Articles by Robert Fife and Steven Chase

Sep 17 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — The United States has resumed discussions with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and lawyers for Meng Wanzhou about a possible deferred prosecution agreement for the Chinese executive that could allow her to return to China, according to Canadian sources. It’s a development that could open the door for China to free Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael […]

Sep 17 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — The Canadian government was surprised this week by the announcement of a new security pact between the United States, Britain and Australia, one that excluded Canada and is aimed at confronting China’s growing military and political influence in the Indo-Pacific region, according to senior government officials. Three officials, representing Canada’s foreign affairs, intelligence and defence […]

Sep 16 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — A high-ranking officer in the People’s Liberation Army, recently lauded by President Xi Jinping for developing a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, collaborated on Ebola research with one of the scientists who was later fired from Canada’s high-security infectious disease laboratory in Winnipeg. The joint research conducted by Major-General Chen Wei and former Canadian government lab scientist […]

Sep 14 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — The Conservative Party is asking Canada’s federal ethics watchdog to reveal whether it scrutinized a 2016 deal where a Chinese state-owned publishing house republished Justin Trudeau’s private memoirs under the title The Legend Continues. Former senior foreign policy and security advisers to the Prime Minister say they were not consulted on this arrangement, and would […]

Aug 25 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is distancing the Liberal government from a $100-million contract under which a Chinese state-owned shipyard will build a passenger ferry for a federal Crown corporation, a deal the Conservative Party vows to cancel if elected. The Globe and Mail reported on Wednesday that a huge state-owned shipyard in China is building […]

Aug 25 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — New video posted on Facebook shows Canadian special forces ignoring what appears to be Afghan refugees – with Canadian exit documents – who are desperately seeking to get into the airport in the final wave of evacuation flights before the United States withdraws from the Kabul airport on Aug. 31. The cell phone videos show […]

Aug 25 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — A huge state-owned shipyard in China is building a 1,000-passenger ferry for use by a federal Crown corporation over the objections of Canada’s shipbuilding industry and at a time when two Canadians have spent 989 days in Chinese prisons as victims of what Ottawa has called “hostage diplomacy.” Marine Atlantic Inc. awarded a $100-million, five-year […]

Aug 24 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — The Canadian government will wind down its Afghanistan evacuation efforts within days after President Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Tuesday he plans to withdraw all American forces from the Kabul airport by Aug. 31. A senior government official told The Globe and Mail the Canadian Armed Forces has only about three to four days […]

Aug 24 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal election campaign is not interfering with the government’s ability to manage the crisis in Afghanistan where tens of thousands of former Afghan allies are crowded outside the Kabul airport, hoping to board evacuation flights. At a news conference announcing a Liberal housing policy in Hamilton Tuesday, Mr. Trudeau […]

Aug 23 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Canadian expats and Afghans trying to gain access to evacuation flights out of Kabul say they can’t find Canadian soldiers at the city’s airport and aren’t getting sufficient information from federal officials in Ottawa. Complaints about a slow and ineffective Canadian response contradict assurances from government ministers and federal officials that everything possible is being […]

Aug 23 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will push other G7 countries to consider new sanctions against the Taliban when the group of advanced economies meets virtually Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who currently leads the G7 – which also includes the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Japan […]

Aug 19 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Canada’s military is resuming rescue flights from Kabul’s airport to airlift Canadian nationals and Afghanistan refugees fleeing the Taliban takeover. One CC-177 Globemaster heavy lift aircraft departed Kuwait early Friday morning for the flight of more than 2,000 km to Kabul and will begin immediate evacuation flights, according to the Department of National Defence. An […]

Aug 17 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Efforts to evacuate expats and former Afghan support staff are being hampered by a network of checkpoints the Taliban have set up throughout Kabul, as those seeking an airlift to Canada also grapple with unreasonable requests for exit documents. An unknown number of Canadians and about 800 former Afghan translators, fixers and support staff are […]

Aug 16 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Canada is engaged with the United States and allies to evacuate as many Canadians and Afghans as possible from Kabul, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau concedes the situation is “exceedingly dangerous” after Taliban forces took control of the Afghanistan capital. A Canadian Armed Forces Globemaster is at the U.S. airbase in Kuwait awaiting to get […]

Aug 9 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Robert Schellenberg, who is facing the death penalty in China for drug trafficking, lost his appeal Tuesday and a second important verdict will be handed down by the country’s courts later this week. The latter verdict will concern Michael Spavor, one of the two Canadian men who were arrested in apparent retaliation for Canada’s detention […]