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Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the Liberal Party will conduct an internal follow-up after a report by an intelligence watchdog released yesterday said some parliamentarians wittingly aided interference by foreign governments in Canadian democracy. But the government offered few indications any effort will be made to name or prosecute these individuals.
The report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians said a number of federal politicians, whom it declined to identify, are collaborating with countries such as India and China.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc declined to comment specifically on the revelations in the report. LeBlanc was repeatedly asked yesterday whether the government would ensure those parliamentarians colluding with foreign governments would be identified or face charges. He replied by saying Canadians should trust authorities are working hard.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland is seen during a news conference, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
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Ottawa flouted rules in awarding of McKinsey contracts, Auditor-General says
A report released by Auditor-General Karen Hogan yesterday found that federal departments and Crown corporations frequently disregarded contracting rules as they awarded global consulting firm McKinsey & Company more than $200-million in contracts since 2011.
The audit found that federal contracting practices involving McKinsey often did not demonstrate value for money and officials did not properly track whether the government actually received everything that had been promised.
Opposition parties called for the audit after The Globe and Mail reported that the annual value of outsourcing contracts awarded to McKinsey by the federal government has climbed steadily under the Liberals.
New Brunswick Auditor-General says private nursing contracts lacked oversight, as province plots an exit
New Brunswick is seeking to end current contracts with private nursing agencies after the release of a report by the province’s Auditor-General yesterday about the excessive fees, questionable billing and lack of oversight associated with those arrangements.
Much of Auditor-General Paul Martin’s report focused on contracts between the Vitalité Health Network, which runs the province’s francophone public medical services, and the Toronto-based agency Canadian Health Labs.
The audit found that Vitalité so far has paid CHL more than $98-million, the largest share of the more than $173-million New Brunswick spent on temporary nurses between February, 2022, and February, 2024. It also found that Vitalité's three contracts with CHL weren’t reviewed by lawyers and lacked some documentation.
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Also on our radar
Mastermind of massive art fraud pleads guilty: Thunder Bay resident David Voss pleaded guilty yesterday to his role in a multimillion-dollar counterfeiting ring that produced upwards of 1,500 works attributed to Norval Morrisseau, the international renowned Ojibwe painter.
Biden announces sweeping measures to bar asylum seekers: Migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border could be denied the chance to claim asylum and quickly deported back to Mexico under new restrictions announced yesterday by the Biden administration.
Netanyahu could be prolonging war, Biden says: U.S. President Joe Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be stalling on ending the war in Gaza for political reasons, according to an interview with Time magazine released yesterday. The comments in the May 28 interview were made a few days before Biden detailed a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, and as Netanyahu struggles with deep political divisions in Israel.
- Israel steps up ‘precise’ military offensive in Gaza amid renewed truce efforts
- After publishing an article critical of Israel, Columbia Law Review’s website is shut down by board
Streaming giants told to invest in Canadian film, TV and music: Consumers could end up paying higher prices after foreign streaming companies were ordered by the CRTC to pay about $200-million a year to support Canadian music, TV, film and radio. The regulator announced yesterday that platforms such as Netflix, Spotify and Amazon Prime will have to contribute 5 per cent of their annual Canadian revenues to support broadcasting in this country.
Gordie Howe bridge near completion: When the Gordie Howe International Bridge is completed next year, it will form a continuous span over the waterway that flows between Detroit and Windsor, Ont. The imminent union of its two halves signals a new reality. For the first time in nearly a century, North America’s busiest border crossing is expanding – and it is doing so in grand style.
The two sections of the Gordie Howe Bridge stretch from the American side of the Detroit River (left) to the Canadian side near Windsor, Ont. on May 15, 2024.Patrick Dell/The Globe and Mail
Morning markets
World shares rose today ahead of expected interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada later this morning and the European Central Bank tomorrow. Worries about a cooling U.S. economy, however, kept a lid on risk appetite.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index advanced 0.5 per cent and the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.13 per cent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.62 per cent and France’s CAC 40 added 0.4 per cent.
The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.08 U.S. cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Campbell Clark: “Even if the NDP’s price-cap gambit probably isn’t going anywhere, there is still a moment in politics where there is an impetus for some kind of comeuppance for the grocery sector ... When the social democrats in Canada’s political system are pushing for more lively economic competition between companies, you know it’s a moment of popular sentiment for some change. And the moment is not over yet.”
Robyn Urback: “Granted, some will argue that just because Mr. Viersen was inarticulate on a podcast, that doesn’t mean that the Conservatives are incapable of rolling back abortion access. But articulation is very much the point: Canadians by and large support the status quo ... and they would have to be convinced otherwise for legal action on abortion access to be politically expedient for the Conservatives.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
How to add strength training to your existing workout routine
Engaging in any amount of resistance training has been shown to lead to a number of health benefits, including reducing the risk of all-cause mortality, decreasing symptoms of anxiety and depression and protecting against aging-associated neurodegeneration. Here’s how to add shorter strength training workouts into your current routine.
Moment in time: June 5, 1956
Rock and roll musician Elvis Presley rehearsing for his performance the Milton Berle Show on June 4, 1956 in Burbank, California.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Elvis Presley’s hips shock and thrill TV audience
It took several years for Elvis Presley to become known as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, but just 2½ minutes to cement another enduring moniker: Elvis the Pelvis. A handful of small-town newspaper columnists had used the term (along with “Pelvis Presley”) derisively to describe the rising star from Tupelo, Miss., likening his act to a cheap bump-and-grind show. Mr. Presley hated the nickname and complained to interviewers that all he did was shake his shoulders and legs a bit. Early in 1956, the singer broke across the United States with Heartbreak Hotel and was boosting his exposure through appearances on television. In guest spots, he would be seen usually in close-ups, singing ballads or with a guitar strapped around his neck. But in his second appearance on comedian Milton Berle’s weekly variety show on this day in 1956, Mr. Presley sang Hound Dog with just a mic stand in front, slowing down the last verse while shaking, shimmying and – most scandalously of all – punctuating lines with abrupt thrusts of his hips. The teenage audience was electrified. Parents were horrified. Popular music would never be the same. Ian Morfitt, 2021
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