Government-wide Afghan Task Force mandate runs out in April

Top bureaucrat to become CIDA brass; dwindling task force working on last report to Parliament.

The government-wide task force overseeing Canada's mission in Afghanistan is still working on a final report to Parliament until at least April, even as it loses another leader to the top floors of Canada's aid agency.

Greta Bossenmaier, currently the deputy minister of the Privy Council Office's Afghanistan Task Force, is moving across the Ottawa River to become the senior executive vice president at the Canadian International Development Agency, the government announced Jan. 12. (...more)

Energy, G20 behind reported new foreign policy plan: Analysts

The collection of countries named in a December news story as being part of a secret government foreign policy plan were likely picked because of their economic relationships with Canada's oil and mining sectors, with global financial organizations, and because they are pivotal states, say analysts.

According to a Dec. 20 report in the Canadian Press—one the government is refusing to confirm—a new Canadian foreign policy plan is being developed that will list as "priority countries" Turkey, India, China, Indonesia, North Korea, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa. (...more)

New United States military strategy a fork in the road for Canadian Forces

Should Canada take on more of the traditional US role policing the world?

A new United States military strategy paints a bleak picture of a world threatened by China, Iran, and Al Qaeda and kept stable through the use of armed drones, stealth bombers, missile defence systems, cyber warfare, surveillance—and global policing increasingly shouldered by stalwart allies such as Canada.

The question now is: will Canada embrace that vision? (...more)

Labour, environment still issues in India third round

Negotiators in the third round of trade talks between Canada and India found themselves still dealing with how to approach their own assignment, as well as how to address looming labour and environment issues, say observers.

The third round of the formal closed-door negotiations for the Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was held from Dec. 13 to 15 in Delhi. It came roughly five months after the second round, held July 4 to 5 in Ottawa. (...more)

The Perimeter Calendar

The 2011 talks conjured a lengthy succession of deadlines that will, one by one, incrementally change the face of the Canada-United States relationship. The calendar spreads out over several years and involves at least 17 federal departments and agencies on both sides of the border. Here are the dates and commitments that both countries have now put forward, edited for length and style (...more)

Pre-clearance will be major hurdle in Perimeter

Far from a done deal, border plan must confront law enforcement authority, budget woes, need for political will.

Canada and the United States last week announced a mammoth undertaking to reshape their relationship and build a new bilateral fortress, one that analysts say drives the relationship forward on several fronts, but remains silent on price tags and legal issues surrounding cross-border policing.

"These agreements create a new, modern order for a new century," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Dec. 7 in Washington, alongside US President Barack Obama, as they announced the results of nine months of talks: the Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan, and the Regulatory Cooperation Council Joint Action Plan.

The perimeter plan released to the public establishes commitments and names which departments and agencies are responsible for getting things done. A long list of deadlines runs through the document, reaching forward to 2016 (see page 5). By the end of 2012, dozens of changes to how Canada interacts with the world will be in the pipeline. (...more)

Perimeter deal aims to integrate cross-border policing over land

Canada, US look to make permanent a marine program tested during the Olympics and G20, and create a land-based version.

Under a new perimeter security plan, Canada and the United States are aiming for police in both nations to be able to permanently cross the maritime border and enforce each other’s laws—and for a new program to permit the same across land.

Shiprider, a marine cross-border law enforcement program that began in 2005 and has involved six pilot projects between the RCMP and the US Coast Guard, is being planned to become a permanent fixture of Canada-US policing by the summer of 2012.

As well, a new land-based version of the program, which the RCMP says could eventually draw in American agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, could also be floated by next summer in the form of two pilot projects. (...more)

Foreign ownership of oil sands assets steadily rising

35.3 per cent of the oil and gas extraction and support industry in Canada was foreign controlled in 2009.

On Nov. 28, China's largest offshore energy company spent over $2 billion gobbling up a Calgary-based, Israeli-backed oil sands company.

Opti Canada's sole asset was a minority stake in the Long Lake oil sands joint venture controlled by Nexen Inc., a company that suddenly found itself with a new bedfellow: the China National Offshore Oil Corporation. (...more)

Statistics Canada to make all online data free

All of Statistics Canada’s standard online products, including the census, socioeconomic and geographic data, will be offered to the public for free starting February 2012, Embassy has learned.

In 2010, the agency was rocked when the government dropped the mandatory long-form census, and its chief statistician resigned in protest. Immigration experts slammed the decision for jeopardizing the targeted delivery of services like languages training and job-search workshops. (...more)

DND: Military's 'values' shape 'Canada's identity'

Defence analysts say changed role in annual report reflects Conservative 'rebranding effort.'

An annual report from the Department of National Defence says Canadians should appreciate that their values are shaped in part by their military.

That represents a shift from past annual departmental reports that said departmental activities were informed by Canadian interests and values. Now it's the other way around.

On Nov. 17, the department's 2010-11 departmental performance report was released, altering a section that deals with ceremonies, youth programs and military history by introducing a new program activity called "Canadian identity." (...more)

India deal won't study asbestos: Analysts

But trade in the controversial material also likely won't rise if trade deal is signed, they say.

Canadian exports of asbestos to India won't be examined as part of an environmental assessment recently launched in connection with the Canada-India free trade talks, say experts—and that has some calling on the government to widen its scope.

A Nov. 12 notice in the Canada Gazette, an official federal government publication, announced that Canada is now conducting a strategic environmental assessment as part of ongoing talks launched in September 2010 toward a Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

The government is inviting Canadians to submit their views by Jan. 11 on "any likely and significant environmental impacts" that the proposed trade deal, which enters its third round of talks in Delhi from Dec. 13 to 15, might have on Canada. (...more)

Proposed e-passport prices would see fees jump

Passport Canada is proposing a new pricing scheme for electronic passports, a delayed program that has seen costs soar, set to be rolled out starting next year.

If the proposed new fees are approved, it would cost more for Canadians to get a passport. The cash boost would shore up an agency that last year spent more than it earned.

The agency announced on Nov. 10 that it is set to introduce its new five-year, 36-page e-passport "before the end of 2012," with the 10-year, 36-page version being offered in "early 2013." E-passports were originally proposed in 2004 by the Liberal government of Paul Martin, and contain a computer chip embedded in the document that the agency says increases the document's security and makes it harder to forge or tamper with. (...more)

Procurement bottleneck no surprise to analysts

For the first time since Prime Minister Stephen Harper took office, Canada is not officially engaged in a combat mission. From now until the next engagement inevitably arises, one of the military's main concerns will be making sure its procurement projects succeed.

The problem is the Department of National Defence can't spend its own money fast enough. The department lapsed roughly $2.5 billion in unspent cash in 2010-11, according to financial statements reported on by Global News. The reason, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said, was procurement. "We have a very large program going on to rebuild our Canadian armed forces, and [the department has] found—repeatedly, actually—that they can't get as much done in a given year as they perhaps thought they were going to," he said.

It's no surprise that DND is suffering a procurement bottleneck, say defence analysts. Firstly, every department struggles with getting funds out the door before they lapse, said Alan Williams, a former defence official responsible for procurement, and DND is no exception. (...more)

Keystone XL pipeline faces new uncertainties

Obama says decision is his to make; may stray past initial end-of-year deadline, while Nebraska opens new front

A fresh crop of potential new obstacles have popped up in front of a proposed $7-billion pipeline that would carry oil sands crude from Alberta to Texas, but Canada’s ambassador to the United States is holding firm in his belief in the project.

“The process is proceeding as it should, and jobs, energy security are strong arguments for the project,” Gary Doer told reporters at the Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa on Nov. 2. (...more)

Afghan training mission debated after soldier's death

Some say Canadians were misled about the level of risk, while others say Afghanistan is never risk-free.

The Harper government lulled the public into a false sense of security over a risky military training mission in Afghanistan, and should now be upfront about its role, say some analysts.

But others argue that anyone who was surprised at the death of the first Canadian in Afghanistan since the country ended its combat mission and shifted to a training role doesn't understand the environment in which military trainers exist. (...more)

Q&A: Aerospace firms see 'challenges' in Euro debt crisis

Aerospace is a hot topic in Canadian foreign policy. From the Harper government's promise last year to spend billions to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets, to Export Development Canada's declaration this spring that Canada's export growth in 2011 would be led in part by the aerospace sector, high hopes are being pinned on the industry.

The Harper government paid attention, launching a review of its aerospace policy and programs in the 2011 budget that would consult specifically with the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and its member firms. (...more)

Congressman who pushed Buy American defends move

The American lawmaker who may have stoked the fire of a potential Canada-US trade war is defending his efforts in the wake of a fresh crop of cross-border disputes.

Democrat Chris Murphy, who represents Connecticut's 5th congressional district, originally wrote to United States President Barack Obama on Sept. 7 urging him to insert a Buy American provision in his administration's $447-billion American Jobs Act that would shut out foreign firms.(...more)

Successful shipbuilding process may be future template: Expert

Halifax, Vancouver are the big winners in a three-decade, $33-billion, 15,000-job procurement strategy.

The federal bureaucracy was so pleased with the results of its shipbuilding evaluation process that it is considering using it as a template for the future, says one naval expert.

Ken Hansen, a former naval defence fellow and current resident research fellow at Dalhousie University, was speaking about Canada’s largest shipbuilding procurement in history—the Harper government’s three-decade, $33-billion, 15,000-job procurement strategy—which saw a decision for large vessels handed down Oct. 19.(...more)

Envoy distances Ukraine from Tymoshenko sentencing

Top bureaucrat postpones trip to Ottawa after diplomatic fallout; envoy says judicial system needs improvement.

Ukraine's envoy is distancing his government from the controversial ruling to jail his country's former prime minister—a move that drew fire from Prime Minister Stephen Harper—but has admitted the judicial system that sentenced her is flawed. (...more)

Canada can do more for new UN mission in Libya: Analysts

Police and judicial training, constitutional and electoral support, funding for human rights agencies—the list goes on.

Ottawa has the tools, the skilled personnel and the cash to support a much wider range of United Nations programs than it is currently carrying out in Libya, say UN and post-conflict experts. (...more)