Nepotism By Any Other Name : Real and Perceived Conflict of Interest

"I am proactively applying a conflict of interest filter to Alto, a wholly owned subsidiary of the government of Canada."

"This measure is being implemented due to a personal connection to someone close to me in the organization, to safeguard against any real or perceived conflict of interest." 

Francois-Philippe Champagne letter to Mark Carney 

 

"This is a good situation, because we have the partner who can pursue her career."

"So we have to look at them as individuals. We need to have a system that will enable them to have those careers."

"There are rules, there are regulations and the minister of finance has followed those rules and regulations in notification of the ethics commissioner, in recusing himself from dealings with respect to Alto."  

"[This is a] really exciting project for Ontario, for Quebec and for the whole of Canada."

Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

"The prospect of a finance minister making decisions as part of the federal government's budgetary process which present distinct benefits and advantages for his partner and her employer — and acting and voting in Parliament to give those effect — is a very troubling development."

"An investigation is absolutely essential here, including to validate the existence and application of his unpublished — and only now revealed — 'conflict of interest filter' in addition to all of his parliamentary engagement on this matter."

Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett 

A public consultation on the Alto project in Ottawa earlier this year was packed with displays. (Mathieu Deroy/Radio-Canada)

"From the outset, she disclosed her personal connection to the minister."

"The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner was consulted proactively, and clear measures were put in place to prevent any real or perceived conflict."

"[Gaudet] is strictly focused on interactions with the federal public service [and ] is not involved with ministerial offices, including those of Transport or Finance."

Benoit Bourdeau, manager, media relations, Alto 

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne released a letter written in September by him and addressed to the prime minister, in it vowing he would not participate in any decision relating to the government-backed organization tasked with the high-speed rail link proposal that would travel back and forth from Toronto to Quebec City. This is no casual undertaking. And there is no guarantee that it will be well-used, much less that it is even needed, with a price tag of $90 billion, which critics say with certainty will end up costing more, perhaps much more.

 

The issue at hand is that Minister Champagne's wife, Anne-Marie Gaudet, was hired as vice-president of the environment for Alto, back in August of 2025. Writing his intention to "proactively apply a conflict of interest filter", reflecting the fact that he has a "personal connection" with someone who works for Alto, as finance minister, Mr. Champagne produced a federal budget providing the organization with hundreds of millions of dollars. How this can be construed as 'no problem' as far as conflict of interests are concerned is baffling.

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney was asked whether Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has a conflict of interest regarding his partner's role as a vice-president of Alto's high speed rail project. Carney said the minister is following the rules by notifying the ethics commissioner and recusing himself from Alto-related dealings.  Still from video/CBC

 

As finance minister, responsible for steering Canada's finances and budgetary allocations, with his wife deeply involved as a high-functioning employee who stands to benefit materially, her husband is in a position where he allocates government financing of tax money to an enterprise of no particular value to transporting people from Toronto to Quebec city, particularly when other alternatives by rail and air are already in existence. They cost less to operate, are already in operation, the cost of their use to the public is less than will be the case of a high-speed version, which promises to lop an hour off the current time.

 

Minister Champagne's wife Anne-Marie Gaudet has occupied senior roles in environmental assessment and in the transportation sector, including that of a senior role at the Port of Quebec. She is obviously well qualified to take up this position, or would be under circumstances other than being the wife of Canada's Minister of Finance; a clear and obvious issue of unethical decision-making on their part; husband and wife, despite being approved by the ethics commissioner and given a stamp of approval by the prime minister. Entirely inappropriate and inexcusable.

 

Yet Prime Minister Mark Carney sees nothing amiss in the situation, insisting that Mr. Champagne is following government ethics rules in recusing himself from the project. As finance minister disbursing immense sums of government (taxation) funding in the billions of dollars for a splashy infrastructure project, how can he not be involved in matters pertaining to the high-speed rail link? The very prospect is beyond ludicrous and epitomizes this government's penchant for evading basic ethics requirements to ensure public trust.

 

Alto, a wholly owned subsidiary of the federal government, means Champagne, through the filter, may not take part in any discussion, decisions or communications with government representatives on the high-speed rail project he is responsible for funding and in so doing, obviously supporting his wife's pecuniary interests in the process, and by extension, his own.   

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, pictured, has followed ethics rules. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

"Ethics screens should be banned because they are secretive smokescreens that are not independently enforced and do not prevent cabinet ministers and top government officials from participating in decision-making processes when they have a conflict of interest."

"[They] hide the fact that the office holder is participating even when they or their family members or friends can profit or benefit from the decision."

"That is clearly a secretive, closed-circle, unethical system that provides no evidence that Champagne actually recused himself from decisions concerning Alto." 

Duff Conacher, Democracy Watch 

 

Associated Press, Propagandists for Iran

"Iran wanted to negotiate for peace with [U.S. President Donald] Trump, but Trump responded with war."

'He started the war, but we will definitely be the victorious side."

Jaafar Mohammadi, Zanjan, Iran, provincial director of cultural and Islamic guidance 

Pedestrians walk by a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials at the site say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday, in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

 

In an obvious edification exercise for the great readership of the Associated Press, permission was given by whoever passes as an authority figure now in the Islamic Republic of Iran to set out on a day's journey through part of Iran, not far from the capital Tehran, for a group of Associated Press reporters. Clearly, 'authorities' in Iran recognize the non-hostile attitude taken by the Associated Press in its reportage, picked up by mainstream legacy media all over the English-speaking world. 

 

One can recall the Third Reich in WWII exercising a high degree of alertness to positive propaganda that belied the extent of Fascist Germany's master plan to conquer Europe, one country at a time, from the Nordic nations to Eastern and then Western Europe in its inexorable military push for territory and the advance of fascism with Berlin at the helm of a brave new world subservient to Nazi ideology.

 

This kind of devious white-washing of the gritty swamp of ideology and conquest allied with the duping of bystanding nations to the belief that the anti-human-rights, averse-to-freedom and constant lethal attacks on sovereign nations who reject totalitarianism and tyrannical rule of despots whose malign agendas are meant to disrupt world order and social  cohesion, is not uncommon, and Iran, the foremost supporter of terrorism globally is a past master of feigning innocence of any malignant purpose to its future plans.

A picture of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hangs on the side of the road in the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, early Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

 

A just-published piece meant for global uptake under the AP byline ostensibly written by a Bassem Mroue, Middle East correspondent to AP, logged the 12-hour impressions gathered by AP reporters as they drove toward Tehran to report the continuation of daily life "with only occasional signs of the continuing war, including a Shiite religious centre that officials say was  damaged by a recent airstrike". 

 

The writer mentioned that AP operates within Iran, aside from this more recent permission granted for an additional 'team' to enter to gain a "glimpse of the country at the centre of a regional war that has jolted the world economy and shows no sign of ending five weeks after Khamenei was killed in the opening U.S. and Israeli salvo". Foreign press would be permitted to report directly from within Iran only if their perspective vis-a-vis Iran is known to be 'friendly'. And AP does not disappoint.

 

Iran International

 

While hastening to assure the reader that AP 'retains full editorial control of its content'. Well, of course it does, since whatever it writes gilds the lily of the brazen nuclear-seeking regime with its  Shiite axis intention of dominating the majority Sunni states in the Middle East and above all its often-declared mission of exterminating Israel from the geography of a region that Jews were historically ancestral to. All of which sits nicely with the AP agenda.

 

Entering  the northwestern city of Zanjan, some six hours from the border of Turkey, where the team started out from, Iranian officials informed of an airstrike that hit a religious community centre causing the death of two people, and destroying a library and a clinic in a centuries-old compound whose golden dome was damaged by the strike. AP reports the Israeli military having stated "a military headquarters" was hit, and it is never their intention to harm civilian facilities. While AP quoted that Israeli explanation, it adds there was no further 'elaboration'. Why would there be? 

 

Iran, as well as its proxies, has a habit of installing military bases, weapons depots, nuclear installations, alongside civilian enclaves, hospitals included. Priceless for cover, and all the more so for propaganda purposes. 

A leaked internal directive from the IRGC’s missile command appears to show that the use of civilian locations to conceal, support and in some cases facilitate missile launch operations is not ad hoc, but structured, documented and built into operational planning.

The 33-page document shared with Iran International by the hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali (Ali’s Justice) has been marked “very confidential” and is titled Instruction for Identification, Maintenance, and Use of Positions.

The document is attributed to the Specialized Documents Center of the Intelligence and Operations Deputy of the IRGC's missile command.

Arash Sohrabi, Iran International 

People walk near Iranian missiles in a park in Tehran, March 26, 2026.  Iran International 

 

"It has hurt me a lot and distressed me a lot."

"With these airstrikes, [The U.S. and Israel] are showing their malicious intent to the whole world."

Somayeh Shojaei, local Zanjan resident 

Conveniently, AP finds Iranians eager to condemn not their repressive, human-rights-abusing regime that has kept the country prisoner to a fundamentalist theocratic regime for over 45 years, to be quoted as proof that Iran is innocent of all and any charges of malevolent intent, and is an innocent victim of a power-hungry duo, intent for no good reason on toppling the regime and destroying as much of the civilian infrastructure of an ancient country as it can manage before the UN makes good on its threats of charging both with war crimes.

 

Trump, the article intones has threatened to bomb Iran "back to the Stone Ages where they belong", after the IRGC closed the Strait of Hormuz once the U.S. and Israel carried out thousands of airstrikes countrywide. Most of Iran's leaders have been assassinated; those would be the leaders, needless to say, complicit in the slaughter of an estimated 40,000 Iranians who last came out on the streets of cities across Iran to demand the end of the regime and freedom for their country.

 

The AP article goes on to state that daily life in Iran carries on, in city after city where they witnessed normal traffic, businesses open and people walking the streets. Women, observed the article were seen without the mandatory head covering demanded by the ruling theocracy. They paid dearly for that. But AP made no mention of other women covered head to toe in black shrouds. With no little amount of inferred skepticism, mention is made of the U.S. and Israel aiming at military and internal security forces.

 

"The AP reporters saw several government buildings and police stations that had been destroyed. They passed a number of checkpoints operated by plain-clothes Basij, an internal security force, and uniformed members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard." That would be, of course, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps considered a terrorist organization by a number of Western countries; they and their offshoot Basij slaughtered Iranians at will just several months earlier. But to read the AP account they're merely agents of the regime as any national guard would be in any Western nation of note.

 

Iranian missiles displayed in a park (March 26, 2026) Iran International 

 

Unctuous Trucking to Beijing

"We did speak about supply chain integrity. That was a core message that I conveyed to our Chinese counterparts, to say that, obviously Canada puts a lot of importance on [this] and that our bilateral trade [needs] to be conducted in accordance with international standards."

"This is a point that I've made very clearly to different counterparts that we've met here in China during our visit."

"We are focused and pragmatic in how we want to engage."

"It was very clear where we could trade when the interests of Canada and China would align."

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne

 

"There is [the] existence of child labour and forced labour around the world."

"[There are] parts of China that are higher risk [for the practices]."

Prime Minister Mark Carney

From left to right: People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Xuan Changneng, People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem and Canada's ambassador to China Jennifer May pose for a photo together in Beijing on Apr. 3, 2026. (Lisa Xing/CBC)

 

Canada's Liberal government led now by Mark Carney has carried on the practices of its immediate-predecessor government -- and for that matter the more distant Liberal government of former PM Jean Chretien -- in favouring trade with a human-rights-abusing nation whose territorial ambitions have swallowed whole the sovereignty of adjacent countries like Tibet, East Turkistan and Xianjiang, incorporating them militarily into a 'greater' China that continues to eye an opportunity to capture Taiwan into its orbit.

 

There was unanimous support in the House of Commons to view Beijing's ongoing persecution of its Uyghur population as a cultural genocide. The Chinese Communist Party is known to use child labour and forced labour in its vast labour market as it swiftly rose as the world's consumer-product manufacturer whose cheap labour put factory manufacturing out of business in many other global economies unable to compete with China, enabling it to sweep the world production market with a huge global consumer base.

 

China's cyber-interference with other countries' government and trade secrets is well known, as is its broad interference in other countries' social, manufacturing and political cultures. Its interference in Canada's political process has been well documented, yet this Liberal government insists it can do business with a country that views trade from a completely one-sided perspective. The Liberal government's recent embrace of a Chinese expatriate Chinese-Canadian Member of Parliament, Michael Ma, despite all indications that he is a Beijing agent demonstrates the depth of corruption it is capable of.

At a parliamentary committee on Thursday, Liberal MP Michael Ma asked Margaret McCuaig-Johnston of the China Strategic Risks Institute if she has personally witnessed forced labour in China. 'I work closely with Human Rights Watch where researchers did witness it,' McCuaig-Johnston said. CBC

 

First PM Carney visited China to fawn on its leadership and handily 'forget' Beijing's penchant for hostage-diplomacy that saw two Canadians kidnapped in China, and held for three years charged with bogus issues under the state's secret issues law. Chinese scientists involved in working as trusted allies in Winnipeg's high security Neational Microbiology Lab, unlawfully sent pathology samples to China's military-linked biology labs, until an investigation revealed the extent of their breach of  trust and they were removed from the lab.

 

Xiangguo Qiu wears a biocontainment suit while working in the containment lab at the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg. Qiu, her biologist husband Keding Cheng, and her students were escorted out of the NML in July 2019. Qiu and Cheng were fired in January 2021. The RCMP is still investigating a possible 'policy breach' reported by the Public Health Agency of Canada. (CBC)

 

Beijing's pilfering of Canadian market processes and innovations are legendary. Including the infamous case of Nortel Networks, once a giant in telecommunications, but brought to its knees by extensive cyber-espionage that led to the rise of Huawei on the ashes of Nortel's innovations. All of these assaults on Canadian industry, included interference in Canadian culture, academia and governments at all levels. Yet all is forgiven, and Canada is eager for more of the same as long as it is given access to the huge consumer base of China's immense population.

 

This current government is on a path that does not converge from one set by its predecessor Trudeau government that spoke glowingly of a 'post-national' Canada, and whose immigration/refugee/migrant policy flooded Canada with a population of those reflecting a heritage, culture and religious ideology at sharp odds with Canadian values, culture, social system, governance and justice. The DEI-infused, Critical Race Theory of the Trudeau government continues apace with the Carney government.

 

Vast expenditures of Canadian treasury have gone into projects of no value to the Canada that most citizens recall in the near-distant past. The country's deficit continues to grow as does its debt, to the point where there is little hope of economic retreat from this government's excesses that match its abject posturing in Beijing chasing a free trade dream that will never materialize, and in the process damning Canada to a relationship with a nation without scruples in controlling other countries as it claws its way toward global dominance. 

 

He Lifeng, vice-premier of the People's Republic of China (left) shakes hands with Canada's Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne during a bilateral meeting in Beijing on April 3, 2026. (Lisa Xing/CBC)

 

"It is Slow, Meticulous and Can be an Extremely Deadly Process"

"We haven't seen big movements [since the U.S. bombing in June]. Maybe a car or a truck [but] not bulldozers digging things out." 

"[The cylinders are] not very big [and] not specially protected [though it is possible that some] decoys [have been placed among them to confuse and impede anyone trying to remove them]."

"[While not privy to any military decisions] what I can say is that this considerable amount of material ... is highly contaminant, so there could be some contamination if there was a direct hit on it."

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general, IAEA

 

"[To get to the buried Isfahan stockpile], you have to get excavation equipment, break through the concrete and lead shield [and any other protective covering], and then you somehow have to get to the bottom of this silo and remove the containers full of nuclear material and fly them out."

Anonymous expert 

 

"There's a lot of risks associated with it. This is a very high order of complexity. There likely will be casualties."

"But this is the problem set for U.S. Special Operations forces. It's what we do."

"We have people who are specifically trained to go into these types of environments."

"[The best way to recover the material would be following a ceasefire and accompanied by IAEA personnel.] But if you have to fight your way in [it could be feasible]."

Retired General Joseph Votel, U.S. Central Command/U.S. Special Operations Command 

U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be mulling over the possibility of monitoring or retrieving highly enriched uranium believed to be buried at the Iranian nuclear sites attacked by the U.S. last year at Isfahan. "Intense satellite surveillance" could help to monitor the location of the nuclear material. Should the plan be to seize Iran's uranium it "would be one of, if not the largest, most complicated special operations in history" in the opinion of former deputy assistant secretary of defence, retired CIA and Marine officer, Mick Mulroy. "It's a major risk to the force." 

"It's the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality."

"It does not mean the president has made a decision."

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt 

Iran, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, has stockpiled some 970 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent; short of weapons-grade level. A nuclear facility outside Isfahan holds over half of that total stored in tunnels over 300 feet deep. Satellite imagery from early June analyzed by the Institute for Science and International Security show a large flatbed truck carrying 18 blue barrels toward the southern entrance of the Isfahan facility. The barrels, it was conjectured, contained highly enriched uranium cylinders moved for storage within the tunnel mere days prior to Israel and the U.S. launching airstrikes on Iranian targets. 

 

The logistics of an operation of recovery of those barrels are extraordinarily complex; to begin with, striking Iranian defences and equipment to clear a safe passage for ground troops to fly hundreds of miles into the country to establish a defence perimeter at the facilities. The Army's 82nd Airborne and Rangers parachuting to seize the ground within range of enemy artillery, missiles and drones. Engineers might build an airstrip to bring in supplies and equipment airdropped from cargo aircraft; operations vulnerable to enemy fire.

 

A large number of support troops -- mechanics, drivers, refuellers and others would be required to work 24-7 with food and water resupplied constantly. Nuclear specialists would be on site to assess risks and supervise the removal of uranium. The need to blast through rock and enter the storage area would be a yard-by-yard process for commandos to enter an unknown facility. Saws and blow torches would be needed to breach the area, possibly the Army Delta Force or Navy SEALS, to pass underground facility obstacles. 

South tunnel entrance of the Isfahan underground complex near the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, Iran. (Bulletin / Google Earth)

 

Commandos geared with protective uniforms and rebreathers, carrying radioactive detection sensors while shooters covered them. Anything shot at, that might explode or cut through, could hit dangerous material. Radioactive exposure requires arduous and repeated decontamination of personnel and equipment. "It is slow, meticulous and can be an extremely deadly process", stated a former operator. Troops, equipment and nuclear material would be exposed to possible attacks by Iranians through the exfiltration process as personnel are airlifted through enemy airspace.  

 

An Iranian woman walks past a view of Tehran's research reactor in Tehran. Morteza Nikoubazl/Getty

 

"Disrupting and Degrading and Blinding Iran's Ability to See, Communicate and Respond"

"The Iranians are throwing everything they have at this."

"It is all hands on deck."

"If their cyber operators are breathing, then they will be on their keyboards."

Chris Krebs, former director, Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CSIA) 

 

"An Iran-linked group calling itself Handala claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Portage, Michigan-based medical device maker Stryker Corp., carried out on March 11, 2026. Handala said the attack was in retaliation for events related to the conflict in Iran."

"The cyberattack affected Stryker’s internal Microsoft software system, disrupting the company’s order processing, manufacturing and shipping."

"As a scholar who researches cyber conflict, I’ve found that in periods of geopolitical tension such as the current U.S./Israel-Iran war, cyber operations often sit right next to missiles and airstrikes as a tool that states and state-linked groups use to inflict damage, probe weaknesses and signal resolve to their enemies."

"The Stryker case is notable because it shows how quickly a regional conflict can translate into disruption for organizations far from the battlefield. It also illustrates the vulnerabilities of U.S. organizations, including those involved in critical infrastructure."

William Akoto, Assistant Professor of Global Security, American University School of International Service, The Conversation  

Iran has long had sophisticated hacking operations. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Gettyimages

 

Thousands of Israelis earlier this month received texts purportedly from the IDF that encouraged them to download a fake shelter app. Had they done so, reams of personal data could have been stolen. This, while others in Israel received a mass text that said: "Netanyahu is dead. Death is approaching you and soon the gates of hell will open before you. Before the fire of Iranian missiles destroys you, leave Palestine." An obvious play to strew panic and demoralization. According to cybersecu3rity experts, these messages represent a minuscule portion of a vast cyberwar between Iran, Israel and the United States.

 

Iranian hackers who have stabled themselves in the digital shadows for years are considered among the most reliably battle-hardened operatives Tehran can depend upon in this aspect of the Islamic Republic's existential war of survival. The ploy of sowing fear in the Israeli and American public is a powerful yet little-appreciated weapon remaining at the disposal of the Iranian regime, hoping to see some satisfying results in public chaos and a move in both countries to call off the conflict. These tactics, familiar to both Israeli and American cyber experts who have long engaged in their own counter battle, employ their own.

 

Three different levels of cyber operators have been identified in Iran, with boundaries that are frequently blurry, according to analysts and former cybersecurity officials. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran's Ministry of Intelligence operate the most experienced corps of cyber hackers, with a wide array of front organizations whose purpose is to introduce plausible deniability for attacks and the issuance of public threats.

 

Semi-autonomous hacking proxies, cybercriminals and contractors are also in the hire of the Islamic Republic, with volunteer hackers bringing up the rear to mobilize behind Tehran. Israel-based employees of a large U.S. defence contractor are believed by cyber experts to have been doxxed. Emails of politicians in Albania which hosts an Iranian opposition group have received similar treatment, while a Polish nuclear research centre has been infiltrated. The most sensitive espionage is thought to have gone unreported.

 

A hacking front named as Handala is believed by cybersecurity researchers and the American government to be tied to Iranian intelligence; the hacking group claimed to have wiped 200,000 devices in the most consequential wartime cyber attack against the U.S. ever seen, according to one of the most senior civilian U.S. cybersecurity officials, Chris Krebs. It was Handala that claimed to have broken into FBI director Kash Patel's personal email account, to publish personal photographs.

 

Iranian hackers, no matter their level and association, are not quite the match of the U.S. and Israel with their formidable offensive capabilities, an illustration being the significant damage the Iranian nuclear program sustained in 2009 with the unleashing of the mysterious Stuxnet offensive. According to General Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the U.S. launched cyber attacks just prior to the February 28 airstrikes on Iran "disrupting and degrading and blinding Iran's ability to see, communicate and respond".

 

Years ago, Israel's cyber intelligence dealt one of the most telling blows of the war, when it hacked the majority of traffic cameras in Tehran as part of an extensive intelligence-gathering operation preceeding supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's assassination. A popular Iranian prayer app was used by Israel to send notifications to millions inciting regime defections: "Only this way can you save your life for Iran", one of the delivered messages read. 

 

According to analysts in cyber security  Iran's more intensely threatening groups methodically search for vulnerabilities such as entry points to position themselves to target networks. Seedworm, a group the U.S. and U.K. state has links to Iranian intelligence has been identified through attempts to enter U.S. networks since early February, revealed cybersecurity firm Symantec. Resulting in the group being extracted out of a U.S. bank, an airport and software company supplying the defence industry.

 

Iranian cyberhacking is focused on breaking through Israel's hardened cyber defences by launching thousands of wiper attacks on Israeli companies, with success in hitting 50 of them. Security cameras hacked across Israel and the Gulf aided Iran to target drone and missile strikes, pointed out Israeli cybersecurity company Check Point Software. Gill Messing at Check Point added Iranian hackers demonstrated a 'new level' of "scale, effect and sophistication" co-ordinating strikes with the mass text messages sent to Israeli citizens. 

 

There is also speculation that Tehran, in throttling its internet for the purpose of domestic censorship, might have inadvertently set back its own hackers' advances in cyber offences. Although there is  some fear that Iranian hackers may have infiltrated undetected into sensitive economic or military targets, biding time to suck up data. "They could have longterm access that they are not ready to burn", suggested Andy Piazza at cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks. 

 

Since war began, Iranian hackers have been at work throughout the Persian Gulf region – and far beyond. Still from YouTube video

 

 

 

When In Canada Speak as a Canadian in One of Two Official Languages

"The commission had before it an allegation pertaining to the English-only policy that claimed it was not only unnecessarily broad and disrespectful but a deliberate act of racism against Filipino employees."

"Nowhere in its decision does it consider this argument or the supporting evidence provided by Ms. Casila. This is concerning seeing its centrality to Ms. Casila's complaint, which claimed that the policy was racially motivated, not related to simply ensuring work-related tasks could be performed."

"Ms. Casila claimed that this then impacted her indirectly as a Filipina customer." 

Saskatchewan Court of King's Bench

 

"While SHA [Saskatchewan Health Authority] has now provided me with the relevant portions of its policy, I do not see how I can consider it. The policy was not before the Commission – it chose not to investigate Ms. Casila’s complaint."

"In sum, according to Ms. Casila, the policy prohibits employees from communicating with each other or the public in any language other than English or French, without exception."

"[This assertion that she was not denied service] failed to address forms of discrimination other than the complete denial of services." 

"Considering these deficiencies as a whole, I am unable to find that the Commission's decision was reasonable." 

Justice Shawn Smith 

The woman’s complaint argued that the health authority’s policy around languages amounts to discrimination against her as a Filipina customer and stems from racist complaints. (CKOM file photo)

 

In an exceedingly rare instance, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission finally got it right when it turned down a complaint from a Filipina woman who accused a coffee cafe of racism because it ignored her menu request in Tagalog, a language spoken in the Philippines, where the woman, Vanessa Casila, was originally from. She contended that the English/French-only policy in an officially bilingual Canada was racist because it excluded the language she was born to, and that included other Filipina women who worked for the coffee chain, specifically ordered to speak English to their clients.

 

At the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, there is a Starbucks in operation, as is frequently the case in hospitals throughout the country. When Vanessa Casila put in her order speaking Tagalog, the Starbucks employee who took her order explained that she would be in line for a reprimand from the manager should she respond to an order in any language other than English. It is likely that Ms. Casila, recognizing the employee as a Filipina like herself, felt it reasonable to order in their common language.

 

Her sense of dignity as a Filipina was outraged that Tagalog would not be accepted as an acceptable form of spoken communication, as a matter of company policy. Righteous anger propelled her to file a human rights complaint, that the "English only" policy was discrimination based on race, colour, ancestry, place of origin and nationality. Starbucks' language policy, she claimed, prohibited staff from communicating among themselves or with the public in any language but English or French. 

 

She was aware that customer complaints directed to the company relating to Starbucks staff not communicating in English, led to the company's English-only policy. This did not seem to resonate with her; it too became a part of her human rights complaint. What also did not register with her was that when living in a country with a national language that naturally dominated in social interaction, legal and governmental affairs, it is appropriate for all residents of Canada to become familiar with and use, the legally-designated official languages; not to do so is a symptom of disrespect.

 

Statistics confirm that Canada, a country of immigrants, hosts people with 400 different spoken/written languages. If all these people were affronted that their mother tongue was not recognized and could not be used anywhere and everywhere they wanted to do business, a virtual Tower of Babel would ensue. There must be a common,  unifying language -- or two, as the case may be -- and in Canada that would be English and French. In areas of the country with low Francophone numbers English always dominates. Furthermore it is a common universal language.

 

Ms. Casila appealed when the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission dismissed her complaint on the basis that enough evidence was not provided to convince the commission to give it further consideration; to come to the conclusion that there was "reasonable grounds to believe that there had been discrimination based on a prohibited ground". In the opinion of the commission this was missing, and as a result the complaint was dismissed. 

 

She argued further that the policy of English-only was the result of racist customer complaints, disproportionately affecting the Filipino employees working at the hospital-adjacent Starbucks, and indirectly affected her. In her possession was a memo an employee had been sent as a reminder in the interest of not excluding workers and customers, to speak English. That memo was interpreted by the complainant as labelling Tagalog speakers as rude. 

 

If the shoe fits, wear it; it most certainly IS rude to speak a language unknown to others with whom the speaker is involved; it is insulting and exclusionary; a sign of entitlement that is undeserved ,and bad manners at the very least. Her claim was once more dismissed by the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, citing commercial transactions as being immune from protection of language. A policy meant for employee conduct should not concern her, as a non-employee.

 

This is one determined woman. She approached the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, where she finally found satisfaction. The court found that the Commission had been too swift to reject the woman's complaint. Justice R. Shawn Smith ordered the commission to revisit the case since its decision "failed to address forms of discrimination other than the complete denial of services". Sometimes, it's true...justice is an ass.

  

Last month, Saskatoon Court of King's Bench Justice Shawn Smith ordered the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission to reconsider a complaint brought by a woman who says she was denied service in her preferred language while ordering at the Royal University Hospital Starbucks. Photo by Michelle Berg /Saskatoon StarPhoenix

 

The U.S. Strong-Arming Canada on NORAD Defence

"Frankly we don't need fifth [generation jet fighters] to defend our borders."

"Those capabilities are better used overseas where their stealth, air-to-ground weapons and penetration capability are needed." 

"I would like to see continued modernization of [the] fourth-generation fighter fleet."

U.S. Air Force General Gregory M. Guillot, head, joint U.S.-Canada NORAD   

A U.S. F-35 fighter jet performs during the Dubai Air Show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)  

 

 In Canada, General Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence forces, is on record as stating that the 
Canadian Forces require the U.S.-built fighter jet F-35 to defend Canada's Arctic territory. The Canadian Forces themselves emphasize that the F-35 is a required component in plans to modernize the North American Aerospace Defence Command of NORAD. Also stressing an absolute requirement for fifth-generation aircraft for Canada's defence is Commander Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

 

The Liberal government of then-prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2023 announced the purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin in the United States. This, when years earlier Justin Trudeau had expressed his disdain for the planes when the previous Conservative-led government of then-prime minister Stephen Harper planned to order them. Trudeau's intent was to 'scrap' the planned purchase claiming Harper's "dream" aircraft would turn out to be a "nightmare" for the Canadian taxpayer.

 

Then along came Mark Carney with the Liberal government carrying on its agenda, with an review ordered of the F-35 contract spurred by threats made by President Trump against Canadian sovereignty. It seemed feasible that 15 of the F-35s which the Liberals had committed to would proceed, leaving an additional 72 of the Stealth fighters in doubt, while flirting with the prospect of filling in with Sweden's Saab fighter planes, the Gripen fighter jet, as a F-35 alternative. 

 

An illustration provided by Saab shows its fighter jet concept. The company was tasked by the Swedish military to design the next generation of fighters and autonomous flight systems. (Saab)

 

The Canadian Forces remain steadfast in recommending Canada proceed with its original intent to contract for all 88 F-35s; an expression of Canadian military leaders committed to working closely with their American counterparts, viewing the F-35 as pivotal in full integration between the two forces. There is a troubling aspect of the F-35 contract, parts of which would be produced in Canada, but entirely controlled by the U.S. military to the extent of their software which could be manipulated at any time against Canadian wishes. 

 

Another issue is the type of plane Canada plans to buy, the Block 4 version of the F-35, $6-billion over budget, five years behind schedule, revealed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Pressure has been applied by the U.S. on Canada to return to its original purpose of the full contract. The American ambassador to Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra, warned Canada dire consequences could ensue should the  government fail to commit to the F-35; that the Gripen would fail to be "interchangeable, interoperable" with the U.S.-operated F-35s. 

 

And here is General Guillot, head of NORAD, refuting the notion that the F-35 is needed by his combined U.S.-Canada force. Considered the most advanced type of aircraft, General Guillot hit back against its use for NORAD. NORAD's needs, he stated, are for fourth-generation fighter jets, modernized for current usage; the F-015EX, an aircraft produced by Boeing, in service with the U.S. and Israel. 

 

Boeing, F-15EX

 

"Canada has been flying different aircraft from the USAF in NORAD for 40-plus years and controls its jets through Winnipeg, and the F-35's stealth is irrelevant in NORAD because Russian bombers do not have air-to-air radar."

"[Hoekstra is] babbling nonsense." 

Bill Sweetman, U.S. aviation writer