A company chaired by former Liberal MP and attorney general Allan Rock is the only contender for a $120,000 Global Affairs contract to provide “security council training” to support Justin Trudeau’s bid for Canada join the UN Security Council. 

Security Council Report is a non-profit UN watchdog that helps with “assisting incoming members and other training and assistance programmes.” 

Rock served as Canada’s ambassador to the UN after leaving office as a Liberal MP.

The contract is open for application until January 31, 2020 and if no other company applies to compete for the spot, Security Council Report will be automatically awarded the contract. According to a Global News report, the Security Council Report is already the government’s preference.

“This training must also address thematic and country priorities of interest to Canada in its preparation for a seat on the Council,” reads the Advance Contract Award Notice.

“Should Canada receive a statement of capabilities from a supplier that contains sufficient information … a competitive process will be triggered with a technical and financial evaluation methodology of the bids proposed by the potential bidders.” 

The purpose of the contract is to train Canadian personnel about the inner workings of the security council. 

Trudeau’s desperate three-year bid for the seat has cost Canadian taxpayers almost $2 million as of the end of October 2019. 

Among the expenditures include dozens of trips by Canadians officials campaigning for the seat and gifts to UN dignitaries like smoked Sockeye salmon. 

According to Global Affairs Canada, Security Council Report was “pre-identified as a qualified supplier” by the Liberal government. 

“As this training is highly specialized, and the department has pre-identified a qualified supplier, the Department elected to post an Advanced Contract Award Notice for the standard period of 15 days,” said spokesperson Angela Savard. 

A large contingent of First Nations is standing up to the United Nations and British Columbia’s human rights commissioner for seeking to put an end to the LNG pipeline’s construction. 

The First Nations LNG Alliance released open letters condemning Commissioner Kasari Govender and the United Nations Committee to End Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) for their ignorance of broad Indigenous support for the project and the benefits it will bring to First Nations communities. 

“It is disheartening to see that the input from 20 First Nations, who participated extensively during five years of consultation on the pipeline, and have successfully negotiated agreements with Coastal GasLink, is so easily dismissed by the BC Human Rights Commission,” said CEO of the LNG Alliance and elected Wet’suwet’en chief Karen Ogen-Toews. 

In January, the BC Supreme Court ruled that protests seeking to sabotage the project led by five hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs have done “irreparable harm” to its construction and ordered work to continue. The BC NDP government has also spoken out in support of the court’s ruling. 

Last week, the chair of UNCERD revealed that the committee “did not know” that 20 First Nations along the pipeline route have signed agreements in support of the project. 

Despite the UN’s ignorance, Govender stands by her opposition to the project according to a statement provided by her office.

“Nothing about the UN CERD chair’s recent statement changes the importance of this crisis moment for Canada,” the statement said. 

First Nations in support of construction have highlighted the pipeline’s role in economic prosperity for their communities and the hope it brings for those living in poverty – noting that the UN just doesn’t get it.

“Both groups know nothing about the importance we place on finding a way out of endlessly trying to manage poverty, and finding the kind of opportunities for our First Nations people that non-Indigenous people have enjoyed for centuries,” wrote the LNG Alliance open letter. 

Elected First Nations Chief Coun. Crystal Smith also spoke out in support of the project’s benefits calling the opportunities it brings “life-changing.” 

“Councillor Smith is not alone in her belief that this project may deliver economic benefits to her community. I respect her right to speak on behalf of her community unreservedly,” said Govender. 

“As Human Rights Commissioner I take no position on the projects themselves, except in so far as they are required to uphold domestic and international human rights principles in their implementation.”

Conservative MP and potential leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre has clarified his position on whether or not he would allow Conservative MPs to bring forward legislation on abortion. 

Poilievre stated that as leader, he would allow Conservative MPs to put forward private members’ bills on abortion and to vote based on their conscience, but he made it clear that no such bill would pass under his watch.

“Pierre’s approach would be the same as Stephen Harper’s,” an anonymous source from within Poilievre’s campaign told the Star Vancouver.

“While members of caucus will always have freedom of conscience, no bill on the subject would be adopted — and Pierre would vote against it.”

The latest comments come after an interview with La Presse, where Poilievre seemingly indicated that he would prohibit members from introducing such laws. 

Canada currently has no legislation on abortion.

Andrew Scheer, who announced last month he will be stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party, was hounded by the media throughout the 2019 election campaign for being unclear on his stance on abortion legislation. Scheer left it open to MPs to bring forward whatever legislation they deemed important and to vote on matters of conscience freely. 

“I believe 100% that Members of Parliament have the right to bring forward and debate any legislation of importance to them…Moreover, I have committed that all votes on matters of conscience be free votes,” said Scheer.

During his La Presse interview, Poilievre stated his final decision on whether or not he would run in the Conservative leadership race is “fairly imminent.” 

True North is tracking the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race here with regular updates on who’s in and who’s out.

Canadian health officials have been put on alert after the first case of the deadly Wuhan coronavirus was detected in the US. 

Airports and hospitals across Canada are implementing disease control measures to prepare for a possible spread of the new Chinese virus. 

BC Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry says there is “no doubt” that the virus will arrive in Canada, making it a question of when rather than if.

On Tuesday, a Washington state resident was diagnosed with the virus in Seattle, less than 200 km from the Canadian border. The infected individual had recently returned from a trip in the Wuhan region, where the virus was first discovered. 

Nonetheless, the national director of the US’ Center for Disease Control has described the risk to the public as “very low.” 

According to Chinese health authorities, six people have already died as a result of the virus, while another 291 have been infected. 

China has confirmed the virus can be transmitted by human-to-human contact. The head of a team investigating the virus at China’s National Health Commission has confirmed two reports of infection between humans. 

The World Health Organization is convening an emergency meeting Wednesday to determine whether the virus’ spread is a public health emergency. 

Several border entries and airports, including the international airports in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, have added health screening questions to their electronic kiosks and have asked travellers to inform border patrol agents if they have travelled in the Wuhan region or are experiencing any symptoms.

After weeks of speculation that former Quebec premier Jean Charest would be running for the leadership of the Conservative party, Charest confirmed in a Radio-Canada interview Tuesday that he won’t be running.

“I will not be a candidate. It is final,” Charest said.

The announcement comes one week after a Maclean’s report that former prime minister Stephen Harper’s resignation from the Conservative Fund, was, in part, to give him the opportunity to actively fight a Charest leadership bid.

Also last week, a trove of documents were released related to a six-year-long corruption and political financing investigation into a friend of Charest’s, Marc Bibeau.

The investigation, which has not led to any charges, is into alleged illegal political financing and corruption while Charest was leading Quebec’s Liberal government. Charest’s lawyer has denied any wrongdoing by Charest.

A Globe and Mail report revealed that Charest has been part of a team giving advising Huawei on the extradition of CFO Meng Wanzhou who is wanted by the US on various fraud charges and allegations of violating sanctions on Iran.

With Charest out of the picture, the Conservative leadership field has narrowed. Former attorney general Peter MacKay and Conservative MP Erin O’Toole are running, with reports that MP Pierre Poilievre will soon announce a bid.

Visit True North’s CPC leadership tracker here to find out who’s in and out of the race. 

Canada’s state broadcaster took its cue from CNN and MSNBC in publishing a story accusing a pro-second amendment rally in Virginia as being rife with “white supremacists.”

An Associated Press article published by the CBC conflates the event with the explicitly white supremacist and neo-Nazi 2017 rally in Charlottesville that claimed the life of one woman. 

The second paragraph of the article avows “expected participation of white supremacists,” while giving no evidence to support the claim and ultimately conceding the Richmond, Va. rally “concluded uneventfully.”

“Authorities were looking to avoid a repeat of the violence that erupted in Charlottesville during one of the largest gatherings of white supremacists and other far-right groups in a decade,” the article said.

The Jan. 20 rally brought together over 22,000 people to protest Democrat gun control laws and ran without incident or violence. Many of the protesters attending openly carried legally-owned firearms. 

The piece also touted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) which has been recently criticized for its prejudice and its habit to label moderate conservatives as extremists. 

In 2018, the SPLC issued a written apology to activist Maajid Nawaz and paid him and his organization $3.4 million USD for labelling him an “anti-Muslim extremist.” 

This is not the first time that the CBC has peddled erroneous narratives imported from the American media.

When a class of students from Covington Catholic high school were mobbed by the media at the 2019 March for Life in Washington, CBC reported that the students, most notably Nicholas Sandmann, were harassing a Native American man, Nathan Phillips.

CBC eventually apologized on air for its coverage of the incident.

“We regret characterizing those teenagers as ‘teenaged bullies,’” said The Weekly host Wendy Mesley.

Sandmann sued a number of media outlets over their reporting, including CNN and the Washington Post. CNN has since settled the suit with Sandmann, who was seeking $275 million in damages from the broadcaster.

Huawei lobbied two Liberal MPs and a cabinet official from the Privy Council Office on three different occasions in December. 

The database published by the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada shows Huawei representatives meeting with Nepean MP Chandra Arya and Brossard Saint-Lambert MP Alexandra Mendes – both Liberals – as well as Paul Halucha, the assistant secretary to the cabinet in the Privy Council Office (PCO). 

The associated registrations for subject matters of interest to Huawei include “security” and “5G technology.” The meetings which discussed international trade and research and development took place the month before Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou appeared before the B.C. Supreme Court for an extradition hearing on January 20, 2020. 

Neither of the two MPs identified in the registry responded inquiries from True North about the nature of the meetings. Huawei Canada similarly did not respond to a request.

“Mr. Halucha, in his capacity as Assistant Secretary to Cabinet, Economic and Regional Development Policy, at the Privy Council Office, meets with various industry representatives throughout the year to discuss matters of great importance to Canada’s economic and regional development and sustainability,” said PCO spokesperson Pierre-Alain Bujold.

Huawei’s recent lobbying efforts are part of the company’s “diplomatically forceful” campaign to get the company into Canada’s upcoming 5G network. Prior to the election, the company admitted to mapping out and targeting specific MPs who would be willing to hear them. 

“There’s always going to be naysayers that they don’t want to meet with you…[but] there are a lot of smart parliamentarians who were either re-elected or newly elected,” said Huawei Canada vice-president of government affairs Morgan Elliott. 

Among those listed by the company as desirable were Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Industry Minister Navdeep Bains, among others. 

Earlier in 2019, Huawei lobbied Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, just  six days before the federal election. 

A decision on whether Huawei’s technology will be allowed onto Canada’s network is expected to be made in the upcoming months. 

Members of Canada’s intelligence community have warned that allowing Huawei onto the network could have catastrophic implications. 

Former national security adviser Richard Fadden warned the company is vulnerable to being a tool for spying on Canadians.

“Huawei claims that it is a private company—similar to Apple or Google—and is being unfairly treated by the United States and its allies. But the reality remains that Huawei is a company beholden to higher laws that could—and most likely would—make it a tool for state-sponsored espionage,” wrote Fadden. 

Fadden was joined by his US counterpart, former national security advisor and UN ambassador Susan Rice, who also warned Canada to not make the deal. 

“It gives the Chinese the ability, if they choose to use it, to access all kinds of information. Civilian intelligence, military, that could be very, very compromising,” said Rice

“That will throw the Five Eyes collaboration, which serves the security interests of every Canadian and every American, into jeopardy. It just can’t be done.

The company’s tech has already been banned in the US, Australia and New Zealand, while the UK is also expected to make a decision prohibiting the company soon.