Auditor general to review all senators' expenses

The Senate's internal economy committee has accepted a plan by the federal auditor general to review all senators' expenses, including travel and office expenses, CBC News has learned.

Sources have told CBC News that senators will be required to co-operate.

Auditor General Michael Ferguson was first called to meet with the Senate's committee on internal economy in June, in the wake of the committee's reports on independent audits of expense claims by senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Mac Harb.

That committee issued a report on an audit of Senator Pamela Wallin's travel expenses this week.

Elizabeth Marshall, who is head of an audit subcommittee, told members of the larger internal economy committee when it met this week to discuss the Wallin report that the auditor general had a comprehensive plan to review all senators' expenses.

Marshall will be the liaison with the auditor general's office to ensure senators and Senate finance staff comply with the audit. Marshall is herself a former provincial auditor general.

CBC News has also learned that members of the committee this week discussed taking steps to put senators on a paid leave of absence, or suspend them from legislative duties such as votes and committee work, if they are under criminal investigation. It is unclear whether this will come before the full Senate when it resumes sitting in the fall.

(Brazeau was suspended by a vote of the Senate earlier this year, after he was charged with assault and sexual assault. His case is before the courts.)

Ferguson told reporters in June he would have to decide on the scope of a Senate audit and would then discuss an audit plan with the clerk of the Senate and the Senate's audit sub-committee to explain its objectives.

A spokeswoman for the auditor general said this week the office could not comment on the scope of the audit before the actual audit report is issued, but confirmed it was underway.

"We have begun planning. The audit is underway. We're not speculating on a completion date," Ghislain Desjardins told CBC News on Wednesday.

After the June meeting with the Senate committee, Ferguson said an interim report might take 18 months to complete, although he added that reports could come in different phases, and the Senate could be updated as the work takes place.

Ferguson first raised questions about a lack of documentation for some senators' expenses in June 2012.

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Canada summons Egyptian envoy over deadly attacks

The Canadian government has summoned Egypt's chargé d'affaires to Canada to reiterate its deep concern over the violence in Egypt, while authorities there gave police the green light to use deadly force to protect themselves and key state institutions from attacks.

Canada called in Egypt's envoy Mohamed Naguib Hussein Fakhry on Thursday to urge Egypt's military-backed government and the Muslim Brotherhood to "immediately sit down together, reconcile their differences and work tirelessly to halt this deadly standoff," CBC News has learned.

Officials at Foreign Affairs told Fakhry that Canada believes that "implementing a transparent democratic system that respects the voices of all Egyptians, including members of civil society and religious minorities, is the best way to restore calm and give all Egyptians a stake in the future stability and prosperity of their country."

Concerns over Christian minority

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Canada's ambassador for religious freedom, Andrew Bennett, issued a joint statement on Thursday to condemn the violence against Christians in Egypt.

"We urge all parties to engage in a productive dialogue to ease tensions. We also call on all Egyptians to show maximum restraint and resolve in the coming days," read the statement.

The Canadian government called the attacks on places of worship "unacceptable," following a day of deadly clashes between Egyptian police and supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

"We are concerned by recent attacks on religious institutions in Egypt, in particular the unconscionable attacks on Coptic Orthodox and Anglican churches and on Baptist and Franciscan institutions," the statement said.

Canada closed its embassy in Cairo on Wednesday for security reasons, confirmed a spokesperson for Baird in an email to CBC News on Thursday.

The government web page for Canadians travelling or living abroad has been updated to reflect the closure: "For security reasons, the Embassy of Canada in Cairo will be closed until further notice."

The Canadian government extended its deepest sympathies to the victims of these attacks and called on authorities in Egypt to protect worshippers and religious sites from further violence and intimidation.

Obama condemns steps by Egyptian military

U.S. President Barack Obama interrupted his weeklong vacation on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts on Thursday to address the rapidly deteriorating situation in Egypt.

"The U.S. strongly condemns the steps taken by Egypt's military," Obama said.

The U.S. president warned the country to lift a state of emergency and work toward peace, or further action could be taken. He also cancelled next month's U.S.-Egypt military exercises.

U.S. officials are not calling Morsi's ouster a coup because that would require the U.S. to cut off $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt.

Unlike the U.S., Canada does not provide international assistance through the government of Egypt.

"We continue to support the delivery of humanitarian assistance and development programming through Canadian, international, multilateral, and local non-governmental organizations," Margaux Stastny, from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada told CBC News in an email on Thursday.

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Pamela Wallin may be asked to pay more by Senate committee

Senator Pamela Wallin will likely be asked to pay back more than the $121,348 already being sought by a Senate committee following a review of an extra $20,978 in expenses that auditors said were "subject to interpretation."

The Deloitte audit on travel expenses Wallin charged to the Senate since early 2009 identified dozens of occasions where she attended "networking events" and other events including speeches. The auditors said a Senate steering committee should decide whether the events qualify as Senate business and therefore that travel claims should be allowed.

The three members of the steering committee began the review Wednesday, and CBC News has learned that they have flagged some of those claims as problematic.

"Based on our review yesterday and subject to some further research from Finance, it would certainly appear so," Conservative Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen said Thursday about whether Wallin will be repaying some of the $20,978.

Examples of the networking events include business lunches and dinners, receptions, and meetings. For example, on Sept.9, 2009, Wallin had lunch with an executive from an international mining firm and they discussed mining and foreign ownership issues and border relations between Canada and the United States, according to her office.

Another example was a dinner with a journalist who interviewed her for a feature piece on Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.

The steering committee is a subcommitte of the Senate's internal economy and administration committee and is made up of Stewart Olsen, Conservative Senator Gerald Comeau and Liberal Senator George Furey.

Networking events questioned

The Senate's finance department is doing further research on the problematic claims flagged by the senators and it could take several weeks for that to be completed. The steering committee will then decide if the events qualify as Senate business and determine how much more they want Wallin to repay.

Wallin told the Deloitte auditors that she understood that networking with contacts was an important part of her role and necessary for her to be "an activist and effective senator."

Wallin said Monday before the audit was released publicly on Tuesday that she would repay the amount she is asked to by the Senate, with interest, but she disputed the audit process. She called it flawed and unfair.

Wallin argues that a change in the travel policy in 2012 re-categorized activities that qualify as Senate business and that the auditors inappropriately applied the new examples of what counts to claims made between 2009 and 2011.

The audit, however, says that while changes were made to various policies and guidelines the overall principles of the senators' travel rules did not.

The audit found a long list of travel expense claims where Wallin said she was on Senate business when she was not — the trips were related to personal business and should not have been funded by the Senate.

Toronto condo

The audit also said her many overnight stopovers in Toronto on her trips between Ottawa and Saskatchewan meant added and unnecessary costs for taxpayers — $31, 025 extra.

Wallin owns a condo in Toronto and the audit found she spent a majority of her time in the city, not in Ottawa or Wadena, Sask., which she says is her primary home. Wallin said the stopovers were necessary in order to avoid arriving late at night on a flight to Saskatchewan and then driving two hours to Wadena. And on her way back east she said she stayed over in Toronto and reviewed material for committee meetings the next day in Ottawa.

The auditors allowed the claims in instances when Wallin was doing Senate business in Ottawa or Saskatchewan at times of the day when a direct or connecting flight wouldn't have worked.

The former journalist already paid back $38,369 because of "mistakes" she said she made that involved charging the Senate for personal travel. She started paying that money back in the fall when her expenses were coming under scrutiny.

With Wallin already repaying some of the $121,348 in ineligible expenses, according to the auditors, that left $82,979 to repay. Now it appears as though she could be asked to pay back some or all of the $20,978 worth of claims that auditors said are unclear.

Senators can charge travel costs to the Senate when they are carrying out "parliamentary functions." An updated travel policy in 2012 provides examples for senators of what is covered and what is not but the audit notes there are not formal definitions of what constitutes "public business," "partisan business," "private business," and "representative business."

The onus is on senators to determine that their travel claims are related to their parliamentary duties and the travel policy cautions them to exercise "sound judgment" and give due regard to public funds.

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Keystone XL opponents to take message to U.S. airwaves

With only months to go before the White House is expected to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, environmental groups are intensifying efforts to stop the energy project.

The American environmental group NextGen Climate Action is launching four new television ads this weekend.

The $1-million advertising buy will see the messages run during Sunday morning U.S. political shows for the next month.

This comes after a previous ad buy was pulled after an NBC affiliate said it violated its guidelines.

Billionaire Tom Steyer, who founded the environmental group, said it's important the environmental side of the debate is heard.

"From our point of view there's been a one-sided debate about the Keystone XL pipeline, and we've just tried to bring in the other side," he said on CBC News Network's Power & Politics this week.

As well, other environmental groups are planning rallies this fall in both the U.S. and Canada.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is hoping to meet with the next U.S. ambassador to Canada once that position is filled.

Canadian leaders make counter-arguments

Meanwhile, the federal government's push to support clearance for the pipeline project will continue this fall.

"Our job is to make sure that the facts are on the table, as opposed to the rhetoric and the noise and the hedge funds managers that are now engaged in this debate," said Gary Doer, Canada's ambassador to the United States.

For much of this year, cabinet ministers and premiers have travelled to Washington to push for the pipeline, some more than once.

The main argument has been that the pipeline would be good for jobs and the economy on both sides of the border.

But recently, U.S. President Barak Obama has questioned how many permanent American jobs the pipeline would create. He said it was possible that number could be as low as 50 to 100, after the initial pipeline construction phase.

In an interview Thursday, Doer emphasized that U.S. oil imports from Canada are increasing every year, so the pipeline proposal is just about how the product will be transported.

"I know people want to make it something it's not. But it's simply as the State Department reported: oil on trains or on pipelines," he said.

Doer said Canada has been making this argument long before the railway disaster in Lac-Megantic, Que.

He pointed out the delay in the Keystone XL pipeline has led to a 47 per cent increase in rail shipments of oil, which, according to the U.S. State Department, means more greenhouse gas emissions. Doer said that should not sit well with environmentalists.

"They're not stopping oil from coming from Canada. They're not stopping oil from being developed in the Bakken oilfields. It's just the way in which it gets here," he added.

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What's next for Senator Pamela Wallin?

Senator Pamela Wallin's once bright future is now clouded as she looks ahead to repaying thousands of dollars of inappropriately filed travel claims, and even a possible RCMP investigation.

The celebrated former journalist and diplomat, who has occupied plum Senate posts such as chair of the powerful defence committee and member of the foreign affairs committee, has been turfed from the Conservative caucus and subjected to a six-month-long forensic audit of her expenses.

Recovering her reputation and even keeping her Senate job may be a long and hard road. Here are some questions she faces.

1. How much will she have to repay and how soon?

The independent Deloitte audit of Wallin's expenses calculates she must repay almost $83,000 on top of the $38,000 she has already reimbursed the Senate for expenses she says she claimed in error. There is a further $21,000 and change that Deloitte says is subject to interpretation, but a Senate committee has already decided Wallin must refund a good chunk of that money as well.

Wallin does not have to pay right away, because the full Senate has to approve the committee's repayment order, and it doesn't sit until the fall.

Unlike her fellow senators Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau, who are fighting repayment for their inappropriate expense claims — although Harb has repaid $51,000 "under protest" and Brazeau's wages are being docked to repay his $48,000 tab — Wallin has pledged to refund any money she owes.

And unlike Senator Mike Duffy, whose $90,000 debt for inappropriate claims was repaid by the prime minister's former chief of staff, it's highly unlikely anyone in the Prime Minister's Office will offer to clear Wallin's debt.

2. What sanctions beyond repayment does she face?

A Senate subcommittee has recommended:

• Wallin only be covered for direct flights between Ottawa and Saskatchewan, with no stopovers in Toronto, where she owns a condo and spends a lot of her time.
• Any other flights must be pre-approved by a Senate committee.
• All travel claims will be closely monitored for one year.

3. Can Wallin be kicked out of the Senate?

The Senate can vote to suspend a senator "to protect the dignity and reputation of the Senate and public trust and confidence in Parliament."

Senator Patrick Brazeau was suspended from the Senate in February after he was charged for a crime, although his case is still before the courts and he has not been convicted. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

That's the reason the Senate gave for suspending Brazeau earlier this year after he was charged with sexual assault in a separate matter. His case is still before the courts.

Booting out Brazeau was a rare move, but sources say the Senate's committee of internal economy discussed this week some kind of leave of absence for senators if they were under criminal investigation. That would mean senators couldn't vote or attend committees, but would continue to be paid.

Duffy and Harb are under investigation by the RCMP, but have not been charged. The Senate's committee on internal economy referred the report on Wallin's expenses this week to the RCMP, but the force has not said whether it will open an investigation.

The Senate can even vote to expel a senator, which would make that person ineligible for a pension, but that has never happened.

4. Could she face more residency questions?

The Constitution says senators "shall" be a resident of the province they represent, but there is no definition of how many days spent in the province constitutes residency.

The Deloitte audit determined that Wallin, who was appointed as a senator from Saskatchewan, spends more time at her home in Toronto than in Saskatchewan, although Deloitte found no problems with her housing expense claims. It also found the rules around residency were unclear.

Given the spotlight the Senate expenses scandal has thrown on the question of residency, Liberal Senate leader James Cowan has asked the Senate to set up a special committee on defining the constitutional requirement for residency, and that a report be tabled by Oct. 31. Conservative Senator Gerald Comeau is also seeking legal opinion on the definition of residency.

However, it's unclear whether any new rules could be applied retroactively to Wallin. The same can be said of Duffy, whom Deloitte found didn't spend a lot of time in P.E.I., the province he was appointed to represent in the Senate.

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Pamela Wallin audit details set for public release

Details of the audit on Senator Pamela Wallin's Senate expenses will be made public today along with a Senate committee's report that will outline what to do with the findings.

Members of the Senate's internal economy committee are meeting on Parliament Hill Tuesday morning to receive a subcommittee's report on the audit.

Wallin pledged Monday to repay every dollar she is asked to by the Senate, with interest, but she described the audit process as "fundamentally flawed and unfair."

Wallin also defended herself against media reports that she had altered her electronic calendar retroactively during the audit process.

"I was advised part way through the process that I should only include information relevant to the actual expenses being claimed. So we formatted our calendar accordingly," she said in statement she read to reporters, adding that she knew Deloitte auditors had a copy of her full agenda.

"Let me be clear: at no time did I attempt to mislead Deloitte in any way," she said.

A Postmedia story citing the audit report said it was Senator David Tkachuck, then the chair of the internal economy committee, who advised Wallin to make the changes. But on the way into the committee meeting Tuesday, Tkachuck denied giving her that advice.

"It makes no sense whatsoever. I didn't ask her to change her calendar, all I did was I said, 'When you submit your calendar,' I said, 'make sure you put in relevant material and not irrelevant material'," Tkachuck told reporters.

"I never told her to do anything like that, all I told her was to make sure her calendar was clean. The audit was taking a long time, I wanted to move it ahead…it was a passing comment in an hour-long conversation where I said, 'make sure you submit what you have to submit and leave all the irrelevant material off your calendar.'"

Wallin was not in attendance at Tuesday's meeting.

Senators to debate report

The internal economy committee will try to reach a consensus on what recommendations to put in the report, and senators may also propose motions with suggested actions, such as referring the audit findings to the RCMP or recalling the entire Senate.

"All options are on the table at this point," Senator Gerard Comeau, chair of the committee, said on Monday. "The RCMP can see the report, it will be public, and the RCMP if it wishes to ... can look at it and make a determination themselves."

Wallin was given a copy of the audit on Monday and attended the briefing session with her lawyers. She read a statement to reporters on Parliament Hill beforehand and said she had "serious concerns" about how the auditors did their work.

Wallin said the auditors are retroactively applying Senate travel rules that were changed in 2012, and that expenses that were approved by the Senate from 2009 to 2011 are now being disallowed.

"The basis for this latter decision is apparently some arbitrary and undefined sense of what constitutes 'Senate business' or 'common Senate practice' and — by their own admission — no inquiries were made of other senators as to their definition or views on the subject," the Saskatchewan senator said in the brief statement.

Wallin said the Deloitte auditors identified a number of claims that are "subject to interpretation" and that it will be up to the Senate committee to decide whether she should pay that money back.

"I want to be absolutely clear. I never intended to seek, nor sought reimbursement for travel expenses in any situation where I did not believe such a claim was proper. Where I made mistakes, I have already paid money back," Wallin said.

'Serious concerns about fairness'

Wallin has already voluntarily paid back the Senate $38,000, and sources have told CBC News that the audit found ineligible claims amounting to as much as $140,000.

Wallin said she has "serious concerns about the fairness" of the audit process, but that she doesn't want to burden the Canadian public or her Senate colleagues with the matter and she wants to focus on causes that are close to her heart.

She said she will pay back whatever amount she is ordered to by the Senate, with interest, and "will do so from my own resources."

Senator Pamela Wallin, with lawyer Terrence O'Sullivan in the background, appears before a Senate committee hearing on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday. (Patrick Doyle/Canadian Press)

An order to repay money could be contained in the report that a subcommittee of the internal economy committee wrote on Monday. That report will be presented to the full committee on Tuesday and will be made public along with details of the audit.

The senators in charge of writing the report said Monday they were "digesting" a lot of information after receiving an "interesting" briefing from Deloitte, one of them said.

Senator Gerald Comeau, chair of the subcommittee, told reporters that he wasn't surprised by much of what the Deloitte audit found.

"It's interesting … some of it we were expecting," he said. He and the other two senators on the subcommittee wouldn't comment on what the audit revealed about Wallin's Senate expense claims and if she will be ordered to pay more money back.

Comeau, Carolyn Stewart Olsen and George Furey spent the afternoon working on the report.

"If you're asking if I'm happy with the discussions that I'm having today with my two colleagues, yes I am," said Furey, the Liberal senator on the subcommittee.

"Absolutely not," he added when asked if the Prime Minister's Office would influence the writing of the report.

The subcommittee faced accusations of whitewashing the report on Senator Mike Duffy's expenses in May to go easy on him compared to the reports on Senator Patrick Brazeau and Senator Mac Harb.

"There is no going soft on anyone," Stewart Olsen said Monday.

Sources told CBC News that the 95-page audit reveals the following:

• The audit flags at least $120,000 in questionable claims, with another $20,000 to be decided by the Senate committee.
• Almost all of Wallin's problems revolve around travel expense claims, most notably dinners and other expenses in Toronto and Guelph, Ont., where she was chancellor of Guelph University and where she was doing university business rather than Senate business.
• Wallin made or attempted to make retroactive redactions or changes to her expense report, raising possible accusations of a coverup.
• Of Wallin's four former executive assistants, three have told Deloitte that they know of expenses that were altered by Wallin.

In an exclusive interview with Peter Mansbridge on CBC TV's The National in June, Wallin said expense claim paperwork is onerous and hard to keep on top of and she made "mistakes."

She said some airline tickets charged to the Senate, for example, should have been paid for by a "third party." The former journalist sat on several boards and was also chancellor at the University of Guelph until 2011.

Government wants inappropriate expenses repaid

Wallin's flights between Ottawa and Saskatchewan — the province she was appointed to represent by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009 — were the subject of scrutiny because of stopovers in Toronto. She charged more than $300,000 in travel expenses since the fall of 2010.

Wallin said that flights to Saskatchewan from Ottawa are long and infrequent, and although an airline ticket might appear to be for an Ottawa-Toronto route, the final destination could be Saskatchewan. Wallin owns a condo in Toronto.

The Deloitte audit on Wallin's expenses began more than six months ago. It originally was covering an 18-month period but then was extended to examine her claims from the time she was appointed in 2009.

Audits on senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Mac Harb were completed in May. Those audits were more focused on their claims for primary and secondary residences and the housing allowances they collected.

Senator Marjory LeBreton, Conservative leader in the Senate, issued a statement Monday. "Our government will not tolerate the waste or abuse of the hard earned tax dollars of Canadians," it said. "We expect that any inappropriate expenses will be repaid. Senator Wallin is no longer a member of the caucus and must be held accountable for her actions."

Mobile users follow the live blog here.

Statement by Senator Wallin Aug 12 (PDF)
Statement by Senator Wallin Aug 12 (Text)

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Judge to help Toronto police review use of force practices

As Toronto police undertake a wide-ranging review of their policies — including use of force — in the wake of a fatal shooting, Chief Bill Blair says they will enlist a retired judge to help with the process.

At a Monday afternoon news conference, Blair said that Dennis O'Connor, the retired associate chief justice of Ontario, will assist in an administrative review that is taking place following the police shooting of Sammy Yatim on a TTC streetcar.

The death of the 18-year-old Yatim outraged many Torontonians and prompted hundreds of people to take part in a protest march.

The interaction between Yatim and police was captured on video and published online. Since then, the footage has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.

The officer who shot Yatim has been suspended from duty with pay. The shooting is being probed by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit.

"The SIU's investigation remains a priority over all other inquiries," Blair said at the news conference. "The law is quite clear in preventing me from disclosing any information on the incident or the investigation."

Review required by law

Blair said that when the SIU's mandate is invoked, he is required by law to undertake an administrative review of his force's policies, procedures, training and equipment.

In this particular case, the police chief said he is seeking O'Connor's help in undertaking "a very thorough, objective review …in order to ensure that we provide the best possible services to the people of Toronto."

O'Connor sat on the Ontario Court of Appeal for more than a decade. He also led a pair of high-profile public inquires.

Asked if the public reaction to Yatim's death was the impetus behind bringing in outside expertise for the review, Blair said that there have been questions about the way police have handled a number of similar cases.

"I think there's a recognition over a number of incidences where there is concern among the public with respect to the use of force and our response to emotionally disturbed persons," Blair said.

And while the police chief said his force has made strides in improving its practices over the past decade, he believes that it is worth undertaking "a very comprehensive review."

Blair's late-afternoon news conference was announced less than two hours before it began at 4 p.m. The media had been informed the police chief would be making "a major announcement" regarding the Toronto Police Service's "use of force and response to emotionally disturbed persons."

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Conservative MP quits Commons for top job at rail company

And then there were four... suddenly unoccupied Commons seats to be filled via by-election. 

Hot off the presses comes the official word that veteran Manitoba MP and committee chair Merv Tweed will not be returning to the Hill when the House resumes this fall, as he intends to resign his seat on August 31 "to pursue opportunities in the private sector." : 

From his website: 

"I have had the honour to serve the public for many years at the municipal, provincial and federal level and my decision to leave politics was not made lightly. Politics has been a major part of my life for many years and I will certainly miss its responsibilities and challenges," said Tweed.

"Over the past nine years, Merv has been a tremendous representative for the citizens of Brandon-Souris. His tireless efforts have resulted in significant new investments that will benefit the communities of Southwestern Manitoba for decades to come. We thank him for all the hard work and dedication he has shown as our Member of Parliament, and wish him well in the next chapter of his career." said Matt Bolley, President of the Brandon-Souris Conservative EDA.

Read the full release here.

Tweed was first elected in 2004, and has served as chair of several committees, including transport and, most recently, agriculture. He also made an unsuccessful bid for the Speaker's gig in 2011, but was dropped at the fourth ballot. 

UPDATE: Well, that was fast. 

It would seem that Tweed had one particular pursuit-worthy private sector job in mind when he announced his intention to stand down from the Commons at the end of the month -- specifically, president of OmniTRAX Canada, which bills itself as "one of North America's largest private railroad and transportation management companies."

Interestingly, last November, Tweed met with OmniTRAX lobbyist Leo Duguay -- who is, coincidentally (or not), is also a former Manitoba Tory MP, albeit from the Progressive Conservative wing of the party -- to discuss otherwise unspecified business related to agriculture, infrastructure and transportation.

As a backbench MP, Tweed is not covered by the Conflict of Interest Act, but by the far less stringent Code of Conduct for MPs, which exempts him from the cooling off periods and other restrictions imposed on departing ministers, parliamentary secretaries and senior political staff.

He is, however, subject to the five-year ban on paid lobbying.

Still, given his fairly recent tenure as chair of the transport committee -- which, it's worth noting, dealt with several rail-related bills during the three years that he controlled the gavel, including last year's amendments to the Railway Safety Act-- the swiftness with an MP can move from one side of the legislative table to the other may raise not just eyebrows, but another round of calls for stricter post-employment rules for former parliamentarians. 

Here's the official release, courtesy of OmniTRAX: 

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Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.

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StatsCan delays household survey release over data problem

Statistics Canada has postponed the third and final release of data from the 2011 National Household Survey, the controversial replacement for the cancelled long-form census.

The release — originally scheduled for Wednesday — will instead take place Sept. 11, said Statistics Canada census chief Marc Hamel.

"We always perform quality checks up until the last minute on all of our data outputs, and in the course of doing these normal procedures over the weekend, we noticed some issues in some of the data we were looking at," Hamel said.

'We have to re-do some of the work that we had done. It does happen in our processing'—Statistics Canada census chief Marc Hamel

"We have a couple of formulas that were not correctly applied, and it's impacting a number of the results. So we will need to re-run the tables that we had planned for the release."

None of the previously released National Household Survey data is affected, the agency said.

The final release from the survey includes details about income levels, earnings, housing and shelter costs across Canada.

The voluntary national survey was introduced after the Conservative government cancelled the long-form portion of the census in 2010, citing concerns about personal freedoms.

Critics have complained that a voluntary survey can't produce data that's as accurate or as representative of Canada as a mandatory one, but Hamel insisted the latest problem has nothing to do with how the information was gathered.

"As we were doing the final reviews of our outputs, it was noticed by our subject-matter experts, and we went back to the source and found that some formulas had been incorrectly applied," he said.

"We have to re-do some of the work that we had done. It does happen in our processing."

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Canada-EU trade talks at 'danger point,' Charest says

Canada has reached a "danger point" in its free-trade negotiations with the European Union and it is time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to step in and get a deal done, says former Quebec premier Jean Charest.

In an interview with CBC Radio's The House airing Saturday, Charest, who was instrumental in getting Canada-EU talks off the ground, warns "there's a danger point for us right now because Europe and the U.S. have launched their negotiations."

Charest fears that could sidetrack Canada's negotiations with the EU and he's sounding the alarm over the Conservative government's inability to seal a deal.

"[The U.S.-EU talks are] a danger because the real politics of this is now the Americans are in our room. It's very simple to understand, every time a decision pops up, the Europeans will say, 'You know what, we'll have to address this with the Americans, we can't do this with you, because if we do it with you, we have to do it with them,' and that's the danger," Charest said.

Charest said he's concerned that despite four years of talks, there's still no agreement between Canada and the EU.

"When you have a partner 10 times bigger than you are, securing their attention for a long period of time is a risk, and the sooner you get it done, the better, and the more chances of succeeding," Charest said.

Now a partner at the law firm McCarthy Tetrault, Charest questioned whether Canada has made the negotiations enough of a priority.

"If there's one question, I think, in the mind of people who have watched this unfold over the last few years, is whether or not the Government of Canada is putting enough resources into this."

Charest said it's key that Harper step in to finalize the agreement, much like Brian Mulroney did with the 1988 free-trade negotiations with the United States.

"At this point, it does require the highest level of attention to land the deal, to make it happen."

Remaining issues 'solvable'

John Manley, the president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and a former cabinet minister in the Jean Chrétien Liberal government, recently suggested the prime minister send a delegation of senior cabinet ministers to Europe to bring a speedy conclusion to the talks.

Several issues remain on the table, including counter-balancing Europe's need to win greater access for cheese producers, with Canada's demand that Europeans open the gate to Canadian beef and pork exports. As well, Canada is being asked to accept stricter European standards on patent protection for pharmaceutical drugs, which provinces have resisted because it could hike drug prices by as much $2 billion annually.

Charest acknowledged there are a number of issues left to resolve, but "all of them are solvable."

He said the deal is about much more than improving access to Europe's 500 million customers.

"A lot of this, frankly, is about China," Charest said.

"The world of trade is changing very rapidly, and there's a broader issue in the world of who is going to be able to set the rules. If we get this done, get it right, we will be able to live in a trading environment where we will have rules that we can live by, and compete by, as opposed to having rules imposed upon us by emerging economies."

With negotiations stalled over the summer months, Charest said the deal could hinge on what happens in the fall.

"In the first few weeks of September, I think we have to watch for some real movement to get this done," he said.

Nick Gamache is senior producer of The House.

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