NEWS IMMIGRATION NEWS ELECTIONS Canada’s diplomatic brass… · 2016. 6. 7. · twenty-seventh...

TWENTY-SEVENTH YEAR, NO. 1346 CANADA’S POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT NEWSPAPER WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2016 $5.00

EXCLUSIVE POLITICAL COVERAGE: NEWS, FEATURES, AND ANALYSIS INSIDE

NEWS IMMIGRATION NEWS ELECTIONS

NEWS OFFICIAL RESIDENCES

NEWS FOREIGN SERVICE

OPINION HILL LIFE & PEOPLE

Canada’s diplomatic brass: too white, too male

NCC, PMO tightlipped about future of 24 Sussex

No tears for Harper as Ottawa marks new era at press gallery dinner

BY MARCO VIGLIOTTI

The federal Conservatives are accusing the government of failing to deploy needed resources to support thousands of Syrian refugees resettling in Canada, citing insuf-fi cient housing options, limited access to crucial language training programs, and processing delays.

“The government needs to focus less on photo-ops and more on providing an actual quality of life for Syrian refugees in Canada,” said Conservative MP Michelle Rempel (Calgary Nose Hill, Alta.), her party’s immigration critic, referring to the highly visible appearances of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Liberal cabinet ministers at airports last year to welcome the refugees.

BY SELINA CHIGNALL

With the committee composition coming together, electoral reform critics are scratching their heads as to how the government’s proposed method of public engagement on the fi le will roll out over the coming months.

It’s been weeks since the government announced the idea of holding town-hall meetings in each of the 338 federal rid-ings, but NDP democratic reform critic Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.) said in an interview that MPs have not been provided with further details on the initiative.

BY MARCO VIGLIOTTI

The future of 24 Sussex remains shrouded in mystery more than six months after Justin Trudeau announced he would not move into the offi cial residence for the prime minister that is desperately in need of repairs.

The iconic residence on the shores of the Ottawa River is widely acknowledged to need extensive renovations after years of deferred maintenance, which fi nally ap-pears impending with Mr. Trudeau (Papine-au, Que.) agreeing not to move in, presum-ably to allow for work to be completed.

A veteran strategist, however, attributes the ongoing delay in announcing plans for repairs to the complexity of renovations at 24 Sussex and the delicate politics of bankrolling work for the private residence of an elected offi cial.

BY CHELSEA NASH

The Prime Minister is a feminist and there is gender parity in cabinet, but Canada’s foreign service still has a long way to go.

Sources say that the foreign service has negative gaps in regards to the number of women it employs, as well as aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities.

According to a public report on em-ployment equity in the government for the 2015-16 year, in the entire department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development, 54.8 per cent of employees were women, 2.4 per cent were aboriginal peoples, 3.3

per cent were persons with disabilities, and 14.4 per cent were visible minorities.

However, according to numbers given to The Hill Times from an “internal workforce analysis for the foreign service group,” Canada’s foreign service is signifi cantly lacking in women.

The department has targets for employ-ment equity, and in terms of women in the foreign service, the foreign service has a negative gap of 166, meaning the depart-ment would need to employ 166 more women in order achieve equity. There is also a negative gap of 18 for aboriginal people, and 16 for people with disabilities.

OTTAWA—The Conservatives have raised the bar in the hypocrisy sweep-

stakes ever since the election with their suggestions that the nastiness of the past decade originated with Stephen Harper and that “Hey, we’re just everyday, nice people.”

Rona Ambrose cranked this newfound sense of decency up to its highest level yet at this year’s press gallery dinner, saying “Stephen Harper loved humanity, it was just people that he couldn’t stand.”

Even at a gala with a strong “roast” tra-dition of off-the-wall jokes, it was a hell of

Continued on page 6

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 4 Continued on page 25 Continued on page 12

Liberals draw fi re over housing and language training for Syrian refugees

‘Running out of time’ to do 338 town halls on electoral reform: Cullen

LES WHITTINGTON

TERRITORIALDEVELOPMENTPOLICY BRIEFING

PP. 15-23

ASSISTEDDYING: MY PARENTS’JOURNEY P. 10

PARTY CENTRALP. 30

A dozen of Canada’s most recently appointed heads of mission, including, from top left corner: Na-thalie Dubé (Morocco), Carol McQueen (Tunisia), Angela Bogdan (Sydney, Australia), Kumar Gupta (Zimbabwe), Marc-André Blanchard (UN in New York), Christopher Gibbins (Chandigarh, India), David MacNaughton (United States), Jordan Reeves (Mumbai, India), Marie-Louise Hannan (ASEAN in Jakarta), Salah Bendaoud (Sudan), Stephen de Boer (Poland), and Susan Harper (Miami, U.S.). Photographs courtesy of the government of Canada

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 20162FEATURE BUZZ

Liberal MP Darren Fisher is crediting the inspiration for his fi rst private

member’s bill to a visit he took to a Halifax recycling plant in 2012.

Then a member of Halifax Re-gional Municipality council, Mr. Fisher (Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, N.S.) saw the boundaries of his riding altered to include the Burnside Industrial Park in the east end community of Dartmouth, prompting him to pay a visit to some of the hundreds of business that call it home.

He soon stumbled upon Dan-x Recy-cling, which repurposes the glass, metal, and phosphor powder in mercury-bearing light bulbs, thus ensuring the toxic mer-cury found in the bulb is diverted from landfi lls, where it could wreak havoc on the environment.

Impressed by their efforts, Mr. Fisher asked the owners what exactly the regu-lations were for mercury-bearing light bulbs, and was stunned to learn that they weren’t any.

“A huge number of the bulbs being spent in Canada are going in the garbage,” he said in an interview with the Hill Times, calling it a “massive problem.”

So, Mr. Fisher, now in Ottawa repre-senting a similar section of the Halifax area, introduced in the House a private member’s bill calling on the federal envi-ronment minister to work with provincial and territorial governments, environmen-tal groups, and industry to develop and implement a national strategy to ensure mercury-containing lamps are safely disposed.

While some provinces have stepped forward with recycling programs for light-bulbs, Mr. Fisher said action is needed on the national level because of the signifi -cant threat posed by mercury pollution, especially to the country’s interconnect-ed waterways.

“Waterways don’t pay attention to provincial boundaries, our waters fl ow through the entire country. Trace sources of mercury can really destroy our water-ways,” he said, urging the “whole country to come forward” to develop a comprehensive strategy.

Mr. Fisher said he hopes and expects the provinces and territories will want to engage with Ottawa on the issue, not-

ing that he plans to reach out to a few provinces this summer to discuss the issue.

His bill, known as the National Strategy for Safe Disposal of Lamps Containing Mercury Act, went through the fi rst hour of second reading on May 30, with the second hour likely to occur sometime in the fall, he said.

The next step would then be to send it to a committee, with the bill currently appearing on its way to pass easily in the House.

The Liberal government, the Conserva-tives, and the NDP have already agreed to support the bill, while Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) signed on as a joint seconder, ac-cording to Fisher.

Former Parliamentarians taps former Grit MP as new executive director

The Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians has appointed a new ex-ecutive director.

Francis LeBlanc, a former Liberal MP who represented a Nova Scotia riding for nearly a decade in the late 1980s and 1990s, formally assumed the position with the group on May 24, CAFP has an-nounced.

The former MP has also served as min-isterial chief of staff and economist in the public service.

In a statement, CAFP praised Mr. LeBlanc for bringing a wealth of mana-gerial experience to the position, as well as a thorough understanding of “Parlia-ment and Parliamentarians,” and a “deep personal commitment” to the group itself and its sister organization, the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians Educational Foundation.

Mr. LeBlanc has been actively involved with both organizations for the past de-cade, serving as president of the educa-tional foundation from 2009 to 2014.

“The focus of Mr. LeBlanc’s position as executive director will be in building the capacity of the Canadian Associa-tion of Former Parliamentarians and its educational foundation to service and engage the membership...in activities that promote democratic development and good governance in Canada and abroad,” said Andy Mitchell, an ex-Liberal MP and president of CAFP.

Mr. Leblanc succeeds Jack Silverstone, who was executive director from Septem-ber 2010 until October 2015.

Liberal MP introduces bill on mercury

recycling, Niki Ashton heads south to campaign

for Bernie Sanders

FEATURE BUZZ

HEARD HILLONTHE

BY MARCO VIGLIOTTI

Turkish Embassy hosts colourful event

Palestine Day a lively aff air

Venezuela welcomes Ricardo Moreno

CORRECTION:

Re: “Privy Council Offi ce’s new delivery unit increases capacity for centralized control: experts,” (The Hill Times, June 6, p. 1). Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley was mis-takenly identifi ed as a Republican. He is in fact a Democrat. The Hill Times apologizes for this error.

Hülya Coskun with one of her paintings at the June 2 exhibition, co-hosted by the Turkish Embassy and Terra Art.

Serbian Ambassador Mihailo Papazoglu, with Lilia Faulkner of Terra Art , the Serbian ambassador’s spouse, Durda Papazoglu, and Turkish fi rst secretary Yusuf Turan Cetiner.

Turkish Ambassador Selçuk Ünal speaks at the art exhibition.

Dancers perform at the Palestine Day celebration hosted by the Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians’ capital region branch on May 30 at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building.

Liberal MP Chandra Arya with Bill Ayyad, the general manger at Park’N Fly Ottawa.

Ottawa city councillor Michael Qaqish with CHIN Radio producer Jerry Absi and Liliane El-Helou, host on CHIN Radio.

Venezuelan Ambassador Wilmer Barrientos and Ecuador’s Ambassador Nicolás Trujillo at a reception during the visit of Venezuela’s director general of the deputy minister’s offi ce for North America, Ricardo Moreno.

Slovenian Ambassador Marjan Cencen shakes hands with Mr. Moreno at the Venezuelan Embassy on May 30.Continued on page 28

The Hill Times photographs by Sam Garcia

When will the Government focus on contraband tobacco?

This package is sold with no regard to tobacco control laws AND robs the

Government of up to $2 billion per year

IF TOBACCO PACKAGING IS THE GOVERNMENT PRIORITYTHIS IS THE PLAIN PACK THAT SHOULD BE ADDRESSED FIRST

**Estimate based on federal and provincial contraband levels estimates and projected tobacco tax revenues in federal and provincial budget documents.

**Estimate based on federal and provincial contraband levels estimates and projected tobacco tax revenues in federal and provincial budget documents.

When will the Federal Government focus on contraband tobacco?

This package is sold with no regard for tobacco control laws AND robs Governments

of up to $2 billion per year.*

IF TOBACCO PACKAGING IS THE GOVERNMENT PRIORITYTHIS IS THE PLAIN PACK THAT SHOULD BE ADDRESSED FIRST

*Estimate based on federal and provincial contraband levels estimates and projected tobacco tax revenues in federal and provincial budget documents.

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 20164NEWS ELECTIONS

“We have to look at some op-tion because we are running out of time,” he said.

The controversy over the elec-toral reform fi le has heated up in the past few weeks with the op-position accusing the Liberals of stacking the deck on the electoral reform committee with their own.

Last week, Grits conceded to an NDP motion to change the party representation on the committee to include all par-ties represented in the House of Commons as voting members—and scrap the Liberals’ majority. Of the 12 committee members, there will now be fi ve Liberals, three Conservatives, two NDP MPs, and one seat each for Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and a member from the Bloc Québécois.

With the committee set to start work within 10 sitting days of the motion that passed on Tuesday, members will have to fi gure out when and how the town-hall meetings will roll out. The House is set to break for the summer June 23, though it could end up sitting later. The motion calls for MPs to fi le reports with their fi ndings from these town-hall

meetings to the committee by Oct. 14. The committee would report back to the House by Dec. 1, with a view of giving Elections Canada enough lead time before the next scheduled election in 2019 to make any changes needed.

“[The October submission deadline] might seem like a long way off, but if you have done this job for a while, you realize put-ting good consultation together with your riding and getting back to the government in time is going to be tricky—particularly for larger ridings who often have four to 12 meetings to satisfy the requirement,” said Mr. Cullen.

Democratic Institutions Min-ister Maryam Monsef (Peterbor-ough-Kawartha, Ont.) told The Hill Times in an email “We will be making available—to community organizations and MPs—tools to help plan town halls in order to facilitate the conversation and reporting.”

While Mr. Cullen had concerns about the logistics of holding the meetings, Conservative demo-cratic institutions critic Scott Reid (Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, Ont.) said he didn’t understand why they are being conducted now and not after a concrete pro-posal from the government has been formalized.

But Mr. Cullen disagreed, say-ing there is no reason why con-sultation couldn’t happen before and after the committee had come up with a policy proposal.

“I don’t think there isn’t

anything suggesting you could go back to people with that. It depends on whether or not you believe Canadians should have input now into the DNA of a sys-tem,” he said.

Mr. Reid said he’s concerned that the feedback would be heavily biased based on those who choose to come out to the meetings.

“You are going to get a non-representative sample. Besides leaving the issues of people with disabilities, or those who live on the other side of the riding who can’t come out, you are going to get a group of people who will be heavily swayed...I can’t imagine what meaningful impact you are going to get back, and I don’t know how this is more inclusive than a referendum.”

The Conservatives have been pushing for a referendum on electoral reform rather than the government’s proposed commit-tee and consultation system.

While Mr. Reid and Mr. Cullen have their concerns about the logistics and outcomes from the town-hall meetings, Parliamen-tary Secretary for Democratic Institutions Mark Holland (Ajax, Ont.) told The Hill Times he’s been hearing positive feedback about the general public’s interest in the electoral reform process.

“I look at the amount of en-ergy and enthusiasm there is on this fi le. The level of interest I’m seeing in my riding and hearing from members of all parties with their constituents wanting to engage.”

While he said he suspects there will be some MPs who won’t participate in the town-hall meetings, he believes most will take part because those who don’t, will have to explain why they decided to opt out.

“This is a very important discus-sion. I think the expectation of constituents in every riding is that they will get to have input. It’s hard to imagine the rationale of why an MP would disregard that,” he said.

Holland said the timelines were also reasonable given that during elections, MPs reach every corner of their riding multiple times through door knocking and calls. They now have several months—not six weeks—to do the same thing.

While Mr. Holland and Mr. Cullen expressed their enthusi-asm for town-hall meetings, Mr. Reid stressed that he didn’t want to “dump on the idea of town halls itself as a way of getting initial feedback,” but he said it doesn’t provide an accurate read of what the general public desires in elec-toral reform.

Ms. Monsef stressed that “In addition to MP reports, individuals and community groups would have the opportunity to make submis-sions directly to the committee.”

Besides the town-hall meet-ings, she added the government would have digital outreach, with more details coming in the fol-lowing weeks.

[email protected] Hill Times

Greg MacEachern, senior vice-president of government relations with Environics Com-munications and a former Liberal staffer, said maintaining the offi cial residences of government offi cials has been “a political hot potato” since the 1980s for the Liberals and Conservatives, who have been both offenders and critics when it comes to spending on these facilities.

But with the need for repairs to 24 Sussex becoming more appar-ent, he said it’s time to be “po-litical grown-ups” and change the conversation on restoring these publicly owned offi cial residences.

“These don’t belong to the oc-cupants or the [governing] political party at the time. They belong to the Canadian people; they are a symbol of our democratic system. It’s where we host other world leaders,” Mr. MacEachern said in an interview, calling for less political infl uence in maintaining the residences.

“Of course you have to keep a close eye on the dollars being spent, but don’t make this a case

of political expedience for some quick cheap shots, or else one day 24 Sussex is just going to slide down the hill into the river.”

Currently, the National Capi-tal Commission, a federal Crown corporation, is responsible for maintaining 24 Sussex, as well as offi cial residences of the Speaker of the House of Commons and the offi cial opposition leader, and Rideau Cottage, where Mr. Trudeau and his family are now living.

When reached by The Hill Times, an NCC spokesperson declined to comment on potential renovations to the iconic heritage home, saying it would inform Ca-nadians once plans have been crys-tallized, though it provided no sense on when that would be.

“At this time, we have no update to provide on the plans for this property,” NCC spokesper-son Nicholas Galletti wrote in an emailed statement.

The Prime Minister’s Of-fi ce and the offi ce of Heri-tage Minister Mélanie Joly (Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Que.), who also serves as the minister

responsible for the NCC, re-served comment until there was new information to report.

While there is a general under-standing that the home requires extensive repairs to its structure, as well as its heating and cooling systems, among other areas of concerns, the potential price tag of the project is unclear.

In 2011, the NCC pegged the cost of urgent repairs to 24 Sus-sex at $10 million.

Michel Prévost, the chief archivist at the University of Ot-tawa, said the price of repairs has certainly increased since then, as consecutive delays would serve to balloon the costs of renovations.

He credited these delays to the refusal of subsequent prime ministers to leave the house to allow for renovations, which he estimated would take at least one year now.

However, a National Post re-port in January said NCC offi cials mentioned the possibility that re-pairs 24 Sussex could last three to four years, which would keep Mr. Trudeau at Rideau Cottage up un-

til the end of his current term in offi ce. A law passed by the former Conservative government dictates that the next election must be held on Oct. 21, 2019.

Mr. Prévost said the most important step the NCC needs to takes is to make a decision on what to do with 24 Sussex, though he acknowledged that the organiza-tion is surely discussing the topic.

It’s not “unusual” that the NCC is taking its time in making a deci-sion, he said, citing as an example the lengthy process it employed to decide the future of the expan-sive LeBreton Flats area, located west of downtown Ottawa.

“They have rules they must follow. They need to make the right decision,” he said of the NCC in an interview.

Nevertheless, Mr. Prévost im-pressed upon the necessity of mainta-ing the heritage character consider-ing its meaning to Canada and the historic neighbourhood it’s in, near the French Embassy and Rideau Hall.

Mr. Prévost compared the political calculations about renovating 24 Sussex to restoring Parliament and other government buildings, saying although these projects are likely to generate pushback because of the cost, he thinks most Canadians are “happy” when these historic struc-tures are rehabilitated.

It’s “always expensive” when it

comes to maintaining older build-ings, but it’s immensely “impor-tant to do the restoration and respect the heritage,” he stressed.

While the future of the resi-dence remains up in the air, there are pressing questions about the current fate of 24 Sussex, with the NCC and RCMP providing few de-tails on the staff deployed to watch over the now unoccupied grounds.

The RCMP, responsible for providing protection services, said it could not comment about staffi ng levels at 24 Sussex, citing security considerations.

“For operational reasons, specifi c details about security measures cannot be provided,” spokesperson Laurence Trottier wrote in an emailed message.

Meanwhile, the NCC jointly manages 24 Sussex and the fi ve other offi cial residences with a team of 40 staffers, though some em-ployees are dispatched to specifi c homes, according to Mr. Galletti.

As such, staffers were merely shuffl ed to Rideau Cottage, though the agency continues to service the former residence, he said, cit-ing the annual operating budget for the offi cial residence program as a whole at about $7.3 million,

Mr. Galletti said cost and staffi ng breakdowns for specifi c homes are not available.


‘Running out of time’ to do 338 town halls on electoral reform: Cullen

NCC, PMO tightlipped about future of 24 Sussex

MPs don’t have details, though they have only four months to roll them out.

NEWS OFFICIAL RESIDENCES

Continued from page 1


‘We will be making available—to community organizations and MPs—tools to help plan town halls in order to facilitate the conversation and reporting,’ says Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef. Photo courtesy of Jean-Marc Carisse

Another huge success!

Heartfelt thanks to all who made the

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Our “usual suspects” gaggle of

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co-chairs Peter Kent and John Manley

were in fine fettle as the occasional

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To CIBC, our Presenting Sponsor for

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Merci à tous,

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THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 20166NEWS IMMIGRATION

Despite the high-profi le wel-coming committee, Ms. Rempel said growing evidence from agencies helping refugees adjust to life in Canada suggests the government has failed to provide crucial supports for the throngs of newcomers.

“What we are hearing from the community at large is that the resources are not in place to sup-port this cohort,” she said.

The Liberals promised in last year’s federal election campaign to welcome 25,000 government-assisted Syrian refugees to the country by the end of 2015, though only achieved that milestone in February 2016 after a frenzied push to process and resettle the newcomers.

The focus of the resettlement efforts since then appears to have decisively shifted towards integration, as housing appears to have been found for most of the refugees.

Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship John McCallum (Markham-Thornhill, Ont.) said last month that hous-ing has already been secured for 98 per cent of government-spon-sored refugees, with the remain-ing two per cent expected to be housed by mid-June.

However, numerous com-plaints have been voiced about the quality of housing available, with some refugees reporting cramped and bug-infested lodg-ings, said Ms. Rempel, a mem-ber of the House Immigration Committee, currently tasked with studying the government’s resettlement efforts.

She also accused the govern-ment of poorly tracking the ex-penses of the relocation process.

Ms. Rempel estimated that the cost of resettling the refu-gees far exceeds the $250 million budgeted by the Liberals in their campaign platform, and is actually closer to $1 billion, with expenses only set to grow further.

She called for greater trans-parency from the government on the costs of the program.

A departmental offi cial, Associate Assistant Deputy

Minister David Manicom, told the committee May 12 that the department had not spent more than $1 billion, but in fact had identifi ed $680 million in costs, plus an additional $150 million this year.

As of June 3, the House com-mittee has heard from 38 govern-ment offi cials, charitable groups, service providers, and refugees themselves about the successes and challenges in integrating thousands of newcomers, accord-ing to its parliamentary website.

Witness testimony is expected to conclude before Parliament rises in late June for summer break, said Shaun Chen (Scarbor-ough North, Ont.), a Liberal MP and committee member.

Aside from housing and ac-counting, Ms. Rempel fl agged com-plaints from witnesses about delays in processing eligible Syrian refugees in the Middle East looking to relocate to Canada.

Some groups that have used donations to secure rooms for refugee families they have privately sponsored are seeing those spaces remain unoccupied because of these delays, she said.

Ms. Rempel also raised con-cerns about insuffi cient language training options, saying many refugees are struggling to secure places in these crucial programs.

“Language training service is directly tied to the ability to fi nd long-term employment,” she said, calling on the committee to pro-duce a report detailing concrete steps the government should take to address these concerns with the resettlement program.

Some service providers, speak-ing at committee on Thursday, reported diffi culties in serving surging numbers of refugees with the funding they receive from Ottawa through the Immigration Ministry’s Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada or LINC program.

Most notably, Karen Shortt, president of Vancouver Community College Faculty Association, said the school’s LINC funding had been cut by 8.5 per cent this year.

Ms. Rempel accused the government of failing to plan its refugee resettlement efforts in a “holistic” and compassionate manner, citing this seeming in-ability to integrate an anticipated increase of newcomers into cost calculations.

“This requires signifi cantly more of a response than the government has put thought into. The fact that they focus so much

on that number on the front end, and they haven’t put in an equal amount of diligence into quality of life for that number of people, it’s almost like they’re dehumanizing the situation,” Ms. Rempel charged.

“I just don’t think the govern-ment has given any thought to the actual welfare of refugees when they arrive in Canada.”

Government says it’s committed to supporting refugees

An Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship department spokesperson says that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Sonia Lesage said the Liber-als earmarked more than $600 million in this year’s budget to support newcomers’ settlement needs in provinces and territories, outside of Quebec, and in “pre-arrival services” while newcom-ers are still abroad.

“The government of Canada is committed to ensuring that newcomers, including refugees, integrate and contribute fully to the Canadian economy and to their communities,” she said.

According to Ms. Lesage, most of the funding for settlement ser-vices is directed towards language training; followed by information and orientation; and the commu-nity connections program.

At the moment, demand for language training classes is “very high,” and the government is promising to work closely with all service provider organizations to meet this need, she said, add-ing that the department regularly communicates with these groups to gauge interest.

“We are working together to ensure that newcomers have the urgent and long-term services they need,” she said.

While some providers may ex-perience funding fl uctuations, Ms. Lesage said additional funding will be made available to eligible groups to ensure that “services keep pace with the arrival of refugees.”

The Vancouver Commu-nity College, she added, did not receive supplementary funding because of the low level of gov-ernment-assisted refugees fi nding permanent accommodations in the Vancouver area, and as a re-sult of the school’s LINC program targeting higher-level learners.

Mr. Chen, the Liberal commit-tee member, said despite issues in accommodating the thousands of newcomers, the government has marshalled an impressively robust response to a debilitat-ing humanitarian crisis, in sharp contrast to the limp efforts of the former Conservative government.

“Action is better than inaction. We saw under the previous gov-ernment, a whole lot of inaction,” he said in an interview.

The idea of playing a larger role in accepting and resettling Syrian refugees “resonated” with Canadians during the past elec-tion, Mr. Chen said, arguing the government has done an admi-rable job so far in assisting those seeking aid.

He acknowledged, though, that it has not been without dif-fi culties, saying there have been some general themes identifi ed in witness testimony that must be addressed, namely with housing and language training.

“Can we improve? Are we working to address those gaps? Absolutely,” Mr. Chen said, adding that he hopes the committee can construct a helpful report that can address some of those challenges.

He said committee members are expected to start work on a report issuing concrete recommendations for the resettlement program upon returning in the fall.

Senate report expected soonThe Senate Human Rights

Committee is also studying the resettlement of the Syrian refugees, with its fi nal witness hearings held last week in Toronto and Montreal.

An initial report with recom-mendations to government is ex-

pected in the next few weeks, while a longer report should be com-pleted in the summer, according to Senator Jim Munson (Ottawa/Rideau Canal, Ont.), the commit-tee’s chair and a Senate Liberal.

The concept, he said, is to get a “vivid” snapshot of the intense resettlement process and quickly document the fi ndings to the gov-ernment, with Canada expected to take in an additional 25,000 refugees by the end of the year on top of the fi rst wave the Liber-als promised during the election campaign.

“We wanted to work in real time and get our recommenda-tions to government before the end of the month,” Mr. Munson said in an interview, noting that the hearings were, at times, “emo-tional rides, citing stories from refugees about life in a war zone and the diffi culties in adjusting to a different country, far away from home and their families.”

Mr. Munson identifi ed similar concerns in witness testimony to those fl agged by his coun-terparts in the House (housing issues, language training, fear that many will wind up on social assistance), saying, in general, the processing of the refugees had slowed since the initial push for the fi rst 25,000, though this was somewhat understandable considering the frenzied pace employed by the public service to achieve that policy goal.

Despite some issues in the resettling process, he praised the warm welcome Canadians have extended to the refugees.

In terms of policy, Mr. Mun-son promised to recommend that the government provide refugees with quicker access to the child tax benefi t to help them pay for necessities.

They are currently required to wait three months before receiv-ing these monthly payments, he said.


Liberals draw fi re over housing and language training for Syrian refugeesGovernment refugee response ‘dehumanizing,’ says Conservative MP.


Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel (left) accuses the government of failing to plan its Syrian refugee resettlement efforts in a ‘holistic’ way, while Liberal MP Shaun Chen (right) says the government has done a commendable job aiding those fl eeing violence in the Middle East. The Hill Times photographs by Jake Wright and Marco Vigliotti

7THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2016

NEWS ELECTORAL OFFICER

BY TIM NAUMETZ

Chief Electoral Offi cer Marc Mayrand shocked Parliament Hill when he an-

nounced he had served notice to Commons Speaker Geoff Regan and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week he would resign early from his post as the country’s elec-tion watchdog.

His decision could pressure the govern-ment into speeding up it’s the delivery of a post-election promise that Canada would have a new electoral system in place before the next federal election, now set to take place on Oct. 21, 2019.

Mr. Mayrand gave no hint he was plan-ning to leave his post early when he ap-peared at the House of Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 21.

During the meeting, he cautioned MPs that legislation for a new electoral system might have to be in place by the spring of 2017 – possibly including amendments to the Referendum Act if the government decides to sound out Canadians directly on major changes to the current federal election law.

“Is it possible to conduct a referendum under the current legislation? It is possible,” Mr. Mayrand said when he appeared at the committee to fi eld questions about the elec-tion agency’s spending plans for the new fi scal year.

“It would be at times awkward, but it is possible, it is feasible,” Mr. Mayrand said as he noted the federal Referendum Act is so out of date it has no controls over union or corporate fi nancial contributions during a referendum campaign, as the Elections Act does for general elections.

“My preference would be to see it amended, updated, but again, it would not be impossible to carry out one; the impor-tant thing for us is that we get enough of a heads-up so that we can prepare properly,” Mr. Mayrand said, in wording that indi-cated he expected to be in charge of the transformation at Elections Canada.

Mr. Mayrand told the committee it would take six months to carry out a refer-endum, aside from legislative changes, and that a major shift into an electoral system involving proportional representation would require even more time for redistri-bution of electoral districts.

But Mr. Mayrand announced Monday he will step down in December, a year and a half before the end of his term, to give a succes-sor enough time to oversee the government’s promised electoral reforms and see them through into the October 2019 federal election.

“I have concluded that it would be preferable to leave my position at the end of the year to allow my successor the nec-essary time to assume the responsibility and guide the future direction of Elections Canada,” said Mr. Mayrand.

In a prepared statement, he reiterated his position that the federal elections agency would need a signifi cant length of time to implement any major changes that emerge from a government promise to replace the current federal election system with one that would more evenly refl ect voter preferences.

He said the appointment of his succes-sor “should not be delayed.”

The government came under criticism over the past several months for not acting quickly on a promise to establish a special Commons committee for public hearings on election reform and, after it came under fi re for an initial draft of the committee’s composition by party, abruptly announced support for an NDP motion setting the membership along the proportion of vote results in the October, 2015 federal election – with fi ve Liberal MPs, three Conserva-tives, two NDP members, one Bloc Quebe-cois MP and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.).

“Given Elections Canada’s ambitious electoral services modernization plans and the government’s consideration of fundamental reforms to our electoral system, I believe the early appointment of a successor to lead Elec-tions Canada well ahead of the next general election is essential and should not be delayed,” said Mr. Mayrand, whose term would normally end in April, 2018, when he turns 65.

Mr. Mayrand and Elections Canada have grappled with two of the most tumultuous events in federal electoral history in the years following his appointment, following an even more sudden and surprising resigna-tion by his predecessor, Jean-Pierre Kingsley.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper named Mr. Mayrand, then the federal superintendent of bankruptcies, as Chief Electoral Offi cer of Canada in February 2007 after the unexpected resignation of Mr. Kingsley on Dec. 23, 2006. Mr. Harper announced the resignation on Dec. 28.The House of Commons approved Mr. Mayrand’s appointment on Feb. 21, 2007.

It later emerged that Mr. Kingsley, whose term was even further away from expiry, had stepped down after the elections agen-cy had become caught up in a dispute with the Conservative party, over what would add up to more than a million dollars worth of election advertising expenses wrongfully claimed by Conservative candidates for the Jan. 23, 2006, federal election.

In an “in and out” transfer scheme, the candidates were paying for national advertising expenses that should have been attributed to the Conservative party, Elec-tions Canada argued.

The case led to a Federal Court chal-lenge by the Conservatives, an RCMP raid on Conservatives party headquarters and eventual guilty pleas by the Conservative Party and the Conservative Fund Canada of failing to report all expenses and ex-ceeding the party’s election expense limit.

Elections Canada again became entan-gled with the Conservative party in 2011, as the federal election commissioner began a lengthy investigation into thousands of fraudulent robocalls that targeted Liberal supporters in Guelph, Ont., during the May 2, 2011, federal election.

The investigation ultimately led to charges and an Elections Act conviction against a Conservative campaign worker.

The two controversies led to Conservative distrust of Elections Canada, and contrib-uted to restrictions the former Conservative government attempted to place on the chief electoral offi cer when it brought in contro-versial amendments to the Canada Elections Act as the 2015 election approached.

The government eventually modifi ed changes that would have reduced the electoral offi cer’s freedom to communi-cate with the public, but went ahead with changes that placed the Commissioner of Canada Elections, the investigative arm of the agency, under the authority of the fed-eral Director of Public Prosecutions, rather than the Chief Electoral Offi cer.

Mr. Mayrand said Monday his priority will now be to fi nalize his recommenda-tions for Canada Elections Act changes in a fall report to Parliament.

“These recommendations will seek to achieve the much-needed modernization of our electoral process while preserving or enhancing its integrity and fairness,” Mr. Mayrand said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Pap-ineau, Que.) and his government are under pressure from the Conservative party to hold a national referendum before chang-ing the federal voting system, while the NDP has for years advocated a system of proportional representation.

Mr. Trudeau and his Minister for Democratic Institutions, Maryam Monsef

(Peterborough-Kawartha, Ont.), have not specifi ed which new system the govern-ment favours, although Mr. Trudeau has in the past, particularly during the 2013 Liberal leadership election, stated he

favours a system of ranked ballots, with voters designating their preferences from a fi eld of candidates, over proportional representation.

The Hill Times

Marc Mayrand’s early departure could pressure government on electoral reform

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Chief Electoral Offi cer Marc Mayrand, pictured here during an appearance before the Procedure and House Affairs Committee last spring, shocked many on the Hill by announcing he will resign in December. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 20168

One of the leading causes of disease and death is hunger, a hunger that

is not always immediately recog-nizable. A diet lacking in essential nutrients can cause a hidden hunger that is evidenced by a range of indica-tors, including wasting (low weight for height) and stunting (low height for age). Even obesity can be an indicator of nutrient defi ciency.

This kind of hunger is widespread and causes suffering on an enormous scale. Malnutrition in children can affect brain development and increase their vulnerability to disease. In wom-en of reproductive age it can cause anemia, a major cause of maternal mortality. Globally, nearly half of the deaths of children under fi ve are the result of malnutrition.

Simple humanity requires that we put an end to malnutrition, but for anyone who thinks that is not suffi cient reason, the economic

case should make it imperative. Glob-ally, the health-care costs and the lost productivity due to malnutrition have been estimated to be $3.5 trillion. Yet, this critical component of health re-mains neglected in the health budgets of almost every country.

A host of reasons are given for the lack of action on nutrition, from inadequate data to the fact that the responsibility for nutrition spans many sectors and government depart-ments.

Yet, with determination, the ob-stacles can be overcome. The United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025) has just begun. This would be a good time to start to fi ll data gaps, ensure accountability, and create the political will required to move nutrition to the forefront of the global agenda for health.

Chitra RamaswamiCalgary, Alta.

In February 2015 the Supreme Court tossed out prohibitions against as-

sisted suicide and euthanasia, saying that such prohibitions “unjustifi ably infringe” on an individual’s Charter rights (section 7) to “life, liberty, and security of the person.”

So how does forcing physicians to kill their patients not break down the all-important physician-patient trust relationship or in any way enhance the “life, liberty, and security” of Ca-nadian citizens? Where in the world do the rights of the vulnerable or the moral conscience of physicians fi t into this perverse notion?

The advocates for death are put-ting tremendous pressure on not only our most vulnerable citizens but every physician who has taken the Hippocratic Oath to preserve life. It is not diffi cult to imagine that with the ever-escalating costs of health care and an aging popula-tion, assisted suicide could conceiv-ably become the most acceptable,

inexpensive “treatment” for termi-nal illness.

Legalization of physician-assisted suicide is a path toward self-destruction. Putting to death the sick or disabled shows a profound disrespect for the sanctity of life and constitutes a great moral offence and human tragedy.

Proper palliative care already pro-vides “dying with dignity” and compas-sionate care for the dying and should be encouraged and better funded.

We need look no further than the experiences of Belgium and Holland down this dark path to see where it leads.

It is a myth that doctor-assisted suicide can be properly regulated.

Bill C-14 is radical legislation based on a perceived need of a tiny remnant of the population, and amounts to false compassion that trumps the rights of the majority.

Gerald HallNanoose Bay, B.C.

Re: “Does Obama know he’s a prisoner of ‘the logic of fear’?”

(The Hill Times, June 1, p. 9) and “Obama needs Canada’s support on nuclear disarmament,” (The Hill Times, June 1, p. 8) For people try-ing to come to terms with nuclear war, the fi lms Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964); Grave of the Firefl ies (1988); and Rhap-

sody in August (1991) may help inform their understanding. The latter two fi lms provide Japanese perspectives.

Radio Canada recently broad-cast an interview with Setsuko Thurlow from Toronto who sur-vived the atomic bomb blast in Japan.

Andrew RomainGatineau, Que.

Move nutrition to the forefront of global health

Say no to assisted death

Understanding nuclear war

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EDITORIAL FOREIGN MINISTER’S VISIT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

When China’s foreign minister visiting Ottawa last week tore a strip off of a Canadian re-

porter for asking a critical question, it illustrated two very different things.

Wang Yi, angrily waving his pen, said the reporter was “full of prejudice against China and arrogance” for asking about China’s human-rights record and its imprisonment of a Canadian, at a press conference with Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion.

A Canadian politician asked an equally uncomfortable question would most likely have replied with spin that would have left the reporter, in fact the entire room, in a fog. The lesson being that the kind of news gleaned from most press conferences has the nutritional value of a Timbit.

But when Mr. Wang said that iPolitics reporter Amanda Connolly’s question was “totally unac-ceptable” and “irresponsible” he unknowingly gave her a gift in the same way that Donald Trump regularly raises the capital of U.S. reporters by calling them out.

Mr. Wang’s outburst was followed by a Globe and Mail report indicating Canadian offi cials ac-ceded to his demand to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a break with diplomatic protocol.

The backlash from Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement and others led Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Dion to, two days later, respond, something that Mr. Dion could have done fi rmly but diplomatically at the time of the press conference.

The prime minister ultimately said offi cials expressed Canada’s “dissatisfaction” with Mr. Wang’s treatment of the Canadian press.

More important than press conference theatrics, the incident illustrated how hard it will be for the Liberals to sign a trade deal with the Asian econom-

ic powerhouse because of Canadian public opinion.This tension is not going to go away. Mr. Wang

said he hoped the new Liberal government would “open up a new golden era for our bilateral rela-tions.” Mr. Trudeau’s government wants to expand trade with China, including possibly through signing a free trade deal.

To do that, the government needs to fi nd a way to increase public support. It needs Parliamentarians to agree to corresponding implementing legislation.

Canadians aren’t getting a lot of positive news about China, and their views of China aren’t generally favourable. A Nanos Research survey the Globe commissioned earlier this year found that three-quarters of Canadian respondents had a negative or somewhat negative view of the Chi-nese government. Slightly more respondents (47 per cent) opposed or somewhat opposed a trade deal with China than supported or somewhat sup-ported one (41 per cent).

No matter whether Canadians’ views of China truly refl ect what’s happening there, the fact that they are so negative is a reality both governments must face if they want to move closer.

We already saw the huge negative public reac-tion to a China-Canada foreign investment agree-ment brought in by the Conservatives in 2014—and that wasn’t even a full-scale trade deal.

China needs to do better public diplomacy to get Canadians on side with it if it wants a trade deal with Canada. And the Canadian government needs to realize that it will be an uphill battle to re-engage with China.

If both governments want this enough, they need to work at getting the Canadian public to want it too.

It will take a lot of digging to strike a new Canada-China ‘golden era’


INSIDE DEFENCE IRAQ MISSION

OTTAWA—Since Canadian special operations soldiers

fi rst deployed into Erbil in September 2014 they have been sporting the bright red, white, and green striped fl ag of Kurdistan on their right sleeves. The com-mandos are in Erbil to provide

an advise-and-assist role for the Kurdish military forces contain-ing the advances of Daesh, the Is-lamic militant group also known as Islamic State, ISIS, and ISIL.

The overall stated goal of Canada’s military intervention against Daesh—fi rst applied by the Harper Conservatives and then echoed by the Trudeau Liber-als—is the eventual restoration of a unifi ed Iraq following the defeat of Daesh.

Of course, this is not the inten-tion of the Kurdish fi ghters whom our brave Canadian commandos are training. The Kurds are fi ght-ing to establish an independent Kurdistan as symbolized by the Kurdish fl ags worn on their uniforms, affi xed to their vehicles, and adorned on all of their out-posts and government buildings. This is why it makes absolutely no sense for our soldiers to be wearing a symbol of a separatist state—one that is not recognized as a country by any of the world’s

states—while our politicians still talk of a unifi ed Iraq.

Questions about Canadian soldiers wearing the Kurdish fl ag instead of the Iraqi fl ag on their uni-forms were fi rst raised a few weeks ago following Chief of Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance’s visit to the Kurdish region in Iraq. The only two media outlets with access to that junket were CTV News and The Toronto Star.

The Kurdish fl ags on Cana-dian uniforms went unmentioned in the original news stories, but they were so glaringly obvious in the images and footage that pundits in Canada questioned the meaning of our soldiers wearing foreign fl ags in a complex, multi-factional confl ict.

Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan at fi rst tried to defl ect the issue by reminding reporters that Canadian soldiers had worn the fl ag of Afghani-stan on their sleeves during our decade-long intervention there. It

was journalists who then remind-ed the minister that Afghanistan is a recognized state and our soldiers were in that country to prop up the Kabul regime.

In contrast, the Kurdish fl ag is a symbol of a separatist state attempting to break away from the central Iraqi authority that our foreign policy proclaims to support.

The fl ag issue would likely have faded into obscurity but for the fact that United States troops in Syria were spotted wearing Kurdish insignia. This caused a backlash in the U.S. and the Pen-tagon immediately issued orders to remove the foreign symbols.

This precedent by the U.S. caused a problem for Canada, as it made us look even more stupid for having boldly sported Kurdish fl ags.

In a clumsy attempt at dam-age control, Major General Mike Rouleau, the commander of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, and, as such, the man responsible for our train-ers in Kurdistan, reached out to the same two CTV and Toronto Star reporters with an exclusive. In light of the American forces’ removal of Kurdish badges, Rou-leau explained that Canada may stop wearing the fl ag of Kurdis-tan. “We’ll re-examine that and we may well take them off too,”

Rouleau was reported as saying.As for Canadians wearing the

controversial fl ags in the fi rst place, Rouleau made some rather petulant comments. “I refuse to get involved in the politics of war. That’s not my job. I’m a general,” stated Rouleau. Referring to the Kurdistan fl ags directly, Rouleau claimed that “it is a recognized symbol worn by Iraqi security forces...People can debate it and kind of spin it any way they want. For me, it’s nothing more than a symbol of solidarity.”

As a general, Rouleau should not so recklessly endanger his troops by sending them into the equivalent of a gangland turf war and having them wear one particular bike gang’s colours. The fl ag of Kurdistan is not in any way a symbol of Iraqi security forces; it is exactly the opposite, as Kurdish fi ghters have clashed directly on numerous occasions with the Iraqi army.

The sooner our soldiers take those fl ags off their uniforms, the better. And if our command-ers still know so little about the regional complexities after nearly two years in theatre, they really should get the heck out of there.

Scott Taylor is editor and pub-lisher of Esprit de Corps magazine.


LONDON, U.K.—After months in which opinion polls showed

a six to 10 per cent lead for the “Remain” side in the referendum campaign on continued British membership of the European Union, the numbers have sud-denly shifted in favour of “Leave.” Guardian/ICM polls released late last month revealed that 52 per cent of those polled favoured Brexit (British exit from the Eu-ropean Union), while only 48 per cent wanted to stay in.

These numbers may even un-derstate the probable outcome if the referendum were held today, and not June 23. “Out” voters are typically older, whiter, and less urban than the “In” supporters, and much more likely to vote on the day.

One “Remain” campaigner even fantasised about the ideal poster to motivate young pro-EU Brits to take the trouble of actually bothering to register and then vote. It would show an elec-

tion queue of elderly, well-dressed white voters, all clearly unlikely to be around in 25 years’ time, and the tag-line would say: “Don’t Let these People Decide your Future.” Needless to say, it will not decorate any actual walls.

So what if Brexit really does win the referendum? Even if the margin of victory is very small, the decision will in practice be irrevocable. And two things will certainly follow almost instantly.

One is the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, whose position will become impossible. It was he who promised a need-less referendum three years ago, not in response to overwhelming popular demand but in a blunder-ing attempt to placate the obses-sively anti-EU right wing of his own Conservative Party. Then he led the campaign against Brexit—and lost it.

The other certainty is that Scotland will vote to remain in the EU, no matter how the rest of the United Kingdom votes, and will not let its wishes be overruled by the R.O.U.K. (as the rest of the country will doubtless come to be known). The Scottish National Party, fresh from an election vic-tory at home, will call a second referendum on Scottish secession from the United Kingdom, and almost certainly win it.

After that, however, the glass gets darker. The new Conserva-tive leader and prime minister would probably be Boris Johnson, Britain’s answer to Donald Trump. Perhaps no leader could negotiate a divorce settlement with the EU that protected Britain’s vital trade interests, but Johnson, at the head of a party mired in a civil

war and with a working majority of less than two dozen seats in Parliament, is least likely of all to achieve it.

Under article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, negotiations for the withdrawal of any EU member must be concluded within two years after the country in ques-tion says it intends to leave. The big issues would be continuing British duty-free access to the “single market” made up of the other 27 EU members—almost half of Britain’s exports go to EU countries—and continued free movement of labour across national borders.

“It will be imperative to stop the Brexit contagion from grip-ping other countries,” said one EU offi cial, so European negotiators will want to impose harsh terms on Britain in order to show other potential defectors that leaving is not cost-free. Since only eight per cent of EU exports go to Britain (and only two EU countries run a trade surplus with the U.K.), nobody will go out on a limb to preserve duty-free British access to the single market.

As for free movement of la-bour, ending it would require the expulsion of at least a million EU citizens currently working in the United Kingdom. Preserving it, on the other hand, would mean keep-ing the door open to uncontrolled immigration from other EU coun-tries. But closing that door was a key promise of the Brexit cam-paign. This will not be a friendly divorce, and Britain’s negotiating position is not good.

Meanwhile, Scotland would be having its own diffi culties. A sec-ond referendum would certainly

back independence from the U.K., but it would not be easy for Scot-land to retain (or rather, regain) its EU membership.

Legally, it would have to re-ap-ply, and other EU members (nota-bly Spain) that want to discourage parts of their own countries from seceding will have every reason to make things hard for the Scots. They could end up waiting outside the door for a long time.

As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Scotland would just be collateral damage, and the Rest of the U.K. would deserve and get very little sympathy when the divorce negotiations turn nasty. What will worry everybody else is the risk to the unity of the rest of the EU.

It is a bad time for Europe. Economic growth is low, unem-

ployment and debt are high, and refugees are pouring in from the Middle East and Africa.

Hard-right populist move-ments that are anti-immigrant and anti-EU, like the Front Na-tional in France and Alternative fuer Deutschland in Germany, are growing everywhere in Europe. They are already in power in Eastern European countries like Hungary and Poland.

The real fear is that the “Brexit contagion” will spread, and that other EU members will also ac-quire governments that just want out. That’s actually not a very high probability, but nobody wants the old pre-EU Europe back.

Gwynne Dyer is a United Kingdom-based independent journalist.

The Hill Times

Canada right to reconsider wearing Kurdish fl ag

Reading the Brexit tea leaves

Wearing the fl ag of an unrecognized state, whose ultimate goal runs counter to our own, is folly.

If Britons vote to leave, Cameron will resign and Scotland will vote to remain in the EU, predicts Gwynne Dyer.

GLOBAL AFFAIRS U.K. REFERENDUM

SCOTT TAYLOR

GWYNNE DYER

Britain Stronger In campaigners, who want to see the U.K. remain part of the European Union after the June 23 referendum. Photograph courtesy of Jim Killock

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 201610OPINION BILL C-14

On a May afternoon in 1995 I was sitting with my father

in the living room of his apart-ment in Montreal, when my sister called in tears to say my mother had died.

A few days earlier, he had de-cided not to take any extraordinary means to save her, as the stroke she suffered two months before had robbed her of all speech and bodily functions. She, like many stroke victims who have lost con-trol of their lives, was refusing food and water. Although incapable of speaking, it was evident she was aware she would not improve be-yond her semi-vegetative state.

My parents, whose proper names were Philip and Elga, were known by all as Pip and Duckie.

They had been sweethearts for six decades, interrupted only by his Second World War service in England and Italy for fi ve and a half years. They married the day after his return to Canada in 1945, and I never saw a single harsh word between them, as they worked out all problems with love and mutual respect.

So when he was asked if he wanted to maintain her life through a feeding tube, my father was inclined to keep her alive. But after meeting a woman whose husband had been artifi cially maintained for several years, he decided to accede to her unspoken will. We were told she would waste away and die within two weeks.

However, only a few days later, my mother was lying dead in hospital. She had been receiv-ing morphine for her pain, and it appeared the attending nurse had increased her dosage in a mo-ment of compassion.

Several years later, I was at my daughter’s fi gure skating practice in Ottawa, when a call came on my cell phone. My father, then 87, had suffered a heart attack, and was being cared for in a hospital in Montreal. The French-speaking doctor wanted to know what level of care our family would expect for him, as my father had signed a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order with the seniors home where he lived.

I carefully asked the doctor in French about my father’s prognosis and suggested that if he suffered an-other major attack, he should be al-lowed to die. It was tragic, as he had suffered severe fi nancial setbacks and no longer had family members to visit him. My sister and I went to Montreal and 24 hours later he awoke from a comatose state, looked around, smiled at us and announced “I’m not ready to go just yet!”

For the next four years, with a move to Ottawa and surrounded by his grandchildren, he overcame the fi nancial setbacks and lived with a quality of life he had not experi-enced for many years. When he died in the summer of 2004 after a single day of illness, he was mentally, physically, and spiritually ready.

I cite these personal examples because in the current debate about the right to an assisted death, there are as many sides to the issue as there are Canadians.

Although the Supreme Court determined “the prohibition on physician-assisted dying [infringed on] the right to life, liberty, and security of the person in a manner that is not in accordance with the

principles of fundamental justice,” there are times that an intervention to preserve a life may make sense over a simple order of DNR.

At other times, allowing some-one their choice to die may be the most compassionate act a person can bestow. The capacity to make that decision, or to interpret the decision of the person who is facing death, is based on the most delicate of balances.

As Bill C-14 was written, one’s death must be reasonably fore-seeable. This is causing a great deal of controversy, with sug-gestions a more liberal defi nition would better allow an assisted death. In the case of my mother, the decision to allow her to die when she wanted would have been a godsend. In the case of my father, it would have robbed him of four quality years of life.

While family members are un-doubtedly profoundly implicated as third parties in this debate, so too are the professionals provid-ing care. We are all aware of the nature of the Hippocratic oath, and the obligation to “Do no harm.” But there are times unbearable

suffering does require a response, and it is not fair to our health-care practitioners that they should be vulnerable to a criminal charge for doing what they, the patient, and the patient’s families know is the appropriate course of action.

We do not live in a perfect world, and life-and-death decisions are often imposed upon us in a way we would want to avoid. But every one of us will face those choices. The two extremes of these stories illustrate just how varied those choices are and they speak volumes in favour of taking the time to get assisted-death legislation right.

In their debates and discus-sions, legislators of all parties should remember how nuanced, delicate, and varied the responses to this extraordinarily complex issue can be. And when the law is passed, I hope it will refl ect the will of Canadians like Pip and Duckie. We should all expect no less.

Andrew Caddell lives and works in Ottawa. He is a former journalist and federal Liberal candidate.


Every day is a fi ght for Cana-dians living with multiple

sclerosis—an unpredictable, often disabling, disease of the central nervous system.

It’s a fi ght no one wants to have, but one many Canadians

must deal with. Why? Because Canada has the highest rate of MS in the world. As Canadians, we have a risk two times greater of developing MS than if we lived in France, 13 times greater than if we lived in Argentina, and 27 times greater than if we lived in Pakistan. Even people who are new to Canada are susceptible.

Why Canada? Is it our cli-mate? Our diet? A lack of vitamin D? We’re getting close to un-derstanding why, but it’s a fi ght Canada needs to end.

MS Society representatives from across Canada gathered in Ottawa at the beginning of May to mark MS awareness month, to promote understanding of MS as a particularly Canadian disease. We invited Parliamentarians to join #TeamFight to end this unpredictable condition. We also had tremendous support from MPs for our annual carnation pinning.

Years of consultation and re-search have taught us that people affected by MS are looking for three things from policy-makers: better employment and income supports for themselves or their caregivers; improved quality lifelong care and support; and accelerated investment in MS research.

We had in hand the Institute for Research on Public Policy re-port Leaving Some Behind: What Happens When Workers Get Sick, and shared this think tank’s fi nd-ings with Parliamentarians and government offi cials.

The report—a groundbreaking white paper on chronic illness, including episodic conditions—highlights the need for a funda-mental renewal of Canada’s in-come, disability, and employment support system. Containing both long-term directions and immedi-ate reforms, the report calls on the federal government to act as a

champion for these identifi ed and necessary improvements.

Reforms include improving the co-ordination of basic defi nitions and program parameters across the disability support system and enhancing the breadth and qual-ity of disability insurance cover-age within the labour market.

For Alex, who lives with pri-mary progressive MS, implement-ing these recommendations are key to his family’s quality of life.

“You have to jump through hoops to access employment insurance, social assistance, and disability supports,” he said. “It takes many hours and lots of visits to doctors, health profes-sionals, and government offi ces just to apply for the fi nancial help you need. The process takes many months, and while you are doing this you have to go with-out a diagnosis, income, medica-tions, and at times, even food on the table.”

The federal government has already announced a number of measures in the recent federal budget that will make a differ-ence in the lives of people who need support—from consultation on a Canadians with Disabilities Act, to investments in research funding, to improvements and changes to the employment insur-ance program.

The next step is to harness this goodwill and translate it into realizing some of the life-changing, bold, policy solutions that will have an impact on people living with this disease. It is time to turn the page from Canada being the country with the highest rate of MS, to being the country that found the solu-tions.

Benjamin Davis is national vice-president, government rela-tions, with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

The Hill Times

On the right to assisted death: Go carefully into that good night

The fi ght to end Canada’s disease: multiple sclerosis

In my mother’s case, the decision to allow her to die when she wanted would have been a godsend. In my father’s case, it would have robbed him of four quality years of life.

Canada has the highest rate of MS in the world. While we work to fi nd out why, policy-makers can help people affected.

OPINION HEALTH

ANDREW CADDELL

BENJAMIN DAVIS

Andrew Caddell’s parents, Philip and Elga, were known by all as Pip and Duckie. They had been sweethearts for six decades before Ms. Caddell died in 1995 after suffering a stroke. Photo courtesy of Andrew Caddell


PLAIN SPEAK CPC LEADERSHIP

OTTAWA—Choosing to head up either of Canada’s two largest

federal opposition parties is prov-ing to be an unattractive or uncer-tain option for quite a few talented current or former politicians. And, frankly, who could blame them for not wanting to lead the Conserva-tives or NDP right now.

It isn’t that Justin Trudeau is invincible come 2019, though his-tory says he has a good chance of winning, but Peter MacKay, Jason Kenney, Megan Leslie, and Nathan

Cullen are all at places in their lives where leading a national op-position party is less appealing to them now. While the call of public service and the sniff of sitting in the prime minister’s chair can be potent, these are not the only things guiding them. New careers and the opportunities that come with them, in the case of MacKay and Leslie, or long service, for Kenney and Cullen, change the colour of your lenses.

As one wise person once ad-vised me when I was confronted with a similar decision about politics: “Only go for the leader-ship when the irrational is rational. No matter the argument mounted against doing it, you can’t be talked out of it.” That is either delusional or self-possessed, but to have the fi re to lead a political party some-times you need a little bit of both.

MacKay, Kenney, Leslie, and Cullen are all still relatively young, but they are hardened practitioners of politics. MacKay and Kenney had senior cabinet roles. Leslie and Cullen were key lieutenants in the offi cial op-position. None are naïve. All are aware of the sacrifi ces. Likely all

are still worn down from the last decade of bare-knuckle brawling.

These four are all smart political realists who have seen fi rst-hand the brutal hard work needed to be both a leader and political winner. While none lack for guts or commitment, they all would still be rational enough to have doubts about whether being the leader of their party is right for them now. Leslie and Cullen answered no to that question.

You have to be exceptionally selfi sh when deciding to go for

the leadership of a party. First and foremost, it has to be right for you or you and your family. The fawning and prostrating by activists or supporters can be appealing, even intoxicating, but you can’t be guided by that.

Having just watched Peter MacKay and Jason Kenney courted in Vancouver, it was

easy to see the pressure they were both under in the Conservative Par-ty. If they were asking my advice, I would tell them no matter how much sunshine got blown up your arse there, discount it. Make the choice for you and no one else. You are the one who is going to have to do all the work, not those strok-ing your ego. No amount of mass psychological transference from partisans should infl uence you.

Of course, the media play a funny part in leadership jockey-ing. They help build the narratives

about who is a can’t-miss candi-date or a dud. Legions of journal-ists hit millions of keystrokes extol-ling the importance of these roles while at the same time waiting for the fi rst mistake or bit of scandal so the ritualistic beating down of that can’t-miss candidate can take place. Some journalists and others then foolishly ask why it would be unimaginable that Person X won’t run to be leader. Crazy, isn’t it, that some would think there are better things to do than get publicly sav-aged on a daily basis?

Don’t get me wrong; I want to see the best candidates seeking the leadership of all our federal parties. But let us come to un-derstand it is neither an easy nor a simple choice. To do it, as one former adviser to Brian Mulroney told me last week, “you have to wake up every day wanting to be leader no matter what.” Getting to “no matter what” is a journey in and of itself. Some never get there.

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

MONTREAL—The federal New Democrats who showed

Thomas Mulcair the door last April must have had various dream candidates in mind to replace him.

Almost two months later, most of those presumed successors have vanished into thin air.

On Friday, MP Nathan Cul-len—who fi nished in third place against Mulcair in 2012 and was widely considered the best posi-tioned to win the succession—be-came the latest potential candi-date to pull his name off the list.

Brian Topp—the veteran party strategist who ran second in that last federal race—had already de-clined the opportunity to try again.

Former Halifax MP Megan Leslie, a popular choice among New Democrats, made it clear within days of the convention that she was done with politics for the foreseeable future.

What they all have in common is their sense that—at this junc-ture—their energies are better spent on battles other than that of keeping the third-place federal NDP afl oat.

Topp serves as chief of staff to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. His mission is to ensure the prov-ince’s fi rst NDP government does not become its last for decades.

Leslie toils on the environ-mental front in a senior position with WWF-Canada. She will have a front-row seat on the upcom-ing national discussion as to how best to offset climate change, and on the Liberal efforts to come up with more proactive policies.

Cullen says he wants to focus on the upcoming federal debate over electoral reform. The NDP has long coveted a change to a more proportional voting sys-tem. Justin Trudeau’s promise to change the system in time for the next federal election offers the New Democrats their best shot ever at advancing that goal.

But other sirens may also be serenading Cullen. British Co-lumbia will be going to the polls

next spring, offering the NDP an opportunity to end a 16-year Lib-eral reign. Many in Cullen’s home province would have him join the next big electoral battle on the New Democrat horizon. Although he says he is not contemplating a move to provincial politics, they believe it is not his last word on the matter.

The divisions on exhibit at the NDP convention do not on their own account for the fact that so few seem to burn with the desire to lead the party.

The impetus for a strong NDP opposition in the Commons has declined precipitously since Justin Trudeau replaced Stephen Harper as prime minister. Cul-len himself spent the last NDP leadership campaign advocating a formal alliance of sorts with the Liberals, and found substantial support for the idea. It is under-standable that he would feel there are more productive ways to advance his ideals than to lead an all-out partisan fi ght against the Trudeau Liberals.

Still, a leader for the federal New Democrats must be found and the list of qualifi ed prospects is getting shorter.

For now, many will turn to Peter Julian. The B.C. MP is the party’s current House leader. Fluently bi-lingual, he is streetwise in Quebec.

He went to university in French in Montreal. As past executive direc-tor of the Council of Canadians, Ju-lian has ties to the activist base of the NDP. He would be acceptable to many of the party’s confl icted constituencies.

And what of activist Avi Lew-is? He, too, is otherwise occupied but, in any event, he also lacks some essential qualifi cations for a federal leadership role.

As part of his campaign to promote the Leap Manifesto at the April convention, Lewis gave almost as many media interviews at Mulcair. But when Radio-Canada invited him to discuss the document and the major restruc-turing of the Canadian economy it advocates, he declined for lack of profi ciency in French.

Unless he has since signed up for a crash course in Canada’s

other offi cial language, those who continue to press Lewis to bid for Mulcair’s succession should move on to more viable candidates.

The NDP, like Stephen Harp-er’s Conservatives, has worked too hard to establish a presence in Quebec to put it all on the line by electing a leader who cannot communicate in the language of the province’s majority.

The day French-speaking vot-ers in this country support a party whose leader needs an interpreter to speak to them is the day when non-francophone voters across Canada embrace a candidate for prime minister who does not speak English.

Chantal Hébert is a national af-fairs writer for The Toronto Star. This column was released on June 3.


My leadership advice to Kenney, MacKay: No matter how much sunshine got blown up your arse at the convention, decide for you and no one else

Who wants to replace Tom Mulcair? Few, it seems

You’re the one who’s going to have to do all the work, not those stroking your ego.

With Cullen, Leslie, and Topp out, the list of qualifi ed prospects is getting shorter.

INSIDE POLITICS NDP LEADERSHIP

CHANTAL HÉBERT

TIM POWERS

NDP MP Nathan Cullen, right, pictured May 30 with Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner, said he wouldn’t join the federal NDP leadership race. British Columbia’s provincial election next year may be calling him, writes Chantal Hébert. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Having just watched Peter MacKay, left, and Jason Kenney courted at the Conservative Party conven-tion in Vancouver, it was easy to see the pressure they were both under, writes Tim Powers. The Hill Times photographs by Jake Wright

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 201612NEED TO KNOW HILL LIFE & PEOPLE

a thing for the interim Conservative leader to say.

But Rona, as everyone calls her, did of course serve as an MP and cabinet minister under Harper for many years, and I can’t remember her appearing particularly distressed about the former Conservative prime minister’s autocratic and mean disposition. Or ever speaking out in protest.

Rona’s line about Harper was just the most eye-opening moment in a revelatory gathering of the national media and the politicians they cover.

The event had acquired a fairly per-functory tone after the main attraction, the prime minister, had in Harper’s case refused to attend for 10 years.

But on Saturday, the annual dinner took on new life with the presence of a confi dent-sounding, media-attuned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And the whole evening refl ected the ongoing upheaval in the country’s political affairs set in motion by the election in October.

As they did on the campaign trail, the Liberal leader and his wife, Sophie Gré-goire Trudeau, injected a crisp, informal spirit into the affair, which is still shed-ding the trappings of its history as a cozy, clubby do for the members of what was until recently the almost exclusive male bastion of public life on Parliament Hill.

Grégoire Trudeau sang, poked fun at herself and the media and executed a yoga pose for her husband. “You should be do-ing more of this, because you’d be hitting less people, my love, right?” she said in reference to Mr. Trudeau’s controversial standoff before a vote in the Commons last month.

While it’s just a social event, Trudeau’s appearance at the dinner was still in itself a breakthrough, emblematic of his vow to get away from the antagonistic relations Harper had with reporters. The Liberal leader has vowed to engage with the media in a re-spectful and forthcoming manner, a pledge that is part of a wider and much more important commitment to run a more open, transparent, and accountable government.

In her speech, Ambrose played around with the idea that the Conservatives are looking to bring a fresh new look to their party. Trying out some possible new party slogans, she said, “The Conservative Party of Canada—it’s okay, the bad man’s gone away,” and “The Conservative Party of Canada—30 per cent fewer nuts.”

As for dealings with reporters, Ambrose quipped, “I don’t just want to change our me-dia relations. I actually want to have some.”

Given that he has been rejected by his own party, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair did his best to rise to the occasion, though much of his speech consisted of swearing happily at the assembled media. He noted that, instead of the fabled orange wave that carried his party into offi cial opposi-tion status in 2011, the most recent election was characterized by a “gigantic orange shitstorm.”

There was some mention in the speech-es of would-be leadership candidates. But among the crowd, there was little of the usual buzz about possible contenders to replace Harper and Mulcair.

One reason is that it’s so early in the process for selecting new leaders. But it also seems to refl ect a vacuum at the top in the main federal opposition parties as well as a wholly unpredictable election land-scape going forward.

Neither the Con-servatives nor the NDP have any obvious potential leadership candidates with the stature and popular-ity to make his or her party assuredly competitive in the next election. It’s not even clear, for instance, that would-be Conservative leadership contenders like Peter MacKay and Jason Kenney will run.

Further complicat-ing the picture, it’s impossible to get a sense of the ground over which national political battles will be fought two or three years down the road.

Barring another ma-jor scandal, the Liber-als appear to be fi nally free of the sponsorship noose, which held them back for most

of a decade. And the longstanding debate over government defi cits, which occupied a huge place in the national political narrative going back several decades, appears to have lost a lot of its sway. Trudeau has already exploited that development.

As for the NDP, there’s no Jack Layton on the horizon to galvanize support on the strength of his personality, and for now voters hoping for change are betting on Trudeau. Also, the NDP appears internally divided over how left-wing it should be and how strenuously it should pursue climate change policy.

Apparently for lack of much else to talk about, the Conservatives keep muttering about reducing taxes to spur economic growth. But it’s not at all clear at this point that average Canadians struggling with long-term wage stagnation and declining job security will ever again put much faith in that slogan.

Dropping opposition to same-sex mar-riage may help the Conservatives a bit, but it remains to be seen in the wider sense how the country’s right-wingers will posi-tion themselves on economic and social issues now that Harper’s gone.

Anything can, and will, happen in poli-tics as the months of Liberal government in Ottawa tick away. By next year when the Conservatives and NDP choose new leaders, Canadians may have a better idea what kind of issues are beginning to gather enough momentum to be important in the run-up to the next election.

Much will depend of course on the outcome of Trudeau’s efforts to boost the economy through infrastructure spending and tinker with income tax rates to give the middle class a bit of help. The impact on Canadians of long-overdue efforts to fi ght climate change may also be a deci-sive factor in the public’s estimation of the Liberals. Aboriginal issues may fl are up, and free-trade remains a potential quag-mire, both with the United States and other countries. Youth participation is another wild card.

But for the moment, the drama lacks a script, a plot, direction, or more than one star to share the stage—as this year’s gal-lery dinner showed.

Les Whittington is an Ottawa journal-ist and a regular contributor to The Hill Times.


No tears for Harper as Ottawa marks new era at press gallery dinner‘Stephen Harper loved humanity, it was just people that he couldn’t stand,’ quipped interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose about her old boss.

Minister Philpott,

The time for a national pharmacare plan is now.

Let’s fill Canada’s prescription.

FOR PHARMACARESTANDING UP

pharmacare2020.ca


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, injected a crisp, informal spirit into the affair, writes Les Whittington. Rideau Hall photograph by MCpl Vincent Carbonneau


OPINION VETERANS

The national leadership of the Royal Canadian Legion faces a

crisis in confi dence with its member-ship along with Canada’s veterans. All Canadians should be concerned with this, given the legion’s respon-sibility for the poppy symbol and the millions donated as a result.

The legion once actively and assertively advocated for the rights of veterans and their families. The community work per-formed by many local branches is highly commendable. Provincial Commands, without consideration of personal reward or enrichment, have frequently launched innova-tions to assist veterans such as homeless-shelter programs.

In contrast, paid senior leader-ship at national headquarters, known as Dominion Command and located in a suburb of Ottawa, is at risk of being perceived as out of touch with not just veterans but legion membership. Much of the blame for plummeting member-ship can be placed directly on the leadership’s shoulders.

Why should veterans care about how the legion manages its affairs? After all, of the le-gion’s about 254,000 paid mem-bers on June 1, 62,000 are listed as “ordinary” members. This category includes those who served in Can-ada’s military but also retired and serving members of the RCMP, civilian police forces, armed forc-es of all 28 NATO nations, as well as the Canadian Coast Guard.

There are 700,000 serving and retired Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel. The legion’s website states that almost 100,000 of its members are veterans. How-ever, one insider I talked to estimates that fewer than 35,000 legion members have served in the CAF, or fi ve per cent of the CAF veteran population. Rather than an organization for veterans, the legion exists more like a so-cial club using veterans as props.

The legion national leadership has long attributed membership decline to the sad passing of war veterans. There is little truth to this. Of the 37,000 members who did not renew last year, only one in 18 was because of a veteran’s death. The legion’s national leadership has failed to curb the voluntary exit of so many, as well as attract enough veterans and other Canadians alike.

Notwithstanding the legion’s long decline in membership, the legion profoundly benefi ts from Canadians’ sympathy and sup-port for all veterans. Canadians don’t wear the poppy to honour

the legion, they wear it to honour men and women who offer to sac-rifi ce for Canada. That is why all veterans, but also all Canadians, should care deeply about how the legion is managed.

As the legion website states, “On June 30, 1948, the Royal Canadian Legion was given the responsibility to safeguard the poppy as a sacred symbol of remembrance by the people of Canada through an act of Parlia-ment in which the Legion was granted trademark copyright of the poppy symbol in Canada.” The website also notes, “Canadians are fi ercely proud of our veterans.”

We are also fi ercely proud of our poppy. It was Canadian John McCrae’s poem that spawned the adoption of the poppy symbol in many countries to represent the sacrifi ces of war.

The legion has what can only be described as a monopoly and legal stranglehold upon the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance. Such immense responsibility requires the highest standards of transparency, open-ness, and accountability.

Instead, Dominion Command leadership has at times practised a standard that more resembles evasion and obfuscation.

A barely noticed article in Le Journal de Montréal published just before Remembrance Day last year raised questions about the management of this sacred respon-sibility. The newspaper reported that of the nearly $16.5 million raised the year prior from poppy donations, Dominion Command could account for only $114,000 awarded directly to veterans from its own Poppy Fund while mil-lions more lay dormant. The legion said Le Journal de Montreal report contained “incorrect or misleading information” and said that the $16.5 million was “distributed to veteran related services in communities across the country.”

This same leadership recently transferred $500,000 from Ca-nadians’ poppy donations to the Invictus Games when the money may not go directly to Canadian

veteran participants. Rather, poppy money would support the operation of the games, involving wounded soldiers from 16 coun-tries. Would providing volunteers and hosting the cross-country torch relay not be suffi cient?

For such weighty responsibil-ity, national leadership has taken a rather tacky path to marketing the poppy symbol. One can pur-chase poppy drop earrings, poppy napkins to become stained with food, umbrellas, mittens, toques, and headbands, not to mention stuffed poppy puppies. This is far from responsible management of a sacred symbol that represents death in war, loss of limb, and the wounding of minds and souls.

In an attempt to restore some confi dence, Manitoba Command has urged Dominion Command to be more transparent by disclosing salaries and travel expenses. Do-minion Command refused to al-low the discussion of Manitoba’s motion at the biennial national convention to be held June 11 to 15 in St. John’s, Nfl d.

What will not be discussed openly can be deduced through legion fi nancial statements and other non-confi dential sources.

Not counting Legion Maga-zine, Dominion Command has 43 permanent employees. Most are clerical staff, such as those who manage supply, fi nance, and mem-bership. Managing this small group are four directors and a dominion secretary, Brad White. In the public service, 43 employees would merit one director at most. In the mili-tary, this would be the equivalent of base or wing administration led by a single lieutenant-colonel.

In rejecting the motion to reveal salaries, Dominion Com-mand circulated a fi ve-page brief indicating “we pay LESS than the going rates in the marketplace.”

Steven Clark, director of administration for the Legion’s Dominion Command, told The National Post that it hasn’t been disclosing individuals’ salaries for privacy reasons. There is no legis-lative requirement to do it, he said, as the organization is not federally

or publicly funded. Expenses are tightly controlled after concerns were raised by members in 2014, the Post reported him saying.

For my analysis, I used the equivalent of market rate or higher for non-directors to deduce, from the 2016 Dominion Command budget, a conservative salary range of the directors. To measure the market rate, I used websites that compare salaries like payscale.com and glassdoor.ca.

Salaries for the directors of supply and fi nance are likely $115,000 to $140,000 and $120,000 to $170,000 respectively depend-ing upon whether market rate or above-market rate is applied to other jobs in these sections. Nota-bly, all salaries are budgeted sepa-rately from employer-paid benefi ts such as pension contributions.

As for the director of admin-istration, the deputy director of marketing, and the dominion sec-retary, these three salaries were less apparent due to a reorganiza-tion not refl ected in the most re-cent budget. Nevertheless, out of a total salary budget of just over $2.8 million, these three positions account for $425,000to $555,000.

Considering other directors’ salaries, deputy directors could be earning $95,000to $120,000 while the director of adminis-tration, likely the highest-paid director, could receive from $140,000 to $180,000. This would leave $185,000 to $255,000 for the dominion secretary’s salary.

Dominion Command does publish one salary: the janitor/custodian at $26,800 annually, roughly $13.50 per hour. The mar-ket median for this job is $16 per hour or $32,000 annually.

The Service Bureau section is the most opaque. Six ser-vice offi cers and two assistants help veterans access disability benefi ts, a job similar to Veterans Affairs Canada’s client service agents and case managers. Case managers have medical, nursing, social work, and often post-graduate backgrounds. Do any of the service offi cers have such credentials? Are they bilingual?

Do they have university degrees? Assuming the current direc-tor makes $110,000 to $130,000 to manage seven employees, service offi cers could earn up to $80,000. This is the maximum a VAC case manager makes and 80 per cent more than new client service agents earn.

Of all sections, the Service Bu-reau demands accountability and transparency: 90 per cent of its budget is paid for by Canadians’ poppy donations.

A director in the public service can earn $107,000 to $140,000. Commanders and lieutenant-col-onels command ships, squadrons, and regiments earning $116,000 to $124,000. None of Dominion Command’s jobs has responsibili-ties to justify such stratospheric salaries. It is not clear what respon-sibility Dominion Command has for what occurs at the provincial or local branch levels. All are respon-sible for their own accounts, chari-table status, tax fi lings, service offi cers, and poppy campaigns.

If Dominion Command ap-proves below- or at-market rates for the majority of its employees, then directors and deputy directors are receiving excessively exorbitant compensation for limited respon-sibilities. If leadership authorizes more than market rates, then Do-minion Command has misled legion membership about salaries. Simi-larly, paying more than the market demands shows irresponsibility and incompetence in managing trusted membership and poppy funds.

Part of the problem lies with an elected executive that meets biannually. Paid senior staff may see the executive as a nuisance. The current elected president, Tom Eagles, has spent 37 years in the Legion but never served in the mili-tary. He has worked as a grounds-keeper and maintenance worker at the recreation centre for the village of Plaster Rock, N.B. The Legion website indicates Mr. Eagles is also past-president of Plaster Rock’s Minor Hockey League and sat on the board of a 30-bed local long-term care facility.

An admirable rise through legion ranks, but what skill set and experience does he bring to assume the sacred responsibil-ity of protecting the poppy for all veterans and Canadians? Add to this the 75 per cent legion membership who never served in the military, and the appreciation for the poppy is bound to become diminished and distorted.

Dominion Command and Tom Eagles declined multiple requests to answer questions on these mat-ters or to be interviewed.

The monumental responsibil-ity of safeguarding the poppy should not remain with leadership that fails the most basic tests of transparency, accountability, and democracy—not to mention sound and fair management. Dominion Command’s doors must be open to a forensic audit so that all of Canada, including Parliament, and every veteran, can attest to the protection and preservation of the most hallowed symbol of sacrifi ce. The memories embodied in the poppy must remain sacred when the veteran is long gone.

Sean Bruyea, vice-president of Canadians for Accountability, is a retired Air Force intelligence offi cer and frequent commenta-tor on government, military, and veterans’ issues.


Why Canada needs to pry open the doors of the legion’s headquarters National leaders have refused a provincial request to disclose salaries and travel expenses.

SEAN BRUYEA

Sean Bruyea argues that rather than an organization for veterans, the legion exists more like a social club using veterans as props. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 201614CANADA & THE 21ST CENTURY FOURTH IN A SIX-PART SERIES

TORONTO—With free trade, foreign multinationals are no longer here to

get around high tariff walls. Instead, they are here as part of their global innovation strategies, making them signifi cant players in Canadian efforts to become an innova-tion nation.

Here’s why. Canada has a reputation for high-quality university and college gradu-ates, especially in science and engineering. This matters because there is a shortage of serious talent worldwide. Moreover, the cost of hiring a good engineer in Canada is less than in Silicon Valley. Canada also has attractive R&D tax credits and is ready to provide incentives (subsidies) to attract investment. Canada is also great at start-ups and foreign corporations are on the prowl for takeovers. As well, Canada is a big market; so by investing here, foreign multinationals are in a better position to win big government contracts.

Foreign corporations still make up a major part of the tradable goods and ser-vices sector and in many industries they are the largest companies. The health of many Ontario communities, and the prospects for many auto parts companies, for ex-ample, depend on product decisions made in Toyota, General Motors, Honda, Ford, and Fiat-Chrysler head offi ces in Japan, the United States, or Europe.

But it is not just autos. Digital-economy industries in Canada are also dominated by foreign-controlled business. They include IBM, Cisco, General Electric, Google, Micro-soft, Apple, and Xerox from the U.S., Huawei from China, SAP and Siemens from Germa-ny, Ericsson from Sweden, and Nokia from Finland. In pharmaceuticals, companies such as Bayer, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi -Pasteur, and Johnson & Johnson dominate, while in chemicals DuPont, Syn-genta, and BASF are among the leaders.

IBM Canada is an example of the infl uential role played by multinational corporations. In addition to the more than $175 million it’s invested in the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Plat-form, over the past decade it has invested more than $500 million of in-kind expertise to nurture entrepreneurship in Canada, it says. It’s one of the top 10 corporate R&D spenders, investing $466 million in 2014. It works with the Ontario’s Centres of Excel-lence to help small and midsize businesses and provide them with access to new tech-nologies and expertise.

It is actively engaged with Waterfront Toronto, one of North America’s largest urban renewal projects, and is a private sec-tor partner with the Southern Ontario Water Consortium to develop new tools for water-shed management and has committed $20 million to the project. It operates a large-scale data centre in Barrie, Ont. and has in-vested an additional $90 million in the IBM Leadership Data Centre there. It opened its SoftLayer data centre in Toronto to help organizations meet the growing demand for cloud computing and has also opened its fi rst Canadian Bluemix Garage in Toronto’s Digital Media Zone, where businesses of all

sizes can accelerate the design and develop-ment of cloud applications.

Cisco Systems is another corporation investing in Canadian innovation. The world’s largest manufacturer of computer networking equipment, it signed an agree-ment with the Ontario government in 2013 to add 1,700 employees over the follow-ing six years, as part of its 10-year plan to invest $4 billion in the province, including $2.9 billion in salaries. Cisco had 1,300 employees in Ontario at the time.

Cisco is focusing on R&D and Ontario will be one of its top fi ve R&D centres globally. In return, Ontario is committed to providing Cisco with a subsidy of up to $190 million, and potentially $30 million more if Cisco proceeds to a second stage of expansion. Cisco’s R&D centre in Ot-tawa currently has about 250 employees. In 2011, the Ontario government commit-ted $25 million towards a Cisco $455-mil-lion commitment, including expanding R&D in Ottawa.

In addition, Cisco has committed to invest $150 million in Canadian venture capital funds, incubators, and innova-tive companies over 10 years. So far, the company has invested in three Canadian vencap funds. Cisco also says it is looking to acquire Canadian companies that fi t with its business strategy

Earlier this year it opened the Cisco Innovation Centre in its waterfront “smart” headquarters building in Toronto, and, like IBM, it is actively involved in Waterfront Toronto. It’s a place where students can go to learn more about the digital world, where innovators can experiment and test ideas for use on digital networks, and where Cisco will invest in start-ups and university partnerships.

Huawei, the Chinese-owned telecommu-nications company, is a growing presence in Ontario and perhaps the most success-ful Chinese investment in Canada so far. It recently received a $16-million grant from Ontario towards its planned $212 million investment in new R&D labs in Waterloo and Markham, along with growth in Otta-wa, creating another 250 research jobs. The company says it plans to invest $303 mil-lion in 5G-related research over the next fi ve years. Huawei’s Scott Bradley dates the company’s R&D commitment back to 2010 when it received a $6.5-million grant in support of its investment of $67.5 mil-lion in Ottawa to create an R&D centre. It now has 300 people in Ottawa (and 325 in Markham) including Wen Tong, who heads Huawei’s wireless research worldwide and is the company’s global leader in 5G.

There are examples in other sectors, including the opening of a $100-million R&D lab, with 300 researchers, by Sanofi -Pasteur in Toronto and the establishment of the fi rst JLabs outside the U.S. by John-son & Johnson Innovations in Toronto, an incubator for emerging companies in life sciences, to the development of water technologies by General Electric Canada in and a beefed up Engineering Centre by General Motors of Canada in Oshawa, with some 300 engineers and software writers and developers.

While Canada’s innovation strategy must aim to create our own world-com-petitive corporations, the ability to attract foreign investment will continue to be another part of our innovation strategy. In the best of all possible worlds, foreign corporations will help build Canadian tech clusters, transfer much knowledge and give Canadian employees the knowledge and skills they need to launch successful Canadian enterprises.

David Crane is a Toronto-based writer on economic, political, and environment issues. He can be reached at [email protected].

The Hill Times

Foreign multinationals investing in Canada to become an innovation nation

It’s easy being green

Companies including IBM, Cisco Systems, and Huawei are shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars.

DAVID CRANE

Barrie, Ont. Mayor Jeff Lehman, left, and then-IBM Canada president John Lutz at the opening of IBM Canada’s Leadership Data Centre in Barrie on Sept. 21, 2012. Photo courtesy of CNW Group/IBM Canada Ltd.

TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT

POLICY BRIEFING • THE HILL TIMES, JUNE 8, 2016

Boosting infrastructure in Canada’s North is critical for the health and wealth of the region, says advocates. By Selina Chignall

The way forward in indigenous consultation and consent. By NDP MP Romeo Saganash

Northern development must respect traditional way of life. By Conservative MP David Yurdiga

Putting the pieces in place for development. By Independent Senator Nick Sibbeston

The right blend of realism and vision. By Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski

North needs partner in Ottawa to spur development. By Northwest Territories Premier Bob Mcleod

Gray’s Bay port and road project would give the North a boost. By Conservative Senator Dennis Patterson

Parsing what the UN indigenous rights declaration could mean for Canada. By Selina Chignall

Critics question Ottawa’s push to investigate oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. By Selina Chignall

Canada needs to invest in northern peoples. By Liberal MP Larry Bagnell

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Flickr photo by haru__q

16 THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2016

NEWS NORTHERN INVESTMENTS

TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY BRIEFING

BY SELINA CHIGNALL

While the infrastructure needs of southern Canada are often seen as the focal point of shovel-ready projects, there is a critical need to boost infrastructure in the North.

Ryan Greer, director of trans-portation and infrastructure policy at the Canadian Chamber of Com-merce, said the North is becoming “increasingly important” strategi-cally because of the opening of the northwest passage, a new re-ality that raises questions about Canada’s northern sovereignty.

The growing signifi cance of the region, he explained, is com-ing up against the realities of its infrastructure limitation, with resource and economic proposals creating demands on infrastruc-ture capacity, in addition to simul-taneous demands for more afford-able housing

When asked what the federal government was doing to boost infrastructure in the North, Brook Simpson, press secretary to Infra-structure and Communities Min-ister Amarjeet Sohi (Edmonton Mill Woods, Alta.) told The Hill Times that the Liberal govern-ment is preparing to make robust investments to benefi t northern communities.

“Budget 2016 accelerates spending from the approximately $10 billion in available funding across Canada under the New Building Canada Fund Provincial Territorial Infrastructure Compo-nent and fully allocates remain-ing funding for previous infra-structure programs,” he said in an emailed statement.

“Of this funding, $770 mil-lion has been allocated across the North, with each territory allocated over $255 million. Of this, Yukon has over $248 million remaining for projects, while the Northwest Territories has over

$169 million and Nunavut over $200 million,” he explained, adding that communities in the three ter-ritories also have access to more than $380 million in federal infra-structure under the Gas Tax Fund.

Furthermore, there is the $40 million Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development program, which for the fi rst time since its creation in 2009, is tak-ing infrastructure proposals.

This area is a particular con-cern for the region, with Conser-vative Senator Dennis Patterson (Nunavut) painting a bleak pic-ture of the existing infrastructure in the territory he represents.

“I’m tempted to say, ‘what infrastructure?’,” he laughed.

Mr. Patterson told The Hill Times there were no roads, or ports—except for the small craft harbour in Pangnirtung—in Nunavut.

“We are very much behind the rest of Canada in terms of infra-structure in Nunavut. I think it’s particularly signifi cant there are no roads between communities, and there is no road connecting Nunavut with southern Canada,” he said.

When Minister Sohi was in the Senate for a question and answer session in May, Mr. Patterson asked him what was being done to support northern communities.

The government is “committed” to supporting northern communi-ties in their “very diverse needs” for road infrastructure and hous-ing, Mr. Sohi replied, noting that construction seasons are different in northern communities.

Currie Dixon, Yukon’s minister of community services, echoed the minister’s sentiment on the chal-lenges of construction seasons as a unique feature to the North.

“This means that the timing of project approvals from the federal government are very important.

If we don’t receive approval early enough in the year, we can lose a whole construction season,” he said in an email to The Hill Times.

But unlike Nunavut, which is lacking the most basic infrastruc-ture, Mr. Dixon said the Yukon’s infrastructure is in better shape. One area that is critical in all territories is access to high-speed internet.

Mr. Dixon said while he’s pleased with the federal govern-ment’s bump in funding for ac-cess to rural and remote broad-band—$500 million over fi ve years starting in 2016-2017—he’s unsure how those funds will be rolled out.

“We are concerned about the lack of clarity on the parameters, scope and application of the fund-ing,” he said.

The proposed plan is to build a new fi ber optic link along the Dempster Highway in the Yukon that would connect with the North-west Territories and their own fi bre networks. This new link would strengthen the telecommunications in the Yukon, but due to the un-certainty around the funding, Mr. Dixon said, “[we] are unsure how to access it at this point.”

With the challenges of boosting infrastructure in the North, Greer said there were a few ideas that could help support projects in the region. The Liberal’s proposed in their platform -- but was absent from their budget -- the idea of a Canadian Infrastructure Bank. It’s purpose as suggested, was to help municipalities and provinces build projects in their communities by providing low-cost fi nancing.

Mr. Greer, of the Chamber of Commerce, said there might be some opportunities through the bank to address strategic infrastructure gaps in the North, including incentivizing the use of public-private-partnerships to build infrastructure in the area.

He also said there was some discussion amongst the territories to look at the idea of a pan-terri-torial transportation strategy.

“With all the demands of the needs in the North, there are a number of competing port, road, rail, pipeline, fi ber optic electri-cal transmission infrastructure investment proposals that are competing for funding across all three territorial jurisdictions without real overall strategy or coordination,” he said.

“There is a lot of interest in an overarching plan to make sure the money that will be used in the North will be made in a strategic manner with the investments that have the greatest benefi ts for all the territories.”

Although there are various challenges to getting projects built in the North, Mr. Dixon said the current federal funding model developed by the previous Con-servative government, takes into account the unique geographical realities of northern Canada.

The funding model in the ter-ritories, unlike the provinces, is not based on a one-third model of each government coughing-up equal funds.

Due to the small populations and the remoteness of the com-munities “municipalities in the

North do not have the human or fi nancial capacity to participate in large infrastructure development,” Mr. Dixon said.

“Recognizing this, Yukon and the other two territories have advocated for a unique funding model, different from that used in the southern provinces,” he said.

“We were successful in this ef-fort, and the Harper government allowed the Building Canada Fund to operate on a 75 per cent federal, 25 per cent territorial basis. This has subsequently been maintained by the current Liberal government.”

The Yukon also has a “base-plus” model which gives jurisdic-tions a base amount of funding with a top-up based on per capita, Mr. Dixon said.

This model differs than having infrastructure funding allocated to jurisdictions on a per capita basis.

“Again, this was something we were able to successfully lobby for from the Harper government and something that has also been continued by the Liberal govern-ment,” he said.

For those who reside in the country’s southern regions, the general public may be unaware of the signifi cance of investing in Canada’s North, Mr. Greer stressed.

“It’s important for regular Canadian’s who don’t have much awareness to understand the im-portance of the North as Canada as a whole. For our economic well being and certainly to our future.”

[email protected]

Boosting infrastructure in Canada’s North is critical for the health and wealth of the region, say advocates

Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson (centre) joins members of the private sector in formally launching a project in Iqaluit in 2014. The Senator is calling for more robust efforts to provide crucial infrastructure to the region. Photo courtesy of the offi ce of Senator Dennis Patterson.

The Canadian-led C-27J Team Spartan stands on guard for thee.

Canada’s next Fixed Wing Search & Rescue Aircraft must be created with Canada in mind. So that’s exactly how our Canadian-led team built the C-27J Spartan. See what’s been missing in Canadian search and rescue at C-27J.ca

BY SELINA CHIGNALL

The Liberal government’s pro-posal to explore the impacts of

oil and gas exploration in the Arctic raises eyebrows amongst critics who

point to the high cost and sensitive ecosystem as barriers to developing natural resources in the region.

“Any development of any fossil fuel infrastructure in the current climate makes no sense. But if they [Liberals] had re-ally accepted that argument, we wouldn’t be debated pipelines and tankers and other expansionist approaches to oil and gas,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.)

In the 2016 budget, the Trudeau administration stated they would allocate $19 million over fi ve years, starting in 2016-2017, to Indigenous and Northern Affairs to assess the

potential environmental impact of future oil and gas exploration in Arctic regions. Working with researchers and Inuit communi-ties, they will evaluate the areas of the Beaufort Sea, Baffi n Bay and the Davis Strait, Kivalliq and Kitikmeot and the Arctic Islands of Nunavut. The fi ndings of this research conducted will determine whether or not oil and gas activity should move forward.

The government’s decision to analyze the impact of poten-tial oil and gas activity in the region is a wise decision, said Ms. May. Despite the Liberal’s sensitive approach to addressing

potential environmental impacts of resource development in the North, she said Canada’s signing of the Paris Agreement at COP21 in November 2015 suggested most of the country’s fossil fuels will have to remain in the ground if they want to avoid an increase in global average temperatures of 1.5 degrees.

“I am of the view that we should not be developing any new fossil fuel resources because we are in a climate emergency,” she said.

Nunavut Premier Peter Tap-tuna said he worked in the oil and gas sector for 15 years, and is aware of how development can

be disruptive to human nature, environment and wildlife.

Any development in the North, he said, would have to be respon-sible to those stakeholders, and any development on land or shore would have to be responsible, vet-ted and consulted on.

“We have to make sure the well-being of our communities and our people are well looked after. At the end of the day, we do need to have some revenue gen-erating activity in the community to ensure there are community benefi ts,” the premier said.

BY SELINA CHIGNALL

With Canada recently becoming a full supporter of the United

Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, experts say the guidelines the document lays out regarding free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) are critical for ensur-ing that indigenous peoples’ title rights are respected before resource projects are developed in their back-yards. But how Canada interprets and applies those guidelines is still not clear to all.

Assembly of the First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said FPIC is an opportunity for co-oper-ation and open dialogue between indigenous peoples and outside interests. He said there is “fear-mon-gering” over FPIC, which boils down to industry or government getting consent from indigenous peoples before they go ahead with projects on their land.

“I say, ‘Calm down, slow things down, and make sure there is a process for dialogue, so everyone’s rights are respected. You can work towards a common ground if those processes are respected’,” he said.

Former Conservative prime min-ister Stephen Harper was concerned FPIC would give indigenous peoples

a “de facto indigenous veto on the main resource projects,” according to The Globe and Mail.

NDP MP Romeo Saganash (Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik-Eeyou, Que.) told The Hill Times in an email that FPIC had become contentious, partially due to the previous Conser-vative government’s portrayal of the principle.

“They ran counter to Canada’s endorsement of the UN declaration and unfortunately, such extreme positions have been repeated in the media and have been used in response to indigenous peoples’ as-sertion of FPIC.”

The non-binding UN declara-tion includes 46 articles that lay out the social, economic, political, and cultural rights of indigenous peoples. The declaration was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007 by 144 countries. Canada, along with Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, voted against the document. There were 11 absten-tions.

“However, due to pressure from indigenous peoples and member countries, the government of Canada reversed their position in 2010 and offi cially endorsed the declaration,” said Mr. Saganash.

That endorsement, though, still noted that “the UNDRIP does not refl ect customary international law or change Canadian laws.”

Under the new Liberal govern-ment, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett (Toronto-St. Paul’s, Ont.) announced May 10 that Canada would adopt and implement the declaration “with-out qualifi cation.”

Angela Kokkinos, a communi-cations adviser at the Ministry of Natural Resources, told The Hill Times, “Within the declaration, the

concept of free, prior, and informed consent calls for a process of mean-ingful consultation with indigenous peoples on issues of concern to them. Through these consulta-tions, the government of Canada is demonstrating its commitment to the declaration.”

She added that in the coming months, the government, with the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada acting as lead, would be working with indig-enous peoples and other interest groups to fi gure out how to imple-ment the declaration.

Despite what may be seen as a step forward for indigenous peoples, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) is not sure how the declaration would expand their rights.

“I think we already know based on the Tsilhqot’in Nation decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that First Nations title has to be taken seriously. It’s more than consulta-tion—it’s a veto,” she said.

The 2014 decision suggested a higher burden on governments to justify economic development on in-digenous lands. On land where title has been established, the court said economic development must have the consent of the First Nation or the government must prove the develop-ment is pressing and substantial, and fulfi l its fi duciary duty to the indigenous group.

Valérie Haché, a spokesper-son for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, stated in an email to The Hill Times, “A United Na-tions General Assembly declara-tion is a document expressing a political commitment on matters of global signifi cance. By adopting and implementing the declaration, we are breathing new life into Section

35 of the Canadian Constitution and recognizing it as a full ‘box of rights’ for indigenous peoples.”

That section affi rms and recog-nizes aboriginal rights.

Mr. Saganash said the UN declaration includes fair provisions and pointed to Article 46(3) that stipulates all of the requirements outlined in the declaration “shall be interpreted in accordance with the principles of justice, democracy, re-spect for human rights, equality, non-discrimination, good governance, and good faith.”

“These are core principles of both the Canadian and international legal systems,” he said.

One place that the federal gov-ernment could look at as a model for nation-to-nation relationships on natural resources is Nunavut, said Conservative Senator Dennis Pat-terson, who represents the northern territory. The Inuit of the territory have a signifi cant voice in resource development and resource decisions through co-management boards that were established in the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement of 1993.

“The implications of the UN declaration is a greater role for ab-original people in decision-making

around resource development...we have a model in Nunavut and to some degree in other northern re-gions where comprehensive claims settled as a priority,” he said.

When asked about the declara-tion last week in an interview with APTN, Mr. Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) said: “Are we going to get absolute unanimity on every project going forward? There is always going to be someone, somewhere who is op-posed for different reason.”

He added: “When you get to an issue, theoretically, you have 20 dif-ferent communities approving the pipeline and one that has concerns about it...ultimately you have to go with consensus.”

Sen. Patterson said those in the natural resource industry have told him they are keen to have the rules of the declaration clarifi ed.

“The rules are clear in Nunavut because...we have a settled land claim, and we have a regulatory process that has been spelled out in statute including the consultation obligations, which are a pivotal piece of the UN declaration. We have to do that for the rest of Canada,” he said.



NEWS UNDRIP


Parsing what the UN indigenous rights declaration could mean for Canada

Critics question Ottawa’s push to investigate oil and gas exploration in the Arctic

Experts say Canada’s agreement to implement the UN declaration could help strengthen indigenous peoples’ control over natural resources on their lands.

Community well-being must be considered when weighing resource projects, says Nunavut premier.

NEWS ARCTIC EXPLORATION

Continued on page 23

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett announced May 10 that Canada would adopt and implement the UN declaration ‘without qualifi cation.’ The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

There are priceless resource riches in the Arctic. These are unique, precious and

awaiting us. These are the “people” of the Arctic, who have survived for generations in the harshest conditions in the world. What innovation that must have taken.

Canada needs more Inuit. Can all of us not learn lessons from these kind, peaceful and joyful survivors of freezing blizzards and 24 hours of darkness? Their warmth overcomes all. And there are Gwichin and other rich and colourful indigenous cul-tures in the Arctic.

The “people” is where Canada needs to invest.

In 2016, the Arctic resources will never be developed unless the indigenous peo-ples, who have made this their homeland for generations, are one of the partners and benefactors of development and growth.

There are vast tourism and mineral resources in the North. Huge quantities of gold, silver, copper, zinc, rare earth met-als, and even diamonds, lie within reach, just as do spectacular natural, historic, and heritage tourism attractions. Great potential exists for a digital economy and commercialization of new technologies to protect infrastructure from intense climate change effects.

But resource development also brings a proportionately large infl ux of strangers, whether for expertise or simply a work-force. This can result in importation of dis-ease, substance abuse, loss of culture, and a feeling of loss or alienation in your own land. Easy access, partly due to climate change, and certain extraction techniques can irresponsibly damage an already frag-ile ecosystem.

A mine on land, using some of Canada’s world leading reclamation processes, and greener and effi cient extraction processes (more to be developed with new funds from the Trudeau government) is one thing, having millions of barrels of oil pouring into the sensitive Arctic Ocean is another.

These potential catastrophes are why the government is committed to a knowl-edge based road map to development of the Arctic. The knowledge will not only be comprised of the traditional scientifi c methods, but will also be dependent on the traditional knowledge of the ages from the indigenous peoples of the Arctic.

How does one access and market these distant resource riches? Unlike the rest of Canada, many of the North’s resources and people are stranded far from roads, ports, airports, and energy grids. They are already at an economic disadvantage, due to distance from energy, market, suppli-ers and labour. Add in accessibility to the equation, and it explains why some massive deposits are now left sitting in the ground. To transport these out, look for

more experimentation with airships in the not too distant future.

Since Confederation, almost every little seashore town in southern Canada has a dock, wharf or harbour, most of which the federal government invested in. But in the North, there are no major developed harbour ports. Unbelievable. No roads, no ports. No wonder food costs many times what southern Canadians pay. And what little infrastructure we have is under threat due to climate change, which is felt greater here than anywhere in the world.

There is no known technology to ef-fectively and successfully clean-up an oil spill, the likes of that in the Gulf of Mexico, in ice fi lled waters. In fact, there was no effective clean-up in the almost ideal warm

conditions of the Gulf. Now, imagine a blow-out under ice in 24 hours of darkness and in a blizzard to boot.

I assume that this presently insur-mountable problem and risk is why Shell, after investing millions in Arctic waters, has now all but abandoned its Arctic Ocean efforts.

I’ve been told 5,000 boats were involved in the Gulf of Mexico clean up. With no harbours, no wharfs, no supply lines to gas up or get food or shelter, where would 5000 boats stay, even if you had access to them in the Arctic.

But there remains a wealth of mineral and tourism resources awaiting extraction. Many of these need added infrastructure, roads and perhaps a dredged port at Tuktoyaktuk or a

deep water port at Kings Point, Yukon.But with infrastructure intrusion comes

the same dichotomy of opportunities and challenges.

In summation, the Arctic has immense riches that bring both tremendous fi nancial and employment opportunities and huge social and environmental challenges. In-cursions into the delicate balance of an ecosystem striving to survive a harsh envi-ronment, and into the fragile social fabric of a kind resilient civilization and culture, must be done with the utmost consider-ation, consultation and care.

Liberal MP Larry Bagnell represents the northern territory of Yukon.



OPINION RESOURCE EXTRACTION


Canada needs to invest in northern peoples

LIBERAL MP LARRY BAGNELL

Yukon was built on self-reliance, realism and vision.

In a cold northern climate, far from major centres, we created the Yukon of today by relying not just on our natural resources but also our human resources.

heart of our identity.

Yukon First Nations are leaders in self-government and modern treaties. Our business community is a hub of innovation and grit, the same qualities that drove our famous Gold Rush.

Yukon is where the realities of living in the North come together with entrepreneurial spirit and self-reliance to drive new, exciting economic opportunities.

prosperity.

www.gov.yk.ca

A Message from Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski

The Arctic has immense riches that bring both tremendous fi nancial and employment opportunities and huge social and environmental challenges.

Canada is a Northern nation. The North is a fundamental part

of our heritage and our national identity. Now more than ever, the Liberal government must recog-nize the tremendous opportunities

– as well as the many challenges – that exist in the North today.

The North is central to the Canadian national identity; and our Northern policy must be fi rst and foremost about the people. The Inuit and other Aboriginal peoples, includ-ing the Dene, Gwich’in, Cree and Métis who have occupied Canada’s northern lands and waterways for millennia, are central to our shared heritage and our destiny as a nation. Canada’s strong and proud presence in the North is due in large part to the contributions of Inuit and other Aboriginal people.

Northerners, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike, are at the heart of Northern policy making. Northern development is a partner-ship between the federal govern-ment, territorial governments and Aboriginal people. We continue to work towards greater political ma-turity and certainty in the North. The federal and territorial govern-ments are working together as the territories take on jurisdictional powers and responsibilities similar to those of the provinces. The previous Conservative government worked closely with Aboriginal people throughout the North to ne-gotiate land claim and self-govern-

ment agreements that have given them the institutions and resources to achieve greater self-suffi ciency.

Unlocking the potential in Canada’s North takes strong leadership and vision. That is why the previous Conservative govern-ment took the challenges facing many northern communities seri-ously. When the Conservative Party formed government in 2006, it took steps to improve the social condi-tions for many Northerners. In Nunavut for example, the previous Conservative government invested more than $100 million in afford-able housing initiatives to address the fact that almost half the popula-tion lived in overcrowded housing, in part due to the decision by the previous Liberal government to cut federal spending on social housing.

Today, Northerners can point to new housing initiatives and other major infrastructure projects, like the small craft harbour in Pangni-tung, deep water ports at Nanisivik and Iqaluit, and the Mayo B hydro-electric dam in Yukon, that were supported by our Conservative government. In addition, millions of dollars have been invested in Northern communities through the Strategic Investments in Northern

Economic Development Program (SINED), including $8 million for geoscience data collection and $2.1 million in a Pooled Capital Fund for Community Futures Develop-ment Corporations in the North-west Territories. This investment is helping to improve their ability to provide local businesses and entre-preneurs with lines of credit, busi-ness loans, and loan guarantees.

Infrastructure development in the North was a key part of our Conservative government’s North-ern Strategy. The Conservative Party believes in a strong and sovereign Canada; federal investment in an all-season road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk that completes the Dempster Highway realizes the vision of Canadians connected from coast to coast to coast. The Northern Strategy also created the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor), which was a key step towards unlocking the poten-tial of Northerners. The formation of CanNor and the introduction of measures that will bring jobs to northern Canadians is part of our Conservative vision to encourage resource development, bring jobs, growth and long term prosperity to Canada’s North.

Northern development is about respecting the traditional way of life in the North, including taking action to protect and conserve the unique environment and wildlife that Northerners rely on. This is why the previous Conservative government invested $8 million in the ecoEN-ERGY for Aboriginal and Northern Communities Program, which promotes the development of clean energy technologies in Aboriginal and northern communities; $7.6 million to fund the development of community-relevant informa-tion and tools for Aboriginal and northern communities to assess climate change vulnerabilities and to develop adaption plans; and $60 million to protect Canadian water-ways from shipping pollution.

Canadians can be proud of a Conservative government that, for a decade, made the North a priority. Our commitment to creating good paying jobs, investing in affordable housing, lowering barriers to educa-tion, supporting key infrastructure projects, and promoting smart investment in northern communities helped unlock the potential of Cana-da’s North. Canada is a world leader in the North; if the new Liberal government is committed to making northern people a priority, then we will continue to stand proudly as a Northern nation.

Conservative MP David Yurdiga, who represents Fort McMurray-Cold Lake, is the vice-chair of the House committee on Indigenous and northern affairs.


Planning for seven generations is a phrase used by all sorts of

people and corporations; however, the teaching is a complex critical engagement with long-term plan-

ning that not everyone truly un-derstands. Ultimately, the concept refers to what Cindy Blackstock explains as an “understanding that you will be forgotten, but that you have a part in ensuring that your people’s ways continue.”

When an indigenous communi-ty plans for infrastructure or other development, it isn’t only about increasing profi ts. It is about long-term thinking based on teachings given by our elders and consider-ing future generations.

I hear a lot of talk about what the adoption and implementa-tion of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will mean for future business devel-opment in Canada. Some fear that “growth,” “investment,” and “profi ts” will come to an end.

I hear less discussion about using the declaration to expand Canada’s vision of what is pos-

sible economically, politically, and socially. Many will be surprised to learn that there are more than two economic models that exist in this vast and diverse land. Instead of an unrelenting quest for growth, I would like all Canadians to consid-er: “What is an economy for?” and “What do we want it to provide?”

In the 1960s and ‘70s, the Eeyou nation and my community of Waswanipi asserted our right to self-determination over our ter-ritory. We were not only fi ghting against development of a new hy-droelectric dam, we were fi ghting against unilateral development based on Western values that ex-cluded our Cree ways of being.

In exchange for an agreement of how to share the land and so that all parts of Quebec society could benefi t from the new dam, indigenous communities received extensive direct fi nancial compen-sation to be self-managed and used for economic development through three development corporations: Cree, Inuit, and Naskapi. There has been enormous creativity and inno-vation based on indigenous ways because we had direct control of monies and used them according to our needs and priorities.

A good example of limited con-ventional Canadian economic think-ing was when then-Quebec premier Robert Bourassa challenged Chief Billy Diamond by telling him that Crees couldn’t manage companies. Infl uenced by our teachings and val-ues, Diamond established CreeCo,

which is committed to self-suffi -ciency, longevity, and services to the Cree communities. We diversifi ed our economy by investing in energy and mining, but also in construction, hospitality, culture, aviation, young entrepreneurs, and scholarship. Today, because we insisted on self-determination, Eeyou Istchee has a strong, viable economy.

Investing in infrastructure in the North could lead to a whole range of environmental, social, and cultural impacts for indigenous peoples in the North. International and Canadian law has been clear for decades on the obligation to consult indigenous peoples. In fact, the Tsilhqot’in Nation Supreme Court ruling is the law of the land in this country when it comes to consultation and consent; the Supreme Court of Canada has clarifi ed the far-reaching signifi cance of indig-enous peoples’ consent.

This means that we need in-depth discussions with indigenous peoples and their communities as to what northern development projects might entail. Communities must be supported to do their own impact assessments and investigate cultural impacts. At all times, governments must respect the indigenous rights and institutions in the pre-Confed-eration, numbered, and modern treaties, while bearing in mind that different indigenous peoples have the right to determine their own approaches based on their own per-spectives, priorities, and values.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples creates no new rights, obligations, or laws; it reaffi rms existing laws that Canada is already required to uphold. I welcome the adoption and imple-mentation of the declaration by the government of Canada, through my bill, C-262. It will provide clarity on how best to proceed with develop-ment projects, help to defi ne what rights are contained within Section 35 of the Constitution, and allow the Canadian government to take steps to amend past injustices towards a reconciled future.

In Eeyou Istchee we say: we honour and thank the hunters who fought for our rights. Through their respect for our traditions and knowledge and by signing agree-ments with different levels of gov-ernment, we have determined our lives and future based on Cree ways of being. I would argue that all of Northern Quebec is enriched by the collaborative relationship we share regarding economic, political, and social development within Cree, Inuit, and Naskapi territories.

This is an exciting moment in history: I look forward to building other opportunities for collabora-tion across Canada.

Romeo Saganash is the NDP MP for Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik-Eeyou, Que. and his party’s critic for intergovernmental aboriginal affairs and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.



OPINION UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES


The way forward in indigenous consultation and consent

Northern development must respect traditional way of life

Many will be surprised to learn that there are more than two economic models that exist in this vast and diverse land.

Northern development is about respecting the traditional way of life in the North, including taking action to protect and conserve the unique environment and wildlife that Northerners rely on.

OPINION NORTHERN INFRASTRUCTURE

NDP MP ROMEO SAGANASH

CONSERVATIVE MP DAVID YURDIGA

The Northwest Territories’ potential to contribute to the national economy is

huge. While vast reserves of gas and oil have been identifi ed, only small pockets have been exploited. Territorial mines have, for more than 80 years, produced gold, diamonds, tungsten, lead, and other minerals, and are the largest contributor to the territorial GDP. Much of this potential remains untapped and many benefi ts do not remain with northerners but fl ow south.

Resource development—indeed any development in the North—faces signifi cant challenges. Many communities are isolated, accessible only by winter roads, summer barge traffi c, and air. While the northern workforce has improved over the last two decades, educa-tion and training remain a challenge.

External factors, too, impact develop-ment. The troubled world economy has reduced commodity prices and made mining and oil and gas production challenging. While prices will inevitably rise again, the serious need to address climate change may place a permanent damper on petroleum prices, making environmental concerns over oil and gas production irrelevant in the face of high-cost northern production.

Climate change poses diffi culties for com-munities as infrastructure built on permafrost degrades and must be replaced. Lower water levels limit barge traffi c down the Mackenzie River and has interfered with hydro-power generation, forcing the territorial government to rely more on diesel-generated power, an ironic solution to a climate-caused problem.

All is not bleak. The government of the Northwest Territories has committed to building all-weather roads down the Mackenzie Valley and to mineral-rich areas northeast of Yellowknife. The federal govern-ment has identifi ed six possible road projects in its 10-year infrastructure plan. Over the long term, roads lower the cost for residents and resource developers. Mines (or oil and gas wells) built close to existing roads are less costly to build and operate; new roads should make more projects viable.

Northern roads are expensive—$1 million a kilometre—and long-term federal investments will be needed if highways are to be construct-ed to take advantage of the next upturn in the world economy. The Mackenzie highway offers the greatest opportunity to both stabilize com-munities and enhance resource development.

Roads alone will not ensure economic development in the Northwest Territories. The engagement of indigenous people is critical both in managing resource development on their traditional lands but also as direct partici-pants in the economy.

Canada’s adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will enhance that role, but the NWT

may now serve as a model for the rest of Canada. Institutions created by land claims ensure that indigenous communities have a signifi cant say in development. Moreover, capital provided by settlements allowed in-digenous peoples such as the Inuvialuit and Tli’cho to become major economic players.

The single most important thing Canada could do to stimulate development in the North is to settle outstanding land claims in the Dehcho and Akaitcho regions.

No development is worthwhile unless the people who live in the North benefi t from it. Critical to that is training for individuals and preparation by communities.

The federal budget extended funding for Adult Basic Education, but more important is the proposed review and renewal of the

program to suit northern needs. In many places, this means helping people make the transition from a traditional lifestyle, where work is sporadic and seasonal, to a modern one with regular hours and routine. It is not enough to create jobs; we have to prepare people to want to take them.

Working with industry and indigenous com-munities, we can prepare workers for the next economic upturn. At the same time, communi-ties need better planning to take advantage of opportunities when they arrive. In addition to efforts to improve regulatory processes, Can-Nor (the Canadian Northern Economic Devel-opment Agency) should be expanding efforts in community economic preparedness.

Finally, people benefi t most from devel-opments in their own backyard. Strategic

investments in local green power production, such as solar, wind, and small-scale hydro, improve environments. Enhanced support for fi sheries and local agriculture improves food security. Extending fi bre optic lines to all communities improves connectivity. In-vestments in tourism and parks will expand our connection to Canada. And all of it will support long-term economic growth while lowering costs to northern residents.

Highways, land claims, engagement of communities, training, and strategic invest-ments in local economies are all needed to develop the North for the benefi t of its residents and Canada.

Nick Sibbeston is an independent Senator for the Northwest Territories.

The Hill Times


OPINION NORTHWEST TERRITORIES


Putting the pieces in place for development Highways, land claims, community engagement, training, and strategic investments in local economies are all needed to develop the North for the benefi t of its residents and Canada.

INDEPENDENT SENATOR NICK SIBBESTON

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POLICY BRIEFING

In this vitally important and timely policy briefing, The Hill

Times looks into the latest on the federal government’s newly-established $5-million West Coast Energy Fund. We look into Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings’ considering offering First Nations 50 per cent ownership stake on the planned Albertan crude-to-tidewater Eagle Spirit Pipeline. We follow up on the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business’ Environics survey on economic

development. We look deeper into the Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for the North’s first report on successful aboriginal businesses. And we dig into Membertou First Nation and how Gov.-Gen. David Johnston says it’s a great model for the world of how a community can develop leadership and innovation.

Be a part of this important policy briefing in The Hill Times.

ABORIGINALOPPORTUNITIESTHE HILL TIMES POLICY BRIEFING JUNE 20, 2016

The Northwest Territories has long been recognized for the

unparalleled economic potential of its natural resources, includ-ing hydroelectric potential on par with James Bay, world class oil and gas reserves and mineral de-posits like diamonds, gold, tung-sten, lead, zinc and rare earths. Responsible development of these resources could fuel economic growth for not just the NWT, but for the whole country.

Last October, Justin Trudeau responded to a letter I sent to federal leaders saying that the Northwest Territories has huge potential for growth, but it needs a real partner who will invest in its people, infrastructure, and research, in order to ensure that

this growth is realized. In his letter, he wrote of his belief that a Prime Minister has three main jobs: keeping our country united, keeping Canadians safe, and ensuring everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed.

Ensuring our residents have a real and fair chance to suc-ceed remains a priority for me as the fi rst two-term Premier of the Northwest Territories. But the North is markedly different than the rest of Canada, and achiev-ing success for NWT residents requires recognition of the unique circumstances we face.

The NWT economy is small and highly dependent on resource development. Mining, oil and gas account for 33% of territorial GDP when all linkages are con-sidered. Diamond mining contin-ues to drive the NWT’s economy and provide much-needed jobs, income and revenues to Northern residents and governments, but not all regions of the NWT are sharing equally in those benefi ts.

The majority of NWT residents

employed in the diamond industry live in Yellowknife. In 2015, the NWT unemployment rate was 8.3 per cent, compared to a national rate of 6.9 per cent, but there were signifi cant regional variations. Fur-ther analysis shows that nearly a quarter of our residents in 29 small communities were unemployed, compared to only 4.7 per cent in Yellowknife.

Income distribution shows a similar pattern. The top 20 per cent of income earners in 2010 made $205,700, but the bottom 20 per cent earned only $16,300, which was $1,900 below the national average.

Prosperity for one region is not the Canadian, or the Northern, way. With 33 communities spread over a territory the size of Alberta and Saskatchewan combined, ensuring all residents enjoy the benefi ts and opportunities afforded by resource development continues to be a challenge, especially those living in the small predominantly Aboriginal communities outside our largest centres. Encouraging potential development in other regions is imperative.

More than 40 years after it was fi rst proposed, the Mackenzie Gas Project, which could transform the economy and lives of Beaufort Delta residents, is in a holding pattern. Offshore oil and gas ex-ploration in that region is also on hold. Development of permitted mining projects in the Dehcho, Tlicho and Akaitcho regions remain stalled, hampered by lack of transportation infrastructure, among other challenges. Devel-opment of oil and gas reserves in the central Mackenzie and Dehcho is also on hold, lack of

access and low prices among the challenges it faces. While less im-mediate, access to skilled labour will also be an issue.

Our challenges are stark.With only 2,200 kilometres of

all-season highway, 82 per cent of the NWT’s land mass is more than 50 kilometres from the near-est all-weather road. Only 12 of 33 communities enjoy uninterrupted highway access to southern Cana-da and four are only accessible by air or water.

Only eight NWT communities have access to hydroelectricity, while the remaining 25 are pow-ered primarily by standalone diesel generators. Residential electricity rates run from about $0.30/kWh in Yellowknife to a high of $0.65/kWh in non-hydro communities. Com-pare that to on-peak rates of $0.18/kWh in Ottawa or Toronto.

Core housing need, housing that fails to meet standards for adequate condition, suitable size or affordabil-ity is the second highest in Canada, with 20 per cent of our households in core need, compared to a national average of 12.5 per cent.

Addressing these challenges means addressing our $3.4 billion public infrastructure defi cit and an estimated defi cit of $23 million

for municipal infrastructure and $50 million for housing.

With a $1.3 billion limit on its borrowing, the Government of the NWT has the will, but not the means, to make the necessary transformative investments in the territory. We have made a start, leveraging partnerships with regional Aboriginal governments, but we need the federal govern-ment to do its part to ensure that our residents have the same chance to succeed that their fel-low Canadians do.

The Prime Minister and his government have an historic op-portunity to invest in the North and address its lagging economic and social development. With a population that is just over 50 per cent Aboriginal, it would also go a long way towards redressing the historic inequities experienced by Canada’s indigenous people and demonstrating the federal govern-ment’s commitment to renewed relationships with them.

Bob McLeod is the fi rst two-term Premier of the Northwest Territories. He is Métis and was born and raised in the community of Fort Providence, NWT.


Yukoners have always taken great pride in self-reliance.

That was true centuries ago when Yukon First Nations sub-sisted in a pre-contact world.

It was true of the fi rst men and women who dragged themselves and everything they owned over the Chilkoot Trail in search of gold.

And it remains true today.As Yukoners, we want to be self-

sustaining and we want to contrib-ute to Canada, in every way.

We believe our voice is as important to Canada’s economy as it is to its cultural identity. Our perspective speaks to a specifi c and vital part of the Canadian identity, and the rest of Canada benefi ts when it makes room for our voice in Confederation.

Of course, living this far north also makes us realists. We know

better than anyone what is pos-sible in this climate, this far from a major centre.

Our realism is part of why we are so committed to ensuring our resource sector succeeds. Yukon has some of the world’s best min-eral potential. It would be foolish to turn our backs on it.

And, it would be unrealistic.But our natural-resource boun-

ty isn’t enough on its own. We need a trained, skilled workforce that can capitalize on the oppor-tunities created by our resources.

That’s why we are investing in mine training initiatives, through Yu-kon College, to ensure that youth in communities have the skills to work in mining and exploration.

It’s only an economic benefi t if the people who live here can gain the direct benefi t of jobs, training, and business opportunities.

When that happens, it creates a full cycle of benefi ts that helps retail, restaurants, and other businesses, and forms a viable tax base to help pay for vital government services.

We will always be a resource jurisdiction. But what’s changing is that we, as Yukoners, are look-

ing beyond our historic limits.We are diversifying, but we

are doing it in a way that builds on what we already have. Our government believes that we need to create new economic opportu-nities and new jobs without losing the jobs and benefi ts that have been at the heart of our identity for decades.

As realists, we are building a Yukon that remains a resource powerhouse, but also leads the country in areas like IT, renew-able energy, northern climate research, and even governance.

We are already leaders in renewable energy, with 95 per cent of all electricity generated through hydro. We are in that enviable position, because more than 50 years ago, someone had the vision to build a hydro dam. They saw far beyond what was needed in that moment—they saw what could be.

Yukoners are proof that you can be a realist and a visionary at the same time.

Right now, we are planning the Next Generation Hydro project that will power the next century’s innovators and entrepreneurs. We

will have affordable, clean energy that will help us decrease our reli-ance on heating fuel and help us reduce our already low emissions.

But new hydro is a longer-term goal. So we are also investing in biomass projects to see if we can reduce consumption of heating fuels and create new business op-portunities for low-impact forestry.

Yukon is also blessed with high-speed Internet in every community. That’s why we have been investing in the information technology sector, in the hopes of helping Yukon entrepreneurs suc-ceed in the new economy.

This year, we made the single-largest investment in IT in our history. Yukoners will benefi t from better e-services; and local com-panies will create jobs by helping implement and, in some cases, fully develop those services.

As for governance, some might say that isn’t an economic matter. Yukoners know better.

Our territory has nearly half of Canada’s modern treaties. And those First Nations are now at the leading edge of our economic and social development.

First Nation development cor-porations have access to extensive capital and their affi liated self-gov-erning First Nations have the care and control over their land and people to ensure those investments provide the greatest benefi t to the largest number of people.

To bring our story full circle, it’s worth pointing out that resource de-velopment in this country is no longer possible without strong First Nations engagement and participation.

With modern treaties, First Nations are able to work directly with large corporations—as full partners—and ensure that any project is consistent with local values and ensures local benefi ts.

That’s what can be accom-plished with the right blend of realism and vision.

If the rest of the country is open to listening to our views and recognizing that we do better when we develop policy and pro-grams locally, we know that we can continue to be a signifi cant contributor to this country.

Darrell Pasloski is premier of Yukon.

The Hill Times


OPINION YUKON


The right blend of realism and vision

North needs partner in Ottawa to spur development

OPINION NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES PREMIER BOB MCLEOD

BY YUKON PREMIER DARRELL PASLOSKI

The Northwest Territories has abundant natural resources that if developed responsibly could ‘fuel economic growth’ for the region and the entire country, says Premier Bob McLeod. Pictured: A large former gold mine near Yellowknife, the territory’s capital. Wikipeda photo courtesy of WinterCity296


OPINION INFRACTRUCTURE


At the Civic Auditorium in Winnipeg on Feb. 12, 1958,

my hero, then-prime minister John Diefenbaker spoke of his vision for Canada’s Arctic. “We intend to carry out the legislative program of Arctic research, to develop Arctic routes, to develop those vast hidden resources the last few years have revealed...Plans to increase self-government in the Yukon and Northwest Ter-ritories. We can see one or two provinces there.”

However, Diefenbaker’s vision for developing Arctic routes to develop the “vast hidden resourc-es” of the Arctic is still yet to be realized, although it was another Conservative prime minister, Ste-

phen Harper, who approved the soon-to-be completed construc-tion of the last leg of Diefen-baker’s Dempster Highway, the link from the Mackenzie Delta in Inuvik to the Beaufort Sea at Tuktoyaktuk.

But infrastructure in the North is still severely lacking. In Nunavut, there are 25 fl y-in only communities with no roads linking any communities, and no road link to southern Canada. Nunavut is composed of 25 coastal communities, and not one has a port able to accom-modate the deep draft sealift vessels that are vital for resup-ply. Nunavut relies solely on diesel to power its communities, despite being in a territory with rich hydro potential.

During a recent exchange in Senate question period with Infrastructure Minister Amar-jeet Sohi, I asked whether the infrastructure needs of remote regions of Canada would be considered in addition to transit in major cities. I was pleased to hear the minister say, in response, that he is committed “to supporting northern com-munities in their very diverse needs for road infrastructure, for making sure that we are untap-ping the potential in the North for resource development.”

One particular nation-build-ing project in this category is

the Gray’s Bay port and road in the western Nunavut region known as the Kitikmeot. This would ultimately be the first road linking the Canadian highway and rail system to tide water in Nunavut.

The all-weather Gray’s Bay road and port would allow a rich zinc-copper deposit at Izok Lake and High Lake in Nuna-vut to be become feasible and accessible, the first of many promising mining prospects. It could also serve as an alterna-tive north-to-south access route to three diamond mines in the Northwest Territories that are now resupplied annually by a winter ice road from Yellow-knife, which is threatened by climate change.

The premiers of both territo-ries and the Canada Transporta-tion Act Review report tabled by Transport Minister Marc Garneau earlier this year, support the Gray’s Bay project, which will realize Diefenbaker’s vision of ac-cessing a corridor rich in mineral potential.

The Gray’s Bay project also is a prime example of aboriginal partnership, since the Inuit-owned Nunavut Resources Corporation, partnered with the government of Nunavut, would build and own the road and port, collecting long-term lease payments from the mining company and other users.

The Inuit would also be entitled to share in mining royalties from the project, a term of their 1993 land claims agreement.

This deep-water port could also serve the Royal Canadian Navy and Coast Guard as a refuelling location, as well as a safe landing area for stor-age and resupply needs in the region.

With roads also come vital links to services. Fibre optic cables could be laid at the same time as the road is being built, bringing increased access to broadband for northern residents and researchers at the High Arc-tic Research Station.

Projects such as the Gray’s Bay road and port would bring wealth and GDP growth to Canada, particularly Edmonton and Yellowknife, gateways to the region, as well as sorely needed employment in a region with a growing population where high operating costs and lack of infrastructure to date have posed major barriers to investment and private development.

Most important, infrastructure investment in Canada’s Arctic will reinforce Canadian sover-eignty, as Russia and other cir-cumpolar countries invest heavily and extensively in their Arctic. When the Canadian Pacifi c Rail-way, the Trans-Canada highway, and federal ports were being built in southern Canada, the Arc-tic—40 per cent of Canada’s land mass and its longest coast—was overlooked because of our small population and sparse political representation.

Now is the time to ensure that Canada’s biggest infrastructure program fi nally allows all Canada to access and benefi t from those vast and hitherto hidden resourc-es in John Diefenbaker’s vision—from a region poised and willing to contribute to Canada’s growth in partnership with its original Inuit inhabitants.

Conservative Senator Dennis Patterson represents Nunavut and is a former premier of the Northwest Territories.


It would bring us on the road to realizing Diefenbaker’s vision of accessing a corridor rich in mineral potential.

Gray’s Bay port and road project would give the North a boost

CONSERVATIVE SENATOR DENNIS PATTERSON

Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, pictured earlier this year, recently told Senators that he is committed ‘to supporting northern communities in their very diverse needs for road infrastructure, for making sure that we are untapping the potential in the North for resource development.’ The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

NEWS ARCTIC EXPLORATION

Critics question Ottawa’s push to investigate oil and gas exploration in the Arctic

With there being signifi cant oil and gas resources in the region, Mr. Taptuna said, at the moment, he doesn’t want the federal govern-ment creating policies or initiatives that would hamper the territories ability to decide on projects while they are still negotiating their devo-lution with Ottawa.

Ms. May, though, argued any oil and gas projects in the Arctic re-gion are going to be too costly un-less the energy companies receive government subsidies.

“It’s just too expensive unless it received massive government subsidies nobody is going to want to develop oil and gas in the Arc-tic. That is something the larger

oil companies would tell you,” she said.

Some big names in the energy sector have already given up on Arctic energy exploration.

In September 2015, Royal Dutch Shell announced it was scrapping their plans to look at oil exploration off the coast of Alaska, hinting that perhaps exploration in Canada’s Arctic region would also be sunsetting

Imperial Oil and its associ-ates postponed exploration in the Beaufort region in June, while Chevron Canada decided in December to scrap their plans in-defi nitely for exploration, accord-ing to reporting by the Canadian Press.

Both fi rms cited the National Energy Board’s requirement that

companies show they can kill a ruptured oil well in the Arctic offshore in the same season it’s drilled as a “diffi cult and costly proposition” in the usually ice covered region, the Press re-ported.

NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skee-na—Bulkley Valley, B.C.) said it’s almost impossible to have an in-season relief well created in the Arctic because moving a rig up there usually cannot be done within one season.

“That has been one of the main barriers to exploration,” he said.

Even if oil and gas explora-tion proved to be successful, the sensitivity of the ecosystem in the region raises a red fl ag of concern.

The village of Clyde River in Nunavut last fall took its com-plaint about seismic testing per-formed by three oil companies to the Supreme Court, following the Federal Court of Appeal’s rejection of their previous motion against the National Energy Board’s 2014 decision to allow testing in the Davis Strait, according to report-ing by the National Observer.

“It’s a sensitive ecosystem. We do know that seismic testing has a negative impact on marine mammals and marine life,” Ms. May said, calling the Clyde River situation “outrageous” and urging the federal government to support the efforts of the village by pro-hibiting further seismic testing.

Mr. Cullen also stressed the importance of those living in

the Arctic to make decisions on projects for themselves. Living in northwestern British Columbia, he said he recognizes the con-nection people in the North have with the land.

“The connection between land and people is incredibly strong. When companies threaten that in any way…the result is companies coming up against other inter-ests—like food and water—when people live close to the land as many do in the North,” he said.

The Hill Times reached out to parliamentary secretary for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Yvonne Jones (Labrador, N.L.) for comment, but was told she was unavailable to comment.



THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 201624OPINION FOREIGN AFFAIRS

This July, a NATO summit is set to take place in Warsaw,

Poland. Sixty-one years prior, in May 1955, this same city was the site of the inauguration of the Soviet-backed Warsaw Pact Orga-nization (WPO).

It was a very different geopoliti-cal world. In 1955, West Germany was being integrated into NATO. The intra/inner-German border was defi ned as NATO’s central front, with its northern and southern fl anks reaching from Norway to Turkey. This was a zero-sum Cold War stand-off between the ideologi-cal rivals as embodied by the mem-ber states of NATO and the WPO.

In 2016, the NATO summit in Warsaw is expected to deal with a politically, economically, and mili-tarily redefi ned Europe. The Cold War rivalry has been replaced by multi-dimensional interests be-tween contemporary NATO and the Russian Federation.

Today, there is both a conver-gence of interest (witness Syria), and a divergence (witness Ukraine).

With a resurgent Russia presenting a challenge on what is now being called its eastern fl ank, NATO government leaders have the opportunity to meet this chal-lenge constructively, whereby the eastern fl ank need not become a new eastern front.

A new challenge for NATO is Russia’s recent use of mili-tary force as an instrument of politics: the classic Clausewitzian defi nition of war. From Georgia to Ukraine and then to Syria, Russia has used military might to further its foreign policy interests. This was not a Soviet-style Cold War redux, but rather a Russian response to what it perceived as a post-Cold War loss of infl uence.

The NATO Wales summit in 2014 also grappled with the resur-gence of Russian military power and set out to craft a NATO re-sponse, which became known as a reassurance package, for its more vulnerable members along the eastern and southeastern fl anks. Essentially, this was characterized by a big boost in NATO multina-tional exercises and a limited pre-positioning of weapons, such as one U.S. brigade’s worth of tanks.

The Warsaw summit will need to take stock of the varied confl uence of interests since 2014, such as the establishment of the Minsk 2 pro-cess in February 2015, which put in place a precarious ceasefi re in east-ern Ukraine and a still-unfulfi lled

roadmap for a political settlement.In the Middle East, develop-

ments such as the nuclear deal with Iran and the limited cease-fi re in Syria were achieved with active diplomatic co-operation between the United States and Russia. The picture is one of a mix of antagonism and co-operation.

Reading the tea leaves on the summit preparations underway in Brussels and NATO capitals, it seems the outcome will lead to a further strengthening of the Wales reassurance package with something akin to a deterrence and defence package.

Speculation is that NATO will

deploy “on a permanent rotation-al basis” about four multinational battalions in Poland and the Baltic states.

The nuance on “permanent” and “rotational” is to conform to what is perceived to be the letter, if not the spirit, of the 1997 NATO-Russian Founding Act prohibiting the perma-nent stationing of non-indigenous NATO troops in NATO countries east of Germany. Some observers argue that the NATO pledge not to station permanent forces was, in fact, conditional on the security situation faced by the alliance, and that under the current circumstances there is no valid prohibition.

The Russians recently reacted to this by stating that three new Russian divisions will be deployed in its western and southern fl anks by the end of 2016. The Russians are indicating they will respond to any NATO build-up with whatever means are deemed necessary to protect their perceived national interests.

So far, this is the deterrence/defence track being taken by NATO and Russia. Add to this the issue of the level and type of mili-tary aid for Ukraine in its stale-mate with the Russian-supported rebel enclaves in the Donbass.

Underlying this track is the concern in NATO that should the Russians decide to use limited, non-nuclear, military force against NATO in an effort to undermine the alliance’s cohesion, the Baltic states, vulnerable to a Russian incursion, would require reinforce-ment. How much is enough?

A Rand Corporation study from earlier this year suggests an answer in the context of a lim-ited conventional Russian attack: seven brigades, three of which would need to be heavy-armoured. NATO leaders are unlikely to agree to such numbers, ergo the four-battalion option.

While the threat of a limited attack against the Baltic states is a challenge to be addressed by the Warsaw summit, there is also the opportunity to seek a corroborat-ing detente/dialogue. To avoid hav-ing NATO’s eastern fl ank turn into its eastern front, the second track of detente and dialogue must build on areas of political convergence between NATO and Russia.

M. Andrew Rasiulis is retired from the public service and is now a freelance consultant with Andrew Rasiulis Associates Inc. He is also a fellow at the Cana-dian Global Affairs Institute.

The Hill Times

A massive drought that has devastated huge swaths of

southern and eastern Africa is putting nearly 14 million people at risk of hunger. This is a hu-manitarian emergency demand-ing immediate action.

But while short-term action

to address current food needs is critical, the international com-munity must also take ambitious action to support smallholder farmers in adapting to the effects of climate change. Future food and nutrition security depends on it—not only for residents of drought-stricken areas, but also the cities that depend on rural areas for their food.

This intense drought has been linked to a particularly severe El Niño, exacerbating the already negative effects from climate change. Higher temperatures and more extreme weather, including droughts and fl oods, are resulting in failed crops, ailing livestock, and localized confl icts in many of the regions where we work. The knock-on effects are greater hun-ger, more poverty, and increased confl ict and migration.

It is clear that food security and climate change are two of hu-manity’s greatest challenges this century—and they are inextrica-bly linked.

About three billion people live in rural areas of developing countries and represent more than 70 per cent of people living in poverty and hun-ger. Most work in agriculture. They live on the frontlines of climate change because they rely almost en-tirely on favourable climatic condi-tions for their livelihoods. Many of them farm marginal lands and lack the access to fi nancial resources and knowledge that could help them adapt to new challenges.

Two recent agreements, however, provide hope. At United Nations headquarters in New York last September, 193 countries agreed to a set of global goals to create prosperity, health, and security for all, while protecting the planet over the next 15 years. In December, at the UN Climate Change Summit (COP21) in Paris, the international community com-mitted to limiting global average temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius. It further pledged to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience, and reduce vulnerability to climate change.

The Canadian government has pledged to make Canada a leader in international efforts to fi ght climate change, including through provid-ing development assistance to the most vulnerable countries around

the world. In the lead-up to the Paris summit, Canada announced it would give $2.65 billion over fi ve years to support developing countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change. Canada has also committed to support the implementation of the global goals.

The International Fund for Agri-cultural Development (IFAD) created ASAP, the Adaptation for Smallhold-er Agriculture Programme, in 2012. Today, ASAP is the largest global fi nancing source dedicated to sup-porting the adaptation of smallhold-ers to climate change. As a result, much of IFAD’s work on the ground includes climate action.

The international community will need to invest in sustainable agriculture, particularly for small-scale farmers, a key focus of the implementation plans for both the global goals and climate agreement. The Canadian Foodgrains Bank and IFAD recognize that sustainable agriculture, which can boost produc-tion of nutritious foods and im-prove farmer livelihoods while also conserving natural resources and building climate resilience, is needed to enable small-scale farmers to ad-dress environmental challenges.

The Foodgrains Bank and IFAD have seen impressive outcomes for both farmers and the environment from the introduction of conserva-tion agriculture. It entails minimal soil disturbance through reduced or no tillage; use of cover crops,

mulch, and residues; and diversi-fi ed crop rotations. The results are better soil water retention, reduced soil erosion, increased soil organic matter, and improved food and nutrition security. It is especially valuable in helping farmers adapt to drought conditions.

Canada has been a global leader in addressing food and nutrition security and supporting agricultural development through its international aid budget in the past. Focused, predictable funding from the international commu-nity for smallholder agriculture in years to come will help see a more prosperous, peaceful world.

Increased investments in sustainable agriculture, as well as social-protection systems, such as insurance programs, when all else fails, will help meet the most cru-cial challenges of the 21st century.

Without them, the world faces a very real risk of seeing the reversal of many positive development gains in poverty and hunger reduction in recent years in Africa and else-where. By investing in smallhold-ers we can boost resilience, food security, and livelihoods of people like those who are facing drought in southern and eastern Africa today.

Kanayo F. Nwanze is the presi-dent of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, an inter-national fi nancial institution and a specialized United Nations agency. Jim Cornelius is the executive direc-tor of Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

What to expect at next month’s NATO leaders’ summit

Action needed to help drought-stricken small farmers in Africa

With Russia, there’s a mix of antagonism (Ukraine) and co-operation (Syria).

They need help to adapt to the effects of climate change in the long term.

OPINION FOREIGN AID

ANDREW RASIULIS

JIM CORNELIUS, KANAYO F. NWANZE

In this photo released by the U.S. navy, the U.S. says a Russian aircraft makes a low-altitude pass by the USS Donald Cook on April 12 while the destroyer was conducting a patrol in the Baltic Sea. Photo courtesy of the U.S. navy


NEWS FOREIGN SERVICE

However, for visible minorities, the department is positive by 64, meaning they have 64 more visible minority employees than required to be equitable, accord-ing to the standards set by the Canada Labour Market Avail-ability.

The document includes data as of March 31 of this year. Global Affairs confi rmed the above numbers, and provided a chart demonstrating the employ-ment equity targets and gaps in percentages. According to Eric Pelletier, a spokesperson for Global Affairs, there is a negative gap of 4.1 per cent for women, meaning women are under-represented by 4.1 per cent. It cites that there are cur-rently 48.1 per cent women in the foreign service, and 62 per cent required representation. A negative gap of 1.5 per cent exists for Aboriginal peoples, a negative gap of 1.4 per cent for persons with disabilities, and a positive gap of 5.3 per cent for visible minorities. Mr. Pelletier also said that the foreign service is 71.6 per cent anglophone and 28.4 per cent francophone.

Michael Kologie, communi-cations director for the Profes-sional Association of Foreign Service Offi cers (PAFSO), said in an interview with The Hill Times that overall, “if we’re talking about employment equity gaps, we’re doing very well when it comes to visible minorities. We’re doing okay when it comes to persons with disabilities, and where we’re really lacking is actually with respect to women and aboriginal peoples.” He said for women, the gap is “quite signifi cant.”

Artur Wilczynski, Canada’s ambassador to Norway, further confi rmed these gaps in an interview.

“I took a quick peek at the stats in terms of the employ-ment equity. In the executive cadre, if you look at visible minorities in particular, there are no negative gaps there according to our reports, but there is still a lot of work to be done for example in increasing the representation of indig-enous persons, persons with disabilities and women, and quite frankly, people of multiple backgrounds,” he said.

In a later emailed statement, Mr. Kologie wrote that PAFSO is committed to working in col-laboration with Global Affairs to encourage a diverse foreign service, “with special attention on currently underrepresented groups such as women, aborigi-nal peoples, and persons with disabilities,” adding that visible minorities are well represented in the foreign service.

It has been reported by both The Ottawa Citizen and The Globe and Mail that Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau has given Global Affairs instructions to diversify the foreign service and to specifically hire more women.

The Citizen’s columnist An-drew Cohen wrote in April that “Justin Trudeau has told Global Affairs that its list of career candidates has too many white males and asked it to do better next time.”

The Globe reported at the end of last month that Global Affairs is choosing two women to fi ll positions in Israel and in Great Britain, naming Deborah Lyons as Canada’s new ambassador to Israel and Janice Charette as the person to take the lead at Canada House.

The article also pointed out that Mr. Trudeau had told Global Affairs “its list of career candi-dates has too many white males and promised better represen-tation in terms of gender and ethnicity.” Global Affairs would not confi rm whether or not it had received these instructions from Mr. Trudeau, with Global Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion’s (Saint-Laurent, Que.) press secretary Chantal Gagnon saying she wasn’t going to answer that ques-tion. She also stressed that Ms. Charette and Ms. Lyons had not yet been offi cially appointed.

Speaking of offi cial appoint-ments, the Trudeau government will take its fi rst crack at shuf-fl ing the foreign service this summer, anticipated in June or July.

Anne Leahy, a former Ca-nadian ambassador, said she expects the announcements to come around the end of June. “I would watch [the announce-ment] because Justin Trudeau made a point of saying that he wanted more women, more di-versity,” she said, adding that she “wouldn’t be surprised” to see that come to light. She said from her own experience, she expects anywhere from 10-15 new heads of mission to be appointed, if not more.

A source from Global Af-fairs told The Hill Times that the department will have more to say about diversity once the heads of mission shuffl e happens, hinting that more diverse nominations might be coming.

The Hill Times counted the number of Canadian heads of mission posted abroad as of October 2015. The results showed that of the 134 heads of mission at the time, 90 were men and just 44 were women. That translates to 32 per cent heads of mission posi-tions being held by women.

Ms. Leahy, said while it still could be better, it’s still a “steady increase” from when she started keeping track in the mid-eighties.

She said at that time, the number of female heads of mis-sion “hovered around 10, 11, 12 per cent.” The fact that it’s more than doubled since then is a good thing, she said.

Ms. Leahy said that over the years there’s been a lot of change in foreign affairs. When she joined in June, 1973, it had only been two

years since female foreign service offi cers were no longer asked to resign if they married, which until the early seventies, had been an unoffi cial policy.

Margaret Weiers wrote in her book, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign Service that from the time women were fi rst allowed into the foreign service in 1947, the expectation that they would resign to follow their husband’s career instead of their own persisted into the 1970s, when it took several formal complaints and lawsuits to change the policy.

In his apparent quest to make the foreign service more diverse, Mr. Trudeau might be taking his cues from American President Barack Obama. In a recent com-mencement address at Florida In-ternational University, American Ambassador to the United Na-tions Susan Rice said, “we want our national security leaders to refl ect America’s best self to the world and inspire others to follow our example. Not by preaching pluralism and tolerance, but by practicing it.”

She referenced the need for further diversity in America’s foreign service, because, “With-out tapping into America’s full range of races, religions, ethnicities, language skills, and social and economic experienc-es, we’re leading in a complex world with one hand tied behind our back.”

Ms. Rice also said Mr. Obama felt strongly about making the U.S. national security workforce more inclusive and diverse, and referred to the President’s signing of an executive order “prioritizing diversity and inclusion through-out the government.”

Robert Collette, another for-mer Canadian ambassador who worked in the foreign service from 1977 through 2009 accord-ing to his LinkedIn profi le, said fostering diversity in these pro-grams doesn’t happen overnight.

He said he himself was hired as part of a drive to hire fran-cophones in the mid-seventies, when the department was largely anglophone. He said hiring

for diversity like that comes in waves, and that “for several years” now there’s been a drive to hire women and visible minorities. “It will take time for them to rise to the position of head of mission, ambassador or assistant deputy minister,” he said. “You start at the base with a very low percent-age of representatives from these groups.”

Ms. Leahy said while she thinks there was a glass ceiling during her career, it’s now since “disappeared.”

“At the time that I was there, certainly there was one. But now I think with certain women oc-cupying pretty high positions,” she said, stressing the fact that women holding assistant deputy minister positions in the depart-ment at home was signifi cant because it was one of the more substantive positions.

Mr. Wilczynski is an openly gay man and is currently on as-signment in Oslo, where he lives with his husband. He spoke to The Hill Times about his experi-ence as a public servant who has worked for many different de-partments in his career, and as a member of the LGBT community, of which he self-identifi es.

First and foremost, said Mr. Wilczynski, “I’m a white guy, and as a white guy, regardless of the other elements of my back-ground, I come from a position of privilege.”

He said he really hasn’t expe-rienced any discrimination over his career for his sexual identity,

about which he’s been open about since he was 18.

While he may have been so lucky, Mr. Wilczynski said “there are challenges when you’re a member of the com-munity...including when you’re a head of mission.” He said those challenges can be particularly signifi cant depending on what country you are posted to, and may limit your ability to be posted to certain countries or, at the very least, to live comfort-ably with a partner without fear of judgement.

Mr. Wilczynski said he’s not exceptional for being a gay am-bassador, saying there are many foreign service offi cers who are out. He said they have a network to share experiences: they even have a Facebook group.

“The heads of mission meet-ing that’s coming up [is] an opportunity for us to chat about some of these issues and ... what we still need to do to advance our issues of equality rights globally,” he said, referring to the meeting of all Canadian heads of mission in Ottawa on June 9 and 10.

Mr. Wilczynski said he thinks there has been signifi cant progress made in “recruiting and retaining persons from diverse backgrounds” in the foreign ser-vice. “What we need,” he said, “is our processes - and I think they’re there - to refl ect that diversity in the senior ranks.”

[email protected]@chels_nash

Canada’s diplomatic brass: too white, too male Women have the largest negative gap, followed by Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

FOREIGN SERVICES CANADA

Employment Currently at Global FS Labour Market ForeignEquity Designated Affairs Canada as Availability ServicesGroups of March 31, 2016 (LMA) (required Gaps for Foreign Services representation)Women 48.1% 62.0% -4.1%Aboriginal Peoples 2.3% 3/8% -1.5%Persons with Disabilities 2.7% 4.1% -1.4%Visible minorities 18.0% 12.7% +5.3%


Employment equity data for the foreign service, provided to The Hill Times by Global Affairs on June 6.

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 201626ENVOYS SYRIAN REFUGEES

It’s been a rewarding last few months for Furio De Angelis.

The representative of the United Na-tions High Commissioner for Refugees in Canada has spent the last fi ve years advocating for refugees to the Canadian government.

The UN refugee agency’s advocacy work, in a sense, is the same no matter the country, said Mr. De Angelis; its policies are the same, no matter which government is in power.

In Canada from 2011 to 2015, when Stephen Harper led a majority Conser-vative government, Canadian govern-ment contributions to the UN refugee agency continued to rise, he said in an interview last week before his Canadian posting ends June 11. But there were other problems.

The situation was “a little bit more predictable because the position of the gov-ernment was a little bit more restrictive on refugee policy in general.”

The Conservatives brought in a new system to more quickly evaluate the legiti-macy of a person’s refugee claim submit-ted in Canada. Government offi cials said the system would unclog a case backlog. But Mr. De Angelis and others expressed concerns that the system required manda-

tory detention of certain claimants and restricted appeal access to some.

Then came the 2015 election, the photo of a Syrian toddler washed up dead on a Turkish beach, and an outpouring of Canadian public and political support for refugee resettlement. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals won, and immediately upon tak-ing offi ce in November started to fulfi ll a campaign commitment to resettle 25,000 government-assisted Syrian refugees in Canada.

“For me, it was like seeing the big effort of four and a half years just immediately realized in a matter of a few days,” said Mr. De Angelis.

“I can’t say ‘we did it,’ because it’s the people of Canada who did it,” he said. “It was the people of Canada who chose an electoral platform which put refugees at the forefront of government action. But of course from the UNCHR point of view, especially for someone who has been here for fi ve years, it has been a little bit like seeing the achievement, in a sense, of our efforts, of our...less visible efforts.”

The UNHCR helped Canada fi nd the people it resettled by providing it with a list of vulnerable registered Syrian refugees. In those hectic days from November until February when the resettlement program was at its peak, Mr. De Angelis and his team, from their small Albert Street offi ce, acted as liaisons to help ensure everyone was in the loop, from the UNHCR fi eld offi ces and Canadian embassies in Leba-non and Jordan to the refugee agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

“I’m probably the only immigration minister in the world whose major chal-lenge is not being able to deliver enough refugees quickly enough to satisfy the amazing generosity of Canadian house-holds and Canadian families who want to

sponsor them,” Immigration Minister John McCallum told the House of Commons Im-migration Committee last month.

Those words stuck in Mr. De Angelis’s mind.

Mr. McCallum said them as refugees were drowning on capsized boats trying to reach Europe and some European coun-tries were closing their borders to refu-gees. In addition, a leading United States presidential contender was talking about building a wall on its southern border.

“That was probably a signal, well said, of the exceptionality that Canada is play-ing in this moment, especially in the inter-national context,” said Mr. De Angelis.

“There is no doubt that Canada is on the international lead because of the actions that have been taken in these past months.”

The Trudeau government’s Syrian resettlement effort garnered headlines around the world, giving it the credibility to infl uence others to join in resettlement too, said Mr. De Angelis.

Canada will have the chance to make the case in September at a leaders’ sum-mit it is set to co-host alongside host U.S. President Barack Obama.

The Canadian government’s effort shows international solidarity, said Mr. De Angelis. Nearly 300 Canadian communi-ties are welcoming Syrian refugees. Their desire to take in these people shows that while Canada is physically far away from the crisis, it seeks a more active role to help relieve the suffering.

Besides having taken in 27,580 Syrians and counting, the Trudeau government has moved to widen refugees’ appeal access, and restore health benefi ts to claimants who were limited under the previous Conservative government. Mr. De Angelis speaking June 1 said he was happy to hear Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale indicate recently he wants to stop Canada’s practice of detaining migrant children.

“This is absolutely important because [stopping] the detention of children, for instance, has been one of the major objec-tives of our advocacy in the last years,” said the representative.

The Trudeau government announced last fall it was giving the UNHCR $100 million toward its underfunded effort to help the 4.8 million refugees who have fl ed Syria for neighbouring countries, accord-ing to the refugee agency’s statistics.

The UNHCR also received an increase of more than 100 per cent in donations from 2014 to 2015, said Mr. De Angelis, from private Canadian donors including citizens and businesses. And it’s already above its planned 2016 fundraising target.

Wanting to capitalize on the momen-tum, Mr. De Angelis’s boss and fellow Italian, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi decided to boost the budget of the UN refugee agency’s Canadian operations upon visiting Canada in March. Though Mr. De Angelis wouldn’t say by how much and said recruitment is still ongoing, he said the added resources would mean the UNHCR could reopen its Vancouver offi ce closed in 2011 and hire more staff to do public outreach and grow the agency’s Toronto fundraising team. The refugee agency currently has about 15 people in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

Mr. De Angelis and his wife, Hiromi, are set to leave Canada on the upswing. He is off to Azerbaijan to get his shoes dusty again in an offi ce involved more directly in helping people affected by confl ict. The country at the crossroads of Asia and Europe has recently seen a fl are-up of a border confl ict with its neighbour, Arme-nia, so Mr. De Angelis, as the new UNHCR representative in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, will have his hands full.

A replacement for him in Ottawa has yet to be named.

[email protected]@kristenshane1

As we modernize shipbuilding in Canada, we must also strive to modernize our

workforce. The very same culture of innova-

tion that drives us, in the shipbuilding indus-try, to pursue technological advancements in vessel construction, is driving us to fi nd new ways to open doors for those underrepre-sented in the shipbuilding workforce.

This is why, together with Nova Scotia Community College, Unifor, community leaders, the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, the Nova Scotia government, and the federal government, Irving Shipbuilding and GE Canada have launched a new program intended to create job opportunities for indigenous students in shipbuilding.

We know that for some students, new jobs can seem overwhelming at the begin-ning, especially if you’ve left your commu-nity behind. So rather than training one ap-prentice at a time, we’re opening the doors to groups of new faces in the shipyard.

The model for the new program, called Pathways to Shipbuilding, originates from an existing one that brought a group of skilled women to the Halifax Shipyard for on-site training in welding and metal fabrication.

With a successful pilot involving a group of women halfway to completion, we are now focused on a cohort of 20 indigenous students. From recruitment to apprenticeship training to employment, this group will learn together and they will work together. Along their two-year path, candidates will access a continuum of services and support from strong partners invested in the future success of the Halifax Shipyard and committed to preparing these individuals for long-term employment as members of the Irving Shipbuilding team.

All partners of Pathways to Shipbuild-ing will be actively involved in the students’ journey from classroom to job site, from their fi rst day at the college until they are confi dently settled in the jobs that Halifax Shipyard is planning to offer them in 2018, assuming hiring criteria have been satis-fi ed and as jobs become available.

This is what building a modern work-force is all about: anchoring a community

to be there at every step of the way. We are there to support the transition from home to apprenticeship to employment, to help with job-retention strategies, to provide counsel on job-related stresses such as urban relocation and balancing work and family pressures, to lock in mentors, and to act as career coaches.

It is a holistic approach. It is a commu-nity approach. Our goal is for industries in Canada, beyond shipbuilding, to see this as a proven approach for training and employing all under-represented workers, including our indigenous population.

In the coming months, this cohort of 20 Pathways to Shipbuilding students will come together. Participants will embark on a challenging and rewarding journey. We look forward to welcoming them to the Halifax Shipyard in 2018.

Kevin McCoy is president of Irving Shipbuilding and Elyse Allan is president and CEO of GE Canada.

The Hill Times

Building a modern shipbuilding workforce We’re training 20 indigenous students for jobs at the Halifax Shipyard in 2018. Our goal is for industries in Canada to see this as a way to train and employ all under-represented workers.

OPINION LABOUR

UN refugee agency rep leaving on a high note

DIPLOMATIC CIRCLESBY KRISTEN SHANE

After four years of ‘more restrictive’ Canadian refugee policy, Furio De Angelis saw his dreams come true in only a few months under the Liberal government. Furio De Angelis’s next challenge will be as

UNHCR representative in Azerbaijan. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

ELYSE ALLAN AND KEVIN MCCOY


POLITICAL STAFFERS

Hundreds of former Conservative staff-ers were released into the job market

following their party’s defeat last fall, and Hill Climbers has learned where a number of them are working now.

Kent Verge, a former senior policy adviser to Lisa Raitt as transport minister, has been chief of staff to B.C. Liberal Min-ister for Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training Shirley Bond since February, according to his LinkedIn profi le. In the world of B.C. politics, the provincial Liberals are a cen-tre-right party comprised of both federal Liberal and Conservative supporters.

Before joining Ms. Raitt’s ministerial offi ce in 2013, Mr. Verge served briefl y as a policy adviser to then environment minister Peter Kent, after starting off on the Hill in the summer of 2012 as a member’s assistant to former Conservative MP Diane Ablonczy.

Also now working for the B.C. Liberal government is Andrew Koolsbergen, former policy adviser to Diane Finley as the minister for human resources and skills development, who’s now executive assistant to Mike Berni-er, the province’s education minister and the Liberal MLA for Peace River South, B.C.

Mr. Koolsbergen’s brother (and fellow former Hill staffer), Nick Koolsbergen, is now executive director in the B.C. govern-ment’s communications offi ce, as previous-ly reported by Hill Climbers. And former Conservative staffer Carter Mann is also now working in B.C. as an operations co-ordinator to Premier Christy Clark.

Last month, Brooke Huestis, a former advance to PM Harper, started a new job as a senior manager for executive support and communications at Scotiabank in Toronto, Ont., as indicated by her LinkedIn account.

As previously reported, former PMO staffers, and siblings, Stephen Staley and Rebecca Staley are working for Scotia-bank post-election (relatedly: their father is Robert Staley, a lawyer with Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto, who represented Stephen Harper during the Duffy trial). Former Conservative staffer Rick Roth is also now working for the bank as a senior manager of reputation and issues management.

Meanwhile over at another bank, BMO, Matthew Grills, a former advance to PM Harper, has been working for the BMO Financial Group as a strategic initiatives adviser for Enterprise AML (anti-money laundering) policies since January, accord-ing to his LinkedIn profi le.

Mr. Grills fi rst joined the Conserva-tive PMO in the fall of 2011 as an intern to then chief of staff Nigel Wright and in 2012 he became a special assistant for tour in the offi ce, working his way up the chain.

Also since January, Jeremy Laurin, former director of communications to then-public safety minister Steven Blaney, has been a manager for corporate communica-tions on anti-money laundering with BMO.

Mr. Laurin began working on the Hill in 2011 as a member’s assistant to Conserva-tive MP Kellie Leitch, and has also worked for then-minister of state for science and technology Gary Goodyear, and later as an aide to Ms. Leitch as the minister for labour and status of women. In spring 2015, he was hired as press secretary to Mr. Blaney and became communications direc-tor at the start of the summer.

As well, as previously reported by Hill Climbers, former Conservative staffer Me-lissa Lantsman is a senior communications adviser for the BMO Financial Group.

Finally, the Canadian Electricity Asso-ciation has seen a number of staff changes as a result of the change in federal govern-ment last fall.

Margaux Stastny, former commu-nications director to then-international development minister Christian Paradis, is now with the CEA, working under the title of acting director of communications since Feb. 8. She’s recently dropped the ‘acting’ from her title.

Ms. Stastny began working for Mr. Paradis in 2008 as a deputy director of communications, following the minister next to public works as communications director and later to his offi ces as natural resources and international development minister. She’s also a former press secre-tary to Gerry Ritz as agriculture minister.

Also now working for the CEA is Leah Michalopulos, a former senior special as-sistant to Ms. Aglukkaq as environment minister, who’s been working as an adviser for U.S. affairs for the association in Ot-tawa since March. Ms. Michalopulos began working for Ms. Aglukkaq in August 2014 and before that worked for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives at Queen’s Park.

On the fl ip side, a couple of new Liberal staffers were recently hired to work for the new government from the CEA, as previ-ously reported by Hill Climbers, including Alyx Holland, policy adviser to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and former govern-ment relations adviser at the CEA; Sandra Schwartz, director of parliamentary affairs to Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and a former vice-president of public affairs at the CEA; and Alexis McIntyre, director of

policy for fi sheries and oceans and a former manager of environmental science and policy for the association.

The CEA’s current chief is former Liberal cabinet minister and ambassador Sergio Marchi.

Catching up with more ex-staffers

Christina Parent, a former PMO com-munications offi cer, is now an assistant consultant with Hill and Knowlton Strategies in Toronto, Ont. She started off as a writer in Mr. Harper’s PMO in the summer of 2012.

Jonathan Lefebvre, who was a senior communications adviser to then-envi-ronment minister Leona Aglukkaq from 2013 until last fall, is now a public affairs adviser for ministerial events at the Can-ada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), where former PMO staffer Chris Woodcock already works as a director. Before joining Ms. Aglukkaq’s offi ce, Mr. Lefebvre spent a couple of years as a com-munications strategist in the PMO, starting in December 2010.

At the CMHC, Mr. Lefebvre is “respon-sible for coordinating and scheduling CMHC events with various internal and external partners” and “for preparing comprehen-sive analysis and reports on activities and producing related communications products,” said Jonathan Rotondo, senior media rela-tions offi cer for corporation, in an email.

Ashton Arsenault, a former director of parliamentary affairs and issues manage-ment to then-national revenue minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay, is now a researcher at Crestview Strategies in Ottawa, having served as campaign manager to Conserva-tive candidate Andy Wang in Nepean, Ont. in 2015. Ultimately Liberal Chandra Arya was elected in the riding.

Before moving to Ottawa in 2012 to study toward a master of political manage-ment at Carleton University, Mr. Arsenault worked for a time as a parliamentary affairs researcher for the Progressive Conservative offi cial opposition in P.E.I.’s legislative assembly.

Alayna Johnson, previously director of parliamentary affairs and issues manage-

ment to then-industry minister James Moore, has been a health safety environ-ment and corporate social responsibility adviser with Gran Tierra Energy, an inter-national oil and gas company in Calgary, Alta. since last month, as indicated by her LinkedIn profi le.

Ms. Johnson joined Mr. More’s offi ce in 2013 as a policy adviser, having previously been a policy and regional affairs adviser to the minister for aboriginal affairs and northern development and to the minister for international cooperation, who was then Bev Oda.

Dana Valiquette, a former special as-sistant in the PMO’s correspondence unit, is now an executive assistant with Amdocs, a telecommunications and Internet soft-ware and service provider. Ms. Valiquette previously worked for a number of years at Conservative Party headquarters focused on information management and informa-tion technology (IM/IT) support and inven-tory management.

In more news, since January Nathan Cato, former director of policy and legal affairs to then-immigration minister Chris Alexander, has been working for the Canadian Pacifi c Railway as director of government affairs. In this role, he’s “responsible for providing strategic advice and representing the company’s interests to provincial and municipal governments,” said Salem Woodrow, a media relations adviser for CP in an email.

Before joining Mr. Alexander’s offi ce, Mr. Cato was a senior policy adviser to Denis Lebel as transport and infrastructure minister, having worked his way up after starting out on the Hill as executive as-sistant to then-small business and tourism minister Maxime Bernier in 2010.

Since last December, Alex Robinson, a former advance to PM Harper, has been an adviser at Galewest Investments in Toronto, as indicated by his LinkedIn ac-count. Prior to landing a gig in the PMO in the summer of 2013, Mr. Robinson was executive assistant to former Conserva-tive MP Parm Gill and is also a former aide to then Conservative MP Patrick Brown, now the Ontario Progressive Con-servative leader.


Former Conservative staff land gigs at Scotiabank, BMO, electricity association, B.C. government

HILL CLIMBERSBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

An update on where some former Tory staffers have landed post-politics.

Margaux Stastny is now communications director for the Canadian Electricity Association. Photo courtesy of Margaux Stastny

Jonathan Lefebvre is now an adviser for the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

Alayna Johnson is now working for Gran Tierra Energy in Calgary, Alta. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

Leah Michalopulos is now also working for the Canadian Electricity Association. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 201628FEATURE BUZZ

NDP MP Niki Ashton (Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, Man.), who represents an expansive riding covering Manitoba’s north, spent the weekend in the United States campaigning for Democratic presi-dential nominee hopeful Bernie Sanders in North Dakota.

The one-time NDP leadership hopeful tweeted a photo of herself Sunday wear-

ing a “Bernie for President” t-shirt, declar-ing she was off to campaign in the prairie state, whose Democratic caucus election was held on Tuesday.

When a Twitter user noted that the House of Commons is in session, Ms. Ashton wrote back that while she appreci-ated the concern, “Parliament does not sit on Sundays.”

In a subsequent National Post sto-ry, Ms. Ashton is reported as saying she visited the state to get a “sense” of what is happening with the Sanders campaign that she views as “inspir-ing.”

She told the Post she visited a Sanders’ campaign offi ce in North Dakota, talked with some volunteers, and went door-to-door to speak with voters.

Ms. Ashton said she would return to Ottawa in time for question period on Monday afternoon.

Mr. Sanders has run a surprisingly strong second to frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. A self-de-scribed democratic socialist, Mr. Sand-ers has spent most of his campaign decrying the country’s “rigged” economy and political system for allowing an incredibly small concentration of elites to hold a disproportionate amount of wealth and power in the decision-mak-ing process.

Unfortunately for Mr. Sanders, though, the Associated Press on Mon-day reported that Ms. Clinton had gained the support of the 2,383 del-egates needed to clinch the nomination. Mr. Sanders, though, called it a “rush to judgment.”

Honouring Laurier in the hotel that bears his name

A new exhibition hosted in the his-toric site bearing his name looks to pay tribute to the original “sunny ways” prime minister.

Parks Canada, Library and Archives Canada, and Ottawa’s famed Fair-mont Chateau Laurier offi cially launched a special reservation package for hotel guests in honour of prime minister Wilfrid Laurier on June 1, the same day 104 years earlier he strode over from his home to offi cially open the famed hotel that bears his name.

The package offered by the Chateau Laurier will allow visitors to book guided tours of Laurier House National Historic Site, the former prime minister’s offi ce home located in the nearby Sandy Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa, where they can take in a special exhibition about him developed by Library and Archives Canada.

Some of the rare artifacts on display in the exhibition, called “A Sunny Legacy: Celebrating Sir Wilfrid Laurier,” will also be on display at the Chateau Laurier this summer, including the former prime min-ister’s death mask.


NDP MP heads south to campaign for Sanders

HEARD HILLONTHE

BY MARCO VIGLIOTTI





With Canada hosting its first Three Amigos

Summit since 2007 on June 29, we’ve got you covered. This primer will detail the issues on the agenda, the cross-border business and

the politics hanging over the event (ahem, Donald Trump), and the local preparations going into hosting the visit. We’ll have all that and more in this must-read briefing. Be part of it.

Publication Date: June 22, 2016 Booking Deadline: June 17, 2016

POLICY BRIEFING

North American Leaders’ Summit

NDP MP Niki Ashton took to Twitter last weekend to announce she would campaign for Democratic presidential nominee hopeful Bernie Sanders in North Dakota. Ms. Ashton reportedly spent some time in the state talking with campaign staff and volunteers, and voters. She called Mr. Sanders’ insurgent campaign “inspiring” in a recent newspaper interview. Twitter photograph courtesy of Niki Ashton

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2016 29

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Publication Date: June 15, 2016 Booking Deadline: June 10, 2016POLICY BRIEFING

THE HILL TIMES POLICY BRIEFING

JUNE 15, 2016ENVIRONMENT

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has

signed the Paris climate change

agreement to reduce greenhouse gas

emissions and boost renewable energy.

Now comes the hard part: following

through.

Th e Liberal government has committed

to the previous Conservative

government’s emissions reduction

target as a “fl oor” not a “ceiling.” But its

own plan is still in the making, and will

require co-operation from provincial

and territorial governments with

varying views on the how best to fi ght

climate change.

In this timely briefi ng, we’ll look at

how the government is working with

the provinces and territories to devise

a plan by fall.

We’ll check in on how well Canada is

doing on tackling climate change in

comparison to other countries. And,

in the lead-up to the June 29 North

American Leaders’ Summit in Ottawa,

we’ll look into how the United States,

Mexico, and Canada might work together

in the future to protect the environment.

Plus, we’ll explain what’s happening

with the proposed Pacifi c Northwest

LNG plant meant to get Canadian

energy from British Columbia’s coast

to Asian markets. A lengthy federal

environmental review is expected to

wrap up soon.

Be a part of this important policy briefi ng.

THE HILL TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 201630FEATURE PARTIES

The olds days when conservatives de-rided the so-called Media Party seemed

long gone at Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose’s Stornoway media garden party Monday night.

MPs, reporters, and staff alike bonded over beavertails and the popular party game beer pong. The evening was hosted in the backyard of the Stornoway residence in Rockcliffe Park, under a big tent lined with lights. You might say it was a literal example of “big tent” conservatism.

Ms. Ambrose brought Alberta to her backyard, hosting a barbecue complete with ribs, chicken, and sausages, to the soundtrack of popular country tunes played by Ottawa’s own Chris Evans Band, including a cover of Big & Rich’s “Save a horse, ride a cowboy.” The Stornoway chef, Tim Wasylko, who spent fi ve years at 24 Sussex cooking for the Harpers, was the man responsible for the impressive spread. Guests ate at round picnic tables with red checkered table cloths with rose arrange-ments for centrepieces. The Hill Times’ photographer Jake Wright gave the chef the ultimate compliment, fi lling up on two plates piled high exclusively with ribs.

To complement the local music, there was beer on tap from local Dominion City Brewing Co. (run in part by a former Con-servative staffer), and wine from Ontario’s Stoney Ridge Estate Winery.

While many guests started off with wine, most people quickly transitioned to beer. It was only natural given there were several beer pong tables set up and ready for competition, which later ensued. Conservative MP James Bezan teamed up with Vice News’ Justin Ling to take on the CBC’s Katie Simpson and Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove.

Unfortunately, Party Central didn’t catch the end of the game to see who won,

but it was in good fun anyhow. Conservative leadership hopefuls

including MPs Kellie Leitch and Michael Chong were out and about, making sure to put their best foot forward amongst those covering their runs for the Conservative crown.

Conservative MPs Tony Clement and Andrew Scheer were also there from the political side. Media types included the Ot-tawa Citizen’s Kady O’Malley, the Nation-al Post crew including bureau chief John Ivison and Marie-Danielle Smith, and their Postmedia colleague David Akin.

Snapchat was the social media of choice. Ms. Ambrose upped the ante on Justin Trudeau’s selfi e game by doing a Snapchat “face-swap” with The Lobby Mon-itor’s Shruti Shekar. For those unfamiliar with the popular social media trend, a face-swap is a function where the app takes two people’s faces and switches them.

And Mr. Clement was on hand to docu-ment the evening via Snapchat. In between taking Snapchats of one of the desserts—fresh beavertails—being made, he joked that they were “good and good for you. I’m the former minister of health and I can say that. It’s up to you to believe me or not.”

Speaking of dessert, Ms. Ambrose had quite the set-up prepared, with Pascale’s Ice Cream—another local Ottawa busi-ness—being served by Algonquin College students, accompanied by pastries from Pasticceria Gelateria Italiana, an Italian eatery on Preston Street.

CPAC’s Andrew Thomson joked to Party Central that if the theme of the event was going to be country, he would have at least liked to see a mechanical bull. Perhaps Ms. Ambrose can take note of that for next year.


The Low Tide Cocktail Hour

SEAFOOD STEAK COCKTAILS

11 Colonel By Drive (In The Westin Hotel) I 613.569.5050 | theshoreclub.ca

Buck-a-Shuck Oysters I $2 Prawns I $3 Low Tide Sliders$5 Draught Beer Specials I $7 Wines by the Glass

Daily from 4-7PM.

PARTY CENTRALB Y C H E L S E A N A S H

FEATURE PA

Stornoway garden party a mix of

Ontario business in Albertan style

Italian national day garden party

Guests mingle after a dinner of BBQ eats.

Conservative MP Michael Chong with Conservative Interim Leader Rona Ambrose at her garden party for the media.

Vice News’ Justin Ling plays beer pong with Mr. Bezan after dinner.

National Post’s Ottawa bureau chief John Ivison chats with Global TV’s Dawna Friesen.

James Bezan with political strategist Rick Anderson, Ms. Friesen and MP Tony Clement.

Carlos Gómez-Múgica, right, with his spouse, Maria de la rica Aranguren, left, and Peruvian Ambassador Marcela López Bravo.

Ambassador of Tunisia Riadh Essid greets Mr. Lorenzo Cornado.

Erika Ylonen, fi nancial administrator of the Finnish Embassy, and Teija Muir assistant to the ambassador of Finland, share a laugh.

Parliamentary Secretary Pamela Goldsmith-Jones with Italian Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado at the Italian residence on June 2.

Laurence Schaller, sales manager for government and protocol at the Chateau Laurier with Vietnamese Ambassador To Anh Dung and his spouse, Tran Phi Nga.

The Hill Times photographs by Jake Wright

The Hill Times photographs by Sam Garcia


FEATURE EVENTS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8Liberal Caucus Meeting—The

Liberals will meet in Room 237-C Centre Block on Parliament Hill. For more information, please call Liberal Party media relations at [email protected] or 613-627-2384.

Conservative Caucus Meet-ing—The Conservatives will meet for their national caucus meeting. For more information, contact Cory Hann, director of communications, Conservative Party of Canada at [email protected]

NDP Caucus Meeting—The NDP caucus will meet from 9:15-11 a.m. in Room 112-N Centre Block, on Wednesday. Please call the NDP Media Centre at 613-222-2351 or [email protected].

Canada’s Ocean Summit—On World Oceans Day, June 8, the World Wildlife Fund Canada is pleased to host the brightest minds in oceans policy from Canada and around the world. Keynote luncheon address by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, advocate for environmental, cultural and human rights and author. Plus, a special presentation by National Geograph-ic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala. Registration opens at 8 a.m. The Westin Ottawa Hotel, 11 Colonel By Dr. wwf.ca/oceansummit.

Senator James Cowan and Con-sumer Health Products Canada—In-vite Parliamentarians and their staff to the Sunscreen, BBQ & Ice Cream Social on June 8 in the East Block Courtyard from 12-2 p.m. [email protected].

House Speaker Party—House Speaker Geoff Regan extends a warm East Coast invitation to MPs, Senators, and press gallery members to join him for a Kitchen Party on Wednesday, June 8, 2016, at the Farm. Invitation only.

Business Council of Canada Sum-mer Open House—Hosted by John Manley, president and chief execu-tive offi cer, the summer open house will be held June 8, 5-7 p.m., Sun Life Financial Centre, 99 Bank St., Ottawa, 10th fl oor, RSVP by May 27 to [email protected].

Stories that Matter: Amanda Lindhout and Alison Azer—Amanda Lindhout, New York Times bestsell-ing author of A House in the Sky, will present the story of her kidnap-ping and the role of mothers in the midst of tragedies that befall their children, at an event held June 8 at the Christ Church Cathedral in

Ottawa, Great Hall, 414 Sparks St. Alison Azer will speak to the long ordeal of fi ghting for the return of her four young children. Doors open: 6:30 p.m.; presentation 7-9 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite. $50.

THURSDAY, JUNE 9 Bacon & Eggheads Breakfast—

PAGSE presents a talk, Crude oil on water: an expert perspective on spills, their impacts and remedia-tion, with Ken Lee, Commonwealth Scientifi c and Industrial Research Organization. Thursday, June 9, 7:30 a.m. Parliamentary Dining Room, Centre Block. No charge to MPs, Senators, and media. All oth-ers $25. Pre-registration required by Monday, June 6 by contacting Donna Boag, PAGSE, [email protected] or call 613-991-6369.

Confronting a Devolving Middle East—The Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Free Thinking Film Soci-ety, and CIJA are hosting a panel discussion and breakfast on June 9 featuring two speakers: Michael Weiss (author of ISIS: Insider the Army of Terror) and Juliana Taimoorazy (Iranian refugee and founder of the Iraqi Christian Relief Fund) in conversation with Cana-dian journalist Terry Glavin. 7:30 a.m. breakfast and 8 a.m. panel discussion. Rideau Club, Ottawa. The event is free and fi lling up fast, so please RSVP to [email protected]

An Evening with U.S. Ambas-sador Bruce Heyman, in Conversation with David Halton— U.S. Presi-dent Barack Obama will address Parliament in June. Setting up this historic visit U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman will speak about Canada’s essential relationship, and about the United States and its global leadership. Presented by the Canadian International Council National Capital Branch. Thursday, June 9, 5 p.m. (registration and cash bar); 6 p.m. (presentation begins), Rideau Room, Sheraton Hotel, 150 Albert St., Ottawa, register: [email protected] or 613-903-4011.

MONDAY, JUNE 13 House Sitting—The House is

sitting this week and is scheduled to sit until Thursday, June 23 and again on June 29 when U.S. Presi-dent Barack Obama visits.

Public Sector Management Workshop—The Financial Manage-ment Institute of Canada presents

its annual Public Sector Manage-ment Workshop in St. John’s, N.L., under the theme Winds of Change. Keynote speakers include: Cathy Bennett, minister of fi nance and president of Treasury Board for the province of Newfoundland, Sena-tor Beth Marshall, Bill Matthews, comptroller general of Canada, Jennifer Heil, Olympic champion, and Kevin Page, former parliamen-tary budget offi cer. June 13-14 Registration is open to anyone. For more information and registration visit http://www.fmi.ca/events/psmw/psmw-2016/

Conference of Montreal—The In-ternational Economic Forum of the Americas presents its annual Mon-treal conference. This year’s theme is: Shaping a New Era of Prosperity. Until June 16. Hotel Bonaventure, Montreal, Que. Featuring speakers including UNESCO director gen-eral Irina Bokova, Quebec Energy Minister Pierre Arcand, Canadian Chamber of Commerce CEO Perrin Beatty (June 14 at 9 a.m.), Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion (June 13 at 8:30 a.m.), Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland (June 15 at 9 a.m.), Fi-nance Minister Bill Morneau (June 13 at 3 p.m.), Transport Minister Marc Garneau (June 14 at 9 a.m.), OECD Secretary General Angel Gur-ria, and more. forum-americas.org/montreal/2016

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15United Nations Association of

Canada—The National Capital Region Branch is holding its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 15. Human Rights Research and Education Centre, Room 570, Fauteux Hall, 57 Louis Pasteur, University of Ottawa. 6-7 p.m. AGM (for members of the branch), 7-9 p.m. panel discussion (open to the public) on Human Rights, Refu-gees, and Security: The Role of the UN and Global Citizens. RSVP: [email protected].

Napoleon and Paris—Media preview of the new exhibition (for media only). Special Exhibitions Corridor, Canadian Museum of History, 100 Laurier St., Gatin-eau, Que., Wednesday, June 15, 10:30 a.m. RSVP and information: Stéphanie Verner, 819-776-7169 or [email protected]

THURSDAY, JUNE 16 Hill Times Event: The Value of

Medicines in Canada—Building a national pharmacare program in Canada is a complicated endeavour. There is signifi cant misinformation in the conversation around the cost and affordability of medicines in Canada. In the past few years, poli-ticians and the media have raised many concerns regarding medicines becoming unaffordable for govern-ments, for private insurance, and for individual Canadians. However, missing from these conversations is a discussion on the value that these medicines bring to patients, to health-care providers and to the health system. Recognizing that health-care sustainability is a signifi cant concern to both policy-makers and citizens, we need to look at solutions that can bridge these concerns. Hill Times Events explores the issue of the value of medicines and the pricing of pharmaceuticals in Canada on June 16 during our policy panel network-ing breakfast. 7:30-9 a.m. at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, 100 Kent St., Ottawa. This is a free event. Advance registration is required.

FRIDAY, JUNE 17Minister Freeland: Canada and

the Pacifi c Alliance—The Canadian Council for the Americas presents Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland accompanied by the Canadian ambassadors to the four Pacifi c Alliance countries: Marcel Lebleu (Chile), Carmen Sylvain (Colombia), Pierre Alarie (Mexico), and Gwyneth A. Kutz (Peru). Discussion will be moderated by CCA president Ken-neth Frankel. June 17, 10-11:30 a.m. $45. Torys LLP, 79 Wellington St. W., 33rd fl oor, Toronto, Ont.

Order online via ccacanada.com. More info: 416-367-4313, [email protected].

TUESDAY, JUNE 21Privacy and cybersecurity:

Addressing the compliance chal-lenges—This overview of privacy and cybersecurity requirements will assist you in identifying vulnerabili-ties, while offering practical advice to promote effective compliance in your organization. Speakers include: Gowling WLG partner Wendy Wagner and Rebecca Perry from Jordan Lawrence, a U.S. risk assessment company. This is part of Gowling WLG’s Risk to Reward seminar series, 10 breakfast seminars on critical business and legal issues to be held at the fi rm’s Ottawa offi ce throughout 2016. 7:30-9 a.m. June 21. 160 Elgin St., suite 2600, Ottawa. No cost, but registration necessary as space is limited. gowlingwlg.com/risk-toreward.

IPAC-NCR Annual General Meeting 2016 featuring Dr. Stephen Lucas—The Institute of Public Administration of Canada, National Capital Region, presents its 2016 members’ meeting, with refl ections from Dr. Stephen Lucas, deputy secretary to the cabinet for plans and consultations and intergovern-mental affairs, on the role of the public service in 2015-16. Tues-

day, June 21, 5 p.m. registration; 5:30-7:15 p.m. presentation. Army Offi cers’ Mess, Ottawa. No charge for members, $20 for non-mem-bers. Register at ipacagm2016.eventbrite.ca.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29 Three Amigos Summit—Prime

Minister Justin Trudeau will host U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in Ottawa on June 29. For information, call the PMO Press Offi ce at 613-957-555.

Natural Resource Governance and Economic Diversifi cation in Africa: Strategies, Lessons, and Challenges—University of Ottawa’s Centre on Governance, in collabora-tion with The Africa Study Group and the National Capital Regional Group of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada present guest Cristina D’Alessandro, profes-sor at Sciences Po Paris and senior fellow at the Centre on Governance. University of Ottawa, Faculty of So-cial Sciences. 120 University Drive (FSS 4004). Bilingual event. 5:30 to 7 p.m. June 29. Free public lecture. Register online at: http://cogdalessandro.eventbrite.ca

TUESDAY, JULY 5Friends of the NAC Orchestra Gar-

den Party—Enjoy a summer evening with a musical program celebrating

“Venezia Mia” on the spacious grounds of the offi cial residence of the Italian ambassador to Canada. Tuesday July 5 (rain date: July 6). 6-8 p.m. 1475 Aylmer Road, Gatin-eau. Tickets: $100. Tax receipts will be issued. Email: [email protected]. Phone: Melina Vacca-Pugsley, 613-731-0145.

MAY 2017 Conservative Party Leadership

Convention—The Conservatives will elect their next leader on May 27, 2017, Dan Nowlan, chair of the party’s leadership election organizing committee announced last week. The party is urging Conservative Party members to buy memberships or renew them in order to vote. For more information, contact Cory Hann, director of com-munications, Conservative Party of Canada, at 613-697-5614.

The Parliamentary Calendar is a free listing. Send in your political, cultural, diplomatic, or governmen-tal event in a paragraph with all the relevant details under the subject line ‘Parliamentary Calendar’ to [email protected] by Wednesday at noon before the Monday paper or Friday at noon before the Wednes-day paper. Or fax it to 613-232-9055. We can’t guarantee inclusion of every event, but we will defi nitely do our best.

The Hill Times

Parliamentary Calendar

House Speaker Geoff Regan to host East Coast kitchen party June 8

House Speaker Geoff Regan is inviting MPs, Senators, and press gallery members to join him for a kitchen party on June 8 at the Farm. By invitation only. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

VALUE OF MEDICINES

IN CANADA

PRESENTED BY:

JUNE 16 | 7:30-9:00 AMOTTAWA MARRIOTT HOTEL

EVENTS

The Government of Canada has committed to develop and deliver on an innovation agenda and will work to strengthen Canada’s knowledge-based economy. Included in the Minister of Health’s mandate letter, is the development of a multi-year Health Accord. Recognizing that

healthcare sustainability is a significant concern to both policy makers and citizens, we need to look at solutions that can bridge these concerns.

On June 16, join Hill Times Events at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel as we hear from leaders in the health and medical industry weigh in on The Value of Medicines in Canada. Here we will discuss the value of research as a driver of innovation in pharmaceuticals and how it can impact the future

of our medical system.

www.hilltimes.com/events

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