Aug 15 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — The number of border crossers spiked by nearly 23 per cent between June and July, following a brief decrease in the number of asylum seekers illegally crossing into Canada between official border posts earlier this year. The RCMP intercepted 1,634 asylum claimants along the Canada-U.S. land border in July – mostly in Quebec – according […]
Jun 21 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Canada’s top public servant says Parliament needs to consider legislative changes that would give the government more power to fire public servants for poor performance amid a debate over who to blame for the Phoenix pay system failure that botched the pay of tens of thousands of civil servants.
Jun 20 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — A Canadian-Palestinian doctor, who was recently shot on the Israeli-Gaza border, met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday and asked for $15-million in government funding to support the installation of solar panels on hospitals in Gaza. Dr. Tarek Loubani met Mr. Trudeau on Parliament Hill, where he talked about his ordeal and the ongoing health […]
Jun 15 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — The three public servants blamed by the Auditor-General for the Phoenix pay system problems were not fired for mismanagement of the massive technology project that botched the pay of tens of thousands of public servants for more than two years. Marie Lemay, deputy minister for Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), said two of the […]
Jun 12 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Canada’s top public servant went on the offensive against the Auditor-General on Tuesday, saying the Phoenix public-service pay system is not the “incomprehensible failure” it was recently called in a scathing report. Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick challenged Auditor-General Michael Ferguson’s assertion that the problems with the system, which has failed to pay tens of […]
Jun 6 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called her Iranian counterpart directly and demanded he help resolve a high-profile consular case involving an Iranian-Canadian widow that has become a source of tensions between the two countries. After months of requests from Canada, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif finally agreed to speak with Ms. Freeland by phone on […]
May 24 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — The Immigration Minister is refusing to say whether the federal government will seek the power to automatically turn away thousands of refugee claimants who walk across the border under an asylum agreement with the United States. Speaking to the House of Commons during a marathon session on Thursday night, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen faced repeated […]
May 16 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — The federal government has made more than $1-billion in profits from its passport program since significantly increasing the cost of a Canadian passport five years ago, according to newly released documents. Canadian adults pay anywhere from $120 to $160 for an adult passport, despite the fact that it only cost the government $69.23 to produce […]
May 10 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — A Russian family hoping to seek asylum in Canada will remain in Guatemala for the foreseeable future after a judge ordered a retrial on what the family says are trumped-up, Kremlin-influenced charges.
May 3 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — A Russian family jailed in Guatemala on what they say are trumped-up, Kremlin-influenced charges is begging Canada to grant them asylum so they can avoid possible deportation to Russia when they are released from prison. The Bitkov family is expected to be released in the coming days, and have enlisted anti-Putin campaigner Bill Browder to […]
Apr 24 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Group of Seven security ministers are putting pressure on technology giants, including Facebook and Twitter, to remove extremist and terrorist content from their platforms faster, threatening “other action” if they fail to do so soon. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said he and his G7 counterparts made the appeal to members of the Global Internet […]
Apr 22 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to travel to Bangladesh at the beginning of May, where she is hoping to visit a Rohingya refugee camp and witness firsthand the effects of the displacement of nearly 700,000 members of the Muslim minority from Myanmar. The Globe and Mail confirmed that Canada’s Special Envoy to Myanmar, […]
Apr 10 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Hundreds of frustrated Iranians living in Canada and abroad are urging the federal government to explain why their permanent-residency applications have faced what they describe as unreasonable delays. Affected Iranians took to Twitter in recent days, using the hashtag #DelayedIranianApplications, to describe the alleged discrimination by the Canadian government against their permanent-residency applications. They are […]
Mar 20 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Liberal MPs are preparing to send a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging him to prioritize the adoption of Magnitsky-style laws among the world’s richest and most industrialized countries at the G7 leaders’ summit in Quebec this June.
Feb 28 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — A Conservative MP who once chased Jaspal Atwal down a British Columbia highway after the Sikh extremist tried to kill an Indian cabinet minister says the convicted would-be assassin had no business being in the presence of the Prime Minister during Justin Trudeau’s trip to India last week. Jim Eglinski, a former RCMP officer who […]