She's upset because francophone civil servants are - mon dieu! - choosing to speak to each other in English.
I'm not against official bilingualism. I am against some micro-managing linguo-fascist constantly peering over our shoulders to make sure the correct language is being used in private conversation.
(As Don Martin notes, the sponsorship scandal concerns about $100 million in taxpayers' money. The language commissioner's "five-year action plan to make Canada more bilingual" is costing over three-quarters of a billion dollars.)
The Prime Minister says he is fighting corruption, but he is merely keeping the lid on scandals. The Acres bribery case is one that could blow up.
[. . . . ] The Liberal government's underlying tolerance of sleaze shows in the ongoing case of Acres International, a Canadian engineering multinational whose bribery conviction in a $12-billion water megaproject in the African country of Lesotho was recently upheld on appeal. The federal government neither deplored Acres' behaviour nor cut it off from the public trough. Instead, it rallied to Acres' defence. Federal officials denigrated the Lesotho court decision that castigated Acres' "premeditated and carefully planned criminal act," and our federal government's man at the World Bank in Washington argued against debarring Acres, despite the bank's policy of debarring companies that engage "in corrupt or fraudulent practices." Debarring would disqualify Acres from participating in World Bank contracts.
As far as the federal government is concerned, Acres is a company in good standing. Export Development Canada, a federal Crown corporation that subsidizes exports, refuses to debar Acres, and the Canadian International Development Agency, a federal aid agency that on its own has provided Acres and its affiliates with more than $100-million over the years, only last month affirmed that no penalties were called for: "We will continue to fulfil existing contractual agreements with Acres and will consider new proposals when submitted."
The federal government's refusal to treat corruption, wherever it may find it, as a serious offence betrays a culture of corruption. In the Acres case, the very person who deposited Acres' bribes into the Swiss bank account of a corrupt foreign official, and who enriched himself in the process, was himself a Canadian federal official, appointed by the federal Cabinet and abusing his official capacity as Canada's honorary consul to Lesotho. The government's evident reaction: "So what?"
[. . . . ] A World Bank decision to debar Acres could come down during the coming federal election campaign.
*** In addition to identifying individuals [4,500 estimated as extrapolated from the sample] with criminal associations, the RCMP identified 16 businesses operating at airports that were linked to criminal activity such as providing travel arrangements for organized crime, facilitating identity fraud, and selling stolen passes. The firms were associated with biker gangs, organized crime, and drug trafficking. ***
Canada has porous borders, porous ports, and porous airports. How many have security officers have been hired with the $7.7 billion? Is it possible that the money was used basically to bring up to standard the deteriorations and deficiencies that have crippled the security system for 10 years? Just look at some of what is excerpted below from the report.
[. . . . We] found that the government did not have a management framework that would guide investment, management, and development decisions and allow it to direct complementary actions in separate agencies or to make choices between conflicting priorities.
3.4 The government as a whole failed to achieve improvements in the ability of security information systems to communicate with each other. Consequently, needed improvements will be delayed by several years. Moreover, even as the government was launching programs that would create new needs for fingerprint identification, projects that would have helped it to deal with the increased demand were not included in the initiative.
That obviously would require more personnel and more funding.
3.5 We also found deficiencies in the way intelligence is managed across the government. A lack of co-ordination has led to gaps in intelligence coverage as well as duplication. The government as a whole did not adequately assess intelligence lessons learned from critical incidents such as September 11 or develop and follow up on improvement programs. Individual agencies have created new co-ordinating mechanisms, but some departments are still not participating in them.
[. . . . ] Lost and stolen Canadian passports not on border control watch lists
3.124 On average, more than 25,000 Canadian passports are reported lost or stolen each year. The RCMP believes that lost and stolen passports are a concern for our national security because of their potential use by terrorists or other criminals.
3.125 Border watch lists do not contain the list of lost and stolen Canadian passports. In April 2003, the Passport Office instituted a policy that once a passport is reported lost or stolen, it is permanently deactivated. However, the information system used on the primary inspection line cannot distinguish between active and deactivated passports.
3.126 Discussion of this issue among the Passport Office, Customs, and Immigration began in January 2003 and was ongoing at the time of this audit but had generated no solution or corrective action. We were told that privacy concerns had to be overcome before the Passport Office could share the list of lost and stolen passports with Citizenship and Immigration; then the list in the Customs primary inspection line system would be updated.
[. . . . ] 3.78 Problems in this area contribute to other deficiencies noted. Elsewhere in this chapter we discuss problems that could be defined as a lack of interoperability or of information sharing:
[. . . . ] 3.138 Over 110,000 workers in Canada's airports have access to the "air side." Transport Canada screens each worker to eliminate persons who are known or suspected to be involved in threats of violence against persons or property, who are known or suspected to be members of an organization involved in violence or "closely associated" with such a person, or who the Minister of Transport reasonably believes might be prone to interfering with civil aviation.
[. . . . ] 3.144 We examined persons holding clearances at five Canadian Airports -- Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, and Winnipeg -- and found that about 3.5 percent have criminal records. In the general population, 9 percent of Canadians have criminal records. However, based on our analysis about 5.5 percent of clearance holders hired between January 2001 and May 2003 had criminal records. While this is still lower than the Canadian average, the upward trend over the last two years is of concern.
[. . . . ] 3.149 Based on the results of the RCMP's database search on the 405 persons in our sample (generalized to the total number of people holding clearances to restricted areas at the five airports), we estimate that about 4,500 persons or 5.5 percent have possible criminal associations that warrant further investigation and possibly withdrawal of some security clearances. This represents a serious threat to security at airports.
3.150 In addition to identifying individuals with criminal associations, the RCMP identified 16 businesses operating at airports that were linked to criminal activity such as providing travel arrangements for organized crime, facilitating identity fraud, and selling stolen passes. The firms were associated with biker gangs, organized crime, and drug trafficking. No firms with terrorist associations were discovered. At the two airports where Customs and the RCMP had no active criminal conspiracy investigations, nine companies with criminal links were operating.
3.151 Recommendation. Where there is sufficient evidence, the Canada Border Services Agency should support the RCMP in conducting criminal conspiracy investigations at the two airports that had no active cases at the time of our audit. [. . . . ]
There is much more to read. It is almost as though those who are charged with provision for Canadians' security did NOT want Canada to be secure. NJC
Licia Corbella on Harper: Not Motivated by Money -- "a man of integrity and ideas" -- Bright, serious -- and funny -- Harper possesses essential qualities needed to make a great prime minister. -- Included is a comment concerning Harper and Quebec--in fact, all provinces--from Francois via Jack's Newswatch. (no longer available) You may request that this news compilation be mailed to you every day by sending a request to: jacksnewswatch@hotmail.com
Lysiane Gagnon: Liberal Troubles in Quebec -- Where was the emergency?
Married to the jihad: the lonely world of al-Qa'ida's wives
Malthus and Radical Islam -- The Moor's Last Laugh -- Radical Islam finds a haven in Europe.
Global Terrorism Information and Sponsorship Scandal Timeline
Jail Time? Don't Hold Your Breath in Anticipation -- Sponsorship abuses warrant jail time, says MP Williams
Panetta: PM knew all along about unity fund
Secret Slush Fund -- the No Name Fund
Election could trigger attack, PM told -- Ex-CIA chief says Madrid bombings rewarded terrorists
RCMP: External Review Case Summary -- ex RCMP Cpl. Robert Read
1. Terror dollars? -- Fed agency uncovers $35M in dirty cash
2. Cash transfers to terrorists
Richard a Gutsy Witness: "If you talk too much, you will die"
1. Threatened Groupaction exec to tell all -- Former VP says he saw too much. Death threats and attempt to discredit him just prove he knows the truth, he says
2. Former Groupaction VP says he was threatened
Career Thug Highlights Need for Stiffer Sentences, Funding for Security Services
Another Public Relations Announcement: What Resources Have Been Allocated? OSC says enforcement a priority -- Watchdog's answer to Sarbanes-Oxley takes effect today
Liberals brace for another report from auditor who exposed sponsorship scam
Fraser to strike again -- Auditor General's impending report on terror spending
Stephen is not motivated by money. He is motivated by ideas and improving a country he loves. Paul Martin, even with his eye on the prize of the prime ministership for the past decade, is motivated by money.
How else to explain why he would avoid paying Canadian taxes on 18 of his Canada Steamship Line ships and paying his foreign crews $2.20 an hour?
How many more million of dollars does Martin need?
Stephen won't likely kiss any babies, except his own, but he will, if given a chance, ensure that those babies won't be saddled with a legacy of crippling debt, inaccessible universities and lost opportunities.
We've had 11 years of a charismatic, self-interested liar running this country.
Frankly, it might be refreshing to have a somewhat aloof, somewhat stiff man of integrity and ideas as our PM for a change.
Francois and Jack:
There were comments about Harper's vision for Quebec--indeed, for all provinces--from a Quebecker, Francois, yesterday in Mar. 29, 04 Jack's Newswatch.
But Harper's anti-centralist propositions will be very appealing to Quebecois (and to many in all provinces). What one must understand is that many of the supporters of separatist parties (Bloc and PQ) aren't so much anti-Canada as they are anti-Ottawa. They aren't so much anti-Canada as they are anti-the way confederation has worked out for the provinces over the last 30 years. Sounds like the opinion of conservatives all around the country. Harper can be spun as anti-Quebec because he doesn't believe in special deals for Quebec. That is certainly how the Libs are gonna spin it. But in reality Harper believes in, what we might now call special deals, for every province. More autonomy for all provinces, not just Quebec. He's not trying to hold Quebec down, he's trying to raise all of the provinces, including Quebec, to a higher level of self-determination.
When Paul Martin was waging his bloodless coup against Jean Chretien, some were wondering why, exactly, Mr. Martin was so eager to become prime minister. Apart from raw ambition, was there a reason he felt he had to dislodge his boss two years before the end of the government's mandate? Where was the emergency? Were there fundamental political differences between the two men? Did Mr. Martin have a unique vision that had to be implemented immediately?
There are still no answers to those questions; last week's budget certainly didn't provide any. It didn't present a new road map for the future, and the vague projects previously touted by Mr. Martin are almost totally absent from the budget: There is no new deal with the municipalities, nor with the First Nations; no innovative plan for health care; no sign that federal-provincial relations will be different; not even fresh cash for the Canadian Forces that Mr. Martin wanted to shore up.
[. . . . The] Liberals are in trouble, and nowhere more so than in Quebec, the province on which they counted to make up for anticipated losses in Ontario. Support for the Liberals is down to 30 per cent while the Bloc Quebecois has soared to 50 per cent. And the polls don't say everything.
[. . . .] Many old-time Liberals are also furious at the way the Martinites are distancing themselves from the Chretien government. Jean Lapierre, Mr. Martin's handpicked recruit in Quebec, called for a rebranding of the party -- now it's the Martin team, a group with no supposed link to the old Liberal Party. It follows that the Martin party, unable or unwilling to capitalize on the achievements of the previous government, will campaign in a kind of vacuum, as if it were a mere opposition party. This is going to be a strange campaign, indeed.
They may be rich, cultivated and beautiful; but when the West steps up its 'war on terror', their husbands and sons are in the firing line.
Among them are Maha Khadr and her daughter Zaynab in Pakistan -- or is that area called Waziristan?
[. . . . ] The life of an al-Qa'ida wife is doubly lonely. She must live segregated from her menfolk, in line with the Bin Laden version of Islam; and she must live in hiding from the rest of the world, because of her husband's terrorist activities. Yet there is a certain community to be found among the spouses, who are united by their view that Bin Laden, or "Emir", as they call him, is the ultimate commander of his Islamic legions.
[. . . . ] Today, Maha says, [one of Bin Ladin's wives] hankers after her palatial lifestyle, and resents her exiled existence in cramped quarters with no servants, no ice-cubes, and no way out. "She was bitter about Osama having all these other wives," recalls Maha.
While Bin Laden travelled and plotted in perpetual hiding, his veiled wives were left to enforce his strict rules on his family. Their children were forbidden such symbols of decadence as chilled water, computer games and American soft drinks. They weren't even allowed electricity. The boys were, however, allowed to play volleyball with their father at weekends, and to go hunting. And a child who memorised the Koran could expect to be rewarded with a pony.
There is more -- the kind of thing that hardens my heart against these traitors to everything of the West.
In the legend of Moorish Spain, the last Muslim king of Granada, Boabdil, surrendered the keys to his city on Jan. 2, 1492, and on one of its hills, paused for a final glance at his lost dominion. The place would henceforth be known as El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro--"the Moor's Last Sigh." Boabdil's mother is said to have taunted him, and to have told him to "weep like a woman for the land he could not defend as a man." [. . . .] Al Andalus--Andalusia--would become a deep wound, a reminder of dominions gained by Islam and then squandered. [. . . .]
The Balkans aside, modern Islam would develop as a religion of Afro-Asia. True, the Ottomans would contest the Eastern Mediterranean. But their challenge was turned back. Turkey succumbed to a European pretension but would never be European. Europe's victory over Islam appeared definitive. [. . . .]
Yet Boabdil's revenge came. It stole upon Europe. Demography--the aging of Europe on the one hand and, on the other, a vast bloat of people in the Middle East and North Africa--did Boabdil's job for him. Spurred by economic growth in the '60s, which created the need for foreign laborers, a Muslim migration to Europe began. Today, 15 million Muslims make their home in the European Union.
The earliest migrants were eager to hunker down in this new and (at first) alien world. They took Europe on its own terms, and lived with the initial myth of migration that their sojourn would be temporary. [. . . .] Migration became the only safety valve.
In the 1980s, terrible civil wars were fought in Arab and Islamic countries--with privilege on one side, militant wrath on the other.
[. . . .] If accounts were to be settled with rulers back home, the work of subversion would be done from Europe. Muslim Brotherhoods sprouted all over the Continent. There were welfare subsidies in the new surroundings, money, constitutional protections and rules of asylum to fight the old struggle.
[. . . .] The faith has become portable. Muslims who fled their countries brought Islam with them. Men came into bilad al kufr (the lands of unbelief), but a new breed of Islamists radicalized the faith there, in the midst of the kafir (unbeliever).
[. . . .] You can't agitate against Mubarak in Cairo, but you can do it from the safety of Finsbury Park in London. The ferocity of the debate in the Arab world about France's decision to limit Islamic headgear in public schools is a measure of this displaced rage. Spain may attribute the cruelty visited on it to its association with America's expedition into Iraq. But the truth is darker. Jacques Chirac may believe that he has spared France Spain's terror by sitting out the Iraq war. But he is deluded. The Islamists do not make fine distinctions in the bilad al kufr.
Europe is host to a war between order and its enemies, fuelled by demography: 40% of the Arab world is under 14. Demographers tell us that the fertility replacement rate is 2.1 children per woman. Europe is frightfully below this level; in Germany it is 1.3, Italy 1.2, Spain 1.1, France 1.7 (this higher rate is a factor of its Muslim population). Fertility rates in the Islamic world are altogether different: they are 3.2 in Algeria, 3.4 in Egypt and Morocco, 5.2 in Iraq and 6.1 in Saudi Arabia. This is Europe's neighborhood, and its contemporary fate. You can tell the neighbors across the Straits, (and within the gates of Europe) that you share their dread of Pax Americana. But nemesis is near.
[. . . .] Today there is great turmoil in Islamic lands, and a Malthusian crisis. Were it only true that those in harm's way in Europe are solely the friends of the Americans.
If nobody spends time in jail as a result of the abuses linked to the Liberal government's $250-million ads and sponsorship program, the multi-pronged process launched to get to the bottom of the scandal will have failed, says the chair of the House Public Accounts Committee probing ministerial accountability.
"If nobody goes to jail over this issue, then I feel that the process has failed. And therefore this is a very serious issue. I compare it to Watergate in the United States," said Mr. Williams (St. Albert, Alta.).
In addition to Mr. Williams' Parliamentary inquiry, a parallel judicial inquiry led by Quebec Superior Court Judge John Gomery is also investigating the scandal.
The federal government has also launched two other major probes, one led by special counsel André Gauthier to pursue all possible avenues including civil litigation to recover lost funds, and another to determine how Crown corporations became involved in the scandal.
[. . . .] Last week, the House Public Accounts Committee heard compelling testimony that confirmed many of the problems happened under the watch of two men long-suspected of being at the heart of the scandal. Huguette Tremblay, the office manager of the now defunct sponsorship program, testified that former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano was in almost weekly contact with the senior bureaucrat in charge of the program from 1997 to 1999, Charles "Chuck" Guité.
This came after Mr. Gagliano told the committee two weeks ago that he had contact with Mr. Guité only three of four times a year.
[. . . .] Both Mr. Guité and Mr. Tremblay have been invited to testify, but while Mr. Tremblay is on leave from his job and reportedly too sick to appear before the committee, Mr. Guité is out of the country in Arizona and can't be forced to appear.
[. . . .] The committee is aiming to produce an interim report by the end of April, though it is expected to focus more on how the program went awry then on who is responsible for the wrongdoing.
If anybody does end up in jail, it will be as a result of an RCMP investigation and evidence presented in the courts.
The committee is focused on the question of "ministerial competence." It is supposed to investigate the actions of ministers, both former and current, and hear from the public servants about their actions. The committee could then be in a position to figure out if ministerial interference with the public service took place.
Watch question period in the House of Commons to see Liberals frustrating efforts to obtain information. It appeared to me that Paul Martin and a few others were stonewalling, using circular reasoning, or presenting responses to a question not asked -- obfuscating. Of course, that is just one individual's opinion. NJC
The RCMP is reportedly expected to charge a handful of people connected to the scandal this week, according to a report by the Globe and Mail. The RCMP has completed a two-year investigation into contracts awarded by Public Works triggered by the Auditor General's first report in 2002.
This will be the second round of charges made by the RCMP. Last September, it charged Paul Coffin, president of Montreal-based Communications Coffin, with 18 counts of fraud against the federal government over $2-million in allegedly fake invoices submitted to Public Works.
OTTAWA (CP) - Paul Martin said there was widespread knowledge in the Liberal government of the murky national-unity fund that pumped at least $35.8 million in initial funding to start up the sponsorship program.
The prime minister's statement flew in the face of claims from some of his own officials earlier this week, and of opposition members who spent years struggling to learn whether a unity fund even existed.
The National Unity Reserve was cancelled in last week's budget - which was the first time a federal budget ever contained a reference to the save-Canada fund estimated to have spent $500 million over the last decade.
"Everyone was aware of its existence but as far as I'm concerned, obviously we were looking for places to cut," Martin told a Winnipeg news conference.
[. . . .] The cancellation of the reserve has prompted widespread confusion with government officials unable to offer some of its basic details and still struggling to compile a list of inititatives it funded.
[. . . .] Friday's statement from the prime minister came one day after Eddie Goldenberg, a top aide to predecessor Jean Chretien, said Martin as finance minister was kept aware every single year that the fund existed.
It was that reserve that provided seed money for the infamous sponsorship program - $17 million in 1996 and $18.8 million the following year.
That government authorized, among other things, five different advertising agencies to develop logos for the federal government at a cost of about $500,000.
At least another $100,000 went to "focus-group testing of logos."
[. . . .] "(Martin is) lying. It's simple. He's lying," said Bloc Quebecois MP Michel Gauthier.
"Nobody knew this existed. Maybe the government did, but not anyone else. It didn't appear in the public accounts, we were absolutely not informed so it's false to say what he's saying.
[. . . .] First, taxpayers are robbed blind for $100 million in the Adscam sponsorship fiasco.
Now we discover that for at least eight years, Jean Chretien personally controlled a secret slush fund from which he doled out about $500 million (that is not a misprint) of taxpayers' money for all manner of dubious endeavours.
Exactly what happened to all that loot, a senior government official says, is currently the subject of a giant scavenger hunt through Chretien's old files.
The Commons public accounts committee is hot after the list of lucky recipients, and sources tell us it is a "huge file" involving hundreds of expensive transactions.
What we do know for certain is that Chretien signed off on throwing at least $18.8 million from this little kitty into the sponsorship black hole in 1997 alone.
A government spokesman says the fund had an annual budget of around $50 million, "so we can assume the total over the eight years was between $400 million and $500 million."
Let's be absolutely clear: This massive slush fund, known inside the Chretien government as "the National Unity Reserve," was not controlled by federal bureaucrats, nor even by the former PM's staff.
A senior government official told me yesterday: "The only extraordinary aspect of the unity fund was that projects or initiatives had to get the direct approval of the prime minister (Chretien) ... they had to be signed off by the PM personally."
[. . . .] Regardless of how Martin may feel about this massive slush fund in retrospect, there isn't much doubt he knew about it during his years as finance minister.
"I think all ministers knew," says one senior source close to Martin. "I'd be surprised if all ministers weren't aware of it."
[. . . .] We have obtained the previously confidential cabinet document that formally approved the $18.8 million Chretien donated from his office sock to what we now know as the Adscam fiasco.
"Subject: Request to include an item in the 1997 supplementary estimates.
"Proposal: That Treasury Board approve inclusion of an item ... for funding to support the communications priorities of the government of Canada.
"Cost: Will amount to $18,800,000 and will be chargeable to Public Works. Approved."
The document is signed by Alfonso Gagliano and Jean Chretien.
[. . . .] In this case, the public accounts couldn't have been more clear in describing Chretien's $18.8-million contribution to his Liberal pals in the Quebec ad biz who ran the sponsorship program.
The money was included in a $27 million one-line item which read as follows: "Authority to spend revenue received during the fiscal year."
CALGARY - The threat of a major terrorist attack on Canadian soil could increase dramatically when Prime Minister Paul Martin calls a federal election, a former CIA director warned yesterday.
An election call could come as early as next month.
James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, said yesterday the March 11 Madrid bombings may have sent a message that makes an election campaign a dangerous season.
"The severity of the threat of a major terrorist attack in Canada may depend on how close you are to an election," Mr. Woolsey said in Calgary, following the taping of a panel discussion on the topic for Global Sunday, a national current affairs program.
"What al-Qaeda learned from Spain is that an election is a good time to blow people up."
[. . . .] "Democracies get to choose their leaders, and the Spanish people chose theirs," Mr. Woolsey said. "But if terrorists get the idea that all they have to do is kill a number of people just before an election and then the democracy will back off from prosecuting the war on terrorism, then I think that the new Spanish government may be making it a lot more likely that they do."
Even a country such as France, which Mr. Woolsey described as being "very accommodating to Iraq," could be at increased risk of attacks now that it has moved to prevent Muslim children from wearing headscarves to school.
"What the terrorists want is complete appeasement," Mr. Woolsey said. "I'm pleased to say that Canada has not been very accommodating to the terrorists, which puts it at risk for a major attack."
Mr. Woolsey was joined on the panel by Dale Watson, former counter-terrorism chief for the FBI, and National Post reporter Stewart Bell, author of Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the World.
According to Mr. Bell's research, more than 50 terrorist organizations already have a presence in Canada. "We're talking all of the nastiest groups in the world, from al-Qaeda to Hezbollah to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad," Mr. Bell said in the televised discussion.
This is another link to information available on Cpl. Read's case. It mentions Immigration Control Officer, Brian McAdam; a security analyst from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), David Balser; "Member of Parliament, David Kilgour, who wrote to the Prime Minister to request a public inquiry into the matter", (ex-PM Chretien did not answer, apparently.); the officer in charge of the RCMP?s Immigration and Passport Section at the time, Supt. Jean Dub?; and CBC's Fifth Estate. Apparently, there will be a decision from the Commissioner on the case shortly.
OTTAWA -- Canada's anti-money laundering centre uncovered $35 million in suspected terrorist financing in the first nine months of the fiscal year, outstripping the tally for the entire previous year. The amount reflects the total detected by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre from April through December 2003, forming the basis of 29 case files passed to police or intelligence officials for further investigation.
The figures obtained by The Canadian Press are the latest indication that dangerous organizations continue to try to use Canada's financial institutions as conduits for bankrolling terrorist acts.
Fintrac, as the federal centre is known, identified 25 cases of suspected terrorist financing involving $22 million in all of fiscal 2002-03.
[. . . .] Fintrac collects and analyzes a steady stream of reports from banks, trust companies, insurance firms, accountants, casinos, lawyers and money service businesses as part of Canada's efforts to crack down on criminal efforts to hide dirty cash.
[. . . .] In June 2002, the Ottawa-based Fintrac's role was expanded to include detection of funds that might be used to finance bombings, assassinations and other acts of politically motivated violence.
[. . . .] Should Fintrac have reasonable grounds to suspect financial transactions are linked to terrorism, the agency discloses the case information to the RCMP and, if there is a threat to national security, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's anti-money laundering centre uncovered $35 million in suspected terrorist financing in the first nine months of the fiscal year, outstripping the tally for the entire previous year. The amount reflects the total detected by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre from April through December 2003, forming the basis of 29 case files passed to police or intelligence officials for further investigation.
The figures obtained by The Canadian Press are the latest indication that dangerous organizations continue to try to use Canada's financial institutions as conduits for bankrolling terrorist acts.
Fintrac, as the federal centre is known, identified 25 cases of suspected terrorist financing involving $22 million in all of fiscal 2002-03.
[. . . .] Should Fintrac have reasonable grounds to suspect financial transactions are linked to terrorism, the agency discloses the case information to the RCMP and, if there is a threat to national security, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
"In many instances it would go to both to RCMP and to CSIS," Lamey said.
[. . . .] However, Fintrac has previously noted that funds with likely connections to terrorism are moved out of Canada through traditional banking centres to countries with major financial hubs - likely in an effort to conceal the money's final destination.
Richard, 38, said receiving the written warning - "If you talk too much, you will die" - at his St. Lazare home just before dawn Thursday is only pushing him harder to denounce wrongdoing before the Commons public-accounts committee next month in Ottawa. He reported the threat to provincial police.
As a high-ranking official with Groupaction, one of the advertising companies at the centre of the federal government's sponsorship scandal over alleged misspending of $100 million in public funds, Richard said he witnessed first-hand the "incestuous relationship between politicians and advertisers."
As vice-president (corporate affairs) for Groupaction in 1996 and 1997, Richard said he "saw too much. I know how it works."
[. . . .] Richard is prepared to tell about "everything I saw - the facts."
He said the latest threats, coupled with attempts by civil servants and some of the leaders in Montreal's communications industry to discredit him the past seven years, "just proves that what I have to say is true."
Now president of the small advertising company he founded, rebelles.com, Richard said he wants two things to come out of the sponsorship mess: "to know where my money went and an equal chance to win government contracts."
He estimates having spent as much as $200,000 since 1995 trying to win bids for government ad contacts, without ever getting one.
Canadians applaud you, Mr. Richard. May you be safe.
Alain Richard told CFCF News in Montreal that around 4 a.m. on March 25, he woke up to a ringing doorbell. When he opened the front door, he found a message.
"There was a message on my doorknob, saying if I talk too much, I'm going to die," he said.
Richard worked as a vice-president for Groupaction marketing for two years, and left in 1997. He claims he was fired for raising concerns about questionable government contracts.
His testimony before the Public Accounts Committee is expected to detail how reports were photocopied and time sheets were forged.
Last week the Toronto Star reported that Richard had already told RCMP investigators that Canadian taxpayers were billed $1.5 million for reports worth $50,000 or less.
A man dubbed the Scarborough Bedroom Rapist for a 1999 crime was imprisoned yesterday for the equivalent of six years for a Christmas Day 2002 break-in that was "disturbingly" similar to his previous crime. Justice Nola Garton said it was "apparent" that Eli Nicholas, 25, by breaking into the home only two days after he was released from jail, ignored previous warnings by Justice Peter Jarvis that he faced "increasingly serious penalties" for future crimes. . . .
Nicholas has been behind bars since his arrest. He was given 30 months credit for that time.
The judge noted the "disturbing similarity" to a break-in on Dec. 13, 1999, when Nicholas preyed upon a 75-year-old Scarborough woman while her paralyzed husband lay helplessly beside her.
Does anyone else see a need for tougher sentencing?
Another Public Relations Announcement: What Resources Have Been Allocated?
This is the third PR announcement of intentions to beef up enforcement in the past year with precious few resources provided, is it not? It seems as though there is much talk, no action again. The media go back to sleep once again until the same announcement comes out once more. Who's protecting investors? One only has to look at the track record of tepid penalties issued to realize they are mere slaps on the wrist for major infractions and don't serve as deterrents. Why does it take so long to do the right thing? Check the details in this report.
The Ontario Securities Commission plans to make enforcement a priority this year as part of its continuing efforts to restore confidence among investors, chairman David Brown says.
To that end, new rules requiring the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of publicly traded companies to certify that they stand behind the financial statements come into force today. The rules, part of the OSC's long-awaited response to the United States' tough new anti-corruption law, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, also require widely held companies to have audit committees composed entirely of independent directors.
[. . . . ] In Canada, it is up to the RCMP and other police agencies to tackle market fraud-related offences. Mr. Brown said new white-collar crime units led by the RCMP that have been up and running since January likely will lead to more prosecutions. However, he said he doubts Canadians will see executives of domestic companies being led away in handcuffs on the evening news.
"The damage to the reputation is pretty severe, and Americans seem to be willing to see that civil liberty overridden in favour of the deterrent value. I'm not sure we'd do it in Canada."
[. . . . ] In last week's annual budget, federal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale endorsed a government-appointed committee's recommendation calling for the creation of a national regulator. Among the provinces, Ontario is the strongest proponent. However, many provinces, notably British Columbia and Quebec, are opposed to relinquishing their responsibility for regulating securities markets.
Checkthe new audit rules. Does the first one mentioned below seem adequate? NJC
[. . . . ] Under the rules, companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange will be exempt from the requirement to have audit committees composed of independent directors. They will simply be asked to disclose whether they have an audit committee, who sits on it and whether its members are independent.
The new rules also impose shorter deadlines for publishing financial results. Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange must file their interim financial results within 45 days following the end of a fiscal period and their year-end results within 90 days. Companies listed on the TSX-VEN will have 60 days to file their interim statements and 120 days to file their annual results.
OTTAWA (CP) - The watchdog who blew the door off the federal sponsorship scandal is set to strike again with a report Tuesday that probes anti-terrorism expenditures worth 30 times more than Adscam.
But the latest report by Auditor General Sheila Fraser - on the government's $7.7 billion plan to fight terror after Sept. 11, 2001 - is not expected to match the tone of her recent expose on the $250 million sponsorship scam. The Liberal government is still struggling with the fallout from last month's devastating report but says it has already taken steps to address inefficiencies in the counter-terrorism programs to be examined Tuesday.
[. . . .] McLellan appeared to be doing some early damage control last week by announcing a project to create a government-wide communication system to help federal departments exchange intelligence.
Fraser's report is expected to critique the way federal agencies share terrorist-related intelligence and pass those details on to police.
The chapter assessing the government's post-Sept. 11 plan is just one among seven in the latest auditor's report.
[. . . .] But anti-terrorism measures are expected to receive the lion's share of the attention Tuesday.
The five-year plan has a $7.7 billion budget, money that's being spent largely on intelligence-gathering, national defence and efforts to track money transfers to terrorist groups.
McLellan conceded Monday that pumping funds into the fight against terror won't do the job if government officials aren't co-operating with each other.
[. . . .] "We'll have to wait and see what happens but when you see a cabinet minister running out to give a speech, that's like an arsonist trying to put out a fire."
On Monday, McLellan pointed out other steps the government has taken to improve its counter-terror performance, including the $605 million in new money for security over five years announced in the budget last week.
The latest cash is earmarked for shoring up weaknesses at marine ports, better analysis of potential threats and investments in technology.
The government will also consult Canadians as it drafts a national security policy in the coming months, McLellan promised.
But the government will not have a special election security plan, she said.
I suppose Minister McLellan will have to consult with the "stakeholders" -- and that means you know which groups. The Liberals need those votes to make PM the next PM and to keep our Minister McLellan in office. Is our government absolutely dead at the switch? Can they not see the dangers? NJC
Paul Martin's Liberal government is now scrambling in an attempt to blunt another expected hit by the scourge of Parliament Hill -- Auditor General Sheila Fraser. [. . . .]
And now a new report by Fraser is to be released Tuesday in which she examines the handling of $7.7 billion of government spending on anti-terrorist security measures since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
She's expected to focus her steely gaze on how well that money was spent. And also just how efficient and secure is the co -ordination of intelligence and anti-terrorist operations among government departments, police, etc.
The word is there's been much waste and bungling -- especially in the co-operation among various agencies both inside and outside Canada, inlcluding the United States.
So [Friday], Anne McLellan, Martin's new public safety minister, attempted a pre-emptive strike against the expected criticisms.
She announced a new, secure communications system is being planned so that all federal officials can talk without terrorists or hackers being able to intercept. That could improve now suspect co-operation between agencies.
[. . . .] On Tuesday, the government announced it would spend $605 million more on security. That's not much when you realize it's to be spread over the next five years. Some will go to helping make Canada's vulnerable seaports more secure.
[. . . .] In Canada's case, there's long been criticism of our wide-open immigration and refugee system that has allowed terrorists to enter and remain undetected for years.
[. . . .] Ressam not only ignored a deportation order but was able to secure a Canadian passport.
[. . . . e.g. ] Canada's Khadr family where a father and sons have fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the al-Qaida and Taliban forces.
[. . . .] Yesterday, McLellan claimed Canada is tightening its immigration system.
For those of us who have watched this lax system operate since it was first introduced in 1965, seeing will be believing. After all, that soft, wide-open system was imposed by the Liberals to gain what they called "the immigrant vote" and the Grits have benefitted from it ever since.
[. . . .] Also, the increasing threat of Stephen Harper's new Conservative party winning the next federal election is another spur for Martin. Harper is a much stronger supporter of tougher anti-terrorist policies.
