{"id":114730,"date":"2020-11-18T17:54:03","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T14:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/bill-blair-gets-a-smackdown-from-canadas-information-watchdog\/"},"modified":"2020-11-18T17:54:03","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T14:54:03","slug":"bill-blair-gets-a-smackdown-from-canadas-information-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/bill-blair-gets-a-smackdown-from-canadas-information-watchdog\/","title":{"rendered":"#Bill Blair gets a smackdown from Canada’s information watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Bill Blair gets a smackdown from Canada’s information watchdog<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Politics Insider for Nov. 18: The RCMP is failing miserably at being transparent, Andrew Scheer has hired family members and Donald Trump hypes Elections Canada\n <\/div>\n
\n Welcome to a sneak peek of the\u00a0<\/em>Maclean\u2019s\u00a0Politics Insider\u00a0news<\/a>letter.\u00a0Sign up to get it delivered\u00a0straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair<\/strong> found himself on the wrong side of a blunt message from the federal watchdog on government transparency. Information commissioner\u00a0Caroline Maynard<\/strong> dropped a bombshell report<\/strong><\/a> into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police\u2019s access-to-information operations. The Mounties, Maynard concluded, were failing their transparency obligations \u201cby nearly every measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commissioner had harsh words for Blair. \u201cHe has ignored most recommendations<\/strong> and app<\/a>ears unconcerned<\/strong> by the [RCMP\u2019s] failings,\u201d she wrote. And in a letter to the minister, Maynard scolded Blair. \u201cIt is incumbent on you to take any necessary actions to ensure that our country\u2019s national police force complies with the law on your behalf. Canadians expect it and deserve no less.\u201d A watchdog telling a minister to force the police to follow the law<\/strong>. Seems like the public safety minister should have a response. For hours, Blair offered no comment<\/a>\u00a0and his Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a> accounts remained silent.<\/p>\n

The Tories tabled a motion<\/a> yesterday that hoped to force the government into a decision on Huawei<\/strong>\u2018s potential participation in the development of Canada\u2019s 5G infrastructure<\/strong>. For more than two years, the Liberals have hemmed and hawed on a decision to allow\u2014or ban\u2014the Chinese telecom giant. Three of the Five Eyes partners have already barred Huawei. The Tories want a decision within 30 days<\/strong>. They also want a plan, in short order, to \u201ccombat China\u2019s growing foreign operations here in Canada and its increasing intimidation of Canadians.\u201d Liberal MP Wayne Easter, the co-chair of the Canada-U.S. parliamentary group, came out in favour of a ban<\/a>. His caucus colleague, Rob Oliphant<\/strong>, simply asked<\/a> for the 30-day limit to be excised. The Liberals, it appears, want more time.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau<\/strong>\u2018s ethical sin of the year was not recusing himself from cabinet discussions about a charity that had paid his mother and brother hundreds of thousands of dollars for speaking engagements. Now, the Globe and Mail<\/em> has revealed former Tory boss\u00a0Andrew Scheer<\/strong>, who railed against the PM\u2019s family ties, employed his own sister-in-law<\/a> until this week\u2014and, for four years between 2008 and 2012, gave a job to his sister<\/a>. Neither case violated existing ethics rules, but Scheer was forced to make a Trudeauian mea culpa: \u201cI understand that in this case, following the rules may not have been enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Industry Minister\u00a0Navdeep Bains<\/strong> yesterday tabled an overhaul of its privacy law that protects Canadians\u2019 personal information from misuse by private companies. The Liberals say\u00a0Bill C-11<\/a>, the so-called Digital Charter Implementation Act, will include the \u201cstrongest fines among G7 privacy laws<\/a>\u201c\u2014up to five per cent of a company\u2019s revenue or as high as $25 million<\/strong>. The new law would also give Canada\u2019s privacy commissioner the ability to force companies to comply<\/a> with orders from the watchdog.<\/p>\n

The Commons government operations committee asked the parliamentary budget officer to estimate the cost of two brand-new replenishment ships built for the Navy\u00a0by a Vancouver shipyard and<\/em>\u00a0the cost of two refurbished ships contracted out from a Quebec shipyard. The PBO found a $2.7-billion difference<\/strong><\/a>. The converted ships, one of which is already in service, would cost $1.4 billion<\/strong> compared to the $4.1-billion<\/strong> price tag for new vessels, which have faced years of delays. But these number crunchers aren\u2019t defence specialists, so the PBO had no opinion on any capability gap between the new and used options.<\/p>\n

Deep freeze:<\/strong> When Pfizer\u2019s potentially game<\/a>-changing COVID-19 vaccine recently made headlines, the world\u2019s attention briefly turned to the need for especially cold freezers to store the stuff. You\u2019d think any federally procured deep freezers would be targeted at the vaccine\u2014but no, the Canadian Grain Commission is looking for its own \u201cultra-low temperature\u201d freezer<\/strong><\/a> for its \u201cliving collection of biological material\u201d that can maintain temps of -145 Celsius<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A 2019 Harley Davidson Sportster<\/strong><\/a> could be yours, courtesy of the federal surplus store. The motorcycle\u2019s exhaust pipe was modified by Environment Canada for emission testing purposes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Trump hypes Elections Canada:<\/strong> The outgoing leader of the free world attempted to frame an Elections Canada tweet<\/a> about paper ballots as proof that Americans can\u2019t trust their own electoral system\u2014including the electronic Dominion Voting Systems<\/strong>, a platform founded in Canada<\/a>, that\u2019s at the heart of a largely debunked conspiracy theory<\/a> about Biden-biased software glitches. \u201cTHIS SAYS IT ALL<\/a>,\u201d tweeted the president. Pity the Elections Canada social media<\/a> team.
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