Category: Policy-politique

  • Truth & reconciliation

    Truth & reconciliation

    In a few days, on September 30, Canadians take the day to recognize the harm to indigenous people and their societies, we call it the “national day for truth and reconciliation.”

    While it is often attributed to commemorate the victims and survivors of residential schools (children, families, generations), many of us also attribute the day to the wider set of atrocities committed by Canada upon the indigenous people.

    Meanwhile, our “esteemed” neighbour and once closest ally, has claimed that the Wounded Knee massacre of about 350 Lakota Sioux people (children included) in 1890 was a Wounded Knee battle, and those who fought in the “battle” will keep their medals, as publicly shared by their secretary of war Pete Hegseth on September 25, 2025.

    Frankly, none of this should be as a surprise.

    The US granted 20 Medals of Honor for this massacre yet granted 10 Medals of Honor for the Normandy incursion on D-Day – Medals of Honor for acts of bravery and there is no bravery in the slaughter of innocents including children.

    If the members of the USS Vincennes received commendations (combat action ribbon) for shooting down a civilian aircraft killing 290 people, Iran Air flight IA655 on July 3, 1988, then this is simply more of the same.

    Equally, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if the US awards medals to Vietnam war veterans for the Mỹ Lai massacre (mee-lie) when on March 16, 1968, the US committed a war crime by rounding up civilians (between 350 and 504) and killing them. This included various battalions, regiments, and brigades of the US. Some of the girls and women were raped by several prior to their further brutal slaughter.

    One has to wonder and seriously ask the question: if the US has been our greatest ally and we jointly participate/d and partner/ed in defence and intelligence (FVEY, globally known as the white Commonwealth and the United States), has Canada also been complicit in any inhumane acts?

    Indeed Canada was complicit in the Vietnam War, selling arms and Agent Orange (chemical warfare), content supporting the US and making money from US actions in the Vietnam War.1

    If indiscriminate death of civilians including children and infants was and is bad (Russia, China, Myanmar/Burma, Israel… terrorists like ISIS and al-Qaeda – now state leaders of Syria and Afghanistan) then isn’t it bad all the time and everywhere?

    Countries sitting silent while the US rewrites history and rewards criminal acts are complicit in their own ways and asking for support in other criminal acts around the world is hypocrisy.

    In a time (period of 9 months plus the first Trump administration) when state leaders, NATO SecGen, and billionaires bow down to US leadership, showering praise and gratitude upon President Trump, we know the leaders care more for money, not for the betterment of humanity or the value of human life and human dignity.

    All this was highlighted by PM Keir Starmer’s guest list of the September 18, 2025 Windsor Castle state dinner, bowing to Trump, which included US and UK business leaders: Apple CEO Tim Cook, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAi’s CEO Sam Altman, Blackstone’s CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, Palantir Technology CEO Alex Karp, ARM’s CEO Rene Haas, Alphabet’s president Ruth Porat, and the many billionaires in Trump’s administration.

    The very definition of an oligarch is a very rich person who can influence government to their financial benefit.

    All billionaires in the US can do this, arguably a billionaire is the President of the US. So is the US is an oligarchy with oligarchs?

    Canada isn’t far off, it’s just more subtle as our billionaires are a bit less obvious about it. As a Canadians, let’s accept out our faults to fix them.

    Yesterday, on September 25, 2025, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, stated “India buys Russian oil because they can buy it for cheaper… We wish India would work with us to buy [US oil]. You can buy oil from every nation on the earth, just not Russian oil. That’s our position. America has oil to sell, so does everybody else. We don’t want to punish India.”

    Does this mean it’s now OK to buy oil from Iran, Venezuela, or Serbia? 

    It’s not that the US wants to solely sanction Russia in order to compel Russia to change behavior, it’s that one must buy US oil and energy products. Chris Wright founded Liberty Energy (2011 when it was known as Liberty Oilfield Services), today worth $2.8 B USD. He founded and supported other companies in the US energy vertical market, and in 2023 as CEO of Liberty earned $5.6 M USD.

    If the US global tariffs wasn’t enough to showcase the obvious bullying and arm twisting by the US, then this latest round of bullying for money isn’t going to change anyone’s mind.

    Ukraine buys oil from India (Jul 2025 India supplied 15.5% of Ukraine’s diesel imports – daily 2700 tonnes). India remains the top supplier of diesel to Ukraine for Aug 2025 to 18.1%. Couple this with the sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline.

    And now, billionaire Larry Ellison is back in the media spotlight. If you followed his activities in the 90s you will know of his yatch racing, MiG-29 purchase, and more. Today, the billionaire (oligarch), Oracle founder (financial supporter of the IDF – serious question: who personally funds a military?) has reasonable control of CBS, Paramount, Warner, CNN and soon TikTok.

    Is this the world we want?

    1. Victor Levant, Quiet Complicity Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War (Between the Lines, 1986). ISBN 978-0919946736. ↩︎
  • Crime and violent crime in Canada

    Crime and violent crime in Canada

    The NSCOESN team members enjoyed watching the near hour long Stephen Harper interview on July 28, 2025 for the Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Legislative Conference held at Saskatoon’s TCU Place, Saskatchewan.1

    We captured several quotes, and encourage you to watch the entire interview by Victor Thomas, president and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council.

    We have included one clip of just over 3 minutes long where Harper discusses his advice to Prime Minister Carney on CANUS trade and finding alternative trading partners, including Europe and India.

    Stephen Harper discusses Canada-U.S. relations at Saskatoon conference – July 28, 2025

    As a sidenote, the event was held in Saskatoon. Saskatoon has 30 active crime groups, spread across approximately 317,000 people including the surrounding area.

    Think about that for a moment. The Saskatoon Police Service has approximately 500 constables and special constables.2 If each of those 30 active crime groups have a conservative estimate of 50 members per, thats 1,500 criminals involved in organized crime. That number is worse if there are more members per crime group. Consider the risk (likelihood vs. consequences) if each of those criminal group members chose to pickup a firearm with the intent to target the local police. It is a good thing criminal groups don’t tend to all work together!

    StatCan measures Canada’s crime severity index (CSI) which considers the volume and severity of police reported crimes. Their data just released July 22, 2025.3 You will need to download the entire data set to see the breakdowns of the metropolitan areas and cities.

    Canada Crime Report summarized the data very well from 2010 to presently available data of 2024.4

    IDCityCSIViolent CSI
    1️⃣Winnipeg MB130.9199.1
    2️⃣Edmonton AB109.3122.0
    3️⃣Saskatoon SK106.7142.5
    4️⃣Vancouver BC92.996.4
    5️⃣Surrey BC86.579.4
    6️⃣Montréal QC75.7112.5

    StatCan now reports Saskatoon data, updated July 30, 2025, with a CSI of 117.49 and violent CSI at 159.83.5

    1. https://www.youtube.com/live/D4r9S0lcw3o?si=PAzPXR9er9nj5YsQ ↩︎
    2. https://leadersinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/OppProfile_Saskatoon-Police-Service_Police-Chief_FINAL.pdf ↩︎
    3. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/subjects/crime_and_justice/crimes_and_offences/crime_severity_index ↩︎
    4. https://canadacrimereport.com/crime-severity-index?min_population=250000&sort=crime_severity_index&direction=desc ↩︎
    5. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510006101 ↩︎
  • Canada-Emirates drug trafficking

    Canada-Emirates drug trafficking

    Reported by the Emirates Ministry of Interior (MoI), on July 18, 2025 the Sharjah police (UAE) seized 131 kg of narcotics and psychotropics as they tracked the smuggling from Toronto Canada port, through the St. Lawrence Seaway, into Málaga Spain port, and on its way to the UAE (Sharjah is adjacent to Dubai).1

    Seven people have been arrested, including a husband and wife. The drugs were shipped hidden with used car parts in a shipping container.

    The NSCOESN has studied drug trafficking into and across Canada, along with drug consumption by the general public (various demographics, rich and poor), and none of this is a surprise.2

    In 2023 June, Dubai Customs seized nearly 550 kg of drugs destined for Canada.3 Unfortunately that is not included in today’s reporting. Indeed back then, Canada did not have Kevin Brosseau appointed as Fentanyl Czar, specifically funded and supported to counter cross-border drug trafficking.4

    Mr. Brosseau was appointed to primarily counter drugs entering the US from Canada, however, they would likely notice drugs leaving Canada in general – especially if the Emiratis are able to track it from Toronto to Málaga to Dubai. With skilled teams, one can watch drug trade happening in various cities across Canada. It’s likely that you know someone who consumes illicit drugs or distributes it. Indeed, you might not be aware of their activities.

    Besides the domestic and international criminality of smuggling of drugs by organized crime groups from Canada into other jurisdictions, it can also harm our international relations and potentially international trade. Shifts in bilateral trade can impact domestic companies, trade revenues, and jobs, thereby the Canadian economy.

    Additionally, when drugs enter Canada, they are distributed to a range of age groups (from children to adults) raising various social and public safety concerns, along with budget challenges to counter the drug trafficking/use and the added burden upon Canada to provide healthcare support through our provinces and territories.

    All of these and more are national security concerns.

    1. See X/Twitter post by the UAE MoI dated July 18, 2025, https://x.com/moiuae/status/1946288014390673642 ↩︎
    2. The NSCOESN has performed a study on various drugs seized by the US entering Canada, and published a report on cocaine seizures by US authorities attempting to enter Sarnia over the Blue Water Bridge between January and December 2024. ↩︎
    3. See article dated June 4, 2023 by Dubai Customs titled “Dubai Customs help Canadian authorities seize shipment of 547kg of drugs,” https://www.dubaicustoms.gov.ae/en/mobile/pages/newsdetails.aspx?itemid=1922 ↩︎
    4. https://www.canada.ca/en/privy-council/services/canada-fentanyl-czar.html ↩︎
  • Canada’s financial stability

    Canada’s financial stability

    Financial stability is a pillar of national security.

    Canada’s debt management strategy tabled by the Department of Finance is requesting to borrow $147 B for 2025/26 (see table 1) and includes $30 B to fund purcases of Canada mortgage bonds.1

    This results in a $1.6 T market debt alone (see table 3).

    We remain curious to see what this does to the Canadian dollar and economy.

    With the GC already planning permanent position cuts over the next 3 fiscal years estimated at a total of almost $20 B,2

    • 26/27 (7.5%);
    • 27/28 (+2.5%, totaling 10%); and
    • 28/29 (+5%, totaling 15%),

    plus executing job cuts this fiscal 25/26 at various departments and agencies:3

    • ESDC (800 jobs at Service Canada, Passport);
    • CRA (3000 jobs over the past few months including 280 permanent positions; last fiscal year 6656 jobs were cut);
    • IRCC (unknown positions); and
    • more that are not yet public plus job cuts from last year,

    coupled with:

    • the number of homes for sale;
    • US foreign policy volatility and US trade tariffs;
    • the job market shrinking;4
    • the cuts to consultants;
    • the impact to new university graduates for the next 4 years with unforgivable debt; and
    • inflation which is likely to continue increasing,

    we wonder what this will do to our:

    • housing market (in which rests the majority of Canadians retirement);
    • general retirement investments (RRSPs and other cash);
    • the value of CAD currency;
    • insolvency rates across Canada; and
    • the rest of the Canadian economy.

    Indeed, that was a long sentence!!

    1. Released July 16, 2025 https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/services/publications/debt-management-strategy/2025-2026.html ↩︎
    2. FinMin Champagne sent letters to the ministers, informing them of the next three fiscal year job cuts, https://cupe.ca/carneys-cuts-threaten-services-and-jobs-help-our-communities-thrive ↩︎
    3. https://psacunion.ca/1100-jobs-cut-service-canada-and-cra-threatening ↩︎
    4. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250404/dq250404a-eng.htm ↩︎