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The parliamentary officer in charge of creating independent financial audits of federal operations reported Monday on four files.
Auditor-General Karen Hogan issued reports on transportation barriers for the disabled, connectivity in rural and remote areas, the multibillion-dollar renovation of Parliament Hill’s Centre Block and international assistance in support of gender equality.
Ms. Hogan, who has more than 25 years professional experience in accounting and auditing and first joined the office in 2006, has held the top job since 2020.
Here are stories on some of the new reports:
-Global Affairs Canada is not able to show how its implementation of the federal government’s feminist international assistance policy has contributed to improving gender equality in low- and middle-income countries, a report from the Auditor-General says. Story here.
-The federal government’s slow rollout of high-speed internet to rural areas is putting First Nations at an economic disadvantage while billions of dollars earmarked to fix the issue remains untouched, says Canada’s Auditor-General. Story here.
-The Auditor-General largely approves of the multibillion-dollar renovation of Parliament Hill’s Centre Block, although she says some decision-making around the project was “fragmented” and some key decisions were not made in a timely manner. Story here.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
JAILED SISTERS ORDERED RELEASED AFTER 30 YEARS IN CUSTODY - A Saskatchewan judge has ordered the release of Nerissa and Odelia Quewezance, Salteaux sisters who have spent 30 years in custody for a murder they say they didn’t commit. Their 1994 conviction is currently under review by the federal Minister of Justice for a possible miscarriage of justice. Story here.
NEW IRAN SANCTIONS ANNOUNCED - Ottawa is adding more Iranian individuals and companies to its sanctions list after the government faced heavy criticism at a diaspora event this weekend. Story here.
DELAY IN ANNOUNCING UNOFFICIAL BORDER CROSSINGS DEAL - Canada and the United States waited a year to announce a new deal to turn asylum seekers away at unofficial border crossings, such as Roxham Road between Quebec and New York, to avoid a rush of migrants before the new rules could be enforced, the two countries said Sunday. Story here.
QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT FEDERA JUDGE’S RULING - The Canadian government says a federal judge misinterpreted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in directing officials to secure the release of four men from detention in northeastern Syria. Story here.
OTTAWA SHOULD DROP OPPOSITION TO LAWSUIT BY BLACK PUBLIC SERVANTS: UNIONS - Unions representing more than three million workers are urging the federal government to drop its challenge of a proposed class-action lawsuit brought by Black federal public servants alleging racial discrimination in the federal public service. Story here from CBC.
SASKATCHEWAN LIBERAL PARTY TO CHANGE NAME -The Saskatchewan Liberal Party has passed a motion to change the party’s name. Party leader Jeff Walters says changing its name is a step in the full rebranding of the political party, which hasn’t had a sitting member of the legislature in 25 years, and won 355 votes in the 2020 provincial election. Story here from CBC.
FUNERAL HELD FOR SLAIN EDMONTON POLICE OFFICERS - A regimental funeral is set to be held Monday for two Edmonton police officers who were shot and killed by a 16-year-old boy. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, March 27, accessible here.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER - Chrystia Freeland, also the Finance Minister, attended private meetings and was scheduled to select a new pair of shoes on the occasion of the federal budget she is tabling on Tuesday.
POLITICAL FORECAST - THE WEEK AHEAD - Speaking of the federal budget, please check back in The Globe and Mail after 4 p.m. ET for full coverage of the federal budget.
ISLAMOPHOBIA REPRESENTATIVE AT COMMITTEE HEARING - Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, was scheduled, on Monday at 4: 30p.m. ET, to appear before the Senate Committee on Human Rights. Former Supreme Court of Canada justice Marie Deschamps, chair of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, was also scheduled to appear before the committee at 4 p.m. Videolink information here.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at Canada, an Islamic organization, was scheduled Monday to host the annual Break-a-Fast Iftar Dinner on the Hill Event, a Ramadan event that highlights the significance of fasting for Muslims. Among the guests expected was federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and elected officials. The evening was to conclude with an iftar dinner (Breaking of the Fast).
MINISTERS ON THE ROAD - Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, in Toronto, is scheduled to make an announcement on addressing labor shortages as part of a keynote address to the Empire Club of Canada on a new federal immigration pathway. The minister will also participate in a fireside chat.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in the Ottawa region, held private meetings, attended Question Period, and attended an iftar dinner with Muslim women leaders, joined by Marci Ien, the minister for women, gender equality and youth, as well as Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet toured the riding of Thérèse-De Blainville on Monday accompanied by MP Louise Chabot. His schedule included meeting students at the Lionel-Groulx college.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and co-leader Jonathan Pedneault, on Parliament Hill, with Green MP Mike Morrice, held a news conference on their priorities for Tuesday’s federal budget.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, delivered a speech to the legislative conference of the International Association of Fire Fighters, took media questions before Question Period, and attended Question Period.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
THE DECIBEL
On Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Elisângela Mendonça, a London-based Brazilian journalist with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, talks about the dark side of the booming collagen industry. Collagen supplements are marketed as an anti-aging product. Bovine collagen is made from cattle hides, and a new investigation from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism traced the supply chain of some collagen companies all the way to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The Decibel is here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on Budget 2023: The Liberals’ reckless deficit of choice: “Budgets are about making choices. In our prebudget coverage, we’ve laid out some of those choices: pruning benefits for wealthy, elderly Canadians; boosting child-care transfers to keep pace with inflation; avoiding a ruinous increase in health care transfers; boosting defence spending; and rolling back the size of government. Budgets are about deciding where to spend, and just as important, where not to spend. The biggest fiscal failure of the Trudeau Liberals has been their insistence on ignoring this basic tenet of sound finance, and instead each year layering new spending on old, while blithely ignoring the mounting pressure of the national debt. That deliberate, persistent failure can be summed up in just one word – reckless.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on the United States wanting Canada to take part in a global economic decoupling from China: “If Joe Biden is right, one of the most consequential things for Canada’s economic future is happening right now. The U.S. President just invited Canada to take part in a global economic decoupling, in a multination effort to repatriate critical supply chains away from authoritarian countries such as China. And Canada said yes. Details are to come in Tuesday’s federal budget. What we know already is that Canada will follow the U.S. in establishing a major package of industrial subsidies. Those incentives are supposed to create the industrial base for a low-carbon future and bring jobs to North America.”
Macus Gee (The Globe and Mail) on the usual suspects filling the line-up for Toronto’s mayor: “It’s a disappointing field so far. Most of the candidates have been kicking around for years in one capacity or another. None can be truly called a fresh face. Toronto is a city of three million people, the fourth largest metropolis in North America. It teems with bright, talented, driven people. Ingenious tech entrepreneurs who might bring some innovation to city government. Dedicated leaders of social-services or philanthropic agencies with genuine insights into the city’s social problems. Inspiring figures from entertainment, sports or higher education. Wouldn’t it be great if one of them were to step forward to run for mayor?”
Sharry Aiken, Paul Champ and Kent Roach (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how Canadian detainees in Syria should be brought home immediately: “As members of the legal community, we are gravely concerned by the Canadian government’s continuing refusal to repatriate all Canadians detained in camps and prisons in northeast Syria. Urgent repatriation is “the only international law-compliant response,” in the assessment of the UN Special Rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights. Although ties to the militant group Daesh have been alleged to justify continuing gross violations against the detainees, the Federal Court has clearly stated that the government has not “allege[d] any of the Applicants engaged in or assisted in terrorist activities.”
Robert Asselin (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on Canada’s economy facing mounting challenges - and here’s how we overcome them: “We need to mobilize our human capital, create a modern science and technology architecture capable of converting intellectual capital into expanding our advanced industries and high-tech manufacturing, build proper transmission channels of public R&D to industry and create a regulatory and tax environment conducive to capital formation. In the current circumstance, the worst policy decision would be to take the easy road of spreading subsidies across sectors and all regions of the country. Getting to the right policy outcomes is more important than political expediency. Addressing these challenges will require policy work that will go well beyond one budget.”
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