Stephen Harper maintains Hamas to blame after shelling of UN school in Gaza

Prime Minister Stephen Harper reiterated his government's criticism of Hamas on Wednesday, saying it is solely responsible for the death and destruction in Gaza following almost a month of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants.

Harper's remarks, made following a job-training announcement in Air Ronge, Sask., came as the United States and the United Nations condemned the shelling of a UN school that was sheltering displaced Palestinians on the Gaza Strip. At least 17 people were killed.

"Obviously no one likes to see the suffering and loss of life that has occurred," Harper told reporters.

"That said, we hold the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for this. They have initiated and continue this conflict and continue to seek the destruction of the state of Israel."

Some 3,300 Palestinians, including many women and children, were taking refuge in the school building in the Jabalya refugee camp when it came under fire around dawn, said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

The attack prompted the U.S. to condemn the shelling, though it did not single out Israel by name.

"We are extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in UN designated shelters in Gaza," the White House added.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called the attack "shameful" and said all available evidence points to Israeli artillery as the cause.

Harper, meantime, suggested Israel has been justified in its actions throughout the conflict, saying that if a terrorist organization were attacking Canadians, there would be a similar response from Canada.

Unprompted, Harper also had harsh words for Russia over the continuing conflict in Ukraine and China for alleged cyberattacks against Canada.

"There is zero doubt that those people who are responsible for violence and destabilization in Ukraine are acting as agents of the government of Russia," he said. "Russia's conduct in this is unacceptable."

He added that there's "no doubt ... the agents that Russia has armed" downed a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet two weeks ago.

Harper also took aim at China, saying once again that there was "no doubt" that the Chinese were behind the cyberattacks on Canada's federal scientific research agency.

Earlier this week, the federal government's chief information officer, Corinne Charette, said the National Research Council was the target of a cyberattack from a "highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor."

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa denied being involved in any such attack. But Harper is apparently not buying it.

"We have obviously experts in the cyber-security field that are monitoring this very closely," he said.

"It's an ongoing battle. They tell me there is no doubt as to the source of this particular attack, and this obviously is being taken up with the government of China at the highest level."

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Canada taking steps to guard against spread of Ebola

Canada's Deputy Chief Public Health Officer says the risk of an Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa spreading to Canada is very low.

Dr. Gregory Taylor said there are several reasons for that, not the least of which is geography.

"I think it's important to remember where Canada is in the globe," Dr. Taylor told CBC News Wednesday. "There are no direct flights (from West Africa) to Canada."

Taylor said border agents continue to keep a close eye on all travellers coming into the country, and will report anyone who appears to be sick.

And, he added, the federal agency is asking doctors across the country to ask a few more questions if a patient has symptoms that could be caused by Ebola. "Because the initial symptoms are very vague, it can be headache, or malaise, or sore muscles, or a fever, which can be a number of different diseases," Taylor said.

Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Gregory Taylor, centre, says Canada is asking doctors across the country to ask a few more questions if a patient has symptoms such as fever and malaise. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

"What's key is a physician asking a travel history. 'Have you been to Africa? Have you been part of the relief effort?'"

The public health agency is also recommending that any health-care professional who recently returned from that region in Africa self-monitor for symptoms for 21 days.

Sandra Smiley, a Canadian with Doctors Without Borders in London, England, said those precautions mean an outbreak is unlikely to occur in Canada.

"It's very unlikely this disease will spread to a place like the U.K. or Canada simply because the world is on high alert right now, they're looking out for this disease," Smiley told CBC News.

There has never been a case of Ebola in Canada.

Smiley has just returned from Sierra Leone, where Doctors Without Borders has three isolation units and many doctors on the ground.

"We really are stretched to our limits. We are doing all that we can at this point, but with each new outbreak location, you need to set up a treatment ward, you need to have contact tracing teams, you need to set up epidemiological teams, and that takes a lot of manpower and resources," she told CBC News.

Smiley said part of the problem is that the virus was virtually unknown in this part of western Africa, and most people weren't aware of the symptoms until it had already spread.

Canadian Katherine Mueller, who is with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has also just returned from Sierra Leone.

Mueller said part of her role while in Sierra Leone was to educate local healers and religious rulers on how to stop the outbreak from spreading further.

"In this part of the world, people are practising things like voodoo, they practise animism. So it's a very different mindset and way of thinking than what many of us believe in the West," she told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning.

Canada is the second-largest donor of aid in responding to the Ebola outbreak.

The federal government has spent $1.41 million, which includes sending Canadian experts to the World Health Organization to help out.

Britain's foreign secretary said Ebola poses a threat to his country, and he's convened an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss the possible spread of the virus.

According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, 729 people have died from the Ebola virus as of July 27 in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria .

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Marc Nadon won't have to repay his Supreme Court salary

Justice Marc Nadon will not have to pay back nearly six months of salary he earned before the top court rejected his appointment.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Peter MacKay's office told CBC News in an email late Wednesday afternoon that the government will not seek retroactive repayment from Nadon.

"The government won't be retroactively changing Judge Nadon's pay," said Mary Ann Dewey-Plante, the director of communications for MacKay.

The confirmation came in response to a statement earlier Wednesday from the registrar for the Supreme Court, who said it was up to the justice minister to decide whether Nadon should pay back the salary.

"The registrar has reviewed the facts and the statutory framework and has concluded that he is not in a position to make a determination about whether or not there has been any overpayment of salary or allowances to Justice Nadon."

"Any determination about whether or not there has been an overpayment rests with the minister of justice," Roger Bilodeau, the registrar for the Supreme Court of Canada, said in the written statement.

Bilodeau administers the salaries and allowances of the judges of the Supreme Court on behalf of the minister of justice.

Nadon collected a salary from the top court from Oct. 3, 2013, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed him, until March 21 when the Supreme Court ruled he was ineligible to represent Quebec on the top court's bench.

Nadon is currently serving on the Federal Court of Appeal.

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Benjamin Perrin, former PMO lawyer, won't face B.C. Law Society probe

The Law Society of British Columbia will not pursue an investigation into the conduct of Benjamin Perrin, the prime minister's former legal counsel, for his role in a $90,000 payment to Senator Mike Duffy, CBC News has learned.

A spokesperson for the Law Society says Perrin's file was closed on July 14 under one of its rules, which states it can do so "if we are satisfied that the complaint is not valid, or its validity cannot be proved."

The Law Society would not say who or what prompted it to look into the matter, but media reports last November said University of Ottawa law professor and activist Amir Attaran lodged a complaint about Perrin with the society.

In a statement to CBC News, Perrin said, "I am pleased that the Law Society has closed this file and did not find any concerns with my conduct as a lawyer."

He said he looks forward to continuing his work on public policy issues.

Perrin worked as a legal affairs and policy adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2012-13.

Perrin's name was cited a number of times in court documents filed by RCMP as part of their investigation into a $90,000 payment to Duffy from Nigel Wright, Harper's former chief of staff, to repay Duffy's ineligible Senate expenses.

The documents said Wright told the investigating officer Perrin was aware of Wright's decision to give Duffy the $90,000, though Wright added Perrin was not involved in that decision in any way.

According to the RCMP, Perrin was also involved in legal negotiations with Duffy's lawyer around the alleged deal, including the conditions under which it would happen and the "media lines" that would be used by Duffy.

There were also concerns Perrin's emails had been deleted after he left his position in the Prime Minister's Office, but the Privy Council Office was subsequently able to retrieve the emails and handed them over to the RCMP.

Since leaving the Prime Minister's Office, Perrin has returned to his position as professor at the University of British Columbia, where he has most recently been working on improving the justice system for victims of crime.

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Supreme Court puts stricter rules on 'Mr. Big' confessions

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Top court orders new trial for Newfoundland murder suspect Nelson Hart

CBC News Posted: Jul 31, 2014 9:58 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 31, 2014 10:09 AM ET

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The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a lower court ruling that ordered a new trial for a Newfoundland murder suspect.

The justices ruled that so-called Mr. Big stings like the one that convicted Nelson Hart pose major problems — namely, that they tend to produce unreliable confessions and risk becoming abusive.

Mr. Big stings are controversial operations in which undercover officers pose as criminals to draw confessions from suspects.

Hart was convicted in 2007 in Newfoundland of two counts of murder in the drowning deaths of his twin three-year-old daughters.

In 2012, a majority of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador's Court of Appeal overturned Hart's conviction, questioning the reliability of his confession to undercover officers posing as members of the mob.

The Crown appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, which upheld the Appeal Court's ruling and said it is up to the Crown now to decide whether there is enough evidence without the confession to hold a new trial.

More to come

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The House

• John Baird discusses the conflicts in Gaza and Eastern Ukraine Jul. 26, 2014 7:01 AM This week on The House, guest-host Rosemary Barton speaks to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird about the likelihood of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, and whether enough is being done to ensure civilians are protected.

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'Highly sophisticated' Chinese cyberattack hits Canada's research agency

A "highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor" recently managed to hack into the computer systems at Canada's National Research Council, according to Canada's chief information officer, Corinne Charette.

The attack was discovered by Communications Security Establishment Canada.

In a statement released Tuesday, Charette, confirmed that while the NRC's computers operate outside those of the government of Canada as a whole, the council's IT system has been "isolated" to ensure no other departments are compromised.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird was in Beijing as news of the cyberattack became public.

Baird was scheduled to hold a press conference on his visit, but that briefing was abruptly cancelled. No reason was immediately given, although in an email from Baird's office in response to CBC questions, spokesman Rick Roth said Canada did not cancel any events as they were guests.

The National Research Council says it is attempting to rebuild its computer infrastructure, which could take up to a year. Canada's information officer said Tuesday that a 'highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor' recently hacked into the computer systems at the NRC. (CBC)

The office also said Baird raised this issue with his Chinese counterpart and the two had a "full and frank exchange of views."

"The government takes this issue very seriously and we are addressing it at the highest levels in both Beijing and Ottawa," the statement continued.

For its part, the NRC says in a statement released Tuesday morning that it is now attempting to rebuild its computer infrastructure and this could take as much a year.

The NRC works with private businesses to advance and develop technological innovations through science and research.

The NRC says it has already been in contact with many of its "clients and stakeholders," but it could take as long as a year to secure the system.

This is not the first time the Canadian government has fallen victim to a cyberattack that seems to have originated in China — but it is the first time the Canadian government has unequivocally blamed China for the attack.

"They are right on the bull's-eye — probably," says security expert and former member of CSIS Michel Juneau-Katsuya.

"China is, by far, at the top of the ranks worldwide when it comes to cyber-espionage," Juneau-Katsuya said in an interview with CBC News. "They are devoting hundreds-of-millions of dollars, thousands of people just specializing in hacking on their behalf."

In remarks sent to CBC News, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa said China does "not accept the groundless allegation of [the] Chinese government's involvement in any cyber intrusion or attack."

"The Chinese government has always firmly opposed … and combated cyberattacks in accordance with the law," Yang Yundong wrote, adding that China itself faced attacks from thousands of "foreign servers" in 2013.

"It is the common challenge faced by the international community to deal with cyberattacks and safeguard cyber security," Yang said. "Nowadays, China-Canada relations have maintained a good momentum. We are ready to work together with the Canadian side to create a peaceful, secure, open and co-operative cyberspace."

In January 2011, the federal government was forced to take the Finance Department and Treasury Board — the federal government's two main economic nerve centres — off the internet after foreign hackers gained access to highly classified federal information.

The attack also targeted Defence Research and Development Canada, a civilian agency of the Department of National Defence that assists in the scientific and technological needs of the Canadian Forces.

The attacks were traced back to servers in China.

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Lisa Raitt, Rick Snyder to make 'important' DRIC announcement today

Canada's Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder are in Windsor, Ont., today and expected to announce the formation of a U.S.-Canadian panel that will oversee plans for a new bridge between Detroit and the southwestern Ontario city.

The minister's office says the duo "will make an important announcement regarding the Detroit River International Crossing."

A new $1-billion CAN bridge linking west Windsor and the Delray community of west Detroit has been agreed upon and is in the works.

A source close to the project tells CBC Windsor that a governance committee, comprised of three Canadian and three U.S. members, will be named Wednesday.

The members will be high-profile names, the source assured.

"That's the speculation right now, that it's the governance structure that will be looked at, and maybe an appointment process," said Windsor West NDP MP and border critic Brian Masse. "That has to be the next step necessary for land acquisition to take place [in the U.S.]."

Bill Anderson, director of the Cross-Border Institute in Windsor, says the head of the committee should be a Canadian.

"It's certainly important that the person be Canadian because Canadian taxpayers are fronting the money for this thing," he said. "They're paying for a lot of it. It's a huge project. It's very important to the Canadian economy, and the Canadian government has really pushed this project for years. Now, they want to get the thing done right and done on time."

The Canadian government has already agreed to finance the construction of the bridge, which would open in 2020.

The total cost of the project would be about $4 billion CAN, including work on freeway interchanges, customs plazas in both countries and infrastructure work.

The final permit was issued last month after a U.S. court rejected a request for an injunction filed by the private company that owns the existing Ambassador Bridge.

The next step involves securing funding for a U.S. customs facility, along with acquiring land on the American side.

A proposal to transfer 301 Detroit-owned properties to the Michigan Land Bank in exchange for $1.4 million from the Canadian government as part of plans for the crossing was delayed Monday.

A special Detroit City Council session was scheduled Monday morning. However, the Detroit Free Press reports, that Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's office has agreed to delay consideration of such an agreement until September.

Sources tell The Canadian Press the panel is expected to try to move the project forward, but the proposed New International Trade Crossing will still need $250 million in U.S. funding to build a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection plaza in Detroit.

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NATO's Canadian commander in Libya 'disappointed' with lack of progress

The Canadian who led NATO's mission in Libya three years ago says the international community under the guidance of the United Nations should have done more to ensure the country was on a path to long-term stability.

Retired lieutenant-general Charles Bouchard, former commander of the NATO-led mission in Libya, told CBC News he had hoped more would have been done to support the Libyan people in their transition toward democracy and stability once the military intervention ended.

"Our view was to create an environment where diplomacy and dialogue would take place, where people would start talking … we created that environment by stopping the violence, but at that point more was needed, and I'm not certain more was completed," Bouchard said.

Retired lieutenant-general Charles Bouchard says he is proud of the work accomplished by the NATO-led mission in Libya, but disappointed at the lack of progress since Gadhafi's overthrow. (Susana Mas/CBC News)

Amid increasing reports of violence on the streets of Tripoli, the Canadian government closed its embassy earlier today, suspending operations and withdrawing staff members from Libya.

The closing follows a similar decision by other countries, including the United States, which moved its diplomats from Tripoli to neighbouring Tunisia and shut its embassy over the weekend.

​The NATO-led mission in Libya provided air cover to protect civilians and allow rebel forces to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi.

Once the military intervention ended, Bouchard said, the fate of the Libyan people was left in the hands of the UN, which he deemed "insufficient" to the task.

"Once the mission was finished we handed over the mission to a very limited UN organization which was limited in scope, limited in its mission, and limited in numbers — which certainly I would have assessed as insufficient to accomplish the stability objective that we set for ourselves."

Bouchard, who was honoured by the Canadian government for his role in ending Gadhafi's dictatorship, said he is disappointed there hasn't been more progress.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the work that we did in Libya was right, that we needed to do it, that we saved lives. I have no doubt about that."

"I am proud of the work that we accomplished but I remain disappointed as I see the outcome today."

As NATO countries under the guidance of the UN consider future missions, "They should not only consider what the military task is but what will be done after that military mission is completed," he said.

"To me the secret is to bring all of these [countries] together, but to do it as early as possible in the conflict or even before the decision to get involved so that people will have a road map to take them to a successful conclusion."

Bouchard retired in April 2012 after more than 37 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He is now chief executive for Lockheed Martin Canada, the maker of the F-35 fighter jets.

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Political staffers best be wary when wrangling Wikipedia entries

A Twitter account that alerts Wikipedia edits made from parliamentary computers has been seen as shining a light on furtive attempts by political staffers to burnish the online images of their bosses — or tarnish those of their opponents.

But in this age of digital profiles and concern over the "right to be forgotten," a little image-management is not necessarily nefarious.

The @gccaedits robot account scans real-time Wikipedia access logs for anonymous edits made by machines within the IP ranges used by the House of Commons network, as well as other federal departments and agencies.The resulting Twitterstream offers a glimpse into the ad hoc reputation management strategies employed by Parliament Hill staffers.

Last week, someone behind the keyboard of a computer within the House of Commons network took it upon him or herself to add what they clearly believed to be a necessary edit to the Wikipedia article for Conservative MP Robert Goguen.

After enjoying a relatively low profile for several years, Goguen found himself in the national spotlight a few weeks earlier, when, during committee hearings on the government's proposed prostitution bill rewrite, he asked a former sex worker speaking in support of the bill if she would have felt that her right to freedom of expression had been violated had she been rescued by police from the gang rape detailed in her testimony.

The anonymous editor updated the summary of events to include the name of the witness, referred to three times as "Ms. Timea E. Nagy," and pointed out that she had actually defended the minister.

Within minutes, the change was broadcast to the Twitterverse by @gccaedits,

Unlike some more dubious recent edits to the web pages of MPs — like, for instance, an ill-fated effort to remove the section from Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover's biography on her now resolved dispute with Elections Canada, which was spotted after it was tweeted by @gccaedits and ultimately traced back to staffers within the minister's office — the addition to Goguen's page appears to have gone unchallenged.

Despite availing themselves of the anonymity given to unregistered users, this particular editor made sure to stay well within the parameters for acceptable edits — although they may well have been in technical violation of Wikipedia's conflict of interest policies, which strongly discourage people from directly editing entries on friends, family members and employers.

Registered users are encouraged to declare potential conflicts up front. Such transparency is impossible for those who prefer to do their editing anonymously, which is why such edits are also regularly double-checked by human Wikipedia editors, who can undo changes deemed over the line if necessary.

Even without the ability to identify a specific mischief-maker within a general IP range, Wikipedia isn't above resorting to collective punishment.

Earlier this week, the website imposed a brief but sweeping temporary ban on edits from machines within the U.S. House of Representatives, after an edit scannerbot called @congressedits first revealed, and then apparently exacerbated, a burst of "disruptive" edits.

So far, the edit log file from the House of Commons has been far less contentious.

A few recent examples of other changes, plucked from the last few months of Wikipedia edit log files:

• April 11, 2014: A section detailing Conservative MP Laurie Hawn's "early life and career" is edited to reflect the arrival of "two grandchildren." It's a change that, while seemingly innocuous, draws the attention of the edit overlords to the continuing absence of any citations to back up the rest of the entry, which is summarily stripped of all but the most basic biographical details. Neither his children or his grandchildren make the final cut, despite the fact that the anonymous editor who contributed the information could easily have added a link to Hawn's website, which, while apparently slightly behind the times, does acknowledge his two children, as well as one grandchild.
   
• June 20, 2014: Liberal MP Frank Valeriote's devotion to his children is immortalized, albeit briefly, by an unidentified House of Commons computer user, to note his "two loving children … that he adores." Moments later, an editor using the same House of Commons gateway IP address removes the last three words. Soon after, the entire section on Valeriote's family life is rewritten by non-anonymous editor Ahunt to restore the original text by undoing the "insertion of unsourced content."
   
• July 4, 2014: A Wikipedia editor yanks a House of Commons anonymously added link to a petition in support of Conservative MP Russ Hiebert's bid to force unions to disclose financial information. "Not what Wikipedia articles are used for," the edit notes, "plus the same… link is in the 'External links' section."
   
• March 31, 2014: An attempt to remove all information related to former New Democrat turned Liberal MP Lise St. Denis's crossing of the floor in 2012 — including links to media reports in which she explains why she did so — does not go unnoticed. "Valid and properly sourced content stripped with no explanation by an anon IP that resolves to the Parliament of Canada," notes editor Bearcat, who helpfully includes a link to the Wikipedia policy on conflict of interest.

It's not hard to spot the overriding theme that should guide the hand of any political operative or staffer with a hankering to do a little strategic rewriting.

Stick to the facts, make sure to cite credible sources, resist the temptation to edit articles on your political opponents and — perhaps most importantly — don't think for a moment that even the most minor change will go unnoticed.

Now that @gccaedits is on the job, it won't just be other Wikipedia editors giving your proposed changes a once-over, but party researchers and Hill reporters as well, which means that any too-clever-by-half tweaks could ultimately end up adding a few new lines under the sub-heading "Controversies."

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Small foreign-aid charity struggles with onerous CRA demands after audit

A small Vancouver charity that helps the poor in Latin America has survived an audit of its political activities but is now struggling with fresh demands from the Canada Revenue Agency.

CoDevelopment Canada Association — known as CoDev — faces the crippling prospect of translating every scrap of paper it receives from 17 partners in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and elsewhere from Spanish into either English or French.

The demand, set out in a January compliance letter from the CRA, will start to bite this fall as the tiny four-person shop begins to receive banker's boxes full of Spanish-language documents from its Latin American projects, including taxi chits and bus-fare receipts.

The group's executive director, Barbara Wood, says the newly imposed requirement will drain away scarce resources, yet must be carried out or CoDev risks losing its charitable status.

The case is an example of how the CRA's 52 political-activity audits currently underway can end badly for a non-profit organization, even if it manages to pass the new class of audits instituted by the Harper government in 2012.

Many of the charities under audit have been critics of government policy, including CoDev, a trade union-funded group that has raised questions about Canada's free-trade deal with Colombia, among other issues.

"It makes me feel uncertain and a little bit stressed," Wood said in an interview.

"I'm feeling fairly vulnerable."

Process 'extremely taxing'

CoDev reported $1.3 million in expenses in 2012-2013, with some four per cent going to political activities.

The rules say charities can devote up to 10 per cent of their resources to political activities, though partisan work such as endorsing a candidate or party are forbidden.

The group underwent a CRA financial audit in 2009, their first in 25 years.

The lone agency accountant who visited the office made some helpful comments along with a few minor demands, said Wood.

Wood said she was surprised when the agency said another audit was coming, and three auditors — two of them political-activity specialists — showed up last year to go through the files again.

"It was extremely taxing," she said.

Among CRA's new demands: the official CoDev mission statement had to be rewritten to cite each human-rights law in all 11 Latin American countries that CoDev's partners try to uphold.

That meant a lengthy four-page annex to the statement, in English translation.

CoDev also avoided any mention of "preventing poverty" in the mission statement, having been tipped by Oxfam Canada that CRA would not allow such a charitable goal.

Oxfam had to agree only to the alleviation of poverty to maintain its charitable status.

Thousands of receipts to be translated

But the most onerous condition, Wood said, is the major translation project ahead, which involves thousands of receipts.

"The amount of work is unbelievable," she said.

"The rules seem to have been applied differently in 2009 than they were now ... We're a really small team and this is a huge amount of work."

A spokesman for the CRA said the agency cannot comment on specific cases because of the confidentiality provisions of the Income Tax Act.

But Philippe Brideau said the translation requirement has long been in place for all charities.

"It has always been a requirement that charities keep books and records in one of the official languages of Canada: French or English," he said.

"Books and records can also be translated from their original language if they were created in a language other than English or French."

He added that "there is no set time frame within which the CRA conducts subsequent audits ... In some instances, the CRA conducts audits to ensure that a charity has implemented corrective measures identified at the time of a previous audit."

Wood said there is "a great sense of disquiet or unease that the CRA could come back at any time and say this is not actually what we were looking for."

"There's a sense of not wanting to speak out about anything, not wanting to have your head up above the crowd."

'Advocacy chill'

The Harper government ordered the political-activity audits in March 2012, handing CRA some $8 million in funding that has since grown to $13 million.

The measure closely followed statements from senior cabinet ministers that labelled environmental charities "terrorists" and "money launderers" for their opposition to government pipeline and energy policies.

Critics and the charities themselves have said the new wave of audits, also hitting labour- and church-sponsored groups, foreign-aid groups and human-rights organizations, has led to an "advocacy chill" as they fear speaking out.

But Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay has said the government is simply holding charities to account, enforcing the rules and safeguarding public money.

And CRA officials say they alone decide which charities to audit for political activities, and do so fairly.

An umbrella organization representing more than 70 international-aid groups in Canada says a survey of members has found government funding drying up significantly since 2011, and many subject to relatively recent audits from the CRA and Foreign Affairs.

The Ottawa-based Canadian Council for International Co-operation also held workshops in October and April led by two lawyers to help members cope with the new political-activity audits, said spokeswoman Michelle Bested.

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Chinese cyberattack hits Canada's National Research Council

A "highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor" recently managed to hack into the computer systems at Canada's National Research Council, confirms the country's chief information officer, Corinne Charette.

The attack was discovered by Communications Security Establishment Canada.

In a statement released Tuesday, Charette confirms that while the NRC's computers operate outside those of the government of Canada as a whole, the council's IT system has been "isolated" to ensure no other departments are compromised.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is in Beijing, and was scheduled to hold a press conference on his visit Tuesday, but that briefing was abruptly cancelled. No reason was immediately given.

For its part, the NRC says in a statement released Tuesday morning that it is now attempting to rebuild its computer infrastructure and this could take as much a year.

The National Research Council says it is attempting to rebuild its computer infrastructure, which could take up to a year. Canada's information officer said Tuesday that a 'highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor' recently hacked into the computer systems at the NRC. (CBC)

The NRC works with private businesses to advance and develop technological innovations through science and research.

The NRC says it has already been in contact with many of its "clients and stakeholders," but it could take as long as a year to secure the system.

This is not the first time the Canadian government has fallen victim to a cyberattack that originated in China.

In January 2011, the federal government was forced to take the Finance Department and Treasury Board — the federal government's two main economic nerve centres — off the internet after foreign hackers gained access to highly classified federal information.

The attack also targeted Defence Research and Development Canada, a civilian agency of the Department of National Defence that assists in the scientific and technological needs of the Canadian Forces.

The attacks were traced back to China.

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Jason Kenney's Calgary Southeast riding no longer pulling in out-of-province cash

The man who would be — and, indeed, was, for a time — king of the local Conservative fundraising circuit may be in serious danger of forfeiting his crown.

According to the latest financial reports filed with Elections Canada, Employment Minister Jason Kenney's Calgary Southeast electoral district association (EDA) netted just $67,149 in donations last year.

That's a drop of $128,361 from the previous year, when Kenney's riding reported the second-highest income of any EDA in the country, with a total haul of $195,510.17.

The number of donors declined as well  — from 951 in 2012, to just 455 in 2013, of which just 93 gave more than $200, compared to 230 who did so in 2012.

Notably, all but a handful of this year's contributors hailed from the Calgary area, including more than 40 local supporters who attended the minister's 'Spring Breakfast' at the Calgary Carriage House on May 17th.

That's in sharp contrast to the geographic breakdown of Kenney's donor base in previous years.

From 2007 to 2012, Kenney's riding raked in nearly $150,000 from outside his home province, including more than $93,000 from Toronto-area Chinese Canadians, augmented by the occasional burst of donations from other GTA South Asian ethnic communities, usually clustered around a single date.

That particular revenue stream appears to have dried up, at least for the moment.

Of the few non-Albertan contributors on the 2013 statement, none appear to be associated with the Toronto Chinese Canadian — or, for that matter, any other ethnic or cultural — community, although Kenney's riding may still have received smaller donations from that once dependable source.

Elections Canada doesn't require associations to publicly disclose the names of supporters who kick in less than $200 to the cause.

Calgary Southeast wasn't the only Conservative riding association on last year's top ten list to see a drop in donations in 2013.

After pulling in more than $100,000 during a hotly contested nomination race in advance of last year's byelection, Calgary Centre took in just $15,050 in 2013.

Even in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's stomping grounds of Calgary Southwest, the local Conservative riding association reported a modest dip in donations, from $102,466 to $94,521.

Outside the Alberta heartland, Don Valley West saw its annual numbers fall from $136,801.51 to $81,795.00, which resulted in a drop from 4th to 8th place in the overall rankings, while contributions to Maxime Bernier's home riding of Beauce plunged by nearly half, from $90,782 in 2012 to just $45,905, which knocked him off of the list entirely.

Conservative Party spokesman Cory Hann takes a pragmatic approach to the numnbers.

"Our EDAs are made up of hard-working volunteers who are especially driven during an election," he pointed out by email.

"That's why fundraising for EDAs is often highest during an election year, and decreases in non-election years. You can see this same trend with other parties."

Even so, he pointed out that Conservative riding associations are "also out-fundraising their Liberal counterparts."

As of Monday, 285 Conservative ridings had reported $3,547,167.73 in contributions, compared to $2,214,842.05 and $1,212,532.10 from 260 Liberal, and 290 NDP riding associations, respectively.

At press time, just three non-Conservative riding associations have managed to crack this year's top ten list so far, with the Scarborough Agincourt Liberal association once again taking the top slot with a jaw-dropping reported haul of $206,814, with the Toronto Centre New Democrat and Liberal camps coming a distant second and third after raking in the proceeds from last fall's byelections.

Meanwhile, new additions to the top ten list include Mark Adler's riding of York Centre, which more than doubled its revenue from $38,622 in 2012 to $91,969.20 in 2013, and Labour Minister Kellie Leitch's local association in Simcoe Grey, which took in $91,478 in 2013, up from $61,660 in 2012.

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Labrador couple fighting temporary foreign worker ban face CBSA probe

A Labrador couple under investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency have launched a legal challenge against the federal government after they were publicly blacklisted from using the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Jeff and Miriam Staples, the owners of Jungle Jim's restaurant, Greco Pizza and Captain Sub franchises, argue they were denied due process when they were one of three businesses suspended from using the program nearly four months ago.

It is the first attempt at a judicial review of the program since it was overhauled following a series of stories by CBC's Go Public team reporting alleged abuses of the program by several employers.

The government suspended the Staples' applications for temporary foreign workers in April, citing "reasonable grounds to suspect that the employer or group of employers provided false, misleading or inaccurate information in the context of the request for that opinion."

A senior source with knowledge of the suspension told CBC News the Staples' applications were halted because of an investigation launched by the border agency months earlier.

Investigation continues

A border agency spokesperson told CBC News this week the investigation "is still ongoing."

As CBC News reported on Jan. 14, the agency was investigating the couple over allegations they provided false information about the living conditions of more than two dozen foreign workers they were housing in support of applications for Labour Market Opinions.​

LMOs, now known as Labour Market Impact Assessments, are required for employers to prove the need to hire a foreign worker over a Canadian one.

Border agency officials executed search warrants at the couple's home and at Jungle Jim's restaurant in November 2013.

The couple denied the allegations, blaming former disgruntled workers for spreading false stories.

Mario Bellissimo, the Toronto immigration lawyer representing the Labrador couple, sent CBC News excerpts of the documents filed in court, but was travelling outside of the country and would not agree to an interview.

"We do not want to litigate through the media, as this an active matter," Bellissimo said in an email.

He did not respond to subsequent questions about the border agency investigation.

A call to the couple's home went unanswered.

Retroactive rules 'unfair'

The couple allege, in the excerpts of the court documents, they were informed of their suspension in a letter dated April 4 from Employment Minister Jason Kenney, but were never notified their company names would be published on the government's website.

"The applicants had no notice or warning that their Labour Market Opinions were to be suspended until it was already done. They have still not been provided with the allegations or given an opportunity to respond," the court documents say.

New rules that went into effect on Dec. 31, 2013, allow the government the right to suspend applications for foreign workers if employers are suspected of breaking the rules, and revoking applications in cases where employers were found guilty.

The couple argue the government should not have been able to suspend their application for foreign workers retroactively since they were approved in October 2013, before the rules changed.

"Canadian employers need certainty to enable them to order their affairs. That their LMOs may be suspended based on what may be an ever-changing version of public policy considerations is unfair, and leads to what the Supreme Court has termed a 'standard-less sweep.' 

"In the result, employers do not know the standards that they are required to meet in order to avoid their LMOs being suspended or revoked until after the minister publishes the information," the court documents say.

The couple argue the suspension has had an effect on their businesses and the temporary foreign workers they employ.

"The permanent residence applications of a number of the temporary foreign workers have been refused as they are employed by a suspended employer and are consequently not eligible for the program. For this reason, temporary foreign workers​ are leaving the applicants' businesses in order to find work with eligible Canadian employers."

Kenney, the couple argue, "exceeded his jurisdiction" when he changed the rules to publish the names of businesses on his department's website. 

The employment minister was not available for comment.

"As this issue is currently before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment on the specifics of this case," a media relations officer for Kenney told CBC News in an email.

The government also suspended the owner of three McDonald's locations in Victoria, pending investigation, and permanently revoked permits for the Boathouse Restaurant in Fenelon Falls, Ont. Owners of the Parvaz Film Corporation​ in B.C. were also later suspended from using the program pending investigation. Their company names remain on the government's blacklist.

Eassons Transport Ltd. saw its name removed from the government's blacklist after a two-month investigation concluded the owners of the trucking company in New Brunswick did not abuse the rules of the program.

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First Nation chiefs' salaries due to be posted under Transparency Act

The vast majority of First Nations chiefs and band councils have yet to post their financial statements online under new transparency rules passed by the federal government last year.

Under the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, First Nations leaders have 120 days after the first quarter to make public their audited financial statements for the last fiscal year, including the salaries and expenses of their chiefs and councillors.

As of Monday night, on the eve of the deadline, the government confirmed that 20 First Nations out of more than 600 had their financial statements posted on the government's web site.

First Nations already have to produce their financial statements as part of their funding agreements with the federal government, but this is the first time they are being asked to post the information online.

First Nations without a website can ask larger First Nations organizations to post their financial statements for them.

Under the new rules, the minister in charge must also publish the documents on the department's website. 

First Nations who refuse to comply could be subject to a court order or see funds withheld from them.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt reminded First Nations of the new rules in a written statement last Friday.

"First Nations, like all Canadians, deserve transparency and accountability from their elected officials," he said.

"With increased access to basic financial information, community members can make more informed decisions about the financial management and reporting of their elected officials."

"First Nations that have yet to submit their audited consolidated financial statements and schedules of remuneration and expenses for chiefs and councillors are encouraged to submit the documents as soon as possible. My department will continue to post as the documents are received," Valcourt said.

The Assembly of First Nations does not support the new legislation.

The AFN regional chief for B.C., Jody Wilson-Raybould, has told Parliament on more than one occasion that many chiefs resent the added measure.

"Chiefs were clear in their assertion that the proposed measures are both heavy-handed and unnecessary and they suggest that First Nation governments are corrupt, our leaders are not transparent and consequently need to be regulated by Ottawa," she said a year before the act became law.

The government has said all along it was First Nations members who approached Ottawa asking for greater transparency "as a result of difficulty obtaining financial information from their elected local officials."

Although there may be a delay between the time First Nations submit their documents to the government and the time they are posted online, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs has committed to publishing them "without delay."

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Canadian Embassy in Libya suspends operations

The Canadian Embassy in Tripoli has suspended operations, and staff members have been withdrawn from Libya, the Canadian government said today, citing the "unpredictable security environment in Tripoli."

The closing follows similar actions by other countries as fighting in Libya grows more intense. In the last three weeks, Libya has descended into its deadliest violence since the 2011 war that ousted Moammar Gadhafi.

On Saturday, the United States also removed its diplomats from Tripoli to neighbouring Tunisia and shut its embassy.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Lynne Yelich, minister of state for foreign affairs, said in a statement that Canadian diplomats will do the same, operating from Canada's Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, where consular and passport services will be available to Canadians remaining in Libya.

"The government of Canada takes the safety and security of our diplomats abroad very seriously," Baird's statement said.

Fighters from the Islamist Misarata brigade fire towards Tripoli airport in Libya on July 26. On Monday, Canada announced it was removing its diplomats from the country. (Associated Press)

It also indicated an intention to return to Libya once "appropriate measures are put in place to respond to the changing operational environment."

The statement added: "Canada remains committed to supporting Libya's democratic transition, and we urge all parties to stop the violence and resolve their differences by peaceful and democratic means."

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Ukraine crisis: John Baird says no 'blank cheques'

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada will live up to the obligations it has made to Ukraine, but will not "write blank cheques."

Earlier this week, Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, Vadym Prystaiko, publicly complained in an interview that his country had not received the $200 million in aid that Canada has pledged.

In an interview with CBC Radio's The House, however, Baird said these things take time.

Money going through IMF

"When we made that commitment, we were very clear it would be through the International Monetary Fund and there would have to be specific safeguards with respect to ensuring the money was used for the benefit of the Ukrainian people and not with respect to the problems they have had in the past, in the former government, with corruption."

The Ukraine Embassy said on Thursday Prystaiko was not available for interviews to explain his remarks, because of the abrupt resignation that day of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

"In this regard, Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko left for consultations and is currently out of the country," the embassy said in a statement.

UN ambassador responds

Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Yuriy Sergeyev, remained on the job this week.

In an interview with The House guest host Rosemary Barton, Sergeyev said his country needs more support from the international community, including financial, political and administrative assistance to help the government enact reforms. He would also like to see more assistance for the military, law enforcement and the army, which he said had been destroyed by previous administrations.

"The assistance we got in the past, it's very important, political and moral assistance, including here in the United Nations, I felt this help from the Canadian delegation, from other delegations," he said. "So the assistance with materials and financial assistance was very important. But now it's obvious the Ukraine needs more help," he said.

Government still stable

Sergeyev sought to allay concerns the resignation of Ukraine's prime minister could be a signal of further instability.

"The government has not resigned, the government is working. In the time being we have the acting prime minister, who used to be the deputy prime minister," he said.

Canada and other countries continue to strengthen sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian businesses and individuals, but Sergeyev said that if Russia and Russian separatist forces in Ukraine continue with their belligerence, stronger steps will be needed.

Calling for an embargo

"[Enlarging] sanctions, more sectoral sanctions in the strategic areas of the Russian industry, gas, oil, military production, up to the full embargo," he said.

Baird expressed uncertainty about the international community going so far as a full embargo, but did agree further sanctions are being considered.

"It is unacceptable in 2014 for one leader in the Kremlin to think he can redraw the borders and boundaries of Europe unilaterally through military force," Baird said.

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Germany to reject Canada-EU trade deal, newspaper reports

Germany is to reject a multibillion-dollar free trade deal between the European Union and Canada which is widely seen as a template for a bigger agreement with the United States, a leading German paper reported on Saturday.

Citing diplomats in Brussels, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that Berlin objects to clauses outlining the legal protection offered to firms investing in the 28-member bloc. Critics say they could allow investors to stop or reverse laws.

The German government could not sign the agreement with Canada "as it has been negotiated now," the paper reported, quoting German diplomats in Brussels.

It also said that the clauses in the Canada deal were similar to those in the U.S. agreement, which is still under negotiation.

"The free trade treaty with Canada is a test for the agreement with the United States," said one senior official at the Commission in Brussels, according to the paper.

If the deal with Canada is rejected "then the one with the United States is also dead", added the official.

Asked about the report, a spokesman for Germany's Economy Ministry referred to correspondence which outlined Germany's concerns about investor protection in talks with both countries.

"The German government does not view as necessary stipulations on investor protection, including on arbitration cases between investors and the state with states that guarantee a resilient legal system and sufficient legal protection from independent national courts," Deputy Economy Minister Stefan Kapferer wrote in response to an inquiry from a Greens legislator.

In the letter, dated June 26, Kapferer took a similar position on investor protection in the still-to-be-agreed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement with the United States.

Brussels argues that without these clauses companies from Canada will not invest in Europe.

The Sueddeutsche said that EU states will this week receive the treaty for officials to examine in detail before it is signed. All 28 members of the EU have to sign the agreement for it to take effect.

The deal with Canada could increase bilateral trade by a fifth to 26 billion euros a year and the more ambitious one with the United States, if agreed, could encompass a third of world trade and almost half the global economy.

Both accords seek to go far beyond tariff cuts and to reduce transatlantic barriers to business, but the talks are extremely complicated.

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West can't back off Russia sanctions, Harper says in Globe and Mail editorial

The Western world can't soften its tough stand toward Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, even at the expense of the economy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says.

In an unusual move, Harper has written an editorial on the situation in Ukraine that was published in Saturday's Globe and Mail.

He writes that although militants in eastern Ukraine are referred to as "pro-Russian separatists," there is no doubt they are "an extension of the "Russian state."

Harper accuses Russia of "aggressive militarism" that he says is a threat to not only Ukraine, but Europe and the values that bind Western nations.

Some Canadian companies, notably aircraft maker Bombardier, have expressed concern about doing business in Russia in the face of increasing Canadian sanctions on Russian individuals and entities.

Harper says Canada's national interests must come first.

"The steps Canada has taken have not been made without careful consideration of their potential impact on Canadian business interests abroad and at home," Harper writes. "We will not allow business interests alone to dictate our foreign policy."

Bombardier said Friday that Canadian sanctions could affect the timeline of the company's plans to set up a plant in Russia to build regional jets in a project estimated to be worth $3.4 billion.

Harper's editorial also raised the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane this month, killing nearly 300 people including a Canadian. He pointed the finger at militants in the Ukraine and said whether accidental or not the blood of the victims is on their hands.

Canada is sending an RCMP officer to the Netherlands on Sunday to determine how Canada can assist Dutch authorities in their investigation of the Malaysian air disaster — they're taking the lead because many of those aboard were from the Netherlands.

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson offered the support on Saturday when he spoke with his Dutch counterpart, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

A statement from Nicholson's office said Canada will take part in a meeting hosted by Dutch officials regarding the next steps for victim identification and the investigation

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Politics is a team sport, so 'wear a cup,' says ex-Harper spokesman

The question I'm most often asked about my time in politics is what part of it I hated the most, which, I suppose, tells you something about the current perception of my former profession.

And what do I answer? I could go with the usual complaints: the constant work, the travel and the dark cloud of knowing that your next mistake could end up being your last. But that's the gig. Wear a cup.

There was also the unremitting questioning of your motives by people who don't know you at all. Get over it.

And then, of course, there were the journalists.

Toe the line

But the worst part of my job was having to promote and defend policies I didn't agree with personally. When that happened, you had to do your job and toe the party line.

Don't shed a tear, because it didn't happen much, at least not on issues that were core to the agenda, but consider yourself fortunate if you never have to look at a camera and argue with all of your heart for something you don't believe in. Especially when, as happens in politics, you are standing on some thin intellectual ice.

Oh, how journalists loved it when they had you in that position. "Andrew," they'd say, "surely you don't believe that."

Maybe not, but it didn't matter what I believed. I wasn't elected. The government had an agenda and it was my job to talk about it.

Members of parliament are rightly in a better position to question government policy, though if the reason they got into politics was to champion a cause they knew their party didn't agree with, they probably shouldn't have made the decision to run for the party in question.

Politics is a team sport, but no matter how closely your world view lines up with that of your political party, there will always be areas where you disagree. Governments have to make decisions on too many files to achieve a perfect union between thought and action.

Imperfect parties, imperfect leaders

Just as voters weigh the pros and cons of a particular party or leader before casting a ballot, and as candidates do the same before running for office, so do political staff before signing up for work. If you are able to find one party that speaks to you on every subject, I'd suggest you haven't done enough of your own thinking.

Parties — and leaders — are imperfect. And so that means as a spokesperson you'll have to go out there and occasionally fire crooked arrows, sometimes at targets you don't believe in or care about.

To pick a particular pet peeve, no one can really mount a compelling intellectual or ideological defence of supply management for dairy, eggs and poultry. I certainly can't. The few who happen to care about it — and benefit massively from it — just happen to be better organized than the majority of us who haven't really thought about it, but might be outraged if we did. Never pick a fight with someone who produces their milk by the barrel, I suppose.

Theory vs. practice

So there I would be, defending supply managed industries every time we had a trade negotiation on the go, which was a lot. At the same moment we were fighting to scrap the wheat board. Yeah, the journalists loved pointing that one out.

But this is where the critics in the ivory towers or op-ed pages often forget that politicians have to get elected. Yes, politics is theory, which is important to read and write about, but it's also practice. It takes the vote of people and the support of stakeholders. And sometimes you have to promise them certain things. Even if it rubs across an ideological grain. Or common sense.

I'm a cynic by nature, but politics truly does have a noble purpose. It is about leading people to change, about making arguments and showing courage.

It's also about picking your spots. Raising the age for retirement benefits was long thought to be a third rail in government, but the Harper government made that change to Old Age Security without future seniors storming the barricades.

Opening debate

Let's hope we're cruising to the point where we can start a conversation about retooling our creaking health-care system. And maybe one day we will free the cheese.

But until that glorious day comes, and the time is right for change, political staff will inevitably find themselves agreeing with the proposition that the revered "ordinary" Canadian needs to pay too much for milk and cheese because 20,000 dairy farmers are afraid of duking it out with producers around the world.

As a private citizen, I now get to say supply management is rubbish. I get to wonder why the Canadian Armed Forces can't just buy kit off the shelf. I get to wonder why regional development agencies exist and why hundreds of government-funded interest groups never seem to conquer the problem they were "temporarily" set up to address.

If you think defending the personally indefensible is a problem unique to politics, think again. Think about whether or not you could defend every action of your employer. Chances are you can't. If you can, lucky you.

I doubt many reporters could defend the decisions of their outlets 100 per cent either, especially those with corporate overlords.

And what do I think about the CBC? I think that it receives significant taxpayer funds, and I believe it can operate within its existing budget.

Beyond that, I couldn't possibly comment.

Andrew MacDougall is a former director of communications to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He is now the senior executive consultant at MSLGROUP London. Follow him @agmacdougall.

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Thérèse Casgrain, feminist icon, quietly shunted by Harper government

The Harper government has spent millions to commemorate the War of 1812 and other episodes from Canadian history, but has also erased at least one inspiring piece of the past.

Thérèse Casgrain, a feminist icon and Quebec heroine who died in 1981, has been quietly removed from a national honour, to be replaced by a volunteer award bearing the prime minister's banner.

The Thérèse Casgrain Volunteer Award was created in 1982 by the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau.

Casgrain fought for the right of Quebec women to vote, which they finally won in 1940.

She also became the first female leader of a political party in Canada, heading the CCF in Quebec, and was appointed to the Senate in 1970 by Trudeau.

The Casgrain award honoured Canadian activists such as June Callwood until it was eliminated — unannounced — by the federal government in 2010.

Family never consulted

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, which had administered the Casgrain award, was instructed in 2010 to create a Prime Minister's Volunteer Award in its place, to be handed out in a ceremony each year presided over by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Michèle Nadeau, Casgrain's granddaughter, says her family and the Montreal-based Thérèse Casgrain Foundation, which she heads, were not consulted about whether the award should be eliminated.

"We were informed of a sort of internal review that was done by the Human Resources Department, and they decided to discontinue. But we were never consulted.

"Basically, we were advised that at some point the award would be discontinued ... Members of the family, the grandchildren, etc., the great grandchildren, were rather upset."

An image of Casgrain and her namesake volunteer-award medal also disappeared from Canada's $50 bank note in 2012, replaced by the image of an icebreaker on a new currency series.

An image of the so-called Famous Five women was removed from the same bank note.

Thérèse Casgrain, president of the League for Women's Rights in Quebec from 1929 to 1942, is pictured during an election run in 1967. (The Canadian Press)

The Casgrain Award was killed once before by the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney in 1990, but was revived in 2001 by the Chretien Liberals.

Elimination never communicated to public

A spokesman for Employment and Social Development Canada, the successor department to Human Resources, says the Casgrain award was reviewed in 2010 following the fall speech from the throne, which announced plans for a new volunteer award.

"Discussions took place with the Casgrain Foundation and it was decided that Human Resources and Skills Development Canada end the ... program, rather than re-orient and re-launch it," Pierre Nolet said in an email.

"There was no public announcement of its end. The spirit and objectives of the Therese Casgrain Volunteer Award were retained in two national categories of the PMVA [Prime Minister's Volunteer Award]."

The Prime Minister's Volunteer Awards, launched in 2011, honour 17 Canadians from across the country each year.

The awards ceremony was held Feb. 27 this year in Toronto, with Harper personally presenting a medal and certificate to each winner, and having his picture taken with them.

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West can't back off Russia sanctions, Harper says in Globe and Mail editorial

The Western world can't soften its tough stand toward Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, even at the expense of the economy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says.

In an unusual move, Harper has written an editorial on the situation in Ukraine that was published in Saturday's Globe and Mail.

He writes that although militants in eastern Ukraine are referred to as "pro-Russian separatists," there is no doubt they are "an extension of the "Russian state."

Harper accuses Russia of "aggressive militarism" that he says is a threat to not only Ukraine, but Europe and the values that bind Western nations.

Some Canadian companies, notably aircraft maker Bombardier, have expressed concern about doing business in Russia in the face of increasing Canadian sanctions on Russian individuals and entities.

Harper says Canada's national interests must come first.

"The steps Canada has taken have not been made without careful consideration of their potential impact on Canadian business interests abroad and at home," Harper writes. "We will not allow business interests alone to dictate our foreign policy."

Bombardier said Friday that Canadian sanctions could affect the timeline of the company's plans to set up a plant in Russia to build regional jets in a project estimated to be worth $3.4 billion.

Harper's editorial also raised the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane this month, killing nearly 300 people including a Canadian. He pointed the finger at militants in the Ukraine and said whether accidental or not the blood of the victims is on their hands.

Canada is sending an RCMP officer to the Netherlands on Sunday to determine how Canada can assist Dutch authorities in their investigation of the Malaysian air disaster — they're taking the lead because many of those aboard were from the Netherlands.

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson offered the support on Saturday when he spoke with his Dutch counterpart, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

A statement from Nicholson's office said Canada will take part in a meeting hosted by Dutch officials regarding the next steps for victim identification and the investigation

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Charities not looking for fight with Revenue Canada

The head of the umbrella organization that represents Canadian charities says there are no plans to mount a collective defence in response to what some groups have alleged may be politically motivated audits to rout out partisan political activities.

"Imagine Canada has not created a special plan or program for collective action that is different from the current belief that charitable organizations have an important and vibrant role to play in the identification of issues of importance to Canadians," newly installed president Bruce MacDonald told CBC News by email.

"Since renewed federal interest in charities' political activities first surfaced a few years back, Imagine Canada has been actively promoting the important role that charities play in public policy both domestically and internationally," he noted.

"We have also been working with charities across the country to ensure that they are aware of their rights and responsibilities regarding political activities reporting and public policy engagement more generally, [and] we plan to continue these efforts in the weeks and months to come."

Earlier this week, The Canadian Press reported that Toronto-based PEN Canada, a small organization that represents artists and writers concerned about freedom of expression, was the latest charity targeted for special scrutiny by the tax agency, which has spent the last two years investigating possible political activities at the government's behest.

More than 50 charities have gone under the CRA microscope since 2012.

Initially, the investigations seemed to be focused on environmental advocacy groups, but that list has since expanded to include international humanitarian and aid groups.

And it isn't just allegations of excessively political activism that appears to be catching the tax agency's official attention.

Bureaucratic brawl

The Canadian Press reported earlier Friday that Oxfam Canada had been forced to reword its mission statement to remove a reference to "preventing poverty" after being informed that wasn't considered a valid goal, at least for tax purposes.

"We were told we had a broader definition of our mission, and they were only comfortable with the portion that spoke to relieving poverty," Oxfam director of international development Anthony Scoggins told CBC News on Friday.

Under the agency's direction, he said, "we withdrew the offending phrase, and have since received our registration."

But he doesn't seem to have come round entirely to the CRA's way of thinking.

"Obviously, if you're a charity working on cancer or HIV/AIDS, those charities aren't restricted to dealing only with those suffering with that, they also do a lot of work on prevention up front, because that's seen as a social benefit," he noted.

"The CRA has gotten itself caught up a little bit in a rather embarrassing snafu around this, which certainly doesn't help with their credibility, since it really is common sense for most Canadians."

Oxfam 'offside,' says Christian charities group

Not all Canadians — or, as it turns out, even all charities — share that view, however.

Canadian Christian Charities Association CEO Rev. John Pellowe believes Oxfam was "clearly offside in this."

"They're expressing surprise, but prevention of poverty is not a charitable purpose, and should not have been put in their [mission] statement," he said.

"'There are lots of grey areas — for instance, providing job training to people who don't have jobs is charitable, but providing job training to people who do is not," he explained.

"The same activity could be charitable or not charitable, depending on who you're serving. But CRA has the right to investigate charities to determine if you're following the rules."

Pellowe says his organization, which represents over 3,000 charities, doesn't have a problem with the tax agency's recent investigations.

"I only have information that I've read in the press, but we have 3,200 Christian charities that are members, so we do watch for issues like this where we think government is offside, and we're in consultation with CRA on a fairly regular basis," he told CBC News.

'CRA simply doing what it should be doing'

"What I'm reading … seems to suggest that people think there's a political agenda here. In actual fact, the cases that we're looking at, I don't see any evidence of a government agenda or interference in the operations of CRA."

The government has the right to ask the agency to look into specific issues or concerns, he notes.

"The CRA is simply doing what it should be doing with the cases I'm aware of."

The limits on political engagement are "very well and clearly defined" in the Income Tax Act, he noted.

"You can do political engagement, but you cannot engage in partisan politics, and in the cases I've heard about, that's exactly what they're doing—they've crossed the line."

As yet, he says, he hasn't heard from any member organizations concerned about the audits into political activities.

"On other issues — income tax-related issues or GST — we get people calling in and saying 'Hey, it looks like they're reinterpreting this,'" he noted.

"What typically happens is we sit down with CRA management, and it gets worked out. We've had them change their forms and documents based on our input."

In this case, he said, "I see the government saying they had an interest in how charities operate, which is within their prerogative. There's not a story here."

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Ukraine crisis: John Baird says no 'blank cheques'

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada will live up to the obligations it has made to Ukraine, but will not "write blank cheques."

Earlier this week, Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, Vadym Prystaiko, publicly complained in an interview that his country had not received the $200 million in aid that Canada has pledged.

In an interview with CBC Radio's The House, however, Baird said these things take time.

Money going through IMF

"When we made that commitment, we were very clear it would be through the International Monetary Fund and there would have to be specific safeguards with respect to ensuring the money was used for the benefit of the Ukrainian people and not with respect to the problems they have had in the past, in the former government, with corruption."

The Ukraine Embassy said on Thursday Prystaiko was not available for interviews to explain his remarks, because of the abrupt resignation that day of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

"In this regard, Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko left for consultations and is currently out of the country," the embassy said in a statement.

UN ambassador responds

Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Yuriy Sergeyev, remained on the job this week.

In an interview with The House guest host Rosemary Barton, Sergeyev said his country needs more support from the international community, including financial, political and administrative assistance to help the government enact reforms. He would also like to see more assistance for the military, law enforcement and the army, which he said had been destroyed by previous administrations.

"The assistance we got in the past, it's very important, political and moral assistance, including here in the United Nations, I felt this help from the Canadian delegation, from other delegations," he said. "So the assistance with materials and financial assistance was very important. But now it's obvious the Ukraine needs more help," he said.

Government still stable

Sergeyev sought to allay concerns the resignation of Ukraine's prime minister could be a signal of further instability.

"The government has not resigned, the government is working. In the time being we have the acting prime minister, who used to be the deputy prime minister," he said.

Canada and other countries continue to strengthen sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian businesses and individuals, but Sergeyev said that if Russia and Russian separatist forces in Ukraine continue with their belligerence, stronger steps will be needed.

Calling for an embargo

"[Enlarging] sanctions, more sectoral sanctions in the strategic areas of the Russian industry, gas, oil, military production, up to the full embargo," he said.

Baird expressed uncertainty about the international community going so far as a full embargo, but did agree further sanctions are being considered.

"It is unacceptable in 2014 for one leader in the Kremlin to think he can redraw the borders and boundaries of Europe unilaterally through military force," Baird said.

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Germany to reject Canada-EU trade deal, newspaper reports

Germany is to reject a multibillion-dollar free trade deal between the European Union and Canada which is widely seen as a template for a bigger agreement with the United States, a leading German paper reported on Saturday.

Citing diplomats in Brussels, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that Berlin objects to clauses outlining the legal protection offered to firms investing in the 28-member bloc. Critics say they could allow investors to stop or reverse laws.

The German government could not sign the agreement with Canada "as it has been negotiated now," the paper reported, quoting German diplomats in Brussels.

It also said that the clauses in the Canada deal were similar to those in the U.S. agreement, which is still under negotiation.

"The free trade treaty with Canada is a test for the agreement with the United States," said one senior official at the Commission in Brussels, according to the paper.

If the deal with Canada is rejected "then the one with the United States is also dead", added the official.

Asked about the report, a spokesman for Germany's Economy Ministry referred to correspondence which outlined Germany's concerns about investor protection in talks with both countries.

"The German government does not view as necessary stipulations on investor protection, including on arbitration cases between investors and the state with states that guarantee a resilient legal system and sufficient legal protection from independent national courts," Deputy Economy Minister Stefan Kapferer wrote in response to an inquiry from a Greens legislator.

In the letter, dated June 26, Kapferer took a similar position on investor protection in the still-to-be-agreed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement with the United States.

Brussels argues that without these clauses companies from Canada will not invest in Europe.

The Sueddeutsche said that EU states will this week receive the treaty for officials to examine in detail before it is signed. All 28 members of the EU have to sign the agreement for it to take effect.

The deal with Canada could increase bilateral trade by a fifth to 26 billion euros a year and the more ambitious one with the United States, if agreed, could encompass a third of world trade and almost half the global economy.

Both accords seek to go far beyond tariff cuts and to reduce transatlantic barriers to business, but the talks are extremely complicated.

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Politics is a team sport, so 'wear a cup,' says ex-Harper spokesman

The question I'm most often asked about my time in politics is what part of it I hated the most, which, I suppose, tells you something about the current perception of my former profession.

And what do I answer? I could go with the usual complaints: the constant work, the travel and the dark cloud of knowing that your next mistake could end up being your last. But that's the gig. Wear a cup.

There was also the unremitting questioning of your motives by people who don't know you at all. Get over it.

And then, of course, there were the journalists.

Toe the line

But the worst part of my job was having to promote and defend policies I didn't agree with personally. When that happened, you had to do your job and toe the party line.

Don't shed a tear, because it didn't happen much, at least not on issues that were core to the agenda, but consider yourself fortunate if you never have to look at a camera and argue with all of your heart for something you don't believe in. Especially when, as happens in politics, you are standing on some thin intellectual ice.

Oh, how journalists loved it when they had you in that position. "Andrew," they'd say, "surely you don't believe that."

Maybe not, but it didn't matter what I believed. I wasn't elected. The government had an agenda and it was my job to talk about it.

Members of parliament are rightly in a better position to question government policy, though if the reason they got into politics was to champion a cause they knew their party didn't agree with, they probably shouldn't have made the decision to run for the party in question.

Politics is a team sport, but no matter how closely your world view lines up with that of your political party, there will always be areas where you disagree. Governments have to make decisions on too many files to achieve a perfect union between thought and action.

Imperfect parties, imperfect leaders

Just as voters weigh the pros and cons of a particular party or leader before casting a ballot, and as candidates do the same before running for office, so do political staff before signing up for work. If you are able to find one party that speaks to you on every subject, I'd suggest you haven't done enough of your own thinking.

Parties — and leaders — are imperfect. And so that means as a spokesperson you'll have to go out there and occasionally fire crooked arrows, sometimes at targets you don't believe in or care about.

To pick a particular pet peeve, no one can really mount a compelling intellectual or ideological defence of supply management for dairy, eggs and poultry. I certainly can't. The few who happen to care about it — and benefit massively from it — just happen to be better organized than the majority of us who haven't really thought about it, but might be outraged if we did. Never pick a fight with someone who produces their milk by the barrel, I suppose.

Theory vs. practice

So there I would be, defending supply managed industries every time we had a trade negotiation on the go, which was a lot. At the same moment we were fighting to scrap the wheat board. Yeah, the journalists loved pointing that one out.

But this is where the critics in the ivory towers or op-ed pages often forget that politicians have to get elected. Yes, politics is theory, which is important to read and write about, but it's also practice. It takes the vote of people and the support of stakeholders. And sometimes you have to promise them certain things. Even if it rubs across an ideological grain. Or common sense.

I'm a cynic by nature, but politics truly does have a noble purpose. It is about leading people to change, about making arguments and showing courage.

It's also about picking your spots. Raising the age for retirement benefits was long thought to be a third rail in government, but the Harper government made that change to Old Age Security without future seniors storming the barricades.

Opening debate

Let's hope we're cruising to the point where we can start a conversation about retooling our creaking health-care system. And maybe one day we will free the cheese.

But until that glorious day comes, and the time is right for change, political staff will inevitably find themselves agreeing with the proposition that the revered "ordinary" Canadian needs to pay too much for milk and cheese because 20,000 dairy farmers are afraid of duking it out with producers around the world.

As a private citizen, I now get to say supply management is rubbish. I get to wonder why the Canadian Armed Forces can't just buy kit off the shelf. I get to wonder why regional development agencies exist and why hundreds of government-funded interest groups never seem to conquer the problem they were "temporarily" set up to address.

If you think defending the personally indefensible is a problem unique to politics, think again. Think about whether or not you could defend every action of your employer. Chances are you can't. If you can, lucky you.

I doubt many reporters could defend the decisions of their outlets 100 per cent either, especially those with corporate overlords.

And what do I think about the CBC? I think that it receives significant taxpayer funds, and I believe it can operate within its existing budget.

Beyond that, I couldn't possibly comment.

Andrew MacDougall is a former director of communications to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He is now the senior executive consultant at MSLGROUP London. Follow him @agmacdougall.

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Beverley McLachlin, chief justice, deserves apology from PM, international jurists say

A major international legal organization says Prime Minister Stephen Harper owes Canada's Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin an apology.

An unprecedented spat broke out between the Prime Minister's Office and the country's top court in May after the Prime Minister's Office accused McLachlin of acting "inappropriately," during the failed nomination of Justice Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court.

Now, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) says the PMO and Minister of Justice Peter MacKay were "unfairly conflating the issue."

Accusations of 'lobbying'

At the time, nameless government sources were quoted in published reports accusing McLachlin of having "lobbied" the government against Nadon's appointment in the summer of 2013.

The Supreme Court would go on to eventually hear a reference on Nadon's appointment in January and declared him ineligible to join the High Court in March.

'It is difficult to see why there was a need to air them in  the court of public opinion several months after the fact.'- Wilder Tayler, secretary general, International Commission of Jurists

After the allegations of lobbying emerged, the Supreme Court, in an unusual move, issued a public statement denying the allegation and clarifying McLachlin only ever raised a question about Nadon's eligibility to sit on the court before he was nominated, and long before the issue actually ended up before the Supreme Court.

The court pointed out the chief justice routinely discusses such matters with the government and there was nothing unusual about this particular time.

'Encroachment upon the independence'

ICJ secretary general Wilder Tayler said "the criticism [of McLachlin] was not well-founded and amounted to an encroachment upon the independence of the judiciary and integrity of the chief justice."

ICJ was asked by a group of Canadian lawyers and academics to comment on the issue because they were concerned the independence of the Supreme Court was under attack.

The Geneva-based organization says it contacted the Prime Minister's Office to get its side of the story, but has not received a response.

After a review of the facts as presented by the letter of concern, the ICJ concluded: "The prime minister and minister of justice could best remedy their encroachment upon the independence and integrity of the judiciary by publicly withdrawing or apologize for their public criticism of the chief justice."

"If the concerns were not of a character to warrant formal complaint," Tayler adds, "it is difficult to see why there was a need to air them in the court of public opinion several months after the fact."

The Prime Minister's Office says it has nothing to say about the matter except, "We have seen the letter. We have noted it."

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Charities not looking for fight with Revenue Canada

The head of the umbrella organization that represents Canadian charities says there are no plans to mount a collective defence in response to what some groups have alleged may be politically motivated audits to rout out partisan political activities.

"Imagine Canada has not created a special plan or program for collective action that is different from the current belief that charitable organizations have an important and vibrant role to play in the identification of issues of importance to Canadians," newly installed president Bruce MacDonald told CBC News by email.

"Since renewed federal interest in charities' political activities first surfaced a few years back, Imagine Canada has been actively promoting the important role that charities play in public policy both domestically and internationally," he noted.

"We have also been working with charities across the country to ensure that they are aware of their rights and responsibilities regarding political activities reporting and public policy engagement more generally, [and] we plan to continue these efforts in the weeks and months to come."

Earlier this week, The Canadian Press reported that Toronto-based PEN Canada, a small organization that represents artists and writers concerned about freedom of expression, was the latest charity targeted for special scrutiny by the tax agency, which has spent the last two years investigating possible political activities at the government's behest.

More than 50 charities have gone under the CRA microscope since 2012.

Initially, the investigations seemed to be focused on environmental advocacy groups, but that list has since expanded to include international humanitarian and aid groups.

And it isn't just allegations of excessively political activism that appears to be catching the tax agency's official attention.

Bureaucratic brawl

The Canadian Press reported earlier Friday that Oxfam Canada had been forced to reword its mission statement to remove a reference to "preventing poverty" after being informed that wasn't considered a valid goal, at least for tax purposes.

"We were told we had a broader definition of our mission, and they were only comfortable with the portion that spoke to relieving poverty," Oxfam director of international development Anthony Scoggins told CBC News on Friday.

Under the agency's direction, he said, "we withdrew the offending phrase, and have since received our registration."

But he doesn't seem to have come round entirely to the CRA's way of thinking.

"Obviously, if you're a charity working on cancer or HIV/AIDS, those charities aren't restricted to dealing only with those suffering with that, they also do a lot of work on prevention up front, because that's seen as a social benefit," he noted.

"The CRA has gotten itself caught up a little bit in a rather embarrassing snafu around this, which certainly doesn't help with their credibility, since it really is common sense for most Canadians."

Oxfam 'offside,' says Christian charities group

Not all Canadians — or, as it turns out, even all charities — share that view, however.

Canadian Christian Charities Association CEO Rev. John Pellowe believes Oxfam was "clearly offside in this."

"They're expressing surprise, but prevention of poverty is not a charitable purpose, and should not have been put in their [mission] statement," he said.

"'There are lots of grey areas — for instance, providing job training to people who don't have jobs is charitable, but providing job training to people who do is not," he explained.

"The same activity could be charitable or not charitable, depending on who you're serving. But CRA has the right to investigate charities to determine if you're following the rules."

Pellowe says his organization, which represents over 3,000 charities, doesn't have a problem with the tax agency's recent investigations.

"I only have information that I've read in the press, but we have 3,200 Christian charities that are members, so we do watch for issues like this where we think government is offside, and we're in consultation with CRA on a fairly regular basis," he told CBC News.

'CRA simply doing what it should be doing'

"What I'm reading … seems to suggest that people think there's a political agenda here. In actual fact, the cases that we're looking at, I don't see any evidence of a government agenda or interference in the operations of CRA."

The government has the right to ask the agency to look into specific issues or concerns, he notes.

"The CRA is simply doing what it should be doing with the cases I'm aware of."

The limits on political engagement are "very well and clearly defined" in the Income Tax Act, he noted.

"You can do political engagement, but you cannot engage in partisan politics, and in the cases I've heard about, that's exactly what they're doing—they've crossed the line."

As yet, he says, he hasn't heard from any member organizations concerned about the audits into political activities.

"On other issues — income tax-related issues or GST — we get people calling in and saying 'Hey, it looks like they're reinterpreting this,'" he noted.

"What typically happens is we sit down with CRA management, and it gets worked out. We've had them change their forms and documents based on our input."

In this case, he said, "I see the government saying they had an interest in how charities operate, which is within their prerogative. There's not a story here."

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Canada's defence diplomacy hurt by tight budget, report says

Overstretched staff and drastic cuts to travel and hospitality are compromising Canada's defence diplomacy program, considered a crucial tool for advancing military and trade interests at a time of complex global insecurity, according to a new internal evaluation.

The report, completed more than six months ago but only recently released on the National Defence website, also warns of a lack of direction, co-ordination and resources required to meet objectives of the government's global engagement strategy.

Program costs averaged a relatively flat $96.7 million a year between 2008-09 and 2011-12. But a budget squeeze has arisen because of rising costs for salaries and other areas such as translation, which skyrocketed by 64 per cent in just three years.

Demands are increasing, more complex

Social media and increasingly complex security issues are adding to the workload and costs, along with a deluge of requests from government, opposition parties and parliamentary committees.

'For the cost of one fighter jet, Canada can run its defence diplomacy program for years.'—Walter Dorn, Royal Military College of Canada

That means the volume of work and scope of responsibilities have ballooned with no extra staff to execute the work, according to the report.

Walter Dorn, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, said shortchanging diplomacy is detrimental to Canada's contributions to the world and our reputation on the world stage.

"The military co-operation program does essential work in training and educating officers from abroad, particularly in peace operations," he told CBC News. "Canada is no longer the prolific peacekeeper it once was. For the cost of one fighter jet, Canada can run its defence diplomacy program for years. The government is showing short-term thinking to the detriment of the country's long-term contributions and reputation."

Defence attaché workload doubled

During the last decade, each Canadian defence attaché who was formerly responsible for an average of two countries is now responsible for an average of four.

Defence diplomacy aims to advance Canada's wider foreign and security agenda by partnering with foreign militaries on operational needs and key decisions. It's considered valuable for gaining a deeper understanding of other countries' perspectives and defence organizations and engaging in informal dialogue on what can develop into important formal agreements.

The evaluation notes that the program has filled "critical roles" for the federal government and military with analytical insight, advice and building international partnerships, but says cuts are putting that in jeopardy.

"Going forward, there is some concern that recent budget reductions may impact the ability of some of its components to continue to deliver their current high level of performance," the report says.

Hospitality cut 'dramatically'

Hospitality expenditures have been slashed by about 60 per cent over two years, from $428,570 to $178,269. Major offices in Washington and London have had "dramatic" cuts.

"There are concerns ... that the reductions in travel and hospitality are beginning to impact the ability of the program to operate effectively," the evaluation warns.

The protocol for hospitality is "very time consuming and difficult to manage," requiring each attaché to make a request at least 10 weeks in advance for any hospitality expense that needs approval from the minister of defence.

Red tape for bureaucrats

For example, ministerial approval is required to pick up the tab for dinner at a restaurant where alcohol is served or if a spouse is attending.

"Sometimes, they have to cancel a military diplomatic event because they didn't receive the approval in time," the report reads. "The hospitality restrictions were seen to have negative effect on networking activities, especially when liaison officers from other countries are not subject to the same funding restrictions."

On top of the financial and workload challenges, there is now much confusion over the focus and priorities for the program — whether it should be on military co-operation, promoting Canadian industries or providing perspective on civil, political and military climates around the world.

However, the Department of National Defence says the program continues to meet of all its objectives despite the budget constraints.

"DND takes its role as a strong steward of taxpayers' dollars very seriously and makes every effort to ensure sound financial management of taxpayer dollars," the department said in an email response to questions from CBC News.

"Reducing hospitality spending is a prudent alternative that helps protect core capabilities," it added.

In 1994, there were 28 Canadian defence attaché offices covering 55 countries. By 2013, there were 30 of the offices covering 138 countries.

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