We live in a world obsessed with terrorism, but Canada doesn’t have a terrorism problem
OTTAWA—It might strike the reader as odd that someone with so much invested in counterterrorism is here making the suggestion that we need to worry less about terrorism. After all, if we stopped spending so much time talking about it, wouldn’t that put me out of a job and undermine my regular column in The Hill […]
‘Some won’t rebuild’: MPs say hundreds of their constituents face hard choices in wake of Ottawa River floods
As many residents in Ottawa-Gatineau region, Quebec, and New Brunswick grapple with the fallout of another year of intense flooding of the Ottawa River last month, MPs say, it’s forced hundreds of their constituents to decide whether to rebuild or relocate. Drastic flooding in those areas has resulted in damages of more than 17,500 homes […]
Gender-based lens helping spy agencies overcome biases, says public safety official
Terrorist groups have been able to exploit preconceived biases towards women, but increasingly, intelligence agencies are becoming more sensitive to these blindspots, says an official from Public Safety Canada during a panel on national security at the Open Government Partnership Summit in Ottawa. “If we look at counterterrorism as an example, our mindset is that […]
All eyes on Red Chamber, as Senators push back on key government bills
A Senate committee tasked with studying the government’s new rules around solitary confinement doesn’t have enough time to properly do its job, says a vocal critic of Bill C-83 in the Upper Chamber. But Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has warned a legislative vacuum will be created if the bill isn’t passed by the time […]
Time is ticking for MPs, Senators to pass human rights bills
There is an enormous amount of consequential human rights legislation approaching the parliamentary finish line. The time to get it across shrinks daily. Only four sitting weeks remain in this session of Parliament for MPs, five for Senators. Rather than return to Parliament in the fall, MPs will be out hustling for votes. That means […]
Goodale: Answering the tough questions on Bill C-83 and reforming our approach to corrections
The Senate’s Social Affairs Committee is nearing the end of its study of Bill C-83, legislation that creates a new way of dealing with inmates who need to be separated from the general prison population for safety reasons. Currently, such inmates are held in administrative segregation, where they are confined to their cells for 22 […]
Why every Canadian should be interested in the Mueller report
What is the Mueller report? It is not the book entitled The final report of the Special Counsel into Donald Trump, Russia, and Collusion published on March 11 and available on Amazon. The Mueller report that Canadians should all read is the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election that […]
Digital Privacy and Security
It’s time to take the annual terrorist threat report out of Public Safety
OTTAWA—If there are any people at Public Safety Canada who do not already dislike me, perhaps intensely, I am confident that this column will quickly lead them to the vast majority who have already PNGed me from the department (full disclosure: I worked in the national security policy office as a seconded employee from CSIS […]
Senators look for tweaks to national security bill
Senators are looking at ways to change the Liberals’ landmark national security reform bill, but it won’t get a particularly rough ride, says the opposition Conservative group. The Senate’s National Security and Defence Committee finally began its study of Bill C-59 on April 10, before the Chamber rose for a two-week Easter break. Committee scrutiny […]
