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There is currently no parliamentary budget officer scrutinizing federal finances in Ottawa as the interim fiscal watchdog's term expired Monday without a successor in place.

The PBO is an independent agent of Parliament tasked with analyzing federal budgets, spending proposals and election campaign promises to raise the quality of public debate.

With no budget officer installed, the office itself cannot publish any reports or accept new work requests from parliamentarians. The budget office will continue to work on existing requests while waiting for a new officer to be named.

Interim PBO Jason Jacques was appointed to a six-month term in September that ended at 5 p.m. ET Monday.

Ottawa opened applications for a new permanent PBO in November and last week a Privy Council Office spokesman said information about the appointment of a permanent budget officer would be "made available in due course."

The appointment of a permanent budget officer to a seven-year term is decided by cabinet and must be approved by Parliament. Interim PBOs, like Jacques, can be appointed without parliamentary sign-off for six-month terms.

The federal government's "persistent delays" in appointing new fiscal watchdogs were highlighted as a shortcoming in an otherwise glowing review of Canada's parliamentary budget office published last week by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Jacques argued at the House of Commons standing committee on government operations and estimates Thursday that it would benefit Ottawa to shift the watchdog's mandate from the budget officer to the office itself to help with continuity between mandates.

Bloc Québécois MP Marie-Hélène Gaudreau told the same committee in French that the federal government's failure to date to name a replacement PBO is "unacceptable" with Jacques' term coming to a close.

Jacques' tenure heading up the budget office started with a bang in September as he criticized the Liberal government's fiscal track as "unsustainable."

Later, when Liberals tabled their 2025 federal budget, Jacques said Ottawa's debt path was broadly sustainable in the long term but argued the feds had used up some of their ability to absorb future fiscal shocks.

He also pushed for a new independent body to clarify definitions of capital spending under the Liberals' new budget framework.

THANK YOU

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/48329632

• European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Government of Canada sign Letter of Intent to explore future cooperation on critical raw materials.
• Agreement opens the way for discussions on institutional arrangements that would enable the EIB to operate in Canada in line with the EU–Canada Strategic Partnership on Raw Materials.
• Potential EIB operations in Canada would support secure, sustainable and diversified supply chains essential for Europe’s green and digital transitions.

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Canada is a long‑standing, like‑minded partner for the European Union. As one of the world’s leading and most responsible producers of critical minerals, Canada brings large reserves, recognised mining expertise, and strong environmental and social standards," the EIB writes in a statement.

"This makes it a natural ally for the EU as it works to diversify and secure critical raw materials supply chains, reduce strategic dependencies, and strengthen economic security."

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Canada is considering splitting a multibillion-dollar contract for 12 new submarines by buying an equal number from Europe and South Korea as Ottawa rearms to confront the challenges of a more dangerous world, two senior government sources say.

Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, in partnership with the government of Norway, and Seoul-based Hanwha Ocean are shortlisted for the contract, which could cost Canada upward of $24-billion.

Final proposals for the contract to build 12 diesel-electric submarines were submitted to the federal government on Monday. A decision is expected to be made by April 4 at the earliest.

The new modern fleet of submarines would replace the Royal Canadian Navy’s current aging fleet of second-hand Victoria-class boats.

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Defence experts have raised concerns that splitting Ottawa’s submarine contract could complicate supply chains and parts inventories. In September, Prime Minister Mark Carney also raised doubts about a mixed fleet, saying you get “many efficiencies in economies of having one fleet.”

The two government sources said Ottawa will assess the bids, including whether to split the contract, on the basis of what best serves the country’s economic and military needs.

A final decision will involve more than just acquiring new submarines. Mr. Carney is looking for greater trade and economic ties with Europe and Asia as a way to reduce reliance on the United States.

The sources say the benefit of splitting the contract is that Canada would reap industrial benefits from both bidders, including possible investments in this country’s auto industry. Canada’s auto sector has been hit hard by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as have the country’s steel and aluminum industries.

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Web archive link

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/48320144

[This is an opinion piece by Rayhan Asat, a human rights lawyer of Uyghur descent, an international law scholar at Harvard Law School and a senior legal and policy advisor at the Atlantic Council Strategic Litigation Project.]

Web archive link

At Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney drew applause for his plea to middle powers to “build a new order that encompasses values.” ... It was also deeply painful to see Carney feted for his “principled pragmatism” only days after he visited China to forge a new strategic partnership, devoid of any mention of human rights concerns.

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Carney’s embrace at Davos and his appeal to deal with the “world as it is, not as we wish it to be” left me with the question: Will the “new” world order he’s advertising protect everyone, or only those whose suffering is not inconvenient? The old order certainly didn’t. Treating human rights as separate from trade, as if mass atrocity can be compartmentalized to appease China, may have safeguarded commercial interests and avoided friction in the short-term—but it also helped normalize the intolerable.

It’s been 10 years since China began building a sprawling system of concentration camps—designed to bury atrocities behind bureaucracy and beyond tourists’ gaze.

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It’s been three years since the U.N.’s foremost human rights body determined China is committing crimes against humanity. Carney and his “middle power” peers can hardly claim that they didn’t know.

But what happens when China’s façade becomes useful? Even for leaders of the democratic world, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently visited China, it allows suffering to be acknowledged just enough to be set aside, framed as a difference in systems rather than a violation that demands consequence. Public pressure is muted, accountability deferred and appeals for justice quietly absorbed into diplomatic language.

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It's not just Uyghurs; there are Tibetans, Hong Kongers. International law has never protected Taiwan. Its security rests not on legal norms, but on strategic necessity—especially its dominance in advanced semiconductor chips.

Carney argued that middle powers need to unite to hedge against stronger countries, because what we’re living through is not a transition but a rupture in the rules-based order ... The deeper irony is that leaders of the Global South, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s advisor, argued that Brazil would continue working with Europe, China and others who champion multilateralism and international law. It’s unfathomable to square China's status as a champion with its promotion of what Professor Tom Ginsburg described as authoritarian international law.

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An international legal order worth its name is more than just policing borders and battlefields. It must serve as a shield for those hidden from sight, protecting them from the machinery of disappearance, torture, cultural erasure and similar threats.

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The growing white nationalist "active club" movement poses a risk for "extreme violence" in Canada, according to an internal Public Safety Canada brief obtained by CBC News.

The report appears to reveal, for the first time, that the federal department that oversees the RCMP is addressing this movement directly. In previous reporting, the RCMP would not specifically comment on the rapid rise of active clubs — white nationalist groups that operate under the guise of getting fit through training and combat sports.

Of the more than 200 known active club chapters globally, a “disproportionate” number, more than 30, operate in Canada, according to the report. Second Sons Canada — a similar far-right group — has more than 15 chapters.

These fascist fight clubs have increasingly moved from online forums to real-world training and public demonstrations.

A former Prince George Mountie will avoid jail after being found to have obstructed justice by asking bystanders to delete cellphone footage of the arrest of Dale Culver, a First Nations man who later died in police custody.

Arthur Dalman was sentenced to 18 months’ probation on Monday, meaning he will avoid prison but not a criminal record. A B.C. provincial court judge rejected a request for a conditional discharge, saying Dalman’s actions deserved consequences, citing their impact on the public trust of police officers — especially in cases involving Indigenous people.

“His behaviour not only eroded confidence in the justice system but also contributed to deepened mistrust between Indigenous people and the RCMP at a time when efforts towards reconciliation must be an essential priority,” Judge Michael Fortino said.

Dalman was a junior RCMP officer with less than six months’ experience when he responded to another officer’s call for emergency support in downtown Prince George on the evening of July 18, 2017.

When eight-year-old “Cole” arrived at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, he was in a state of extreme starvation and was suffering burns to his head and face from boiling water being poured over him — punishment for eating without permission.

Court heard that most of the abuse was committed by Stephanie Alisha Baker, the victim’s stepmother. But Scott was aware, witnessed the assaults, starvation and neglect and sometimes participated, according to an agreed statement of facts (ASF).

Two neighbours, mothers of children who played with Cole, noticed the starving, abused boy and tried to help.

Both women called police and child and family services in May 2023 but Cole was not removed from Baker and Scott’s care until his hospitalization four months later.

This month, the Surrey, B.C.-based website reported Vancouver politician William Azaroff had resigned from his role as executive director of a municipal party over a slew of scandalous resurfaced Tweets.

Surrey Speak didn’t say what Azaroff supposedly wrote, but reported it had to do with “issues of race, Indigenous identity and political ideology.”

Azaroff, Surrey Speak reported, had issued a regretful statement, and his party had promised to chart a new direction.

But none of that actually happened.

Azaroff never stepped down as the executive director of his party, OneCity. He couldn’t, because he has never held that position. He didn’t resign from anything. In fact, he had just been named the party’s mayoral nominee in an upcoming election.

Do want to point out there was a post about how poor of a journalist this guy is and his crap show on Global News. Then subsequently it seems like there has been a giant uptick of Global News posts many which are either just very superficial article or just straight up wire feed repost.

https://sh.itjust.works/post/55344080

There are currently more than 85,000 Canadian citizens and permanent residents registered in the Middle East, with almost 3,000 in Iran alone, Global Affairs Canada says.

The number is based on voluntary self-registration by Canadians with Global Affairs Canada as of Sunday, which means the actual number may be higher.

“At this time, we are not aware of any Canadians who have been injured or killed as a result of the hostilities,” GAC said.

The countries with the highest number of registered Canadians are Lebanon, with 23,165 Canadians, and the United Arab Emirates, with 23,064.

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As the architect of the Brexit campaign, the charismatic (Nigel) Farage galvanized voters to narrowly support the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union in 2016, a decision a growing majority of Britons now regret.

But while Manning serves as an inspiration to Farage, he is an object of querulous derision by Jeffrey Rath, the abrasive leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project, or APP, Alberta’s black cowboy-hatted version of the Brexit campaign.

Without prompting during a Feb. 16 YouTube podcast, Rath disparaged Manning, Questerre Energy founder Michael Binnion and Calgary billionaire Ron Mannix, accusing them of trying to rein in the APP’s burgeoning independence.

Manning has responded by calling Rath’s comments “highly inaccurate,” and telling The Tyee that Rath’s appearances on CBC and other media create an impression that “western secession is mainly being pushed by an ill-informed group of cowboy yahoos.”

As the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year, some on the front lines with ties to Saskatchewan say the war is not going anywhere.

The night before Mac Hughes and his dad Paul Hughes spoke to Saskatoon Morning host Candice Lipski, a Shahed drone flew into the apartment next to his at 3 a.m., Mac said.

"The war has definitely not let up in any way," he said.

The father-son pair are both based in Ukraine. Paul, a former Canadian soldier who grew up partly in Lanigan, Sask., went to Ukraine to fight and has been there since the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion.

He says his son joined him there not long afterwards.

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Very few Ukrainians have any confidence that a ceasefire is coming, he said, "because they're dealing with Putin and they know their neighbour better than anybody else in the world."

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"It's been a very difficult winter, the most difficult so far," he said.

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Canadian humanitarian aid worker Angela Hill agrees.

After returning to Saskatoon from a recent trip to Ukraine with the Red Cross, Hill told Saskatchewan Weekend host Shauna Powers it's the worst cold the country has seen in about a decade.

"People regularly said that this is the hardest it's been since the beginning of the escalation," Hill said.

She said she's made several trips to Ukraine and for this one, she visited several places with projects and people supported by the Canadian Red Cross.

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Iranian‑Canadians are feeling a ... mix of hope and relief.

An Iranian woman in Montreal, who didn’t want her name published because she fears that speaking out against the regime could put her at risk, said she hopes the attack in Iran will spur change.

She said she moved from Iran in 2014 because “the financial situation began to deteriorate, and anti-women policies and rules became very numerous.” She has PhD in education from the University of Montreal and is a French teacher.

She described feeling both hopeful and cautious after the death of Khamenei.

“We can now hope for regime change. At the same time, we are afraid this military intervention will not lead to regime change. It’s a roller-coaster of emotions,” she said.

She added that she and her family are planning a trip to Iran this summer.

“Our families are there. If the regime falls, we will be able to go. If not, it will be complicated, because since January, we have been working hard to bring about regime change, not just me, but all my friends. We are mobilized.”

She said that in a few years, she and her husband hope to return permanently.

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