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Trump Sanctions Flag A Harsh Reality—PRC and Canadian Elite Ties Underwrite Fentanyl Vulnerability

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4 hours ago

4 minute read

By Garry Clement

Former Senior Mountie Argues Geopolitics of Ottawa’s Relations with Beijing Loom Behind Trump Threats

The threat of a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada, announced by President-elect Donald Trump, highlights a harsh reality: Canada’s vulnerability to fentanyl is deeply intertwined with its close ties to China.

Chris George, a government relations advisor and writer, has highlighted the Liberal Party’s connections with Chinese leadership. He notes that the party’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party is significantly influenced by Power Corporation, the Desmarais clan’s flagship enterprise.

“The Liberal Party of Canada is inseparably tied to the Chinese Communist Party today,” George alleges, “and much of the Canadian-Chinese business relationship is driven by Power Corporation, the crown jewel of the Desmarais family fortune.”

The ties between the Liberal Party and Power Corp have allegedly become so entrenched they are virtually indistinguishable:

  • André Desmarais, son-in-law of former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, serving as President and co-CEO of Power Corp.
  • Former Prime Ministers Paul Martin, Jean Chrétien, and Pierre Trudeau holding positions within Power Corp.
  • Jean Chrétien acting as a Power Corp. lobbyist in China.
  • John Rae, brother of former Liberal leader Bob Rae, being a long-serving senior manager.
  • Senator Peter Harder, a key advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on China, previously serving on the board of Power Financial Corporation, a subsidiary of Power Corp.

Peter Harder also served as President of the Canada-China Business Council, a business advocacy group founded in 1978 with significant support from Paul Desmarais and Power Corporation. He left the council upon his Senate appointment by Prime Minister Trudeau. The Council is now chaired by Olivier Desmarais, grandson of Paul Desmarais and Jean Chrétien. These connections are also explored in my book, Undercover: In the Shady World of Organized Crime and the RCMP.

Recent reports reveal strong ties between Chinese leaders, the People’s Republic of China, and the Premier of British Columbia. Chinese companies have been acquiring Canadian logging operations and vast tracts of farmland. In Prince Edward Island, properties are being purchased under the guise of a monastic group called Bliss and Wisdom.

Evidence suggests that China’s leadership is complicit in producing fentanyl precursors, fully aware of their shipment to Mexico—and now Canada. It is widely suspected that fentanyl money laundering is facilitated through the “black market peso exchange,” a method funneling illicit proceeds into North America. Wealthy Chinese buyers then use fentanyl profits to purchase property, while the manufacturers of precursors are paid in Chinese renminbi.

Traditional media outlets, across the political spectrum, seem to have fallen under the same spell as the Liberal Party, failing to report on these pressing issues with any legitimate objectivity.

The tariffs proposed by President-elect Trump will undoubtedly impact us all. But perhaps, by remaining silent for so long, Canada is now facing the consequences it deserves. It is time for the silent majority to hold this failing government accountable. Canada needs greater transparency, accountability, and a complete re-evaluation of its foreign and domestic policies—especially those concerning China.

Garry Clement consults with corporations on anti-money laundering, contributed to the Canadian academic text Dirty Money, and wrote Undercover, In the Shady World of Organized Crime and the RCMP

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Business

Government job-growth rate in Canada vastly outstrips private sector

Published on November 27, 2024

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From the Fraser Institute

By: Ben Eisen and Milagros Palacios

The number of government jobs in British Columbia grew by 22 per cent (the highest percentage in the country) compared to just 0.5 per cent in the private sector. In Ontario, the number of government jobs grew by 14.6 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent in the private sector.

Across Canada, government employment has exploded, dwarfing job-growth numbers in the private sector and raising serious questions about the affordability of this government hiring spree.

Specifically, according to our new study, from 2019 to 2023 employment in the government sector (which includes federal, provincial and local governments nationwide) increased by 13.3 per cent compared to just 3.6 per cent in the private sector (including self-employment).

Among the provinces, during the same four-year period, the number of government jobs in British Columbia grew by 22 per cent (the highest percentage in the country) compared to just 0.5 per cent in the private sector. In Ontario, the number of government jobs grew by 14.6 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent in the private sector. Eight out of the 10 provinces experienced a faster rate of job growth in the government sector than in the private sector over the four-year period. Alberta was the only large province where the private sector had a faster rate of job growth (7.2 per cent) than the government sector (4.4 per cent).

Moreover, during the four-year period, almost half of the total job growth in the Canadian economy took place in the government sector. As a result, the number of government jobs (as a share of total employment) increased by 21.1 per cent. In case you’re wondering, you can reasonably attribute this growth in government to the pandemic as most of the growth occurred post-COVID. As a result, government employment (again, as a share of total employment) in 2022 and 2023 was higher than at any point since the start of the fiscal reforms of the early 1990s.

So, why is this a problem?

Because the private sector pays for the public sector including the wages and salaries of government employees. And when you increase the size of the government-sector workforce, you increase the strain on government finances. If the share of workers employed by government continues to grow, the government must extract more money from the private sector to pay for a growing government wage bill—either in the form of higher taxes today or new debt that must be either repaid or financed indefinitely by future taxpayers. That’s the last thing taxpayers need, considering the state of government finances across the country. The federal government, for example, expects to run budget deficits of at least $20 billion for the next five years.

Taken together, these job growth numbers tell us an important story about the state of Canada’s labour market and economy. While there was substantial variation between provinces, almost all of them experienced a faster rate of job growth in the government sector than in the private sector over four years. This raises serious questions about the health of the private sector in Canada and the effect of an increasingly expensive government wage bill on taxpayers who must ultimately foot the bill. Policymakers should consider these questions before making any future decisions about budgets and government-sector job growth.

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Business

Pentagon mum after Musk calls its most expensive project ‘obsolete’

Published on November 27, 2024

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U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning IIs from the 356th Fighter Squadron at Eielson Air Force Base fly side by side with Republic of Korea Air Force F-35s from the 151st and 152nd Combat Flight Squadrons as part of a bilateral exercise over the Yellow Sea, Republic of Korea, July 12, 2022. 
Senior Airman Trevor Gordnier | U.S. Air Force photo

From The Center Square

The Pentagon has about 630 F-35s. It plans to buy about 1,800 more. And it intends to use them through 2088. DOD estimates the F-35 program will cost over $2 trillion to buy, operate, and sustain over its lifetime.

Pentagon officials declined to comment on Elon Musk’s critical assessment of its most expensive project, the F-35 stealth fighter.

Tesla CEO and SpaceX leader Elon Musk called the Pentagon’s stealth fighter “obsolete.”

“The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level, because it was required to be too many things to too many people,” Musk wrote on X. “This made it an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none. Success was never in the set of possible outcomes. And manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway. Will just get pilots killed.”

In May, The U.S. Government Accountability Office found the cost of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapon system was projected to increase by more than 40% despite plans to use the stealth fighter less, in part because of reliability issues.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s F-35 Lightning II is the most advanced and costly weapon system in the U.S. arsenal. It’s a joint, multinational program that includes the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, seven international partners and foreign military sales customers.

The Pentagon has about 630 F-35s. It plans to buy about 1,800 more. And it intends to use them through 2088. DOD estimates the F-35 program will cost over $2 trillion to buy, operate, and sustain over its lifetime.

On Tuesday, a reporter asked Defense Department Press Secretary Air Force Major General Pat Ryder about Musk’s comments on the F-35.

“Yeah, as I’m sure you can appreciate, Mr. Musk is, currently, a private citizen, I’m not going to make any comments about what a private citizen may have to say about the F-35.”

The GAO report found the F-35 program fell short of its goals.

“The F-35 fleet is not meeting most of its performance goals, including those for availability and for reliability and maintainability, according to DOD and contractor data,” according to the report. “We have consistently found that the F-35 fleet is not meeting its availability goals, which are measured by mission capable rates despite increasing projected costs.”

President-elect Donald Trump recently picked Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy leaders of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Trump said the new group will allow his administration to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulation, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.”

Ramaswamy and Musk detailed some of their plans for DOGE last week. Those plans include a focus on military spending after the Pentagon failed another audit.

“The Pentagon recently failed its seventh consecutive audit, suggesting that the agency’s leadership has little idea how its annual budget of more than $800 billion is spent,” they wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s annual audit once again resulted in a disclaimer opinion. That means the federal government’s largest agency — with a budget of more than $840 billion — can’t fully explain its spending. The disclaimer this year was expected. And it’s expected again next year. The Pentagon previously said it will be able to accurately account for its spending by 2027.

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