Nine Things the Real Estate Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know

You’ve heard it a million times. The reason so few of us can afford Vancouver is because there aren’t enough new homes being built. This is the version of reality that real estate industry leaders and their political allies want us to believe.

But an investigation of the industry by The Tyee has revealed reality to be much more complex. Over the past six months I spoke at length with financial analysts, economists, industry consultants, realtors and many others to learn the true causes of Vancouver’s housing crisis and who is profiting from it. They were in broad agreement that real estate is at the centre of a massive realignment between our society’s rich and poor — and one that few leaders in the industry seem willing to publicly acknowledge. Here are the key takeaways from those conversations.

Kinder Morgan President Says B.C. Spill Plan Doesn't Need To Be Public

VANCOUVER - An emergency response plan for the proposed $5.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will remain secret in British Columbia — even though a similar plan was recently made public in Washington state.

Kinder Morgan president Ian Anderson defended his company's decision to publish a heavily redacted version in B.C., saying disclosure of the plan wasn't required by the National Energy Board.

Cone of Silence descends over deeds of Tory Jim Prentice's secret agents, real or imagined

Like those Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki men from Russia allegedly crawling all over Ukraine and stirring up nothing but trouble, secret agents of Jim Prentice's campaign to become the next leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative dynasty seem to be everywhere and nowhere these days.

According to a claim made yesterday by the equally right-wing Wildrose Party, "a person close" to Prentice called up a person close to Danielle Smith, the official Opposition party's leader, and suggested an 11th Hour Wildrose-PC merger.

Cabinet was told nothing about GCHQ spying programmes, says Chris Huhne

Cabinet ministers and members of the national security council were told nothing about the existence and scale of the vast data-gathering programmes run by British and American intelligence agencies, a former member of the government has revealed.

Chris Huhne, who was in the cabinet for two years until 2012, said ministers were in "utter ignorance" of the two biggest covert operations, Prism and Tempora. The former Liberal Democrat MP admitted he was shocked and mystified by the surveillance capabilities disclosed by the Guardian from files leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden.

FBI Secrets: Feds Reportedly Used Secret Evidence Obtained Under Secret Surveillance Law To Prosecute Accused Terrorists

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The FBI has used secret evidence obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to prosecute at least 27 accused terrorists since 2007, according to a Reuters review of public records.

While the recent spotlight has been on the use of the FISA law by the U.S. National Security Agency for surveillance programs following disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the FBI also makes extensive use of the law for domestic counterterrorism.

IRS Investigation: Darrell Issa Releases More Partial Transcripts Despite Calls For Full Accounts

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has continued to release only select portions of committee interviews with key Internal Revenue Service staffers despite calls to make the full transcripts public.

In recent days, the California Republican has allowed reporters from local and national news outlets to review portions of his panel's investigative work into the IRS targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. The move looks like a rebuke to the ranking Democrat on his committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), and even some Republican lawmakers, who have publicly worried that selective leaking imperils the integrity of the investigation.

Canada slow to protect whistleblowing spies, soldiers

Six years after Canada's three most secretive agencies were supposed to set up a way to protect whistleblowers reporting wrongdoing within their ranks, they have finally all complied.

The national security and intelligence departments — the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) — were exempted from a whistleblower protection law that came into force for federal government employees in early 2007.

Records missing from Conservative MP's campaign file

Questions are being raised about how Elections Canada is handling MPs' campaign files after the agency refused to allow CBC News to see documents in the campaign file of Conservative MP Eve Adams.

At the end of every federal election, candidates have to turn in paperwork, including receipts, to back up their spending. That information is available to anyone who requests the files from Elections Canada headquarters in Ottawa.

Wikileaks Was Just a Preview: We're Headed for an Even Bigger Showdown Over Secrets

I went yesterday to a screening of We Steal Secrets, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney's brilliant new documentary about Wikileaks. The movie is beautiful and profound, an incredible story that's about many things all at once, including the incredible Shakespearean narrative that is the life of Julian Assange, a free-information radical who has become an uncompromising guarder of secrets.

I'll do a full review in a few months, when We Steal Secrets comes out, but I bring it up now because the whole issue of secrets and how we keep them is increasingly in the news, to the point where I think we're headed for a major confrontation between the government and the public over the issue, one bigger in scale than even the Wikileaks episode.

Ex-Officer Is First From C.I.A. to Face Prison for a Leak

WASHINGTON — Looking back, John C. Kiriakou admits he should have known better. But when the F.B.I. called him a year ago and invited him to stop by and “help us with a case,” he did not hesitate.

In his years as a C.I.A. operative, after all, Mr. Kiriakou had worked closely with F.B.I. agents overseas. Just months earlier, he had reported to the bureau a recruiting attempt by someone he believed to be an Asian spy.

“Anything for the F.B.I.,” Mr. Kiriakou replied.

F-35s: How politicians get sucked into the secrecy trap

Watching the F-35 spectacle is like watching a plane wreck in slow motion. The file has been crashing for two years now and, as it finally slams into the ground, the lesson for ministers is very clear: Secrecy is your enemy, transparency is your friend.

When ministers are assigned a new portfolio, they often know almost nothing about the files they’re assuming. No one should expect them to. They may come from one of any number of backgrounds. This lack of expertise carries a risk.

Canada’s spy bosses think of their elaborate new HQ as ‘Camelot’

Canada’s electronic spy organization believes that the state-of-the-art headquarters now being built in Gloucester will make it a leader among its allies and attract the best and brightest of spies, according to newly released government documents obtained by the Citizen.

When finished in 2015-16, Communications Security Establishment Canada’s new $880-million spy campus on Ogilvie Road, near Blair Road, is expected to be home to more than 1,800 employees.

6 Things Mitt Romney Is Hiding

Presidential candidates try as best they can to control their public image. But by modern standards, Mitt Romney has taken his quest for secrecy to extraordinary lengths. Here's all there is to know about what we don't know about Romney.

His Old Emails

Reporters looking for emails and other records from Romney's tenure as Massachusetts governor are out of luck.

Carleton U concedes problems with $15M donor deal for politics school

OTTAWA - Carleton University says the $15-million donor agreement for its showcase school of political management, fronted by Preston Manning, does not reflect the university's academic policies and will be renegotiated.

The concession comes as the Canadian Association of University Teachers, or CAUT, prepares a broadside at what it calls "unprecedented and unacceptable" provisions in Carleton's secret deal with Calgary businessman Clayton Riddell.

Pratt & Whitney Canada sent military copter tech to China

WASHINGTON— Pratt & Whitney Canada and its parent company, United Technologies, have been fined more than $75 million (U.S.) for selling China software that was used to develop and produce China’s first modern military attack helicopter.

As part of the settlement, Pratt & Whitney Canada agreed to plead guilty to two federal criminal charges—violating a U.S. export control law and making false statements. The charges were in connection with the export to China of U.S.-origin military software used in Pratt & Whitney Canada engines, which was used to test and develop China’s new Z-10 helicopter.