Doubtful Harper unaware of F-35 issues

Last week’s release of the much anticipated auditor general’s report on the acquisition of F-35 fighter planes sparked a furious barrage of media and opposition party outrage.

The word "boondoggle" was revived and, while interim Liberal leader Bob Rae called for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s resignation, others demanded that Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Chief of Defence Staff Walt Natynczyk be removed from their posts.

In his report, auditor general John Ferguson aimed his sights on Defence Department bureaucrats for allegedly misleading their masters. The office reviewed briefing material from 2006 and 2010, concluding that "neither the minister nor decision makers in National Defence and central agencies were kept informed of these problems and the associated risks of relying on the F-35 to replace the CF-18."

While a quick glance at this statement would appear to exonerate Defence Department senior managers and top politicians, it is the dates in question that beg closer scrutiny.

It was in July 2010 that MacKay staged a photo-op with a full-scale model of an F-35 and pledged Canada’s commitment to purchasing 65 of these fifth-generation, stealth fighter-bombers from U.S. firm Lockheed Martin. Until that juncture, any discussion of replacing the recently upgraded fleet of CF-18s was limited to trade journals, and certainly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program was not a regular topic of discussion at the water cooler.

A Double Threat

The proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline puts the unique ecosystem of the Great Bear Rainforest, and the communities that rely on it, at risk.

This is the final article in a three-part series on Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest. February marked the six-year anniversary of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements, which were celebrated around the world as one of the greatest rainforest conservation stories of our time. To this day, however, half of the Great Bear Rainforest is still open to logging. Greenpeace, Sierra Club BC, and ForestEthics have launched a campaign calling on B.C. Premier Christy Clark to speed up the outstanding steps for healthy forests and thriving communities, before it’s too late. The first article discussed how the Great Bear Rainforest is still at risk. The second article described what makes the Great Bear Rainforest so significant – and worthy of full protection. This final instalment looks at the specific threat to the forest and its ecosystem from the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project.

Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline project, which is currently under federal government review, would send 200 supertankers (some larger than the Empire State Building) every year through the rocky and unpredictable waters of British Columbia’s iconic Great Bear Rainforest.

Feds kill NRTEE, opposition critics say it’s ‘peanuts’ in savings

The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy’s $5-million budget is “peanuts” in terms of savings for the federal government’s coffers, say opposition MPs who believe eliminating the advisory board means Canada will be “less equipped” to deal with the biggest challenges facing the country.

“This is not an expensive ticket. They could’ve gone to the round table and said you’ve got $5.2-million, next year you’re going to have $4.2-million and we’re going to give you three very important tasks to fulfill. We want your advice on one, two and three. It better be hard, it better be objective,” said Liberal MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Ont.), who worked at NRTEE for nine years before entering elected politics. “All the evidence has been confirmed, just when it comes to climate change you either pay now, or you pay 1,000 times more later. Just from an economic perspective, from a money management perspective, this is foolish talk on their part. But it’s not about efficiencies. It’s about eliminating dissenting voices.”

Mr. McGuinty, a former president of the NRTEE, told The Hill Times last week the premise for the round table was to give independent, non-partisan, consensus-based advice to the federal government. The advisory body was founded in 1988 in the lead up to the Rio Earth Summit, and Governor General David Johnston was its founding chair. In 1993, the NRTEE was established as a permanent body through legislation passed by Parliament.

Cabinet ‘maintained fiction’ on F-35s’ true $25-billion price tag, knew it could cost election

The government “maintained the fiction” that the F-35s purchase was at least $10-billion less than its real cost throughout last May’s election “come hell or high water” because they knew it could cost them the election, say opposition MPs.

Liberal MP John McKay (Scarborough-Guildwood, Ont.) told The Hill Times last Thursday—after Auditor General Michael Ferguson confirmed Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) and his Cabinet knew before the federal election last year the forecast cost of the F-35 stealth jet was $10-billion higher than what the government claimed publicly—that the minority Conservative government of the day knew it could not afford to disclose the true cost of the program before or during the election caused by a contempt of Parliament vote on March 25, 2011.

“They stayed with their number through the election, come hell or high water, because they didn’t want to be faced with questions about why they hadn’t revealed that number prior to the election. They had to maintain the fiction through the entire election period,” Mr. McKay told The Hill Times.

“If you go through the sequence of events, even in 2010 they had to know. If you didn’t know you were actually dead under a rock. Then the Parliamentary Budget Officer comes out in 2011 and says, ‘$10-billion out, easily $10-billion out’ and they demonized the PBO and said [to themselves] ‘We’re prepared to risk this.’ They can never, under any circumstances, at that point when the PBO comes out or when the motion for contempt comes up, or the call for the election, or during the election, ever say one word about it,” Mr. McKay said.

Border controls need better monitoring: CBSA, Health Canada should work more closely, says AG

Controls on commercial imports at the border are generally working, but in a small percentage of cases some missing policies, miscommunication and sloppy record-keeping are hurting the ability of the Canada Border Services Agency and other federal departments to target shipments of potentially dangerous goods coming into Canada, according to the auditor general’s report released last week.

“We found monitoring problems with controls reserved for higher-risk items, such as pharmaceuticals and pest control products,” Auditor General Michael Ferguson told reporters after the release of his first report on April 3.

His office’s audit of border controls examined Canada Border Services Agency as well as Health Canada, the Canada Food Inspection Agency, Natural Resources and Transport Canada—four entities with a stake in making sure imported goods don’t hurt the health and safety of Canadians.

The five departments spent $200-million on border safety programs in 2010-2011, according to the audit.

The audit found that while in “most cases” products potentially harmful to Canadians’ health and safety were “adequately controlled” when they reached the border, administrative oversights and a lack of policies resulted in some potentially dangerous products getting through.

Vancouver’s bagpipe ban prompts outcry

A few weeks ago, Kyle Banta was eager to pick up his bagpipes and go busking again in central Vancouver.

For two straight summers, the 22-year-old has been playing on city sidewalks, earning spending money, trying out his own compositions and winning approval from members of the public charmed by the pipe sounds. Some would ask when he would be back. At times, he would make $100 a day.

So Mr. Banta says he was surprised to see on the city website that bagpipe busking was to be banned by Vancouver’s engineering department due to noise concerns – part of a ban that also covered percussion instruments.

“I was quite disappointed because my favorite thing is to play pipes,” said Mr. Banta, describing a decision implemented in a “sleek, quiet way.” He said calls to the engineering department seeking clarification were not returned.

But the unusually specific ban, which hit a few bagpiping buskers in Vancouver, has run into opposition from one of the city’s top Scots.

That would be Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who was sworn in for a second term wearing a kilt in reflection of his Scottish heritage.

MacKay stands by F-35 jets, calls cost jump an accounting issue

Ottawa can still opt out of buying 65 new U.S.-built fighter-jets, but Defence Minister Peter MacKay says the government is convinced the F-35 is the “best” choice for Canada in spite of its eye-popping price.

Mr. MacKay said Sunday there would be a cost to cancelling a multi-billion-dollar purchase deal with Lockheed Martin, the lead contractor.

“There are consequences for withdrawing from it,” he told CTV’s Question Period. “But it’s not prohibitive. There is not money that has been spent.”

As opposition politicians called for an open competition for a new fighter-jet, Mr. MacKay warned that cancelling the memorandum of understanding on the F-35 would mean losing Canada’s place in the production line and a delay in taking delivery of aircraft to replace the aging CF-18s.

Mr. MacKay also rebuffed opposition calls that he resign in the wake of a damning report last week by Auditor-General Michael Ferguson. The report faults the government for mismanaging the F-35 program and misinforming Parliament and Canadians on the true cost of its largest-ever military purchase.

Tory supporters misled by 'live calls' in 2011 election, complaint says

A new complaint about misleading calls to voters in the Ontario riding of Guelph has been lodged with the country’s elections watchdog.

The complaint, from a key member of the local Conservative team, says Tory supporters were erroneously told their polling stations had changed in last year’s federal campaign.

Unlike the 6,700 automated messages sent mainly to non-Tory supporters by unknown political operative “Pierre Poutine” that sparked an Elections Canada investigation, the calls reportedly received by Tory supporters were live calls from people claiming to be with the elections office.

In a copy of the complaint obtained by The Globe and Mail, Guelph Tory campaign manager Ken Morgan states that calls to Conservative supporters began on April 28 and continued until voting day on May 2. The phone number associated with the calls was 519-479-0031, which, when dialled, led to a recording that said, “This is the Conservative Party of Canada.”

“In no way did this call originate from the Conservative party, nor am I assuming the ‘Elections Office,’ ” Mr. Morgan wrote in an e-mail to the federal elections commissioner last month, after the “Pierre Poutine” robo-call controversy exploded into a political firestorm. “I would like to know from whom did this call originate? It was obviously an attempt to lure our supporters away from their legitimate polls.”

Ontario’s job training shuts out half of unemployed

If the best route out of poverty is a job, a commission studying Ontario’s welfare system thinks the province can do more to help its most vulnerable residents find work.

Part of the problem is that almost half of Employment Ontario’s $1.2 billion worth of training programs are available only to people receiving employment insurance benefits.

And yet, barely half of the province’s jobless — and less than a quarter in Toronto — are eligible for EI.

As a result, swaths of job-seekers, including more than 550,000 households living on social assistance, are shut out of these programs, the commissioners note.

Sheyenne Ham, 24, is one of them. After studying art and design at Centennial College in 2006, she switched gears and found work as an administrator for a small electrical company. But the hours were erratic and some months she had to turn to welfare to make ends meet. In December, the company laid off its entire office staff. Since she didn’t have enough working hours to qualify for EI, Ham is back on welfare.

NDP trying to 'bring the centre to us'

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair knows the fight to woo voters is in the centre of the political spectrum.

But don't expect him to push his party full-steam in that direction, he says.

With the wind in his sails from the most recent national poll, Mulcair appeared on Quebec's most popular TV talk show, Tout le monde en parle, on Sunday for the first time since he took the helm of the New Democrats last month.

"We're going to bring the centre to us," Mulcair told host Guy A. Lepage when asked about concerns among NDP faithful that their new leader will try to move the officially socialist party to a more centrist political stance.

"If we change our ideas just to appeal to more people, and we compromise them, that's a problem."

Mulcair won the race to become the NDP's seventh leader, and leader of the Official Opposition, on March 24, replacing Jack Layton, who died last August from cancer. Layton was a guest on Tout le monde en parle during last year's national election campaign, in an appearance that was credited with helping his party capture an unprecedented 59 seats in the province.