that Canada is seeking to transfer provisions in CETA into a bilateral deal with the U.K., adding that a “large pro-portion of that work has already been done.”

Mr. Clark said a new deal won’t be done by the end of the year.

“Trade negotiators by their nature are generally overly op-timistic about timetables. We’ve seen with every agreement we’ve

negotiated they always miss dates [and] always miss targets because there’s a lot of pieces in them and it takes a while to get through them because you have a wide variety of interests that you have to deal with,” he said.

The Canadian government has pledged to abide by agreed-upon changes that give Parliamentar-ians more oversight on trade deals. One of the provisions is tabling notice of the government’s intent to enter into free trade negotiations in the House of Com-mons 90 days before those talks begin, which would mean formal

trade negotiations with Britain cannot start until late December as the earliest the notice of intent could be tabled is following the throne speech on Sept. 23.

Green parliamentary leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) said the new ar-rangement should be respected. “Democracy takes time and the proper notice and full engage-ment is an important principle.”

Jason Langrish, Canada Europe Roundtable for Business executive director, said ministers have been told to finish a transi-tion deal by the end of the year,

adding that the Canadians are on board if the British are willing to dedicate the time and be realistic about what is achievable.

“I don’t think it is impossible because it’s mostly there—it’s mostly CETA,” he said. “The ball’s in the [U.K.’s] court.”

But he said even with a CETA rollover, some provisions will be difficult to deal with until the relationship between the U.K. and the EU is better understood.

Mr. Langrish said Canada doesn’t necessarily have more lever-age over the U.K. despite the Brits wanting a deal more than Canada,

as it’s not a trade deal that is overly important to the U.K. either.

“Even under [World Trade Or-ganization] rules, most of the trade would still be covered,” he said, adding that a failure to reach a deal this year isn’t an indication of trade difficulties between Canada and the U.K., but a need to find out what kind of agreement Britain will reach with the EU.

Global Affairs has long held that a future trade agreement between Canada and the U.K. will be “influenced” by the EU-U.K. trading relationship as well as unilateral British approaches.

Stronger environmental protections needed in a Canada-U.K. trade pact, say activists

As reports out of the United Kingdom indicated that the Brit-ish government has hired former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott to have a trade advisory role at the Board of Trade, some environmental activists said it is a “worrying sign” given his past statements of climate change skepticism.

In a 2017 speech, Mr. Abbott said climate change is “probably doing good; or, at least, more good than harm.”

Ms. May said despite the worrying sign of Mr. Abbott’s ap-pointment, the U.K. has been con-sistent around its climate goals.

“The U.K. now has a very large role on climate,” she said, noting that the U.K. is the host of the UN Cli-mate Change Conference, COP26, in 2021. “The U.K. is very occupied with being a good host, with having good arrangements and making sure that there is success there.”

Mr. Cary said he was “ap-palled” by the appointment, but added “the hope is that it is just a gewgaw for Brexiters.” Other trade experts said they didn’t anticipate Mr. Abbott would influ-ence policy decisions.

Ms. May said the CETA envi-ronmental protections are strong enough, but added that Canada should do anything it can to help the U.K. have measures at least as strong as Canada has under the new NAFTA.

The CETA has an environment chapter, but it has weak enforce-ment provisions attached to it.

Ms. May said one area that would strengthen environmental protections would be the removal of investor-state dispute resolu-tions, which allows corporations to challenge Canadian govern-ment regulatory decisions in arbitration. An investor-state dispute system was removed in the renegotiations of NAFTA.

“This is another good op-portunity. We just got rid of the investor-state agreement between Canada and the U.S.—let’s get rid of it between Canada and the U.K., just to start setting some momentum in the right direction,” she said.

Eddy Pérez, international policy analyst at the Climate Action Net-work, said the environment chap-ter in a Canada-U.K. trade deal has to be different than CETA.

“It would surprise me that Canada would not want to use this opportunity to bring its enforce-able approach to trade that we’ve seen in other trade deals,” he said, adding the environment chapter of CETA might offer an entry point, but it is “definitely not enough.”

“It would be a missed oppor-tunity if Canada did not use this year when the U.K. wants to be a climate champion to make sure that we speak about enforceabili-ty of climate commitments within trade,” Mr. Pérez said.

“We will continue to work with both the U.K. and EU to maintain strong and stable trading relation-ships, that grow our economies and benefit our people—all while protecting the environment,” a Global Affairs spokesperson said.

nmoss@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

Canada could have added leverage in trade talks with U.K. as activists push for stronger environmental protections ‘The U.K. wants the same deal as the Europeans had—or better. I would sit back and say, ‘Tell me what’s in it for me?’ says trade lobbyist Peter Clark.

News

THE HILL TIMES | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

Continued from page 1

International Trade Minister Mary Ng has been in close contact with U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss about the Canada-U.K. trading relationship, according to a Global Affairs spokesperson. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The United Kingdom, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has indicated it wants to have free trade agreements with countries covering 80 per cent of U.K. trade by 2023. Photograph courtesy of Andrew Parsons/Flickr

When Vietnam’s new ambassador to Canada flew to his new home, it also

marked a welcome homecoming for hun-dreds of his country’s citizens stuck amid the coronavirus lockdowns.

The 15-hour direct flight from Hanoi to Toronto bringing Pham Cao Phong, his wife Van Thi Le Hien, and about 20 Cana-dians was also a repatriation flight, turning around to take more than 200 Vietnamese nationals back home. He boarded the flight on April 30, a memorable day also because it’s the day the country celebrates the liberation of the south during the Vietnam War as its national unity day. It also made him the first ambassador to fly on a flight meant to bring home so many others.

“I’m first of many things,” said Mr. Pham, with a laugh, who also gathered he’s likely the first envoy from his country in the 21st century who ultimately ar-rived at their post-ing city by car. For safety during the pandemic, he said Global Affairs Can-ada recommended he get picked up in Toronto by an embassy car rather than take a second flight. As he was driven through it, he noted that the city has changed so much since he worked as a visiting fellow at the University of Toronto for a few months, about 34 years ago.

He later virtually presented his creden-tials to Governor General Julie Payette on July 16, the same day as South Korea’s new ambassador, Chang Keung Ryong, in the first such ceremony in Canada amid COVID-19.

Canada is the second ambassador position for the career diplomat, who most recently served as the ambassador to Malaysia from 2014 to 2017. After that, he returned to Vietnam where he worked as deputy secretary general at the Com-munist Party of Vietnam’s Committee of the Overseas.

“My hope is no other than to promote the relationship between Vietnam and Canada,” he said during an interview at the embassy on Aug. 27, identifying a 2017 de-cision to establish a “comprehensive part-nership,” including a promise to continue high-level visits, co-operate in multilateral institutions, and a shared commitment to peace in the Asia Pacific region and South China Sea.

“We would like to try to put that frame-work into practice,” he explained, saying he thinks a plan of action is needed and he’s been contacting various ministries in Canada to get that work started, with a goal of having that plan in the coming months—though COVID-19 has made it more difficult.

Still, he said, there are opportunities, and he plans to present Vietnam to Canada as a

good source for personal protective equip-ment, like face masks, gowns, and gloves.

“COVID-19 of course, posed a lot of difficulties, but it also opened a new area of co-operation, particularly in terms of supply chain,” he said, noting Canada has a “big demand” for PPE and Vietnam has the capacity to fill it.

Both ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2018 and he credits it for what he reported was a 28 per cent increase in two-way trade last year. Canadian data showed that while Canada’s exports to Vietnam dropped between 2018 and 2019, from $1.1-billion to $994-million, imports spiked from $5.4-bil-lion to $7-billion.

“The trade be-tween the two coun-tries has developed tremendously,” he said, calling the two economies comple-mentary rather than in competition. For the first six months of this year, he said their numbers show trade has kept apace and stayed steady com-pared to last year’s numbers, something he said is an ac-complishment given COVID’s disruptions.

It’s also meant being flexible with plans, he noted, with a business delegation planned for May postponed to November and now a virtual meeting. November is also the annual Foodexpo in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, where he said Canada is the country of honour this year, but it will also unfortunately have to be held online.

“I hope that by that time the scientists can find out if Zoom can smell,” he said with a laugh.

As a diplomat, he said he still doesn’t see telephone calls as a workable way to connect with people he’s never met before, but he’s hoping with cases of coronavirus low in Ottawa that will change.

“We are Zoom diplomats now,” he said, noting there have been many virtual meet-ings between leaders in the two coun-tries in the last couple months, including between the foreign affairs ministers, including François-Philippe Champagne in Canada, as well as between International Trade Minister Mary Ng and his trade minister.

Canada was also the Vietnam Foreign Affairs ministry’s first virtual political consultation—“very fruitful” discussions that were no small effort given the 11-hour time difference between capitals.

Mr. Pham joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990, and has since served as director general of the Department of Ex-ternal Cultural and UNESCO Affairs from 2011 to 2014, chief of staff to the Cabinet of Ministry, from 2005 to 2007, and secretary to the Foreign Minister in 2005.

swallen@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES12

Vietnamese envoy arrives on repatriation flight, one of many firsts for new cohort of ‘Zoom diplomats’

Diplomatic Circlesby Samantha Wright Allen

Parties of the pastThe Hill Times photographs by Sam Garcia

With COVID-19 putting a pause on diplomatic gatherings in Ottawa, The Hill Times is offering a look back with (some never-before-seen) images of

celebrations and special events that have occurred at this time in years past.

Thai envoy throws birthday party

T&T marks independence

Uruguay takes it to City Hall

Then-Pakistan high commissioner Akbar Zeb and then-Thai ambassador Adisak Panupong at an Aug. 12, 2010, reception to celebrate Queen Sirikit’s 78th birthday.

Then-Thai ambassador Udomphol Ninnad and then-Bahamian high commissioner Calsey Johnson attend a party marking Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence Day on Aug. 28, 2013.

Then-Cuban ambassador Julio Garmendía Peña and then-Chilean ambassador Roberto Ibarra.

Then-Guyanese high commissioner Clarissa Riehl and Uruguayan Ambassador Martín Alejandro Vidal Delgado greet each other at Uruguay’s Independence Day party on Aug. 30, 2018.

Then-Brazilian ambassador Denis Fontes de Souza Pinto and Mr. Vidal Delgado.

Cuban Ambassador Josefina De La Caridad Vidal Ferreiro and Mr. Vidal Delgado.

Bahamian High Commissioner Alvin Smith and Mr. Vidal Delgado.

Then-Indonesian ambassador Dienne Moehario, then-Trinidad and Tobago high commissioner Philip Buxo, and Cindy Shivani Maharaj, then-Trinidad and Tobago second secretary.

Then-chief of protocol Robert Peck and Mr. Panupong.

Then-Indian high commissioner SM Gavai and Mr. Panupong.

Vietnam’s new ambassador, Pham Cao Phong, arrived in Ottawa at the end of April, making him the first ambassador his country sent abroad amid the pandemic. Photograph courtesy of the Vietnam Embassy

13

to an independent panel moni-toring the new system meant to end solitary confinement, says Canada’s prison watchdog.

The challenge rests primar-ily with a new tracking technol-ogy the Correctional Service of Canada picked that doesn’t yet blend with its existing “anti-quated” software, though it was ultimately the right choice, said Correctional Investigator of Canada Ivan Zinger, echoing the CSC’s public defence after outcry last week over the panel’s term having ended without any work done.

In September, a volunteer pan-el was struck to track the prison system’s adoption of Structured Intervention Units (SIUs)—the Liberal government’s response to the court-mandated end to the use of administrative and disciplinary segregation in all federal correc-tional institutions. The legislation, Bill C-83, guaranteed prisoners a right to four hours daily outside of cells, and two hours of mean-ingful human contact. The United Nations defines solitary confine-ment as 22 or more hours a day in a cell without human contact, and 15 straight days in such condi-tions as torture.

A scathing report released Aug. 19 by the SIU Independent Advisory Panel warned that the eight expert appointees were un-able to complete any work.

“We cannot equate the fact that CSC cannot give the data with that there was no compli-ance or, or there was ill motive on the part of the service to provide the data,” said Mr. Zinger.

He said it’s often difficult to get information from the CSC, and it’s “very unfortunate” that was the experience of the panel, which he hoped could assure his office the service was living up to its promise. He remains con-cerned and critical of the “flawed” SIU model, which he said affects approximately 225 to 250 inmates and will likely face a court chal-lenge, but his job is to ensure compliance with the law.

“CSC did the right thing ini-tially, purchasing a computer sys-tem and software to ensure they

could demonstrate compliance, they went for a Cadillac model,” he said, complete with cellphone technology and a remote keyless system at every cell door. “I think eventually it’ll be bulletproof.”

Nearing a year since the units came into use, panel members and critics argue the CSC should be able to prove compliance and report even basic data for the rel-atively small number of inmates, and say oversight is essential to ensure conditions the UN defines as torture aren’t occurring in Canada’s prisons. The CSC was not forthcoming throughout the now-shuttered panel’s lifespan since launching in September 2019, said its chair Anthony Doob, a professor emeritus of criminology at the University of Toronto.

For example, the panel had expected its first data dump in February, with information like the average and shortest number of hours inmates were out of their cells, with updates every two months to determine improve-ments. By February, the CSC informed the panel that might not be coming. The panel in turn noti-fied Public Safety Minister Bill Blair’s (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.) office, but got no response, only to later get a “useless” batch of bad data, and then learn from the CSC that its information-management technology was out of date and it ultimately wouldn’t be sharing the requested informa-tion.

CSC spokesperson Marie-Pier Lécuyer said by email Sept. 1 that the CSC continues to “actively work” on the panel’s requests. She said the service has technology in place to track “what we set out to track,” but the two systems, one older and one launched for the SIUs, “limit the integration of the data, and we continue to work through this.”

Mr. Zinger said his office’s investigators have observed the sys-tem tracking data that he believes will eventually be available to the public—though he’s also not clear

on when that CSC will have that ca-pability, and neither the service nor the minister responsible, Mr. Blair, have committed to a timeframe.

Having the data in-hand is the only way Prof. Doob said he’ll be back on the job, pushing against Mr. Blair’s promise to renew the panel’s appointments so it can complete its work in the wake of the fallout.

Mr. Blair told The Hill Times by email he had spoken to Prof. Doob about the panel’s “serious con-cerns” and has asked his officials “to develop a work plan that will help ensure the panel gets all the information it needs to complete its work in a timely manner.”

That statement “was a little vague, to put it politely,” said panel member Ed McIsaac, who previously spent 18 years as

executive director of the Correc-tional Investigator’s office.

There’s “no question” Mr. Blair shares some of the blame for the CSC’s failure to hand over data, said Mr. McIsaac. But while he was “terribly disappointed” the CSC failed to provide the needed data, he said he wasn’t surprised.

Panellist Alexander Simpson, chief of forensic psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said he’s willing to come back because he believes the work is important, but the minister needs to provide public assurances that the issues will be addressed and make it “absolutely clear that the problem that we’ve encountered will not continue.”

The CSC also reiterated in its Sept. 1 statement that it gave the panel some data, an assertion Prof. Doob said is misleading when the agency months ago admitted the data it provided was essentially useless. It feeds into a feeling—shared by two other panelists The Hill Times spoke with—that they’ve been “jerked around,” he said.

“CSC has said a number of dif-ferent contradictory things about the data and it’s unfortunate,” and the explanations don’t add up, he said. “We don’t have data… No-body has any information about

the way these units are actually operating. And we don’t even know when we’re going to get it.”

How CSC tracks compliance

Ms. Lécuyer stressed the SIUs have “not gone unchecked since their implementation,” as independent bodies were set up ahead of the new units, as required by the enacting legislation to work as oversight and accountability measures. One is a group of Independent External Deci-sion Makers, who provide oversight related to an inmate’s conditions and duration of confinement in an SIU and review cases, she noted, and the correctional investigator also follows up on complaints.

Asked if it’s complying with the new laws surrounding the

structured intervention units, Ms. Lécuyer said the service has “worked hard to implement the SIUs” which are a brand-new cor-rectional model.

She pointed to more than 1,100 decisions and reviews completed by the Independent External Deci-sion Makers, of which 75 per cent determined that the inmate should remain in an SIU. Of the IEDM reviews, less than 25 per cent led to recommendations that the CSC “take additional steps,” and less than 2.5 per cent resulted in an order to remove an inmate from the SIU.

As for how it records compli-ance, she said an application tracks several different data points, including every inmate who is transferred into and out of an SIU.

That application is loaded onto a guard’s handheld device so they track in real-time the number of hours an inmate spends out of their cell as well as their ac-tivities, such as participating in correctional programs, receiving interventions from parole officers or health services, or interacting with other inmates.

“Policy requires a daily review by a manager of all information that is logged in the application about an inmate’s daily time out of cell and their activities,” she said.

Record likely ‘abysmal’ amid COVID

If the data for the last six months had been turned over to the panel, Mr. Zinger said it would likely show failure to meet the requirements of the new law—at least four hours every day out of cell and “meaningful” hu-man contact—a development he said is a separate, and troubling, matter tied to the pandemic.

“Since November [the CSC has] been struggling to train and comply, and they’ve put a lot of effort in place to get to a desirable level,” he said, and most prisons with SIUs were complying with the majority of their obligations.

“As soon as the pandemic hit, compliance went back to zero,” and by mid-March the SIU’s were on lockdown, said Mr. Zinger, whose office has made two COVID updates, the last in June, warning the new units had returned to their former function. “It was solitary confinement, [prisoners] were lucky to have an hour outside their cell, let alone the yards.”

The numbers will likely show implementing the SIUs, in part because of COVID-19, has been an “abysmal failure,” agreed Catherine Latimer, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada.

“I think it’s a rampant, flagrant violation of the law in terms of iso-lated confinement. They will try to justify this on the back of COVID,” she said, but “nothing, not even a pandemic justifies the wholesale violation of prisoner’s rights and that’s what we believe we’re see-ing now.”

Many prisoner advocates were concerned the legislative regime the Liberals introduced was in-adequate and lacked safeguards, said Ms. Latimer, and the gov-ernment used the promise of an independent panel of respected people to allay those concerns.

She doesn’t accept the technol-ogy defence, saying it’s “absolute-ly essential” that data be provided to the advisory panel to verify and validate the extent to which the structured intervention units are following the law.

“If they’re not getting the data then we all need to be worried,” she said.

It leaves the public and prison-ers in “a rather precarious situation,” agreed Mr. McIsaac, because if the CSC is proclaiming it’s running the units in compliance with the law, but there’s no data to support that, he’s not sure where to turn.

“I think there needs to be public concern expressed [and] perhaps a revisiting at the court level what is currently going on within these units,” he said.

If Prof. Doob doesn’t get the requested data and doesn’t return to the panel, Ms. Latimer said Canada likely needs a judicial review of isolated confinement at the CSC, and not just structured intervention units.

“We’ve just taken a giant step backwards and in a way that’s in-consistent with judicial rulings in Canada,” she said, calling the situ-ation so serious that she considers Canada to be in the worst correc-tions crisis in the last 50 years.

“The challenge is that this is less visible to the public, and damage to individuals is less vis-ible but it is horrific.”

swallen@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

Software likely to blame for CSC’s ‘unfortunate’ failure to report solitary confinement data, says watchdog Despite the government’s promise to reconvene the independent review panel, members say they won’t return unless the CSC turns over the data requested to track whether it is complying with the law.

News

THE HILL TIMES | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

Continued from page 1

Correctional Investigator of Canada Ivan Zinger, pictured in October 2017, says he believes the CSC has worked hard to comply with the new law governing its approach to prisoner isolation, but new software 'fraught with challenges' has made it difficult to report on compliance. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

14

countries where food systems may be less secure, and are already impacted by climate change; where children may need to support their families and, as such, may never return to school; and where social safety nets and health-care systems are no match to ours, the impacts of COVID-19 have the potential to be catastrophic.

It is time we step up to support our neighbours around the world. It is not only urgently needed and the right thing to do, but it is also the path to global recovery. The only way out of this global crisis is through multilateralism, international co-operation, mutual support, and soli-darity. Without this, the crisis will cut deeper and last longer. A strong global response is about more than charity. We must realize that our well-being and safety is bound up in the well-being and safety of those around us.

Canada must do its part to invest a glob-al recovery that leaves no one behind. With such urgent needs, good intentions are not enough. Important global investments can-not wait. The government should invest at

least one per cent of its COVID-19 response in a global response that tackles the spread of the virus and its secondary impacts in low- and middle-income countries. Cana-da’s international assistance contributions in response to COVID-19, for humanitarian needs and public health support, represent only about 0.21 per cent of Canada’s invest-ment, of more than $200-billion dollars,

in the domestic response to CO-VID-19. Just as Canadians have continued giving despite fiscal challenges and fearing for their own safety and well-being, Cana-da must do its fair share globally, despite deficits and competing priorities. We have seen powerful countries suffer in isolation due to

protectionist austerity measures during the pandemic and it is clear that the only way to successfully tackle this global crisis will be to tackle it together.

It is the Canadian way. Caremongering started at home, but it does not need to end here.

Nicolas Moyer is president-CEO of the Ca-nadian Council for International Co-operation.

The Hill Times

opportunities to join industry and drive economic growth, both prospects for those businesses and Canadians’ quality of life are at risk. That’s why government needs to step in and ensure our emerging gen-eration of top talent has opportunities to contribute to Canada’s future prosperity.

Even without the impact of COVID-19, Canada has for some time lagged behind most other OECD countries in business-sector innovation and R&D. When top talent is underutilized, it jeopardizes Canada’s future productivity and competitiveness.

Students graduating during a reces-sion suffer reduced wage growth, delayed career progression, and reduced opportuni-ties to apply their skills. Based on evidence from past recessions, the gap in earnings has been found to last for a decade.

The time for action is now. With more graduates entering the labour market each year, the first cohort of pandemic graduates will struggle to compete. Severe reductions in opportunities for new HQP during the pandemic and the recovery period will have a ripple effect, deterring bright upcoming stu-dents from pursuing additional degrees, and robbing Canada of the innovation needed for economic growth well into the future.

If we are serious about Canadian in-novation and future prosperity, we need to ensure we don’t lose this generation of top talent. Innovation internships offer a solu-tion. High-quality work experiences are a proven tool for meeting the needs of both

high-potential companies and new uni-versity graduates. Innovation internships bring new ideas and the latest knowledge to industry, and help new grads start build-ing their careers in Canadian innovation.

Supporting innovation internships can bring new HQP into the economy, helping graduates launch careers in their chosen field and avoid the long-term negative effects of entering the job market during a reces-sion. These internships also help industry, and particularly SMEs, achieve the R&D activity they need to adjust to new economic realities, build innovation into their critical paths, and seize new opportunities.

Ramping up innovation internships can happen quickly, but it requires that govern-ment, industry, and higher education insti-tutions come together with a shared vision of what is possible. The newly released report, “Investing in a resilient Canadian workforce: 2020 Business Council of Can-ada Skills Survey,” stresses the importance of these three sectors working in collabo-ration if we are to achieve a prosperous future for all Canadians.

Now is the time to strengthen our foun-dation of top talent so they may find mean-ingful careers and drive the innovation we desperately need to rebuild our economy.

John Hepburn is CEO and scientific director of Mitacs, a not-for-profit organi-zation that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving business challenges with research solutions from academic institutions.

The Hill Times

Opinion

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

Caremongering started at home but it shouldn’t end here

Why Canada can’t afford to lose a generation of top talent

Continued from page 7

Continued from page 7

International Development Minister Karina Gould is pictured arriving at the West Block on June 1. A strong global response is about more than charity. We must realize that our well-being and safety is bound up in the well-being and safety of those around us, writes Nicolas Moyer. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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15THE HILL TIMES | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

in more than 25 meetings and calls with the Chinese and Hong Kong governments, according to a Global Affairs spokesperson, not-ing that Canada and China have a “regular pace of active discus-sions on Hong Kong.”

That included a meeting on Aug. 14 between officials of Canada’s Hong Kong Consulate General and the Hong Kong office of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs where they noted their concern over the arrest of media mogul Jimmy Lai, who was ar-rested earlier that week amid the raid on the Next Media/Apple Daily newsroom.

In a meeting with Chinese For-eign Minister Wang Yi on Aug. 25, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne (Saint-Maurice-Champlain, Que.) once again called for the release of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor, accord-ing to a readout of the meeting. Mr. Champagne also called for consular access to resume imme-

diately. The two detained Canadi-ans haven’t received in-person or virtual consular visits since Janu-ary—Jan. 13 for Mr. Spavor and Jan. 14 for Mr. Kovrig—in breach of the Canada-China consular agreement.

Former Canadian ambassador Guy Saint-Jacques said it has to be made clear that there will be a price to pay if Chinese authorities don’t meet Canada’s expectation of them.

“The only language that China understands is firmness,” said Mr. Saint-Jacques, who served as Canada’s top diplomat in Beijing from 2012 to 2016. “Western coun-tries have not been very good at that in recent years.”

Mr. Saint-Jacques said as Western countries better un-derstand the path down which Chinese President Xi Jinping is taking his country, such as with Hong Kong, with Uyghur repres-sion in Xinjiang, and increas-ing aggressiveness in the South China Sea, there are more Euro-pean countries taking a forceful approach.

“In the case of Canada, the appeasement strategy has not worked,” he said. “We have to re-view our engagement strategy.”

Mr. Saint-Jacques participated in a luncheon with then-Foreign Affairs minister Chystia Freeland (University-Rosedale, Ont.) and other former Canadian ambas-sadors to China in 2019 which was convened to discuss next steps in managing relations with an “increasingly capable and assertive China,” according to a briefing note for Ms. Freeland that was informal-ly obtained by The Hill Times.

Brock University professor Charles Burton, a former counsel-

lor at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, said Canada’s engage-ment with China hasn’t been very sophisticated.

“We are inclined to engage with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ representatives in Canada who are not key players in the Chinese system,” he said, adding that Mr. Champagne’s meeting with Mr. Wang likely doesn’t have much impact inside China given his lack of authority over the detention of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor.

Prof. Burton said Canada’s communication with China amounts to spinning its wheels.

“The fact that we keep on engaging the Chinese authorities, saying the same things over and over again, probably affirms to the Chinese government that their

hostage diplomacy with Kovrig and Spavor is in fact effective in inhibiting Canada in engaging in any meaningful measures to prevent China from furthering its interest in our country,” he said.

Prof. Burton said Canada should be offering asylum to Hong Kongers who want to come to Canada, as well as imposing Magnitisky sanctions on Chinese officials. Without doing so, it sends a message to Beijing that its approach is working, he said.

“The government says that they’re considering Magnitsky measures and they are consider-ing safe harbour for Hong Kong people, but one feels that, as the months go on of consideration, that no decision will be made, which works in the Chinese gov-ernment’s favour,” he said.

If the measures were threat-ened, Prof. Burton said, it will help give Canada access to more influential decision makers in China.

“By doing nothing, we’re es-sentially giving tacit consent to the Chinese government to persist in the kinds of violations of the norms of diplomacy and trade that they are increasingly engag-ing in since 2018, both domesti-cally in Canada and in terms of China’s lack of compliance with its international obligations to multilateral agencies,” he said.

“We’re only going to be able to talk about [issues with Chinese officials] effectively if, in fact, we are prepared to suggest to the Chinese government that there will be costs for what they’re do-ing,” Prof. Burton said, noting that appealing to the Chinese govern-ment on a moral basis has not worked.

Mr. Saint-Jacques said the Canadian Embassy in Beijing has been having difficulties gaining access to Chinese officials.

“Right now, the handicap for [Canadian ambassador] Domi-nic [Barton] is that his contacts are limited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and there’s no guarantee that they are passing on the message,” he said, noting that it is more important to focus

on the Communist Party of China. “I hope that he is making dé-marches on the Communist Party because that’s where the deci-sions and the policies are made.”

Former senior-level Canadian diplomat Ben Rowswell, president of the Canadian International

Council, said in an email when a country faces a major spat with another, there are a series of options that can be employed to manage the issue.

“It can compartmentalize it, devoting certain channels and certain relationships to managing it while keeping other channels free to work on everything else. Or it can link it to other issues, holding progress up on other fronts until it gets satisfaction on the principal issue,” he said, add-ing that when dealing with a big-ger power, smaller countries—like Canada—tend to avoid linking issues as it creates more leverage for the larger country.

“In the case of the detainee crisis, China has forced linkage on Canada. Nothing moves in the bilateral relationship until Can-ada moves on Meng Wanzhou. And at this point the Canadian public expects the government to be doing everything possible to free Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. In this context, mention-ing the two Michaels in every meeting makes sense,” he said.

“The only way out is for Canada to generate more lever-age. That comes from combining forces with other countries. Can-ada had a successful run early on soliciting expressions of support from many other liberal democra-cies, and that clearly got under China’s skin. Canada is very good at working collectively in inter-national relations, and China is quite bad at it. So it’s a natural area of comparative advantage for Canada to exploit.”

Consulate General monitoring anti-democratic slide in Hong Kong

To inform the government on risks to Canadians and diplo-matic staff and provide policy analysis and recommendations, the 26 diplomats posted to Canada’s Consulate General in Hong Kong have been monitoring the pro-democracy protests and court proceedings of arrested pro-democracy activists.

The monitoring occurs through scans of reports in media and social media, accord-ing to Global Affairs, as well as speaking with eyewitnesses and sharing information with other consulates and members of civil society. Direct observation of protests also occurs when it can be done safely.

Mr. Saint-Jacques said many embassies and consulates play the role of a watchdog, especially in countries where human rights and civil freedoms are not respected.

“You have to be vigilant. You have to intervene,” he said, adding the monitoring is interpreted by the Chinese government as an act of interference in its internal affairs.

“It is important to show up at the trials because it sends a signal that you’re watching and that you are paying attention and that you are interested in the subject,” Mr. Saint-Jacques said.

“We have to speak up, oth-erwise [Hong Kong] will be-come like the rest of China very quickly.”

nmoss@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

Canada continues to diplomatically press China on Hong Kong, two Michaels—is it working? Since April 21, Canadian officials have highlighted concern over the situation in Hong Kong in more than 25 meetings and calls with the Chinese and Hong Kong governments.

News

Continued from page 1

Former Canadian diplomat Guy Saint-Jacques says the ‘only language that China understands is firmness.’ The Hill Times file photograph

Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi is pictured meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016. Mr. Wang met with Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Aug. 25, during which Mr. Champagne raised the cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. PMO photograph by Adam Scotti

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 243rd FIPP World Media Congress—Susan

Goldberg, editor-in-chief of National Geo-graphic and editorial director of National Geographic Partners, is the latest speaker to be confirmed for the 43rd FIPP World Media Congress, which will take place online from Sept. 2-30. To find out more, www.fippcongress.com.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 6Twilight of Democracy with Anne

Applebaum—The Ottawa International Writers’ Festival hosts a conversation with Maclean’s magazine’s Paul Wells and histo-rian Anne Applebaum about her new book, Twilight of Democracy, which examines why elites in democracies around the world are turning toward nationalism and authoritari-anism. The free, online event is Sunday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m. RSVP at writersfestival.org.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 8The Future of Global Humanitarianism—

The Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect hosts a panel on “The Future of Global Humanitarianism.” Panellists include former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations Allan Rock; Dr. Karen Smith, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on R2P; and former prime minister of Hungary, Dr. Peter Medgyessy. Dr. Tom Axworthy, Secretary-General of the InterAction Council, will moderate the Q&A session that follows. Tuesday, Sept. 8, from noon to 1 p.m. Registration required, via Eventbrite.

Redefining Fragility and Resilience of Nation-States—Queen’s University hosts a webinar, “Redefining Fragility and Resilience of Nation-States: the cases of Italy, the United States, Ethiopia, Germany, and Cuba.” Abdelkerim Ousman, associate professor of political science at the Royal Military College, will explore how COVID-19 reveals that countries’ income levels and type of political regimes are not indicators of resilience or fragility in coping with the pandemic. Tuesday, Sept. 8, from 4-5 p.m. Register at queensu.ca.

Nerve with Eva Holland—Join the Ottawa International Writers’ Festival for a conver-sation about facing and conquering fears, hosted by CBC’s Lucy van Oldenbarneveld. In 2015, Eva Holland was forced to confront her greatest fear when her mother had a stroke and suddenly passed away. After the shock and grief subsided, Holland began to examine the extent to which her many fears had limited her, and wondered whether or not it was possible to move past them. The live, online event is Tuesday, Sept. 8, from 7:30-8:30 p.m. RSVP at writersfestival.org.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9The Politics of a Pandemic: What To Ex-

pect From Ottawa This Fall—Parliament Hill has been far from quiet this summer. From the WE Charity scandal, to Bill Morneau’s resignation and the proroguing of Parlia-ment, there is a lot to unpack. With so many recent changes at the federal level, organizations are left with many unan-swered questions when it comes to budget consultations, the government’s long-term pandemic response and the potential of a fall election. Join Santis Health’s political and health policy experts on Wednesday, Sept. 9, from 10-11 a.m. as we dive into those questions and more. Register online at santishealth.ca.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 10China and The World: The Road Ahead—

The Balsillie School of International Affairs hosts a webinar on “China and The World: The Road Ahead,” part of its Global Insights series. A yet-to-be-announced panel of experts will discuss the significant implications and possibilities of China’s relationship with the world and suggests possible scenarios ahead. Thursday, Sept. 10, from 11 a.m. to noon. Register at balsillieschool.ca.

Canada-China Friendship Society Webi-nar—Peiwu Cong, China’s Ambassador to

Canada, will deliver remarks on China-Can-ada Relations in a webinar hosted by the Canada-China Friendship Society. A ques-tion-and-answer session will follow. Thurs-day, Sept. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Registration is required for this Zoom webinar event at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6OTX5BQfT6iqyt73CPkyJQ. Please register early to avoid disappoint-ment, as there is a limited number of spaces for this event.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 15International Day of Democracy—Accord-

ing to the United Nations, the International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy around the world.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 17Racism, Anti-oppression, and Internation-

al Affairs—The Balsillie School of Interna-tional Affairs hosts a webinar on “Racism, Anti-oppression, and International Affairs,” part of its Global Insights series. A yet-to-be-announced panel of experts will discuss how the study of politics and international affairs have come under scrutiny for their racialized assumptions and biases, and the new opportunities arising for self-exami-nation, structural reform, reconciliation, alliance, and justice. Thursday, Sept. 17, from 11 a.m. to noon. Register at balsil-lieschool.ca.

A National Project: Syrian Refugee Resettlement in Canada—The Balsillie School of International Affairs hosts the launch of a new book, A National Project: Syrian Refugee Resettlement in Canada. The book’s editors and immigration experts will discuss the experiences of refugees and receiving communities during Canada’s Operation Syrian Refugee from 2015-2016. They also offer key lessons to be learned from Canada’s program. Speakers include Leah Hamilton, associate professor, Bissett School of Business, Mount Royal University; Luisa Veronis, associate profes-sor and research chair in immigration and Franco-Ontarian communities, University of Ottawa; and Margaret Walton-Roberts,

professor of geography and environmental studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Thursday, Sept. 17, from 5:30-7 p.m. Register via Eventbrite.

The Future Of Canada-U.S. Trade—The Canadian International Council’s Edmonton chapter hosts a webinar on “The Future Of Canada-U.S. Trade,” featuring Dr. Greg An-derson, professor in political science at the University of Alberta; Carlo Dade, director of the Trade and Investment Centre at the Canada West Foundation; and Dr. Meredith Lilly, associate professor at Carleton Uni-versity. Thursday, Sept. 17, from 6-7 p.m. MDT. Members can register for the free event online.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 18National Forum on Canada-China Eco-

nomic Policy—The University of Alberta’s China Institute hosts its 10th National Forum on Canada-China Economic Policy on the theme “50 Years of Evolving Eco-nomic Relations.” Speakers include (among others) Peiwu Cong, China’s Ambassador to Canada; Dominic Barton, Canada’s Ambassador to China; Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian foreign affairs minister and current chair of CUSO International; and Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China. Friday, Sept. 18, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT. Register via Eventbrite.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 20Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies

with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson—Ac-claimed Algonquin Anishinaabe novel-ist Karen McBride talks with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, the award-winning Nishnaabeg storyteller and writer. Her lat-est book, Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies, is a bold reimagination of the novel, one that combines narrative and poetic fragments through a careful and fierce reclamation of Anishinaabe aesthetics. The free, pre-recorded event is Sunday, Sept. 20, at 2 p.m. RSVP at writersfestival.org.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23

Return of Parliament and Speech from the Throne—The House of Commons will return from the first mid-mandate prorogation called by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Aug. 18. The government will lay out its priorities in a throne speech.

Politics and the Pen 2020: Digital Edition—Politics and the Pen will hold a virtual event on Wednesday, Sept. 23. Poli-tics and the Pen is a highlight of political Ottawa’s social calendar and an important annual fundraising event benefiting the Writers’ Trust. The in-person event regularly attracts 500 guests from Canada’s political and literary circles. The 2020 digital event will feature a special presentation of the 20th Shaughnessy Cohen Prize as well as memorable moments from past galas. To date, Politics and the Pen has raised more than $4.5-million to support the programs of the Writers’ Trust. This year’s finalists are: Canada on the United Nations Security Council: A Small Power on a Large Scale, by Adam Chapnick; Peace and Good Order: The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada, by Harold R. Johnson; Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimi-dation in Canada, by Jonathan Manthorpe; Truth Be Told: My Journey Through Life and the Law, by Beverley McLachlin; and Cana-dian Justice, Indigenous Injustice, by Kent Roach. For information and sponsorship, contact Julia Yu, events manager, at jyu@writerstrust.com

FRIDAY, SEPT. 25Examining the Options—ISG Senator

Diane Bellemare will take part in a panel discussion on “Examining the Options,” part of a four-day online conference on “Choosing the Right Target: Real Options for the Bank of Canada’s Mandate Renew-al,” hosted by McGill University. She will be joined by former Bank of Canada gover-nor David Dodge; Evan Siddall, CEO at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; David Andolfatto, professor of Economics at Simon Fraser University; Kevin Carmi-chael, journalist at the Financial Post; and Angela Redish, professor at the Vancouver School of Economics, University of British

Columbia. Friday, Sept. 25, at 3 p.m. Conference registration available at mcgill.ca/maxbellschool.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 26Green Party Leadership Online Voting

Begins—Online voting to choose the next leader of the federal Green Party begins today and will continue until Oct. 3.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 27Commanding Hope with Thomas Homer-

Dixon—Calling on history, cutting-edge research, complexity science, and even Lord of the Rings, Thomas Homer-Dixon lays out the tools we can command to rescue a world on the brink. Journalist John Geddes sits down with the bestsell-ing author and thinker to discuss his latest book, Commanding Hope: The Power We Have to Renew a World in Peril. The free, pre-recorded event is Sunday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m. RSVP at writersfestival.org.

SATURDAY, OCT. 3Green Party Leader Announcement—The

Green Party of Canada is set to announce its new leader in a virtual event at 8 p.m. EST.

THURSDAY, OCT. 15PPF Testimonial Dinner and Awards—Join

the Public Policy Forum at the 33rd annual event to network and celebrate as the Public Policy Forum honours Canadians who have made their mark on policy and leadership. Anne McLellan and Senator Peter Harder will take their place among a cohort of other stellar Canadians who we’ve honoured over the last 33 years, people who have dedicated themselves to mak-ing Canada a better place through policy leadership and public service. The gala event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W., Toronto.

SUNDAY, OCT. 18War: How Conflict Shaped Us with

Margaret MacMillan—Margaret Macmillan shares her insights into the very nature of war—from the ancient Greeks to modern times—with CBC’s Adrian Harewood. In her sweeping new book, international bestselling author and historian MacMillan analyzes the tangled history of war and so-ciety and our complicated feelings towards it and towards those who fight. It explores the ways in which changes in society have affected the nature of war and how in turn wars have changed the societies that fight them, including the ways in which women have been both participants in and the objects of war. The free, pre-recorded event is Sunday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m. RSVP at writersfestival.org.

SATURDAY, OCT. 24Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner—The

Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner happens on Saturday, Oct. 24, in the Sir John A. Macdonald Building on Wellington Street in Ottawa.

FRIDAY, OCT. 30CJF Awards Celebrating 30 Years of

Excellence in Journalism—The Canadian Journalism Foundation Awards will be held on Oct. 30, 2020, at the Ritz-Carlton, Toronto, hosted by Rick Mercer, former host of The Rick Mercer Report. The CBC’s Anna Maria Tremonti will be honoured. Tables are $7,500 and tickets are $750. For more information on tables and sponsorship opportunities, contact Josh Gurfinkel at jgurfinkel@cjf-fjc.ca or 416-955-0394.

Anne Applebaum dives into democracy with Paul Wells in

Writers’ Festival chat on Sept. 6

More at hilltimes.com/calendar

Parliamentary Calendar

The Parliamentary Calendar is a free events listing. Send in your political, cultural, diplomatic, or governmental event in a paragraph with all the relevant details under the subject line ‘Parliamentary Cal-endar’ to news@hilltimes.com by Wednes-day at noon before the Monday paper or by Friday at noon for the Wednesday paper. We can’t guarantee inclusion of every event, but we will definitely do our best. Events can be updated daily online, too.

The Hill Times

Historian Anne Applebaum sits down with Paul Wells on Sept. 6 to discuss her new book, Twilight of Democracy, as part of the Ottawa International Writers' Festival. Photograph courtesy of Anne Applebaum