Feb 18 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Irwin Cotler, a former Liberal justice minister and a leading voice on human rights, is urging Justin Trudeau to take steps to recognize that China is conducting acts of genocide against its Muslim minority. Mr. Cotler said the federal government could either ask the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on whether China is committing […]
Feb 18 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — A former Saudi spy chief living in exile in Toronto says the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, believes he is the source of the Central Intelligence Agency’s conclusion that the ruler ordered the assassination of Saudi dissident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Feb 16 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — The Liberal chair of the Commons finance committee says a budget recommendation calling on Ottawa to pull out of the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank should serve as a “wake up and smell the roses” moment for Canada. Liberal MP Wayne Easter, who also served as solicitor-general under Jean Chrétien in charge of Canada’s security […]
Feb 15 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — The federal government is partnering with Huawei to sponsor leading-edge computer and electrical engineering research at Canadian universities, a move critics say threatens this country’s national security and economic interests. The National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), a federal agency, is collaborating with the Canadian arm of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. to fund the […]
Feb 11 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Dominic Barton, who led McKinsey & Co. for nine years before becoming Canada’s ambassador to China, says he was unaware of the global consulting firm’s role in advising a U.S. drugmaker to bolster sales of OxyContin, the highly addictive painkiller that contributed to tens of thousands of deaths in Canada and the United States. He […]
Feb 3 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — A former Saudi spy chief living in exile in Toronto is denying allegations he embezzled billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia and is urging a Canadian court to lift a freeze on his worldwide assets. Saad Aljabri, who held a cabinet-rank intelligence post under deposed crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef (known as MBN), has been […]
Jan 28 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Canada’s spy agency warned Canadian universities in August to be wary of using Chinese technology, including a service offered by e-commerce company Alibaba to help students based in China take online Zoom classes in this country. Alibaba, which has come under close scrutiny from China’s ruling Communist Party after its billionaire founder, Jack Ma, ran […]
Jan 19 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his top advisers are optimistic that relations with the more like-minded Biden administration will be effortless enough to collaborate on matters such as fighting climate change, building a new green economy and pushing for a North America First policy. No one is under the illusion, however, that a newly Democratic […]
Jan 12 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Canadian government computer systems were not compromised by the massive breach of U.S. government networks and private companies’ systems around the world, according to General Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff. U.S. security agencies say Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, carried out “most or all of the recently discovered, ongoing cyber compromises of […]
Jan 11 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — A commission established by the ruling Conservative Party in Britain has written a report calling for a “coalition of democracies” to craft a global response to human-rights abuses in China, one that would bring together Canada and other members of the Group of Seven industrialized countries as well as the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance and […]
Jan 11 2021 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Two Canadian experts on Russia have penned an article in a prestigious Moscow journal that has strong connections to the Kremlin, calling for a thaw in relations between Canada and the Russian Federation. Gilles Breton, a former diplomat, and Carleton University political-science professor Piotr Dutkiewicz wrote the article in Russia in Global Affairs, arguing that […]
Dec 20 2020 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — The Foreign Affairs Minister of Taiwan says Beijing has already begun what military strategists call a “grey-zone” assault on the self-governing island of 24 million, and urges Canada and other like-minded democracies to use sanctions and increased trade ties to dissuade China from a full-scale takeover. Grey-zone warfare falls short of outright armed conflict, and […]
Dec 18 2020 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Tech giant Microsoft Corp. says Canada was among the targets of a major hack that is believed to have been carried out by Russian intelligence against U.S. government computer systems, private companies and others around the world. Ottawa has said little about the sophisticated cybersecurity breach. However, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) […]
Dec 15 2020 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brushed aside questions Tuesday about whether top economic-adviser-turned ambassador-to-China Dominic Barton was aware of the controversial work being done under his leadership at McKinsey & Co. to help boost sales of opioids.
Dec 11 2020 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase — Globe and Mail — Senator Marco Rubio, chair of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, is drawing attention to an earlier chapter in the life of Dominic Barton, now Canada’s ambassador to China, as the U.S. politician presses giant global consulting firm McKinsey and Co. on its business ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party and state-owned enterprises. Senator Rubio […]