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The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency is launching a formal review of the Canada Revenue Agency after complaints that it unfairly targets Muslim charities.
Muslim organizations have long raised concerns over security reviews conducted by the CRA, which they say are based on systemic racism and Islamophobia.
The CRA’s Review and Analysis Division was singled out for criticism in a 2021 report by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. It found that Muslim charities are overrepresented in the percentage that have had their status revoked by the CRA in connection with efforts to prevent terrorist financing.
The report described RAD’s work as highly secretive, with unclear data on its activities. It also said charity revocation letters related to a RAD review are often redacted for national-security reasons.
The Canada Revenue Agency headquarters Connaught Building is pictured in Ottawa on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
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Liberals block opposition efforts to call PM’s chief of staff over Beijing election interference
Liberal MPs extended a filibuster for a fourth day yesterday to block the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, from testifying before a Commons committee studying China’s election interference, with some arguing that political staff should not be forced to appear before parliamentary committees.
MPs on the procedure and House affairs committee met during the March parliamentary break to debate an NDP motion to call Ms. Telford to explain what she and Justin Trudeau knew about Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections and what they did to stop it.
But Liberal MPs prevented a vote by reading newspaper articles, talking about their university days and overseas travel, and accusing the opposition of playing political games. Some said a public inquiry wasn’t necessary at this time or that political staff should be exempt from testifying.
- Opinion: As Ottawa balks at an election interference inquiry, public trust in our democracy is draining away
- Editorial: Canada’s cult of confidentiality
- Kelly Cryderman: We should be paying attention to foreign interference in our provincial elections
Canada’s banks are quietly picking up Silicon Valley Bank clients as U.S. sale process stalls
Some of Canada’s largest banks are pro-actively and aggressively soliciting Silicon Valley Bank clients amid a standstill in the failed lender’s sale process.
U.S. regulators shut down California-based SVB on Friday after depositors started fleeing at a rapid pace, but hopes of a quick sale over the weekend did not pan out. With uncertainty brewing and private equity firms circling, at least three Canadian lenders are looking to pick off SVB clients.
Bank of Montreal, for one, has circulated a marketing presentation, obtained by The Globe and Mail, that highlights its size and safety relative to U.S. banks, as well as a suite of BMO products geared toward venture capital firms and tech companies.
Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which both have large technology banking divisions, have also spread the word that they are available to help companies that had banked with SVB and are looking for a new home. However, both banks are doing so subtly, industry sources said, in an effort to not look too opportunistic.
- Opinion: Silicon Valley Bank collapse shows Canada’s concentrated banking sector is a good thing
- Analysis: The SVB drama isn’t as scary as 2008, but social media makes financial contagion tricky to manage
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Also on our radar
Two pedestrians killed, man arrested in Quebec: The driver of a pickup truck who police allege deliberately drove into 11 pedestrians on a sidewalk in Amqui, Que., on Monday, killing two, has been charged with dangerous driving causing death, as the tight-knit Quebec community mourns and looks for answers.
Flair Airlines missed payments for months: The leasing company that seized four Flair Boeing 737s on the weekend said it did so only after the Edmonton-based discount airline “regularly” defaulted on millions of dollars in payments over a five-month period.
Canadian schools struggle to feed students: Non-profit organizations and volunteers that are responsible for school nutrition programs across the country are facing difficult decisions as they feel the strain of soaring food prices, coupled with growing demand from families struggling to make ends meet after three years of pandemic-related shutdowns.
Small-business groups push for CEBA extension: Small-business groups are asking the federal government to further extend the deadline for repaying Canada Emergency Business Account loans when the budget is tabled later this month, as few of the loans have been paid back.
U.S. says Russian warplane hit American drone: A Russian fighter jet struck the propeller of a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday in a “brazen violation of international law,” causing American forces to bring down the unmanned aerial vehicle, the U.S. said.
Morning markets
Renewed unease gripped world markets today as news that Credit Suisse’s largest investor said it could not provide the Swiss bank with more financial assistance sent its shares and broader European shares sliding once more.
European shares were last down almost 2 per cent, European bank stock tumbled 2.5 per cent and U.S. stock futures fell 1 per cent.
Asian equities rose, tracking Tuesday’s relief rally on Wall Street after U.S. inflation data delivered no nasty surprises, reinforcing hopes the Federal Reserve will go for a smaller rate hike when it meets next week. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei index was flat while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 1.52 per cent.
The dollar traded at 72.88 U.S. cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Campbell Clark: “Ottawa won’t say how much money they are putting into the new Volkswagen plant yet because they are trying to lure other carmakers to build battery plants in Canada, and they don’t want to reveal just how much they are willing to offer ... From a deal-making perspective, that makes sense. For accountability, it’s appalling.”
Paul Klein: “Increasingly, there’s a new performative behaviour among companies regarding corporate social responsibility. Companies use flowery language and big words in their claims of solving societal challenges, yet are laying people off by the thousands despite being profitable.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Editorial cartoon by Brian Gable, March 15, 2023.Illustration by Brian Gable
Living better
Luxury travellers are looking for immersive, adventurous ways to vacation
The pandemic has forced us to re-evaluate how we spend our time, and who we spend it with. For luxury travellers, that means finally taking that once-in-a-lifetime trip. For 2023, luxury travel is all about ticking off that bucket list – travelling farther, staying longer and having an adventure.
Moment in time: March 15, 1962
Canadian figure skater Donald Jackson doing his routine, March 14, 1962.Universal/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
Skater Donald Jackson is first to land a triple lutz
The Lutz, a figure-skating jump named after Alois Lutz of Austria, who first performed it in 1913, is, by International Skating Union definition, “a toe-pick assisted jump with an entrance from a back outside edge and landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot.” Translation: difficult, because it is counter-rotational, which means the skater sets it up by twisting in one way and jumping in the other. And it increases in difficulty with the number of rotations during the jump. It was on this day in 1962 that Canadian Donald Jackson landed the first triple Lutz – three full rotations – in international competition. Going into the 1962 world championships in Prague, Mr. Jackson, of Oshawa, Ont., had won the Canadian men’s championship four years in a row. But at this event, he had his work cut out for him. After the compulsory figures, he trailed Karol Divin of Czechoslovakia. However, in the freestyle, Mr. Jackson began his five-minute program with a brilliant triple Lutz and received seven perfect marks of 6.0 to win the crown. The triple Lutz was not landed again in competition by a man until 1974; the first for a woman was in 1978. Philip King
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