NDP wants Supreme Court to weigh in on satellite office dispute

The New Democrats are calling on the government to refer the party's ongoing dispute with the House of Commons' Board of Internal Economy to the Supreme Court of Canada.

On Friday, lawyers acting on behalf of NDP MPs sent a letter to Justice Minister Peter MacKay requesting he seek cabinet approval to ask the high court to rule on whether decisions by the board are subject to judicial review.

Sixty-eight NDP MPs are on the hook to reimburse more than $2.7 million in parliamentary expenses related to so-called satellite offices deemed improper by the secretive all-party committee.

"This matter is of importance to all Canadians," notes the letter, which is signed by lawyers James Duggan and Julius Grey.

"An early and efficient determination of this issue in a final judgment would not only be in the best interests of the parties and justice but also in our opinion in the interest of all Canadians."

The letter notes the federal government has the power to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues related to the interpretation of the Constitution Acts, as well as the powers of Parliament.

"Your prompt attention to our request is appreciated," the letter concludes.

In a separate letter sent to interim board secretary Marc Bosc, Duggan and Grey say they have advised their clients "not to pay the amounts demanded … unless and until a final judgment has been rendered requiring them to do so."

They also claim the calculations behind the formal repayment requests, which were sent to MPs earlier this month, "contain several errors that are so gross they deserve special mention," including salaries for staff covering time periods before or after they were transferred to a satellite office, and, in some case, when no satellite offices were in operation at all.

"In our opinion, such gross errors are an especially egregious result of 'determinations' made in violation of the rules of natural justice and fairness," the letter notes.

"Our clients were not given a fair hearing, and the 'determinations' were made in their absence in an arbitrary and unreasonable manner, motivated solely by partisan interests in an in-camera process."

In those circumstances, the lawyers conclude, "it would appear that these contested 'determinations' were a foregone conclusion."

The move comes just weeks after the board sent out formal repayment demands instructing the NDP MPs to pay back their share of the cost of the offices, or risk having their own budgets or wages garnisheed.

In a press release announcing the latest move, NDP Quebec caucus chair Robert Aubin said referring the matter to the Supreme Court will prove that MacKay "is committed to our democratic institutions and to saving thousands of taxpayer dollars and wasted time."

The NDP has also filed an application for federal judicial review seeking to have the board ruling declared null and void on the grounds that it is "unreasonable, arbitrary and incorrect," as well as contrary to the rule of law.

The party has also been fighting a board order to repay $1.7 million related to inappropriate mailings.

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Justin Trudeau says public transit, exports to be planks of Liberal economic policy

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has outlined infrastructure, export development and entrepreneurship among key points of his party's economic platform going into the 2015 federal election.

Trudeau was in Montreal on Friday to attend a luncheon with the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal along with Mayor Denis Coderre.

In a speech delivered mostly in French to business representatives, Trudeau said the Liberals will fight the rise of income inequality. 

"The world we live in is full of challenges, but it is also full of incredible opportunities to be seized, with the opening of new markets, the growth of developing countries, new forms of technology, and sustainable development," he said.

"Our economic vision will aim to strengthen the prosperity of the middle-class and create long-term growth in key areas."

Trudeau outlined five points of the Liberal Party's economic platform: infrastructure, post-secondary education, exports, entrepreneurship and investment in research and science.

Support manufacturers with exports

The Liberal leader said should the Liberals assume government, he will reinstate the Labour-Sponsored Venture Capital Corporation tax credit, which is currently being phased out, in a bid to support workers and small businesses.

For infrastructure, there will be a focus on public transit as an alternative to solo vehicles in dense cities and as a way to reduce greenhouse gases. Trudeau said that should he become prime minister, he would attend the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December, in apparent contrast to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has generally shunned UN confabs. 

In prepared remarks, Trudeau also mentioned a Liberal government would help manufacturers modernize and reach emerging markets, as well as get a foothold in Europe in preparation of Canada's Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the EU. In addition to the export of goods and services, Trudeau emphasized the export of Canadian art and culture, citing Quebec as an "extraordinary example" of how well it promotes its artists abroad. 

He also repeated the Liberals' commitment to restoring the long-form census.

'Heavy on vagueness,' NDP says

New Democrat finance critic Nathan Cullen said there are similarities between the Liberal platform and the economic strategy the NDP laid out, particularly when it comes to tax breaks for small businesses and support for manufacturers.

"I guess imitation is the best form of flattery," he said in an interview with CBC News.

He added that the Liberals still haven't told people exactly what they plan to do.

"It's very heavy on vagueness and light on details," Cullen said.

During his speech, Trudeau criticized the Conservatives for their reliance on the oil sector and not doing enough to benefit the middle class.

He also took a crack at the Harper government's income-splitting policy that he said would cost more than $2 billion and "deliver the majority of the benefits to the wealthiest 15 per cent of Canadians instead of the middle class."

The Liberal leader has said in the past that his party's economic policy would reverse the government's income-splitting plan. 

Earlier this month, Trudeau delivered a speech in Calgary on the environment and the economy. 

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Missing and murdered aboriginal women roundtable seen as 'a start'

The Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde called today's roundtable meeting on missing and murdered aboriginal women in Ottawa a start but he will continue to push for a national inquiry into the issue.

Bellegarde outlined three key areas where progress was made in the meeting:

• Prevention and awareness.
• Safety in communities.
• Issues regarding policing and justice.

"This is a step. We're still moving towards the call for a federal inquiry. That is there. That will not go away," said Bellegarde.

In the end, all participants agreed to move forward on only two items:

• National prevention campaign and awareness program.
• Best practices task force on policing and justice.

Participants also agreed to hold another roundtable meeting before the end of 2016. 

Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Bernard Valcourt and Minister on the Status of Women Kellie Leitch held a separate news conference in a different location from the Provincial, Territorial and aboriginal leaders.

"Out of respect to the 20 organizations as well as to the families, we felt that they should be able to get their message out," explained Leitch.

She also pointed to the fact that her government has already taken action in the form of a plan to address violence against aboriginal women and girls. 

The government has budgeted $25 million over five years to deliver the plan – a commitment first announced in the February 2014 budget.

Earlier Friday, Susan Truppe, the parliamentary secretary to the federal status of women minister, insisted in the House of Commons that the government has taken action to alleviate the problem and that no more studies are needed.

Liberal M-P Carolyn Bennett, attending a similar meeting in Calgary, says many people and groups she has spoken with are resigned to the likelihood that there won't be an inquiry so long as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are in power.

Bennett says that means the only way to get one is through an election and a change of government.

Whether or not a national inquiry is called, many participants came to find support from others who shared their experiences.

"I decided to come here because I'm not prepared for nothing. I came here to learn and be able to help... and to heal," said Miriam Saunders, the mother of Loretta Saunders, a Halifax university student who was murdered last year.

As the roundtable was going on, a parallel meeting was held at Carleton University where attendees listened to families tell their stories.

Wynne wishes Harper had attended

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected calls for a national inquiry into the nearly 1,200 aboriginal women who have been murdered or gone missing in the last 30 years.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, left, speaks to a witness before the start of the National Roundtable on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Ottawa on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne wished Harper could have attended today's meeting, but is pleased he sent Valcourt and Leitch.

N.W.T., Manitoba, Yukon premiers attend

Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod, Greg Selinger of Manitoba and Yukon's Darrell Pasloski were also at the meeting, which focused on prevention and awareness, community safety, policing and justice responses.

A coalition that includes Amnesty International released a study Thursday saying the federal government ignored 700 recommendations from many studies on how to reduce the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde, right, sits with Rinelle Harper, 16, who survived a brutal attack in Winnipeg in November, wait for the start of the National Roundtable on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Ottawa on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

Indigenous women make up 4.3 per cent of Canada's population, but account for 16 per cent of female homicides and 11.3 per cent of missing women.

Christa Big Canoe, with Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, says Ottawa's failure to take the issue seriously is extremely painful for those families that have lost loved ones and are still looking for answers.

"We have to start by setting terms of reference that have meaning, that are going to actually result in change, that are actually going to result in improvements and progress," said Big Canoe.

"Otherwise, we're just sitting around a table, talking."

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Was Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's attack on Parliament Hill his Plan B?

As MPs debate a major piece of anti-terrorism legislation presented partly as a response to the Oct. 22 shootings on Parliament Hill, Canadians still know relatively little about what lay behind that attack.

Certainly, the federal government seems content to have a certain view of gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's motivations prevail: that he was a conventional jihadi terrorist inspired by, and perhaps in direct communication with, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS.

One key piece of evidence that might clear up some of the questions about Zehaf-Bibeau's thinking is a video he recorded before his death.

Initially, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said the video would "certainly someday be released," and that he was inclined to do so "as soon as possible."

A few weeks later, his view had changed. "We may look at releasing some aspects of the transcript of the video. But I don't know that we will be releasing the video," Paulson said in November.

Now, a committee of MPs has invited Paulson to testify about the video's contents at his earliest convenience.

What do we know?

A day after the attack, Paulson mused about the gunman's motivation.

"I think the passport figured prominently in his motives. I'm not inside his head, but I think the passport was central to what was driving him."

Paulson's words have been echoed by a number of other people who knew Zehaf-Bibeau. They paint a picture of a man who was considering two mutually exclusive plans of action. One was a plan of emigration and the start of a new life; the other, an attack on Parliament that would surely have ended any hope of leaving the country.

Logic dictates that Zehaf-Bibeau could only carry out one of those two plans.

Interviews with people who spoke with him in the weeks before he shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial suggest the attack was in fact his Plan B, one he began to put in motion on Oct. 2, 20 days before he finally carried it out.

The passport failure

Oct. 2 is the day Zehaf-Bibeau arrived in Ottawa from Vancouver. Tellingly, before even finding a place to stay, he went straight to the Libyan embassy to apply for a passport.

Yousef Furgani, chargé d'affaires at the Libyan Embassy in Ottawa, met Zehaf-Bibeau on Oct. 2 when he walked in and asked to renew his expired Libyan passport. (CBC photo)

"He said he had family in Libya," Yousef Furgani, first secretary of the Libyan Embassy, told CBC News in October. "He said he missed them, and he wanted to go back and live there."

Zehaf-Bibeau had told many people over the years about his desire to emigrate to Libya, where he had gone to live as a teenager with his father following his parents' separation.

At least as far back as 2007, when Zehaf-Bibeau worked building tunnels in Squamish, B.C., Libya was on his mind. His foreman in Squamish remembers: "He said he wanted to settle down there and find a wife."

Zehaf-Bibeau was also already showing signs of interest in jihadi ideology, sharing videos of Taliban attacks on his cellphone, although his co-workers didn't take him too seriously.

The fact that much of Libya is now under the control of Islamist militias — and even a Libyan franchise of ISIS — may suggest it's all a moot point. Today, an aspiring jihadi might find Libya almost as attractive as Syria, where the RCMP initially, and incorrectly, suggested Zehaf-Bibeau was planning to travel.

But Zehaf-Bibeau's Libyan longings predated the arrival of jihadi groups in Libya. He seems to have been no less interested in moving there when the country was under the control of the Ghadhafi family.

Escape from addiction

According to people who spoke with Zehaf-Bibeau, Libya seems to have become more than just the happy land of his youth — it was also a potential refuge from a worsening crack addiction.

Years before the Parliament Hill attack, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau told co-workers in Squamish, B.C., about his desire to move to Libya, and even began to wear the clothes of a Libyan tribal sheik.

After his arrival in Ottawa, he befriended Libyan-born Abdelkarim Abubakir, telling him the same thing he had told others at the shelter he frequented in Vancouver.

"He just wanted to go out from here, because the temptation from the drug is very strong, and he cannot resist it. That's his weakness. He wanted to go to Libya, he said," Abubakir told CBC News.

"So that's why he tell me, 'I have a passport to be accepted, and I hope it's going to be accepted,' but then it was otherwise. So I think that's why he did it, because his hope was to get out of here."

Abubakir says Zehaf-Bibeau kept his plan to attack Parliament entirely to himself. But Abubakir now believes the idea was already formed when Zehaf-Bibeau arrived in Ottawa. "That was in his head, too," he says, "but only if he couldn't get the passport."

It didn't take long after Zehaf-Bibeau was rejected at the Libyan embassy to move on to Plan B — the attack that would shock the nation. Less than 48 hours after the Libyans turned him away, Zehaf-Bibeau was captured on surveillance cameras taking a tour of Parliament Hill.

Mixed motives

While politicians and the public have debated whether Zehaf-Bibeau was motivated more by ideology or by personal issues, the real answer may be both.

People who knew him have left little doubt that he supported jihadi groups openly and vocally.

But one thing is clear: as late as Oct. 2, Zehaf-Bibeau was pursuing a personal ambition that, had it succeeded, would have made the attack on Parliament Hill impossible.

Unlike their counterparts in France and Australia, the RCMP have been extremely tight-lipped about their investigation into recent terrorist attacks.

But when Paulson spoke 30 hours after the attack, he had already seen Zehaf-Bibeau's video and knew quite a bit about his movements. Tellingly, he did not say that Zehaf-Bibeau came to the nation's capital in order to stage an attack on Parliament.

"He was in town to deal with a passport issue," said Paulson.

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Bloc Québécois anti-niqab post could show new approach to political ads

This may look like an ad and various media reports are referring to it as an ad. But it's not really an ad. It's a Facebook post on the Bloc Québécois's Facebook page.

That's an important distinction, since it only reaches those who follow the BQ on social media and engage with the content it posts either by sharing or commenting on it. As such, it could well have been one more post on a feed that goes largely unnoticed.

However, this is different or, at least, it has the potential to be different.

For a party that has been struggling to be heard after losing much ground to the NDP, social media is an inexpensive channel for the Bloc to reach its base. When the message is provocative enough — one that some commentators have already qualified as downright racist — this social media content gets significant amplification through earned media. It becomes news and gets free media it could never have bought.

As anyone responsible for developing and implementing a social media content strategy will tell you, you must closely monitor levels of engagement and sentiment for each post in order to constantly refine your messaging on social media. BQ strategists will no doubt be emboldened by the reaction to this post and will likely determine that pushing the envelope in its social media messaging is a very effective way to get into the public conversation and get your message across.

We might be seeing the beginning of a new approach to testing political ads on social media before precious media dollars are invested to run them. Test the concept on Facebook. See what gets traction. Refine it based on the conversation. Build your campaign based on the learning. And keep up the social listening.

This post/ad has the potential to cut through the clutter to get its message across because of its arresting visual tied to what has been an ongoing debate in Quebec about reasonable accommodations and the PQ's Charter of Values. And when a judge in Montreal tells a woman she won't hear her case because she's wearing a headscarf, let's just say that you have all the ingredients to ignite what would, otherwise, have been just another Facebook post.

As a Facebook post, I give it 4 out of 5 for breakthrough potential and its ability to create buzz.

Eric Blais is president of Headspace Marketing, Inc., a strategic consulting firm. He specializes in the Quebec market.

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Missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in spotlight at roundtable

Indigenous families and First Nations leaders, senior provincial and territorial representatives will join Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt and Minister of State for the Status of Women Kellie Leitch for the "first ever" National Roundtable on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which will get underway at a downtown Ottawa hotel this morning. A parallel "Peoples' Gathering" is slated to take place at Carleton University.

Elsewhere in the capital, Prime Minister Stephen Harper heads to Rideau Hall for the annual Outstanding Achievement award ceremony, which, as explained by the Privy Council Office, is presented by the prime minister himself, and "accords the highest expression of recognition for senior leaders in the Public Service of Canada."

New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair kicks off his second mini-tour of the Greater Toronto Area in as many weeks by joining local MP Andrew Cash and Toronto City Councillor Mike Layton at the West End Parents Daycare before making his way to Mississauga to take part in Friday prayers at a local mosque alongside New Democrat candidate Fayaz Karim.

Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau delivers a noon keynote address to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.

Back in the Chamber, MPs will while away the final hours before the House shuts down for a week-long constituency break by debating possible amendments to the government's bid to tighten the rules on establishing safe injection sites.

This afternoon, Conservative MP Joe Preston will pitch his colleagues on his private members' proposal to eliminate jail time as a penalty for any offence related to not filling out "mandatory surveys" like the now defunct long-form census.

• Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover teams up with West Nova MP Greg Kerr at the Universite Sainte-Anne to unveil new federal support for the "cultural projects" of three Church Point Francophone organizations.
• Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel drops by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with news on the centre of creation and production of 7 doigts de la main, while International Trade Minister Ed Fast hosts a 'Go Global' export forum in Laval, and Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney doles out a fresh instalment of cash to bolster "winter tourism" at a Lac-Etchemin snowmobile club.
• In Toronto, Minister of State for Science and Technology Ed Fast is set to share his thoughts during a keynote address to the Economic Club of Canada, while Minister of State for Seniors Alice Wong and local MP John Carmichael deliver new federal support for community-based seniors programs.
• Moving west to Winnipeg, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz shares news on the Agricultural Growth Act, which received Royal Assent earlier this week, while Minister of State for Western Diversification Michelle Rempel shows her government's support for the biofuels sector during a stop at the University of Saskatchewan.

Mobile readers: Follow the Parliament Hill ticker here.

For up to the minute dispatches from the precinct and beyond, keep your eye on the Parliament Hill Ticker:

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ISIS recruits' beliefs usually known by families, Steven Blaney says

In most cases where someone is willing to travel for terror-related reasons, those around them are aware of their beliefs, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said Thursday, as he urged people to report those cases to officials.

"We all have a responsibility and our studies clearly demonstrate that in 80 per cent of the [cases], when an individual is willing to travel for a terrorist purpose, the people around are aware or informed of that situation," Blaney said outside the House of Commons.

"It is important to report it to the authorities for the well-being of that individual, for not being further radicalized and also saving human lives."

CBC News reported Wednesday on a woman in Edmonton who recruited a Canadian woman to join ISIS. On Thursday, media reports said six Quebeckers had travelled to Turkey and are believed to be on their way to Syria to join jihadists there.

Blaney said Wednesday that Canada "cannot become an exporter of terrorism" by letting Canadians travel to join ISIS.

"This is not the Canadian way of living. And even added to that, if a terrorist traveller is coming back, it's even a bigger threat to our security. So that's why we need to prevent Canadians from travelling for terrorist purposes," he said.

MP: current powers sufficient

Blaney urged MPs to move faster on Bill C-51, his proposed anti-terrorism legislation, which would vastly expand the powers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). One power would be the ability to disrupt suspected terrorist activities, with very few limits.

New Democrat public safety critic Randall Garrison questioned the need for some of the powers proposed in the bill, arguing that Canada's security and law enforcement agencies already have the power to stop Canadians from leaving to join terrorist activities.

Currently, CSIS can work with police forces to stop someone from leaving the country if they suspect that person is leaving to participate in terrorist activities.

"Very clearly it's illegal to leave Canada to join terrorist activities abroad. So there is power, existing power, that the RCMP could use to stop people leaving to join terrorist activities abroad. So when the government says it's not there, it's simply not true," Garrison said Thursday at the public safety committee.

"When they say CSIS can't contact the families, the story [the Conservatives] cite ... actually disproves their point, because CSIS did talk with the family. So we believe, and we would like to hear experts to confirm, that the powers that they're talking about already exist in current legislation."

Working with communities vital

Garrison said he didn't know why officials didn't stop the Canadians who left to join jihadists.

"Is it a question of resources? I don't know. I'd like to have witnesses before committee so we can explore those questions," he said.

Christian Leuprecht, a counterterrorism expert at Royal Military College and Queen's University, told CBC News Network that Canada needs to focus on the conditions that make it more or less likely someone will leave, both through prevention and disruption.

An important element in preventing radicalization is for someone to feel part of a country's social fabric, he said, and working with communities can also help when those communities have concerns.

"This is why both CSIS and the RCMP, and the countering violence extremist programs and strategy, are very much looking to reach out to communities, to make sure that they work closely with communities, not in terms of gathering intelligence, but making sure that communities feel comfortable talking to them when they feel that they might have a challenge within their midst or an individual within their midst," Leuprecht said.

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Niqab issue targeted by Bloc Québécois to win back voters

A new ad from the Bloc Québécois is targeting NDP voters unhappy with NDP Leader Tom Mulcair's comments Wednesday defending women's right to wear the niqab at citizenship ceremonies. 

"Should you have to hide your face to vote NDP?" the ad asks in French.

​The text is superimposed on an image of the House of Commons through the eyeholes of a black niqab, the full-face covering worn by certain Muslim women.

Earlier this month, the Federal Court ruled that women can wear a niqab when taking their oath of citizenship, after a woman brought a case objecting to the 2011 law requiring her to remove it during the ceremony.

Bloc targets NDP over niqab ad8:38

The woman argued it requires her to temporarily abandon her Sunni Muslim belief, and that female officials could easily take her oath in private, because the law doesn't require people to be "seen" taking it.

In front of a receptive audience in Victoriaville, Que., on Feb. 12, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the federal government would appeal the ruling.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party were quick to condemn the decision to appeal, saying the Conservatives were pandering to fears about Muslim Canadians in an effort to sway votes.

Then Wednesday, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair took a stand as well. Answering a reporter's question in French, he pointed out the context for Harper announcing his appeal, and said there was "vilification" in the government's policy. 

"I see that Muslims are often scapegoats for political debate. And that, I find it heartbreaking," he said in French.

The issue is particularly heated in Mulcair's home province of Quebec, where first a "reasonable accommodation" bill and then the Parti Québécois's failed secular charter provoked divisive partisan debate, rallying those uncomfortable with visible and public aspects of multiculturalism.

Last month, the PQ announced it will revive a religious neutrality bill, calling Liberal Premier Philippe Couillard's inaction on the issue unacceptable.

The latest advertisement from their federal counterparts suggests Harper's Conservatives aren't the only ones targeting voters holding these views for electoral gain.

In the 2011 election, Quebec voters drifted away from the BQ in favour of the surging New Democrats, then under "Le bon Jack" Layton's leadership.

The separatist party never recovered from the "Orange Crush" that reduced the BQ to a handful of seats and cost it official party status in the Commons. Under new leader Mario Beaulieu, it is still languishing in public opinion polls compared with its previously dominant status among Quebec's federal seats.

Beaulieu reacted strongly to Mulcair's comments Wednesday, calling his views the "fundamentalist multiculturalism" of an apostle and "disturbing cultural relativism."

"We believe that the face should be uncovered when you become a citizen, as when voting. This, it seems to me, is the least of things," he said in a French statement reported by La Presse Canadienne.

The decision to appeal was featured in Conservative fundraising emails and on social media. 

Messages under Immigration Minister Chris Alexander's name made reference to not only the niqab, which covers the face, but also the more common hijab, which covers women's hair but leaves the face visible. 

Before entering politics, Alexander was Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan.

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Bill C-51 defies key rulings on security certificates, lawyers say

Immigration experts say the sweeping anti-terrorism bill would give the government — and its spy agency, CSIS — new power to withhold information in cases where suspects are held on security certificates.

The changes are included in Bill C-51's amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which have received little attention to date.

Security certificates allow the government to detain and deport permanent residents or foreign nationals considered to be a security threat using secret evidence that the accused is not allowed to see. 

The bill states the government would only be required to disclose material that's "relevant to grounds of inadmissibility stated in the [security] certificate."

That contradicts key Supreme Court rulings on what the Crown must provide to the special advocates of people being held on the controversial certificates, say lawyers who have acted as special advocates.

"That [change] gives CSIS the power to decide what part of the file is going to be disclosed, and what part of the file is not going to be disclosed," says immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman.

"It will significantly alter the balance and the fairness of the procedure, a balance the Supreme Court has been very careful to craft."

Harkat, Charkaoui rulings pushed disclosure

In 2014, Waldman argued before the Supreme Court in the case of Mohamed Harkat, which yielded the latest in a string of Supreme Court rulings on security certificates.

'The problem with [C-51] is that it removes one of the only tools that the special advocates have for challenging the reliability of the secret evidence.'— Lorne Waldman, immigration lawyer

In the Harkat case, as well as two prior rulings on the case of Adil Charkaoui, the Supreme Court upheld the certificates as constitutional, but sought to define a balance between the government and the defence lawyer for the accused, known as a special advocate.

In the case of Charkaoui, the court ruled the government must share all its information with the special advocate.

Waldman says the top court was also swayed by the Federal Court case of Hassan Almrei, another person detained for years on a security certificate. In his 2009 ruling, Justice Richard Mosely was highly critical of the government, saying the secret evidence later released to the special advocates contradicted the main evidence offered by CSIS in a public hearing.

The Almrei case in particular demonstrated that special advocates need access to all the information held by CSIS officials, Waldman says, not just what the spy agency chooses to reveal. And he says the new bill is an attempt to wind back the clock on the landmark Charkaoui ruling.

"The problem with [the new bill] is that it removes one of the only tools that the special advocates have for challenging the reliability of the secret evidence."

Toronto lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo served as one of the special advocates for Harkat. He says that in that case, the federal court found the government gave misleading information, which was only discovered after all the evidence was disclosed to special advocates.

Cavalluzzo adds that the top court ruled the government was too quick to hide information.

"As the Supreme Court of Canada said in the Harkat case, the government constantly over-asserts its national security privileges," he says. 

"There's got to be very serious questions raised as to why they want to give less disclosure to the special advocates. Particularly in light of the fact that CSIS is now going to be engaged in far more disruptive behaviour than they have in the past."

A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety said in an email that some of the amendments to the bill "are consistent with the Supreme Court's 2014 ruling in the Harkat case."

The spokesperson added that the government must sometimes rely on classified information in the case of security certificates, and that information "must be protected if its public disclosure would be injurious to national security or would endanger the safety of any person."

C-51 gives government new powers to appeal

Bill C-51 gives CSIS new powers to intervene in suspected terrorist activity, a departure from its previous role as gatherer of intelligence.

Cavalluzzo says the changes to security certificates in C-51 will undoubtedly lead to another court challenge.

"The present security certificate process is precarious as it is," he says. "To make it even [more unfair], in my view, is going to lead to constitutional challenges that will likely be successful."

Waldman adds that C-51 goes even further in muddying the waters around security certificates.

That's because of a provision that allows the government to appeal a judge's order to disclose information to the special advocate.

"So now they have the option of going to the Federal Court of Appeal, and asking the Federal Court of Appeal to review the decision to disclose."

Waldman argues this could bog down the proceedings even further, and says an equivalent power of appeal is not being granted to the special advocate.

He says that places the special advocate in an unequal position with regard to the process.

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Politicians, First Nations leaders meet on missing and murdered aboriginal women

Pressure is mounting on the federal government to take action on missing and murdered aboriginal women, with several premiers and aboriginal leaders meeting in Ottawa today to try to determine what can be done.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected calls for a national inquiry into the nearly 1,200 aboriginal women who have been murdered or gone missing in the last 30 years.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne wishes Harper would attend today's meeting, but is pleased he's sending two representatives: Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt and Status of Women Minister Kellie Leitch.

Wynne hopes the federal government will at least provide funding if the provinces, territories and aboriginal leaders agree to take steps such as finding ways for police to better share information and creating a public relations campaign.

Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde says one of the big issues for the provinces and federal government to decide is who will pay for any action they decide to take.

Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod, Greg Selinger of Manitoba and Yukon's Darrell Pasloski are also expected at the meeting, which will focus on prevention and awareness, community safety, policing and justice responses.

A coalition that includes Amnesty International released a study Thursday saying the federal government ignored 700 recommendations from many studies on how to reduce the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Indigenous women make up 4.3 per cent of Canada's population, but account for 16 per cent of female homicides and 11.3 per cent of missing women.

Christa Big Canoe, with Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, says Ottawa's failure to take the issue seriously is extremely painful for those families that have lost loved ones and are still looking for answers.

"We have to start by setting terms of reference that have meaning, that are going to actually result in change, that are actually going to result in improvements and progress," said Big Canoe.

"Otherwise, we're just sitting around a table, talking."

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Stephen Harper tells parents to listen to scientists about vaccines

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says parents in developed countries have a responsibility to set an example for those in less-educated countries when it comes to using vaccines, and advised people to listen to scientists and doctors.

Harper was speaking at a maternal, newborn and child health event with American philanthropist Bill Gates. The two were discussing what comes after the UN's millennium development goals expire later this year.

'We have a responsibility to set an example, for God's sake. We know these medical interventions work.'-— Prime Minister Stephen Harper on vaccinations

One of the topics was how effective vaccinations have become at almost eliminating polio. Harper used the topic to segue into the debate in North America and Europe about the measles vaccine. Some parents have stopped having their children vaccinated despite overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines are effective and safe.

"We in the educated, advanced — medically advanced — sophisticated part of the world, we have a responsibility when it comes to this. Not just a responsibility to vaccinate our children, which I think every parent has a responsibility to do, and not just a responsibility to encourage that widespread vaccination so we're not putting other kids at risk," Harper said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife, Laureen, help to administer vaccines to newborns at the Phillipe Maguilen Senghor's Health Centre in Dakar, Senegal, in November 2014. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

"But we have a responsibility to set an example, for God's sake. We know these medical interventions work. And as an advanced, educated society, it's completely irresponsible of people in this society to communicate anything other than that anywhere else in the world.

"So get your kids vaccinated, get the facts from the medical and scientific community, and if you're not a doctor or scientist yourself, listen to the people who are. It's that simple."

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Beyond tough talk, Canada weighs sending weapons, trainers to Ukraine

"To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war."
- Winston Churchill, 1954

Before brokering the latest sputtering ceasefire, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the hawks, both in Washington and across the Ukrainian diaspora, about arming Kyiv's forces to battle Russian-backed separatists.

"I cannot imagine any situation in which improved equipment for the Ukrainian army leads to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin being so impressed that he believes he will lose militarily," Merkel said on Feb. 7 at the Munich security conference. 

Sitting beside Merkel two days later, U.S. President Barack Obama punted.

"If in fact diplomacy fails, what I've asked my team to do is look at all options," Obama said. "The possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of those options."

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper hosted Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (left) last September, he asked for Canada's help fighting Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine. He's still asking. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)

Standing beside Merkel after that, Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked the same political football.

"We'll look at all options. But obviously we'll proceed extremely cautiously in partnership and collaboration with all of our allies," he said.

Jason Kenney, Harper's new defence minister, has been quoting that line ever since.

"We don't have huge stockpiles of equipment to supply," Kenney told CBC Radio's The House. "We're not going to do anything... without a consensus from our allies. We will not act alone."

What's on the table?

When Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko came to Ottawa last fall, his main request was for radar satellite technology, Kenney emphasizes.

An agreement on that — with the condition that it not be used for targeting, something it's not designed for anyway —was just signed.

Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson (right) met with Andriy Parubiy, Ukraine's deputy speaker, in Ottawa on Monday. The parliamentarian asked Canada to push the U.S. to send lethal weapons and lobbied for more sanctions against Russia. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

But Ukraine's wish list doesn't stop there.

Poroshenko's deputy foreign minister, Vadym Prystaiko, told The House last weekend Ukraine wants Canada to lead the charge towards persuading allies to supply lethal weapons and the training to use them.

Deputy speaker Andriy Parubiy was in Ottawa Monday, also lobbying.

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that four teams of up to 75 British soldiers are heading to Ukraine to provide advice and training. The U.S. is expected to lead a training mission, too.

Kenney has said Canada is "actively considering different options for engaging."

'I wouldn't expect Minister Kenney to get out ahead of everybody else... to say 'yeah, we're going first, just watch us go.''- Yaroslav Baran, former Harper adviser and pro-Euromaidan activist

After controversy in northern Iraq, where Canadian trainers "fired back," the mandate for Canadian forces will be scrutinized.

"Firing back" at Russian (or proxy Russian) troops would escalate tensions to an even more serious level.

Prystaiko, who until last fall was Kyiv's ambassador in Ottawa, left his post frustrated.

"Iraq's government is asking for help and you're sending everything. Then the Ukrainian government asks you the same… and you tell us what? 'No,'" he said then. 

Undeterred, he's still asking.

'Problem' with Merkel's logic

The latest briefing note from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress to MPs is blunt: Ukraine needs defensive weapons, and it's the West's lack of provision of these weapons that "fuels Russia's escalation."

Photographer Maria Arseniuk poses with Defence Minister Jason Kenney at an exhibit of her work hosted by the Euromaidan Ottawa pro-democracy group in Ottawa Monday. Kenney and other members of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group commemorated the first anniversary of the 2014 protests that overthrew the Russian-backed government in Kyiv. (CBC)

​Yaroslav Baran, a former Harper adviser who is the group's Ottawa president, said the best thing a middle power like Canada can do is lead the discussion among Western allies about doing more in the face of Russia's willingness to arm the separatists.

"I wouldn't expect Minister Kenney to get out ahead of everybody else... to say 'yeah, we're going first, just watch us go.' That's never really been Canada's role and it's not the best way we can help," Baran said.

Should NATO do more? "Absolutely.

"Whenever the hardware is more balanced the fighting has actually subsided."

"That's the problem with Chancellor Merkel's logic," he added. "There is a very real deterrence capability in helping to re-equip the Ukrainian forces with (...) anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems." 

Too late for weapons?

"Unless there's a prospect of years of war, and I don't think there is, it's already very late in the game to be reinforcing Kyiv's ragtag forces. The Western cavalry is long overdue," says former diplomat and Russian ambassador Chris Westdal.

Westdal agrees it's possible, as Ukrainians have warned, rebels will now push south to secure the strategic port of Mariupol.

After that, the fighting may stop and stalemate. "Then there's a credible ceasefire line."

Weapons sent now could arrive after the shooting's over.

But when it comes to courting Ukrainian-Canadian voters, "you bet [Kenney] cares about Ukraine," Westdal said.

'If we think we're isolating the Russians, think again'- former diplomat Chris Westdal

On Monday, the minister posed for pictures and showed off his best Ukrainian phrases as the guest of honour at an event marking one year since the Euromaidan protest.

"Canada has led the world in sanctions against the Putin regime," Kenney told attendees. "This is why Prime Minister Harper led the G8 in expelling Vladimir Putin from that world body of leadership."

The leadership on sanctions is disputed. Some argue powerful Russians who deal with Canadian companies like Bombardier are not on Canada's list. 

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress also wants Russia removed from the SWIFT international bank transfer payments system. 

Russia, meanwhile, mocks Canadian sanctions as "futile."

"If we think we're isolating the Russians, think again," Westdal said. Russia just pivots, focusing on emerging economies like India and China.

Neither fighting, nor talking

Harper has not spoken to Putin since their headline-grabbing handshake at November's G20 summit, when all he had to say was "get out of Ukraine."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was criticized by some for 'shirt-fronting' Russian President Vladimir Putin at last fall's G20. Others applauded his hard line. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

The "jaw-jaw" is Merkel's job. But must Canada demonstrate it could "war-war"?

Westdal thinks the cross-party support for the government's position on Ukraine is surprising, given it isn't coherent.

"We're neither arming them, nor are we equipping them to talk. We have shunned the people they need to talk to," he said. "What do we think they should do?"

"We've been their best friend: 'Count on us.' We've encouraged the Ukrainian nationalism.

"I do think that we led them to overestimate the support that they'd get from the West... and underestimate the cost of picking a fight with Russia. Which they did."

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CSIS needs power to stop high-risk travellers, says Steven Blaney

Canada must take action to prevent its citizens from travelling abroad for terrorist purposes, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said after a CBC News investigation revealed a 23-year-old woman travelled to Syria after being radicalized.

"Clearly, Canada cannot become an exporter of terrorism. This is not the Canadian way of living," Blaney said Wednesday.

Militant Islamist fighters take part in a parade along the streets of Syria's Raqqa province in June 2014. A CBC News investigation has revealed a 23-year-old Canadian woman was radicalized and travelled to Syria to join ISIS. (Reuters)

The woman, whom CBC News is calling Aisha to protect her identity, made the journey to Syria to join up with ISIS last summer, after taking an online course to study the Qur'an taught by a woman based in Edmonton, according to her older sister Rabia (whose name has also been changed).

Blaney said the Conservative-backed Bill C-51 — which would bolster CSIS's powers, allowing the security agency to disrupt the travel plans or financial transactions of Canadians the agency believes have been radicalized — is aimed at preventing stories just like Aisha's.

"In Bill C-51, there are provisions that enable our intelligence officers to interact with the families and the communities, not only to engage in a discussion but to reduce the threat and prevent individuals from travelling," he said.

'There is not a thing that in Mr. Harper's bill, C-51, on dealing with radicalization.'- NDP Leader Tom Mulcair

"Currently, we are not able to prevent a high-risk traveller from boarding an airplane. With the bill, we will be able to prevent those individuals from getting on board.… So that's the threat diminishment measure that is in the bill, that clearly would have helped to avoid that kind of situation."

Blaney said the bill — which has prompted vocal opposition from civil libertarians and privacy advocates —  would also criminalize the promotion of terrorism.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said his party supports the strengthening of the no-fly list as part of the bill — one of the reasons the party is backing Bill C-51.

"[We] continue working with communities here in Canada, whether it be mosques and other places that continue to promote ideology that is countering [ISIS's] ideology of hatred and division," he said.

"At the centre of any visit to any religious community or community group is a message of Canada pulling together, of Canadians being the one place … that is strong not in spite of our differences, but because of those differences … We're putting out a message of inclusion, of people's rights as Canadians and people's responsibilities as Canadians."

Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney says the Conservatives' Bill C-51 would help prevent radicalized Canadians from travelling abroad for the purposes of terrorism. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

The bill, however, faces opposition from the NDP and critics who argue it's too broad and doesn't offer sufficient oversight.

"There is not a thing that in Mr. Harper's bill, C-51, on dealing with radicalization," NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said Wednesday.

"So, an approach that has us dealing with religious leaders, that has us dealing with community leaders, working on the upstream causes of this radicalization — that is something that should have been in the bill and that the NDP will be proposing as it goes through committee."

Bill C-51 recently passed second reading in the House of Commons and is now headed to committee.

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In the Conservative war on terror, the first casualty is Parliament: Chris Hall

Fresh from limiting the parliamentary debate, at second reading, on its proposed anti-terror law, the government is now resisting opposition calls for an extensive review of Bill C-51 by the Commons committee on public safety and national security.

"This bill is strongly supported by Canadians," Stephen Harper argued this week during Question Period, "and I encourage the committee to study it as quickly as possible in order to adopt these measures to help Canadian security during the life of this Parliament."

What the prime minister bases his judgment of public support on isn't clear, though one opinion poll has suggested four out of five Canadians are in favour of giving Canada's spy agency and police broad new powers.

But public support, no matter how it's measured, is no substitute for public scrutiny.

The government's bill proposes to give Canada's spy agency broad new powers to disrupt suspected terrorist plots, to allow government departments to share private information more widely, and to allow suspects to be detained without charge for longer periods.

But critics say that these new powers, and overly broad definitions in the proposed law, represent a threat to Canadians' rights, without any commensurate increase in parliamentary or third-party oversight.

An election winner?

The Conservatives, on the other hand, say Canada has to respond to the October attacks in Canada that killed two Canadian soldiers, and to view these incidents as part of a trend that has seen brazen attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, and the arrest Thursday of alleged ISIS conspirators in New York City.

But that's only one of the motives. The party also considers public security a winning issue for them heading into an election, so much so that the government is determined to push this bill through with a minimum of parliamentary scrutiny and review.

As CBC News reported on Wednesday, the government is offering just three days for the committee to hear from witnesses, with one of those days devoted exclusively to questioning Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney and department officials.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has criticized Bill C-51 for vague wording, which he says leaves the door open to spying on political opponents. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

The New Democrats and Liberals want much more time for witnesses. And will press their case again today when the committee meets to arrange a schedule.

"We're talking about the most significant changes to security legislation in this country since 2001," NDP Leader Tom Mulcair told reporters on Wednesday.

"Critical flaws are being revealed by security experts across the country every single day. It is reckless and irresponsible to ram it through without a full and proper study."

For the Conservatives, more witnesses equates to more criticism, and the possibility that the public support Harper talked about might begin to erode.

Getting it right

The alternative view is that the more public scrutiny, the more likely the government is to get a significant piece of this legislation right, which is to ensure that the appropriate balance is struck between security and individual liberties.

And there are no shortage of examples to support that view.

The most obvious is the 2001 review of the original anti-terrorism law introduced after the 9/11 attacks by the then Liberal government of Jean Chretien.

The Commons justice committee met 19 times between Oct. 18 and Nov. 26, 2001 to review the bill. A special committee of the Senate began parallel hearings, wrapping up on Dec. 6.

Both committees met twice-daily at one point to ensure the politicians — and public — heard from as many witnesses as possible.

Wayne MacKay, a constitutional law professor at Dalhousie University, appeared before both committees in 2001. He says the extensive testimony helped the government of the day refine the legislation.

"The more alternative views you hear, the better the legislation will be," MacKay said in an interview Wednesday. "This is another very significant piece of legislation and it's worthy of a detailed review."

With an election coming, the Canadian flag will be in demand. Here, Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an announcement regarding tax cuts in Surrey, B.C., earlier this month. (The Canadian Press)

Don Stuart is a criminal law professor at Queen's University in Kingston. He also appeared before both committees in 2001, and says the Conservatives' approach to its anti-terror bill speaks more to political imperatives than security needs.

"The longer you go at committee, the more you hear opposing voices."

Lessons from the past

Stuart says there are elements of Bill C-51 that he believes are redundant, such as the new offence of promoting terrorism, or too vague, including the definition of terrorist activity.

In 2001, the Liberals accepted amendments to impose a five-year limit on the extraordinary new powers of preventative arrest and investigative hearings.

That bill, in its final form, withstood judicial scrutiny far better than either the U.S. Patriot Act or Britain's Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.

This time, though, the Conservatives are showing no similar willingness to entertain amendments, even though that kind of obstinance has caused them political embarrassment before.

In 2011, the government tried to introduce a series of amendments to a mammoth crime bill at the last moment, amendments their own MPs had voted down earlier at committee simply because they had been proposed by Liberal MP Irwin Cotler.

It turned out the government actually agreed with Cotler's efforts and, proving imitation is the least sincere form of legislation, they copied nearly word for word Cotler's proposals to strengthen the right of victims to sue foreign states that supported or committed terrorist acts.

Here, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau delivers a speech during an event in Mississauga, Ont., on Feb. 15. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

It didn't work. The government's amendments were ruled out of order by House Speaker Andrew Scheer because they came too late in the legislative process.

In the end, the bill had to be amended in the Senate, and ended up mirroring what Cotler had proposed much earlier.

It's unlikely the Conservatives will now apply these past lessons as they push ahead with Bill C-51.

As the prime minister said, the goal is to have the new security measures in place before the House rises in June. Alongside a campaign message firmly embedded in the minds of voters before they head to the polls in October.

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C-51 committee stand-off between NDP, Tories set to resume

The ongoing battle over the government's efforts to fast-track its proposed anti-terror bill through the House is expected to get back underway behind the tightly closed doors of the public safety committee.

Earlier this week, the New Democrats successfully, if likely temporarily staved off a Conservative-driven attempt to limit witness testimony to just three days.

The committee is slated to reconvene this morning, at which point the filibuster may well continue — unless, that is, a compromise is worked out, or the chair calls the vote.

Meanwhile, Ottawa-area Liberal MPs David McGuinty and Mauril Belanger team up with caucus colleague Stephane Dion to add their voices to the growing call for the planned monument to the victims of communism currently slated to be installed directly across from the Supreme Court of Canada be relocated to "a suitable site."

Back in the Chamber, MPs are set to spend the day discussing the government's proposal to "strengthen the safety and security" of federally regulated pipelines, which is currently at second reading.

Elsewhere on the committee front:

• Newly appointed House Law Clerk Philippe Dufresne will spend an hour fielding questions on his new role at Procedure and House Affairs before the committee moves in camera to discuss unspecified business.
• Over at Veterans Affairs, members get a briefing on the "continuum of transition services," courtesy of Veterans Affairs official Michel Doiron and Melanie Witty.
• Foreign Affairs continues to explore issues surrounding the "protection of children and youth in developing countries," while the Subcommittee on International Human Rights returns to its ongoing study into human rights in Iran with an appearance by B'Nai Brith Canada representatives David Matas, Michael Mostyn and Yehuda Azoulay.

Also on the Hill this afternoon: The Council of Turkish Canadians hit the stage at the Centre Block press theatre to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I while highlighting "human suffering in Eastern Anatolia."

Outside the precinct, Canadian astronaut and author Chris Hadfield joins United Way president Jacline Nyman, MaRS advisor Tom Rand, Toronto city planner Jennifer Keesmaat and Trudeau Foundation president Morris Rosenberg at a "TED-talk style event" hosted by Canada 2020.

Out and about on the ministerial circuit:

• Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford gives a keynote address at the Canadian Nuclear Association's annual conference and trade show.
• On the other side of the river in Gatineau, Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover will do the honours at the opening ceremonies for the 36th annual Salon du Livre de l'Outaouais.
• Finally, Transport Minister Lisa Raitt heads to Oakville, where she will team up with "workers, industry partners and Ford officials" to "mark an important milestone at Ford's latest global platform."

Mobile readers: Follow the Parliament Hill ticker here.

For up to the minute dispatches from the precinct and beyond, keep your eye on the Parliament Hill Ticker:

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Stephen Harper, Mohamed Fahmy and the unmade phone call

The opposition continues to hammer away at Prime Minister Stephen Harper over his apparent refusal to directly intervene in the plight of Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy, who is on trial in Egypt.

Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair asked Harper about the case twice in question period Tuesday.

"Has the prime minister of Canada spoken with President el-Sissi of Egypt about getting Mr. Fahmy back to his home in Canada?" asked Mulcair, pointing out that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke to the Egyptian president on a number of occasions on behalf of an Australian journalist involved in the same case (who was subsequently released).

"We've raised this at all levels and will continue to do so in the ways that we believe are effective," answered Harper.

"So it's a no," retorted Mulcair, before moving onto another line of questioning.

Mulcair presses Harper on Fahmy1:57

Fahmy was arrested and jailed in Cairo on Dec. 29, 2013, along with two other Al-Jazeera English colleagues. They were covering protests against the ouster of then president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Australian, Peter Greste, was eventually deported home.

Fahmy was accused of broadcasting "false news" and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which had been declared a terrorist group. He spent 411 days in jail before being released on bail last week to face a retrial.

Calls for a direct appeal

Whether Harper has spoken to el-Sissi remains unclear, though there are indications he has written letters to the Egyptian president about Fahmy's predicament. 

Fahmy's case is just the latest case of a Canadian or dual citizen whose situation abroad has led to loud calls for Harper's intervention. But in the case of Abousfian Abdelrazik, for example, the prime minister has remained reticent about any involvement on his part.

But why would Harper be so reluctant to reveal what he has done, leaving the impression of a leader who doesn't care about Canadians in trouble abroad?

The opposition only has theories.

"Maybe he has a lack of confidence in his relationship with these leaders or he is just not interested in doing that," said NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar.

Liberal foreign affairs critic Marc Garneau notes things have changed since Fahmy was first arrested.

"The excuse that Fahmy was a dual citizen was valid until he was no longer a dual citizen," said Garneau. Fahmy gave up his Egyptian passport at the beginning of the month in hopes of being immediately deported to Canada. That didn't happen.

Garneau is at a loss to understand why the prime minister hasn't followed the Australian prime minister's example, because, he said, all other options have been exhausted.

But other observers aren't so sure.

"I never quite believe everything I read. There's always another shoe that's going to fall somewhere," said Keith Beardsley, a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to Harper. 

Because there are such large gaps in the publicly available information about cases like Fahmy's, it is hard to know what goes into Harper's calculations, he said. The prime minister is briefed by diplomatic and security officials about these types of incidents and much of what he hears is classified.

"There's going to be all sorts of stuff in there that you and I would have no clue about. And some of it could be, if you go to high profile, what are the negative consequences for the guy over there?" said Beardsley.

On top of that, Beardsley added, Harper isn't a micro-manager when it comes to issues with foreign governments.

Ferry de Kerckhove agrees with Beardsley on that point. 

Hand's-off approach

"It's in keeping with his kind of a low-key approach to those kinds of issues. Leaving others to do their jobs," said the former Canadian ambassador to Egypt, who has also acted as Harper's sherpa at the Francophonie summit.

In Fahmy's case, according to de Kerckhove, his dual citizenship complicated matters and reduced Harper's influence.

"He probably doesn't want to get involved in the nitty-gritty of an issue in which there's not much to gain, because he knows at the end of the day that the system of the country involved will prevail over whatever he may be saying," he argued.

And now that the impediment of dual citizenship is gone?

"I think maybe there's a sense that [Harper] respects, however wacko it may be, the justice system of another country," said de Kerckhove.

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CSE monitors millions of Canadian emails to government

Canada's electronic spy agency collects millions of emails from Canadians and stores them for "days to months" while trying to filter out malware and other attacks on government computer networks, CBC News has learned.

A top-secret document written by Communications Security Establishment (CSE) analysts sheds new light on the scope of the agency's domestic email collection as part of its mandate to protect government computers.

CBC analyzed the document in collaboration with U.S. news site The Intercept, which obtained it from U.S. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Canada's electronic spy agency watched visits to government websites and collected about 400,000 emails to the government every day, storing some of the data for years, according to the 2010 document. Today's volume is likely much higher given online traffic growth.

Common online activities involving the government include Canadians filing their taxes, writing to members of Parliament and applying for passports.

The program to protect government servers from hackers, criminals and enemy states is raising questions about the breadth of the collection, the length of retention and how the information could be shared with police and spy partners in other countries.

Chris Parsons, an internet security expert with the Toronto-based internet think tank Citizen Lab who viewed the document, said there are legitimate purposes for the agency to monitor your communications with the government.

"But you should be able to communicate with your government without the fear that what you say … could come back to haunt you in unexpected ways," says Parsons.

"When we collect huge volumes, it's not just used to track bad guys. It goes into data stores for years or months at a time and then it can be used at any point in the future."

CSE says "specific communications" are examined if they are "suspected to relate to a cyberthreat that could harm government of Canada systems and networks."

Metadata kept 'months to years'

The surveillance service vacuums in about 400,000 emails to and from the government every day and then scans them using a tool called PonyExpress to look for any suspicious links or attachments, according to the top-secret document.

On mobile? Click here for the CSE document

That automated system sifts through them and detects about 400 potentially suspect emails each day — about 146,000 a year. That system sends alerts to CSE analysts, who then can take a closer look at the email to see if it poses any threat.

Only about four emails per day — about 1,460 a year — are serious enough to warrant CSE security analysts contacting the government departments potentially affected.

"It's pretty clear that's there's a very wide catchment of information coming into [CSE]," said Micheal Vonn, policy director at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

CSE holds on to emails for "days to months," while metadata -- the details about who sent it, when and where -- is kept for "months to years," according to the document. The agency also records metadata about visits to government websites.

Under the Criminal Code, CSE is barred from targeting the content of Canadians' emails and phone calls, but it gets special ministerial exemptions when protecting government IT infrastructure.

The agency refused to provide specifics about the amount of email and metadata collected, and when they are deleted, insisting such information "could assist those who want to conduct malicious cyberactivity against government networks."

IT security analysts at CSE only use and retain information "necessary and relevant to identify, isolate or prevent harm to government of Canada computer networks or systems," the agency told CBC News in a written statement. Data that poses no threat or is not relevant to that goal "cannot be used or retained, and is deleted."

Civil liberties lawyer Vonn argues that there's "much more" Canadians should be told about the agency's collection of their data, such as how long it's held, without putting national security at risk.

"It's distressing that we have to find [details] out in dribs and drabs as opposed to having the appropriate discussion nationally and democratically.

"If we're going to have trust that our agencies are acting responsibly, we need as much light shone on the architecture, the laws and the rules, as possible," said Vonn.

Length of retention an 'utter mystery'

Cybersecurity experts say storing emails and data helps IT security analysts fix vulnerabilities.

CSE says government networks are probed up to 80 million times a day by hackers looking for network vulnerabilities. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

"Sometimes when they discover something they want to go back and check if this was the beginning or first of this particular kind of attack, so the data is actually very useful to them," said Queen's University computing professor David Skillicorn.

Still, documents suggest some of the data can be held as long as decades or even indefinitely.

CSE, under its cyberdefence mandate, is allowed to hold on to personal information — email addresses, IP addresses and other identifiers — for up to 30 years, then transfer it to Library and Archives Canada, according to the agency's own description of its databanks in the federal Info Source publication.

Vonn says it's "an utter mystery" why the government would need to retain personal information of those implicated in a potential cyberthreat for that long.

80 million probes a day

Skillicorn says the documents illustrate the great skill with which CSE is protecting both government websites and email traffic.

"I was impressed by the level of sophistication and cleverness and thoughtfulness," said Skillicorn. "It really does try to do everything that's possible to do in some very, very clever ways."

CSE says it's trying to set up defences because government networks are probed up to 80 million times a day by hackers looking for network vulnerabilities.

Skillicorn says most of those probes involve automated attempts equivalent to harmless mosquito bites, with only a tiny fraction meriting action.

Canada's economic activities, international roles and technology know-how make it an attractive target for cyberattacks by other countries, criminals and hackers.

On mobile? Click here for CSE's response

A single breach in the government's online armour can leave it vulnerable, with the potential that a wealth of sensitive data could end up in the wrong hands.

Soon after the 2010 top-secret presentation, several key federal departments — including the finance department and Treasury Board — suffered major attacks by hackers that forced them offline.

More recently, Canada Revenue Agency shut down in 2014 during income-tax season when a hacker broke into the site via a security bug known as Heartbleed.

Still, Vonn says while government cybersecurity is essential, citizens' level of trust in the post-Snowden era remains low, with many Canadians concerned about CSE activities.

"Accountability is central to understanding how this is keeping us safer and not in fact endangering our cybersecurity, our liberty, our ability to dissent."

---

CBC is working with U.S. news site The Intercept to shed light on Canada-related files in the cache of documents obtained by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The CBC News team — Dave Seglins, Amber Hildebrandt and Michael Pereira —collaborated with The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher to analyze the documents.

For a complete list of the past stories done by CBC on the Snowden revelations, see our topics page. Contact us via email by clicking on our respective names or search for our PGP keys here.

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Polls suggest Liberals, Conservatives still neck and neck: Éric Grenier

The wintry chill over Ottawa has been accompanied by a freeze in national voting intentions, as the Liberals and Conservatives remain stuck in a close race, according to recent polls.

Justin Trudeau's Liberals continue to hold a narrow lead over the Conservatives, with the support of about 34 per cent of Canadians against 33 per cent for the Tories, according to ThreeHundredEight.com's latest poll averages. The New Democrats stand in third place with 19 per cent support.

The Greens and Bloc Québécois follow with seven and five per cent support, respectively.

The Liberals and Conservatives have been steady in the polls, with the Liberals averaging between 33 and 34 per cent since the beginning of January and the Conservatives between 32 and 34 per cent since the beginning of December. In the last 15 polls conducted in the country, the Liberals and Conservatives have each led in seven, with one putting the two parties in a tie.

Thomas Mulcair's New Democrats have been slipping, as the party had been polling at 21 to 23 per cent between November and January. In particular, the NDP has lost support among male voters in recent weeks to the benefit of the Liberals.

With these levels of support, the Conservatives could win between 126 and 164 seats, putting them still below the majority target of 170 seats, if an election were held today. The Liberals could win between 107 and 145 seats. Because there is a fair degree of overlap between the two parties, both could reasonably expect to win in a snap vote, but Stephen Harper's Conservatives would be narrowly favoured to come out ahead in the seat count.

The New Democrats could win between 47 and 77 seats, with the Greens on pace to capture two and the Bloc winning between one and eight seats.

The Conservatives continue to hold substantial leads in their traditional strongholds, with 53 per cent support in Alberta and 43 per cent in the Prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Liberals are in second place in both regions with 23 and 31 per cent, respectively. The New Democrats are polling in third with 14 per cent in Alberta and 17 per cent in the Prairies.

The Liberals have a comfortable lead of their own in Atlantic Canada, where they are polling at around 51 per cent support. The Conservatives trail with 22 per cent, with the NDP not far behind at 18 per cent.

The contests in the battleground provinces of Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia appear much more heated.

The Liberals are ahead in British Columbia with about 33 per cent support, with the Conservatives behind at 29 per cent and the NDP at 22 per cent.

The polls have been notably consistent in the province, with the Liberals leading in the last six. This is unusual considering the three-way race and the relatively smaller sample sizes in B.C., but the drop in the NDP's support may be easing the way for the Liberals. In the last seven polls, the party has registered between 17 and 22 per cent support, compared with a range between 21 and 30 per cent in the previous seven surveys. Support for the Greens, at 13 per cent, also put a dent in the NDP.

In Ontario, the Liberals and Conservatives are mired in the tightest race in the country. The Liberals currently have about 38 per cent support, with the Conservatives at 37 per cent. Since mid-December, the gap between the two in the poll average has never exceeded 1.5 points, and in the last 10 polls, the Liberals have led in six and the Conservatives in four.

The New Democrats are struggling with an average of 17 per cent support in Ontario. They have been stagnating in the province for some time, registering under 20 per cent support in 28 of the last 36 polls stretching back to July 2014.

The Liberals narrowly lead in Quebec, with an average of 29 per cent to 26 per cent for the New Democrats (though with a lead among francophones, the NDP has a comfortable edge on the number of seats it could win). Despite the close margin, the Liberals have led in eight of the last 10 polls.

But the race in Quebec has been four-headed, with only two of the 12 most recent polls giving any party more than 33 per cent support. Behind the Liberals and NDP, the Conservatives stand at 21 per cent and the Bloc Québécois at 19 per cent. The Bloc is floundering, registering between 17 and 19 per cent in nine of the last 10 polls — and under 18 per cent in six.

There is some debate over whether the Conservatives are truly making serious inroads in Quebec, with some polls showing much more modest increases than others. But five of the six polling companies that have polled since the beginning of 2015 have recorded growth for the Tories in the province since the end of last year. Nevertheless, there are some signs the Conservative surge may have levelled off or even receded.

At the heart of the disagreement over the Conservatives' standing in Quebec is methodology. The party has averaged 23 per cent in interactive voice response polls (which are conducted over the phone) so far in 2015, compared to 17 per cent in online polls.

There is no question, however, that the national race remains effectively tied between the Liberals and Conservatives. Arguably, this would give the two parties an incentive to play it safe. Instead, the jockeying of recent weeks — anti-terrorism legislation, identity politics and Eve Adams's floor-crossing — suggest they are doing anything but.

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ThreeHundredEight.com's vote and seat projection model aggregates all publicly released polls, weighing them by sample size, date, and the polling firm's accuracy record. Upper and lower ranges are based on how polls have performed in other recent elections. The seat projection model makes individual projections for all ridings in the country, based on regional shifts in support since the 2011 election and taking into account other factors such as incumbency. The projections are subject to the margins of error of the opinion polls included in the model, as well as the unpredictable nature of politics at the riding level. The polls included in the model vary in size, date, and method, and have not been individually verified by the CBC. You can read the full methodology here.

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Stephen Harper joins Bill Gates for 'moderated discussion' on maternal health

Prime Minister Stephen Harper joins billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates for a "moderated discussion" on his government's focus on maternal, child and newborn health, which will be hosted by the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, the Canadian headquarters of the Aga Khan Foundation of Canada.

Before that confab gets underway, however, Gates will pay a visit to Rideau Hall, where he will discuss "matters dealing with Canadian philanthropy," including "Canada's commitment and leadership in that area," with Governor General David Johnston.

Meanwhile, New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair speaks to delegates at the annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

Back on the Hill, the party caucuses will spend the better part of the morning sequestered behind the closed doors of their regularly scheduled Wednesday morning meetings — except, that is, for the Senate Liberals, who will "once again open [their] doors" to host a public discussion on "the status of young adults in Canada."

'Reform Act' goes to final House vote

Also on the Hill today: "Food safety teen activist" Rachel Parent teams up with New Democrat health critic Murray Rankin to discuss the results of a planned meeting with "selected" Health Canada officials earlier in the day, during which she will, according to the advisory, "will be asking important questions regarding the safety and labeling of genetically modified foods, and the democratic right of all Canadians to make informed choices about the food they eat."

When the Chamber reopens for business this afternoon, the House will deliver its final verdict on Conservative MP Michael Chong's 'Reform Act', which initially proposed a major rebalancing of the power dynamics between party leaders and MPs, but was winnowed down considerably at committee in order to garner sufficient support to make it through third reading, which will almost certainly happen this afternoon.

Later this afternoon, Senate Speaker Pierre Claude Nolin will preside over the ceremonial unveiling of the portrait of his predecessor, Noel Kinsella, with House Speaker Andrew Scheer and Government and Opposition Senate Leaders Claude Carignan and James Cowan also expected to be in attendance.

On the committee front:

• Justice takes the rare step of studying the "subject matter" of a private members' bill that was defeated at second reading — specifically, Conservative MP Ryan Leef's bid to add a definition of "fetal alcohol spectrum disorder" to the Criminal Code, which would ultimately be considered as a mitigating factor in sentencing.
• Over at Public Accounts, MPs begin to go through the auditor general's report on mental health services for veterans, which was tabled last fall, with the help of officials from Veterans Affairs, National Defence and the Office of the Auditor General.
• Canadian Heritage continues its review of the Canadian film industry by hearing from North Shore Studios and William F. White International Inc.

Finally, United States Ambassador Bruce Heyman joins Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson for a breakfast speech at City Hall.

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Budget estimates project hike in some veterans spending

The Harper government's road map to this year's federal budget suggests it is prepared to pour more money into programs and services for the country's veterans, while largely holding the line on defence spending.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement released the 2015-16 spending estimates on Tuesday, even though it's unclear when the budget will be tabled.

The Conservative government's final fiscal plan before this year's election was postponed until at least April by Finance Minister Joe Oliver, who said he needed the time to assess the impact of collapsing oil prices.

The government has been under mounting political pressure to improve the suite of benefits and entitlements for ex-soldiers.

The estimates, which are not the final word on the budget, project modest increases in the amount spent on disability awards and supplementary benefits.

Despite that, overall spending at Veterans Affairs is expected to decline by 1.5 per cent — or $54 million next year, something federal officials attribute to the declining number of Second World War and Korean War veterans.

Veterans Affairs Canada spends just over $3.5 billion per year.

Over at National Defence, another politically-charged portfolio, spending is expected to increase by 1.5 per cent — $280 million — in the coming year, bringing the military budget to $18.9 billion.

Officials say they will be saving $709.2 million in capital costs, some of which is likely related to the cancellation of the army's plans for a close-combat vehicle and delays in acquiring maritime helicopters for the air force.

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Liberals put assisted-suicide in the Commons spotlight

When the Chamber opens for business this morning, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will present his party's proposal to set up a special committee to study the landmark ruling on physician-assisted suicide handed down by the Supreme Court earlier this month — and ultimately, report back to the House with recommendations on how the government should proceed.

As the government — or, at least, a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Peter MacKay — has made it clear that Conservative MPs will oppose the plan, the Liberal initiative seems doomed before the debate even gets underway — unless, that is, a dozen or so backbench (or, alternately, front bench) government members vote with the opposition.

Later tonight, Defence Minister Jason Kenney will kick off a special take-note debate on the rise of anti-Semitism, which will get underway at 6:30 pm ET.

Also this morning: the Parliamentary Budget Office releases a new study on the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), which is also the subject of a new report from the Broadbent Institute.

Elsewhere in the precinct, a group of Canadian chiropractors take the stag at the Centre Block press theatre to push for "better care for Canada's veterans and military."

• Finance continues to explore the pros and cons of establishing a renminbi trading centre in Canada, with Canadian Council of Chief Executives senior associate Brian Kingston, Finance Montreal director Eric Lemieux and, by video, Toronto Financial Services Alliance CEO Janet Ecker expected to testify today.
• Over at Public Safety, MPs will convene behind closed doors for a quick confab on upcoming committee business — including, presumably, the review of the proposed anti-terror bill, which passed second reading on Monday night, and is now at the top of the committee to-do list — before switching to an open format to hear more about employment and skills training for offenders.
• This afternoon, Human Resources will hear from LIFT Philanthropy Partners, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Trico Group and the Ontario Nonprofit as members "explore the potential of social finance in Canada."
• Also today: Fisheries and Oceans will be briefed on the state of Canada's recreational fisheries, Veterans Affairs members get a report on the Canadian Armed Forces' participation in the Nijmegan March and Natural Resources investigates the "renewal" of the Canadian forest industry.

Outside the precinct, delegates at the annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture will hear from both Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Liberal MP Ralph Goodale

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Anti-terror bill passes 2nd reading in House of Commons, heads to committee

Bill will be sent to committee after 176-87 vote

CBC News Posted: Feb 23, 2015 7:53 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 23, 2015 8:27 PM ET

Bill C-51, the government's proposed anti-terror law, has passed second reading in the House of Commons with a vote of 176-87 and will now be sent to committee. 

Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said on Twitter ahead of the vote that he was urging "all MPs to support the Anti-Terrorism Act 2015 to better protect Canadians from the terror threat." 

The bill, which would provide intelligence agencies and police with stepped-up powers, has faced criticism, with opponents arguing that it offers too broad a scope with too little oversight. 

Four former prime ministers, along with 18 others, signed a letter urging strong oversight, saying that "given the secrecy around national security activities, abuses can go undetected and without remedy."

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, whose party opposes the bill, has called it "sweeping, dangerous, vague and ineffective​." 

In announcing the bill, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the proposed legislation offered "considerable" oversight, adding that his government doesn't "buy the argument that every time you protect Canadians, you take away their liberties."

With a file from The Canadian Press

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• Tom Mulcair criticizes anti-terrorism bill Feb. 21, 2015 2:01 PM This week on The House, the leader of the Official Opposition, Tom Mulcair, outlines his concerns with the government's anti-terrorism bill and explains why his party will vote against it. Then, Defence Minister Jason Kenney joins us to explain the government's position on the controversial piece of legislation.

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F-35 procurement troubles may hurt military's relations with allies

The widening fallout from a botched program to replace Canada's aging CF-18 fighter jets may be damaging the military's relationships with its international allies.

A defence briefing note says hundreds of arrangements the military has with allies to share facilities and services are being called into question, and must be reviewed as if they were formal supply contracts.

The arrangements now are subject to a time-consuming procurement process that is tying the department in knots and leaving the military sometimes unable to commit to joint operations internationally.

"Increasingly, Canada is viewed as a challenging partner with which to work," says the note, dated last August, outlining the problem for then deputy minister Richard Fadden.

Canada's participation in the ISIS mission is an example of a joint operation abroad. An internal document says Ottawa's new rules governing standing arrangements with the U.S. military and others could affect Canada's relationships with allies. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

"Canada often struggles to meet timelines to participate in international co-operative activities. Recently we have [been] excluded from some partnership opportunities due to our inability to commit in a timely fashion to joint efforts."

"This means additional costs will accrue to Canada going it alone."

CBC News obtained the briefing document under the Access to Information Act.

Under scrutiny are several hundred memorandums of understanding, or MOUs, that the Canadian Forces have signed with other militaries to share facilities, such as those on bases, or to jointly acquire goods and services.

These standing arrangements help bind allied forces together, save money and speed the provisioning of joint operations that are often under time pressures.

Net cast wide

But such arrangements have been caught in a wide net cast by Public Works and cabinet to ensure none of the mistakes in the CF-18 file are repeated.

Stung by the auditor general's 2012 report that lambasted the military's opaque process to buy F-35 fighter jets to replace the aging CF-18 fleet, the Harper government launched its own review, which found MOUs were at the heart of the problem.

The military signed three MOUs with the U.S. in 1997, 2002 and 2006 committing Canada in some measure to the new F-35 fighter jets, but had not enlisted Public Works, which vets federal procurements. Public Works got involved only in 2010, as the procurement process fell into disarray.

The finding has forced the military to review many of its other MOUs and send them to Public Works and the Treasury Board for vetting as possible procurement contracts in disguise.

'Obviously, there's going to be a lot more work up front.'— Dave Perry, defence analyst

In the six months following a February 2014 directive on the new vetting policy, the Defence Department sent 221 MOUs to Public Works and the Treasury Board for review, creating "administrative complexity," says the document.

The note cites one example, a Canada-U.S. arrangement in which each partner allows the other to use test facilities at reduced costs. The Canadian Forces have used American facilities 112 times since 2002, at a cost of $100 million.

Had the new vetting regime been in place, time-consuming procurement submissions to the Treasury Board would have been required in at least 71 such cases, as sole-source contracts above a certain dollar threshold.

The document does not identify any specific operations abroad that have been affected by the tighter rules. And defence spokeswoman Ashley Lemire did not respond to a series of requests for more details, providing only a general statement about MOUs.

Loss of trust

Dave Perry, senior analyst at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, said the briefing note indicates the military has lost the trust of Public Works and the Treasury Board. That loss of trust by the centre was a key theme in Perry's study last month on how to repair the defence procurement process.

His study also found that National Defence has understaffed its procurement arm, and he said the new vetting process for MOUs will add further pressures.

Defence Minister Jason Kenney says he will work to smooth procurement in the military. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

"Obviously, there's going to be a lot more work up front," he said in an interview. "What this is doing is pulling everything up and putting it through the same kinds of checks and applications … that a formal procurement would have to do."

Although there may be benefits from the new policy down the road, Perry said, there's a risk it may be capturing too many MOUs.

It "wouldn't be the first instance with a procurement file where there's been an over-correction."

Last week, newly appointed Defence Minister Jason Kenney said he would improve the way military procurements are conducted.

"A working group of ministers will ensure a streamlined and co-ordinated decision-making — and that's not just talk," he told a defence conference in Ottawa.

"I will do everything I can in this office to advance these critical procurement projects."

Follow @DeanBeeby on Twitter

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