Allain suggests link between premier, delayed municipal fiscal reform
Some local governments in need of bridge funding: municipal group
Former
local government minister Daniel Allain says the municipal fiscal
reform file had moved to the 'wayside' by the time he left cabinet in
mid-2023. BRUNSWICK NEWS ARCHIVES Former cabinet minister Daniel Allain is suggesting there’s a link between the delay of further municipal fiscal reform and Premier Blaine Higgs, but the Moncton East Tory MLA won’t say exactly what that link is that has affected the file.
Allain, who was fired as local government minister by Higgs in June 2023, says his department was initially on track to hit a Jan. 1, 2025, deadline to provide more revenue sources for cash-strapped municipalities.
By the time he left cabinet in mid-2023, however, Allain says the municipal fiscal reform file had been moved to the “wayside.”
“Any time that we had momentum we lost it a little bit – that’s unfortunate,” he said in an interview Friday.
“However, I think we can get it back on the rails as fast as we can, and by seeing the two associations (agreeing to municipal fiscal reform priorities) in unison with one voice, I think it’ll definitely help move things forward.”
When asked why momentum was lost, Allain said, “You’ll have to ask the premier on that one,” and wouldn’t elaborate further about what he meant, calling it a “debate” to be had after the upcoming provincial election.
Allain has already announced he won’t reoffer in the election that must occur no later than Oct. 21. He was booted from cabinet last year after he and five other Tory MLAs voted in support of a Liberal motion on Policy 713, which deals with gender identity in the public school system.
Brunswick News requested comment Friday from Higgs about Allain’s statements. Higgs declined comment through his office.
New Brunswick municipalities are now preparing for another year without those promised fiscal changes. Both the anglophone and francophone municipal associations say they’ve been told by the government that additional financial reforms will be implemented by Jan. 1, 2026.
In a statement Friday, new Local Government Minister Glen Savoie said it had “always been the plan” for the changes “to be in effect for the 2026 budget year” once they were implemented in 2025.
But in an interview, Allain said his intention, through the municipal reform white paper he released in 2021, was to have additional fiscal reform changes implemented by Jan. 1, 2025.
In November 2021, the Higgs government pledged that a second phase of fiscal reform to support cash-strapped municipalities would be brought forward by the start of 2025.
Among those changes could include an overhaul of the property tax system, the splitting of provincial cannabis sale proceeds and the handing over of traffic fine revenue to municipalities.
More revenue sources were deemed critical by the Higgs government to support its reorganization of New Brunswick municipalities in the first phase of reform back in 2023.
That same year, the Higgs government implemented the first phase of fiscal reforms – adding a heavy industrial tax class and giving municipalities more flexibility when setting their tax rates – but the province has yet to take any additional steps.
Some local municipalities in need of bridge funding
Some francophone local governments will need financial support to bridge themselves through to Jan. 1, 2026, according to Yvon Godin, president of the L’Association Francophone des Municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick (AFMNB).
“We’ve asked the government to be open to help these governments right now,” said Godin, a councillor for Rivière-du-Nord.
Last December, the Higgs government released a report by two Université de Moncton economic professors who reviewed municipal and regional finances in the province.
The report’s authors, André Leclerc and Pierre-Marcel Desjardins, concluded the current financial model for local governance isn’t sustainable. They predicted as many as 29 local entities – or about one-third of all municipalities and rural districts – could run a budget deficit from 2024 to 2026.
In his statement, Savoie said he was “proud of the work the department is doing to engage with our local government partners as we continue to navigate local governance reform.
“Since I have become minister, it has been my priority to work closely with municipalities on this file,” he said. “I want to recognize the efforts and hard work of local elected officials; we value their voice as we continue to collaborate.”
Liberal local government critic Jacques LeBlanc claims New Brunswick municipalities essentially lost a year of progress on the municipal fiscal reform file due to the departures of Allain and his deputy minister Ryan Donaghy in 2023.
Donaghy – a longtime deputy local government minister – was reassigned to the role of deputy education minister for the anglophone sector.
“(Donaghy) knew everything. He had everything lined up, the timelines were there,” LeBlanc said. “That was, to me, done intentionally.”
Green local government critic Kevin Arseneau said it’s clear that the Higgs government “mismanaged” the file.
“When you say you’re going to do something, you get it done,” said Arseneau, the MLA for Kent North. “This government made some promises and it didn’t follow through on them.
“They put their resources elsewhere.”
Municipal groups unite to advocate during election
Representatives of New Brunswick’s municipal associations continue to participate in a working group with provincial department officials to arrive at a fiscal framework.
But these associations are also preparing for a possible change in government come this fall.
Last week, New Brunswick’s anglophone and francophone municipal groups inked a memorandum of understanding on their shared priorities for a new fiscal framework with the province.
Those priorities include the diversification of revenue streams, “predictable” cost-sharing infrastructure programs, “stable and equitable” equalization funding, long-term funding for enhanced regional service commissions, and a “modern” property assessment and taxation system.
“We want all of the leaders of all the political parties to be aware that we’re united in our efforts around this now and going through the summer and into the election season,” said Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black, president of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick.
Green local government critic Kevin Arseneau said it’s clear that the Higgs government “mismanaged” the file.
“When you say you’re going to do something, you get it done,” said Arseneau, the MLA for Kent North. “This government made some promises and it didn’t follow through on them.
“They put their resources elsewhere.”
Municipal groups unite to advocate during election
Representatives of New Brunswick’s municipal associations continue to participate in a working group with provincial department officials to arrive at a fiscal framework.
But these associations are also preparing for a possible change in government come this fall.
Last week, New Brunswick’s anglophone and francophone municipal groups inked a memorandum of understanding on their shared priorities for a new fiscal framework with the province.
Those priorities include the diversification of revenue streams, “predictable” cost-sharing infrastructure programs, “stable and equitable” equalization funding, long-term funding for enhanced regional service commissions, and a “modern” property assessment and taxation system.
“We
want all of the leaders of all the political parties to be aware that
we’re united in our efforts around this now and going through the summer
and into the election season,” said Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black,
president of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick.
Executive director Dan Murphy and president Andrew Black, of the Union
of Municipalities of New Brunswick, are pictured in this file photo. Photo by Barbara Simpson/Brunswick News
Allain says he’s “impressed” by the unity on display by the two municipal associations and by the proposal they’ve developed.
Both the Liberals and the Greens say they’re supportive of the municipalities’ fiscal reform asks and know time is of the essence to help these local entities.
In the case of the Greens, Arseneau says his party would like to go further and give more decision-making powers to municipalities – the level of government closest to the people.
As for the Liberals, LeBlanc says he and party leader Susan Holt have been upfront with the municipal associations that they’d need in the new year to meet with stakeholders and develop a long-term fiscal framework if they were to form the next government.
Five N.B. companies can’t hire more foreign workers until fines paid
Ottawa has issued roughly $2 million in fines to employers over the last fiscal year
OTTAWA • Five New Brunswick companies can’t hire temporary foreign workers until they pay outstanding fines for violating the rules of the government program.
And one hasn’t paid after being fined roughly five years ago.
That’s as the federal government says it is doing more to crack down on abuse, highlighting how it issued roughly $2 million in fines to employers of foreign workers over the last fiscal year, up by more than a third from the year prior.
Twelve employers were banned by Ottawa from hiring workers under the temporary foreign worker program in the last fiscal year, including for failing to provide safe working conditions and appropriate accommodation to employees hired from abroad.
That figure is up from seven from the previous year.
The feds pointed to those figures in a statement to reporters last week, while also underscoring how a public database names all employers that have breached the rules.
None of those companies are from New Brunswick.
But the database shows that five businesses in the province have outstanding fines, meaning Ottawa won’t allow them to use the program until they pay up.
“Employers are ineligible to use the Temporary Foreign Workers Program if their administrative monetary penalty is not paid in totality or an established payment plan with Canada Revenue Agency is not in good standing,” confirmed Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s press secretary Mathis Denis.
Timber Kitchens Ltd. in Riverview is the latest New Brunswick company to be fined.
A decision in April found Timber Kitchens didn’t keep documents that showed they met the conditions of employing temporary foreign workers. They also didn’t give an inspector the documents they asked for.
That resulted in a $1,000 fine that the database says has yet to be paid.
Applewood Smoked BBQ House in Moncton was fined $1,000 last year for failing to give an inspector documents and is still listed as having an outstanding penalty.
That business has since closed.
Meanwhile, a numbered company – 697131 NB Inc. – with the address of 20 Lonsdale Drive in Moncton received a $12,000 fine in 2022, and has yet to pay the balance.
That address is home to Spoon Sushi.
The database states the penalty was, in part, because the pay or working conditions didn’t match, or were not better than, what was listed on the offer of employment, or the job was not the same as what was listed on the offer of employment.
RapidMind Solutions Inc. in Quispamsis received a $2,000 fine in 2020 that it has yet to pay.
That was, in part, because the employer didn’t show up for an inspection.
That company has also since permanently closed.
And Caldwell Transport 2013 Ltd. in Rothesay was given a $5,750 fine roughly four years ago in July 2019, with the money owing still outstanding, dollars owed after pay or work conditions were not as advertised.
It appears to no longer be operating.
Brunswick News attempted to reach out to all five companies for comment and did not receive responses.
Others in New Brunswick have paid and can continue to use the program.
Pêcheries Lebreton & Fils Ltee in Grande Anse was fined $30,000 in June last year after an inspector found the employer “didn’t put in enough effort” to make sure the workplace was free of physical, sexual, psychological, or financial abuse, or reprisal, according to the database.
It has paid that fine.
The only other fine leveled against a New Brunswick company in the last fiscal year was to Jack’s Pizza & Donairs in Fredericton that has also paid a $2,000 fine for, in part, not providing an inspector the documents they asked for.
Monetary penalties issued to businesses failing to comply with the rules of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program rose to $2.1 million in the fiscal year ending March 31.
That’s a 36 per cent increase compared with a year earlier, according to data released by Employment and Social Development Canada.
Of some 2,100 businesses inspected, six per cent were found to be non-compliant, a similar level to the previous fiscal year.
The data release follows a Senate report that Canada’s temporary foreign workers system is “failing” both workers and employers.
That committee spent several days in New Brunswick as part of its fact-finding efforts and has ultimately called for a new independent agency of government to oversee every step of the migrant system.
The report argues that foreign workers must navigate “confounding bureaucracy” to get to Canada, while the inspection system to hold employers to account is also flawed.
Meanwhile, employers face their own bureaucratic battles to the point that the workers they need often arrive too late for the harvest.
But the study ultimately concludes that migrant workers are needed for the country’s agricultural and seafood industries to survive. It notes that, last year, there were a total of 59,175 workers with foreign worker permits working in New Brunswick – a record number.
That’s as the region needs to retain 18,000 to 22,000 newcomers every year to meet current labour market needs.
Sponsored travel by MPs questioned amid foreign interference claims
There’s now calls for the commonplace practice to end
Dominic LeBlanc once took paid trips to Taiwan and Israel.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor had travel paid for by the government of Qatar.
More recently, John Williamson and a group of Conservative MPs grabbed headlines for their trip to London.
Williamson’s tab was paid for by a think tank in Hungary.
The sponsored travel accepted by New Brunswick MPs, and dozens of other politicians, is commonplace on Parliament Hill where it’s entirely within current parliamentary ethics rules for members to accept trips to destinations all over the world as long as the purpose, cost, and sponsor of the trip is publicly disclosed.
But amid growing concerns of foreign interference in Canada’s elections and a bombshell report by a committee of parliamentarians that found some unnamed MPs are “witting or semi-witting” participants in foreign meddling, there’s now calls for it to end.
“Is there really a free lunch in politics?” Green Leader Elizabeth May said last week.
“I don’t see any reason that a member of Parliament should accept a free trip anywhere from a foreign government. I don’t think they offer free trips to visit their country without expecting that they’ve at least influenced the MP a bit.
“I just think it is bad practice and while we’re tightening up the rules and looking at foreign influence and foreign interference, I think they should not be allowed.”
May herself took a trip in 2018 that was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority to visit disputed territories.
She says she’s since reimbursed the costs of that trip.
Asked by Brunswick News about the value of sponsored travel and whether it should still be allowed, Williamson also suggested the rules should be tightened.
“Foreign interference is a problem for an unknown number of Trudeau Liberal MPs and if sponsored travel is enabling foreign agents to capture members it should be limited or ended,” Williamson said in an email.
The New Brunswick Southwest MP’s disclosure shows his travel to London last June was paid by the Danube Institute, based in Budapest.
He left Ottawa for London three days before the House of Commons adjourned for summer break to attend a meeting of the International Democrat Union, a global conservative political organization currently chaired by former prime minister Stephen Harper.
It also states that Williamson met on the topic of energy with the IDU and U.K. parliamentarians.
Roughly $4,000 in flight costs and $7,000 in hotels are listed.
That trip grabbed national headlines as Conservative MPs Stephen Ellis, Rosemarie Falk, Shannon Stubbs, Phillip Lawrence, along with Williamson, dined at high-end restaurants including the Savoy, Bentley’s, and the Guinea Grill.
The dinner at Bentley’s oyster bar came to $404.87 a person. The tab at Guinea Grill shows several expensive bottles of wine and champagne on the bill.
The sponsored travel registry shows Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor was part of a delegation of Parliamentarians that travelled to Qatar’s capital city of Doha in 2016, paid for by the Qatar government.
Petitpas Taylor brought her husband, according to the documents.
Qatar covered $5,743 in flights and $1,000 for a hotel stay.
LeBlanc travelled with his wife to Taiwan in 2014 on a trip paid for by the Chinese International Economic Co-operation Association, a Taiwanese business organization.
That included $9,120 in flights and $2,128 for a hotel in Taipei.
LeBlanc, his wife, and stepson also had a trip to Israel paid for by the Canada-Israel Committee, now known as the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
In disclosure documents, LeBlanc wrote that it was to “meet with Israeli government officials, parliamentarians, and defence forces.”
Roughly $15,000 in expenses were covered.
MPs racked up $840,000 in 2023 on travel bills paid for by lobby groups and foreign countries, nearly four times what was spent five years ago, according to analysis by Postmedia.
Politicians flew to 92 destinations, including places like London, Israel, Taiwan, Paris and Seoul.
That number is twice what it was in 2022, when MPs were given $412,332.86 worth of travel, and nearly four times what it was in 2019 when MPs were comped $221,627.76 in travel bills.
The pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 saw relatively little travel with only seven trips in either of those years.
Both LeBlanc and Petitpas Taylor’s offices declined requests to speak on the value of their trips.
Instead, both offered very similar statements.
“I suggest you address this request to the International Board of Economy, which is represented by all parties and makes its decisions by consensus,” Petitpas Taylor’s press secretary Isabelle Arseneau said.
Jean-Sébastien Comeau in LeBlanc’s office added: “It is preferable for this question to be dealt with by the Board of Internal Economy, which has representations from all parties and arrives at its decisions by consensus.”
A request for comment made to the board’s chair, Speaker Greg Fergus, wasn’t immediately returned.
Members of the Board of Internal Economy, which oversees the operation of the House of Commons and its spending, adopted a proposal last month made by Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen to examine exceptions to the rule that prohibit MPs from claiming expenses related to partisan events.
But that relates to how MPs can claim expenses for things like travel to a caucus meeting held at the same time and place as a party convention. It doesn’t directly deal with sponsored travel.
Last year, Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger banned any group that is federally registered to lobby from offering free trips to MPs.
Earlier this year, the House of Commons ethics committee passed a motion calling for the end of sponsored travel, with the idea to replace it with an expanded budget for MPs that allows for two international trips a year.
That moved the question of sponsored travel to the procedure and house affairs committee.
“Ultimately, I look at these trips as part of a perk that is not justifiable in the present economic context, nor is it accountable in terms of transparency and accountability,” said NDP MP Matthew Green, who put forward the original motion.
Williamson suggested the questions on sponsored travel come as Canadians want to know what MPs are helping foreign states.
The report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, known as NSICOP, cites “particularly concerning examples of behaviour by a few parliamentarian,” including “knowingly or through willful blindness” accepting funds or benefits from foreign governments.
It further alleges these Canadian officials worked to “improperly influence parliamentary colleagues or parliamentary business” at the direction of foreign actors.
The report was heavily redacted, not naming the MPs or which party they belong to or whether they are still sitting in the House of Commons.
“The Trudeau government should reveal the parliamentarians who have helped our adversaries and enemies so they could explain themselves and be accountable,” Williamson said.
LeBlanc, the Trudeau government’s Public Safety minister, has maintained that it is up to the RCMP to investigate and lay charges if warranted, while maintaining that intelligence reports often contain “uncorroborated or unverified” information.
MPs have since voted to see an ongoing inquiry into foreign interference investigate.
PC MLA latest to announce she won't be re-offering
Fundy-The Isles-Saint John West MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason won't run again in the next election
Fundy-The Isles-Saint John West MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason says she’s not re-offering for the Progressive Conservatives six years after first winning in the long-time Liberal riding.
Anderson-Mason, who announced her decision Friday afternoon, served as attorney general and justice minister and regional minister responsible for the Regional Development Corporation from 2018 to 2020.
She was first elected in the riding, which includes St. George, Grand Manan, Deer Island, and parts of Saint John West, in 2018 before being re-elected in 2020.
She is the latest Tory “rebel” who has chosen not to run again after previously opposing the government’s changes in June 2023 to Policy 713, which sets gender rules in the province’s public schools.
Speaking to Brunswick News on Friday, Anderson-Mason said that she came to the decision based on the way backbench MLAs “are not engaged in any way in government decisions,” and said she hasn’t had a direct line to Premier Blaine Higgs since her demotion from cabinet in 2020.
“Because there is little-to-no communication between myself and the premier, I think that makes getting things done for my area challenging,” she said. “At the end of the day, we have to make the best decision for myself, my family, but most of all for my area.”
Anderson-Mason said she is “focused” on her constituency duties until the end of her term. While former riding president Glenn Hawkins said “the speculation was” that Higgs would not have signed her papers if she were nominated, Anderson-Mason said she was not pressured directly and said “if I wanted to run I would run.”
Anderson-Mason unseated incumbent Liberal cabinet minister Rick Doucet, who was elected in 2003 after the retirement of fellow Liberal Sheldon Lee, who had been the region’s MLA since 1978.
“We won a riding … and basically it was thought to be unwinnable by the Conservatives,” Hawkins said, noting that the government was in a minority position at the time.
A request for comment with the office of the premier was not returned by press time.
Stepping back was a difficult decision because “many people” reached out to urge her to run again, Anderson-Mason said.
“I feel like I have a lot to offer,” said Anderson-Mason, citing 17 years of legal experience. “I feel like my biggest gift is representing those who feel represented, and government didn’t really give me the opportunity to do that the way I expected.”
She said some departments were “very closed,” and said that decision-makers in Fredericton often didn’t understand “what island life was like” for Deer Island or Grand Manan Island or the “uniqueness” of the region.
“But I really had so much pleasure introducing the rest of the province to this amazing area that I represent, and … I think we made some real progress,” she said.
PC MLAs Trevor Holder, Dorothy Shephard, Daniel Allain, Jeff Carr and Ross Wetmore have announced that they will not re-offer in the next provincial election, with Arlene Dunn resigning her ministerial and MLA duties in February. Jill Green said in October she will re-offer. All were part of the June 2023 statement declaring their “extreme disappointment in a lack of process and transparency” regarding proposed changes to Policy 713.
Regarding Policy 713, Anderson-Mason said she didn’t consider it a “defining moment of my political career.”
She said it was “more than it needed to be,” and that they could have given teachers “a path to engage parents” while allowing children to feel safe at school and respecting the law.
“The explosion that was Policy 713 did not have to happen, and I think the momentum kept rolling when there was an indication that this might … garner more votes,” she said. “There’s an expression that’s repeatedly used in the PC party, and it’s ‘fish where the fish are.’ I personally don’t think that should be the focus of a government.”
Anderson-Mason said that the issues between herself and Higgs go back to 2020 when she was demoted from cabinet following the Progressive Conservative majority election win. She was one of a handful of Tories who voted that June to defeat the government’s proposed mandatory vaccination bill, which had initially invoked the charter’s notwithstanding clause.
When asked what caused the issues, Anderson-Mason did not mention any particular issue but said she is “an ardent defender of the rule of law.”
“There were different times where I may have been perceived as obstructionist because I felt that we should not dismiss the rule of law,” she said. “We shouldn’t spend all of our time caught up in courtroom challenges because we were not willing to do the hard work up front.”
She said that while some politicians have issues with policy debates in public, she considered that “her strength.”
“The difficult part is not being engaged and involved in the decisions of government,” she said, adding it was difficult to affect policy when caucus members were informed of some decisions just before the general public hears them.
“I think people believe we’re involved in those decisions and we’re not,” she said. “When I would speak up about it, it would appear I was going up against my government, but I never had an opportunity beforehand to discuss it behind closed doors.”
She also mentioned the government’s proposed French Immersion changes and said when she consulted others, she heard that they would be “devastating” to literacy, and that she was a part of arguing against that.
“In the future, who will be there to dig in and listen?” she said, but added people always step in to fill a gap.
She said she was not considering a run as an independent, although she said she is “not opposed” to municipal politics. With 17 years of legal experience, she said she’d recently had a conversation about a legal issue with someone and said it was “refreshing using my mind again.”
She said things she was proud of included, as minister for the regional development corporation, securing funding for the redevelopment of the Fundy Quay site on Saint John’s waterfront and work supporting smaller municipalities to upgrade their water and septic systems at a time when current population growth trends were not in the cards.
“I don’t feel that I’m done, but I feel that in the system that I’m in, I brought everything to the table,” she said. “I found it a real privilege to serve the people of Fundy-The Isles-Saint John West for six years, they were Liberal for 40 years.
“Thank you for taking a chance on a Conservative, it’s been a joy, an honour and a privilege.”
– With files from Andrew Waugh, John Chilibeck & Barbara Simpson
Jackson Doughart: Trinity Western’s teaching grads are certified. Why shouldn’t its law students be?
A student who attended the law school of Trinity Western, even if he or she was not influenced by or in agreement with its views on sexuality, would be in effect prohibited. What sense does that make?
You would think that if the crusaders against Trinity Western University’s law program believed their own rhetoric against the school’s accreditation – the subject of a B.C. Supreme Court case that began this week – they would at least bother to be consistent. Indeed, if the university’s crime is a failure to stay in lockstep with the fashionable ideas of the day (namely, of progress and secularism at the expense of everything else), then surely the prohibition on Trinity Western’s law graduates would not be nearly enough.
Staying within the university itself, there is the school’s teachers college, whose right of religious freedom was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2001. In that case, the Court found no evidence that a teachers program based on a Christian curriculum would lead its graduates to act in a discriminatory way, thereby overturning the decision of the British Columbia College of Teachers to not award the school its due certifications. That legal precedent should be enough to put the entire matter to bed: Trinity Western’s graduates, in whatever field, should be judged based on their own performance and an objective appraisal of the school’s ability to educate, not the rest of the country’s opinion of their religious beliefs.
- National Post View: In a liberal society Trinity Western should be free to educate according to its beliefs
- John Carpay: The Bar Association doesn’t speak for all
To see the can of worms being opened here, consider that the law school and teachers college at Trinity Western are but two of the programs at the university, whose students are required to pledge themselves to a community covenant. The fuss is over a controversial provision which permits sexual relations within the confines of Christian marriage only. But if the worry is that its law and teacher graduates might take the school’s traditionalist values with them to their prospective vocations, oughtn’t the ban be far broader? What about students who take a degree in philosophy from the school and then go on to a law degree at some other institution? Would such people not risk taking those Christian values with them, and thus merit blacklisting as well?
What about students from other, even secular universities who, while not attending a Christian school, espouse similar beliefs to that of Trinity Western, and dare to assemble in accordance with them? Every university that I know of has some kind of voluntary Christian student organization or club (often there are multiple ones, in accordance with denomination), with some groups going so far as to encourage their members toward similar ideals of chastity. I have read about some societies which have abstinence pledges of their own, and reserve the right to expel members for failing to live up to them.
Following the logic of the case against Trinity Western, aren’t these groups “discriminatory” as well? And if so, why aren’t they on the radar?
A student who attended the law school of Trinity Western, even if he or she was not influenced by or in agreement with its views on sexuality, would be in effect prohibited. What sense does that make?
Then there’s the big inconsistency involving our southern neighbour. The United States has, among its thousands of post-secondary institutions, countless Bible-thumping universities that train lawyers and grant law degrees. Some of them have community covenant-esque pledges of a similar variety to Trinity Western’s. Someone could go to one of these schools and take an undergraduate degree in theology, perhaps specializing in the finer points of Christian teachings on sexual mores, then get a JD from its law school and — with a few catch-up courses in Canadian law — be eligible for the bar in any of our provinces! Meanwhile, a student who attended the law school of Trinity Western, even if he or she was not influenced by or in agreement with its views on sexuality, would be in effect prohibited. What sense does that make?
So we see that the entire enterprise of ostracizing Trinity Western – whose chief sin seems to be the temerity to actually state its religious convictions – is entirely selective. The point isn’t whether the majority of members in a provincial law society (in this case, B.C.’s law society) share those views or consider them repellent. It’s that they’re jettisoning all consideration of fairness and reasonableness in making their preference into policy. If they won’t recognize the inconsistency in singling out Trinity Western for this absurd exclusion, they should at least respect the legal precedent honouring the freedom of religion, including for those whose beliefs are out of step with the zeitgeist.
National Post
Safety Net: Video: Don’t outlaw cyber ransom payments, says panel
Panel of cybersecurity experts says such legislation would have serious unintended consequences
There is no blanket ban in Canada on paying ransom in a cyberattack. Photo by Getty Images/iStockphotoFive cybersecurity experts agreed that federal policymakers shouldn’t pursue legislation outlawing payments in ransomware attacks as a deterrent to cybercriminals.
Such an approach could have “very serious unintended consequences,” said Cathy Beagan Flood, a partner at the law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, in a live virtual panel event organized by the Financial Post.
Beagan Flood pointed in particular to cyberattacks on public providers such as hospitals, which would have no “ability to provide critical services unless they pay the ransom, then at the same time are being told it’s illegal to pay the ransom.”
This is an issue facing all manner of institutions, including health-care authorities, municipalities, large corporations and small businesses alike.
The panel was assembled as part of the newspaper’s special series on cybersecurity, which focused substantially on the novel problem of ransomware — in which hackers gain access to vital information and then lock it from the owner until they pay to get it back.
Some regulations prohibit ransom payments to foreign groups under sanction. But there is no blanket ban, even though many organizations elect to rebuild their digital assets and data instead of paying up. Beagan Flood said 44 per cent of Blake’s cyber clients did not pay ransoms after an attack, according to a 2021 study.
But the problem with legislation to curb payments, panelists argued, is the alternative when cybercriminals don’t get the money.
“What you’re going to do is take the decision-making out of the hands of who owns that data,” said Randy Purse, a senior adviser with Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst in Toronto. “You’re not taking into account the harms of the non-payment of a ransom.”
He said those harms can include release of the information behind held by hackers. Those cybercriminals understand that paying the ransom demand — which can range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars — is often a better alternative for organizations, he said.
Such legislation might even play into the hands of cybercriminals, argued Ali Dehghantanha, a professor at the University of Guelph who holds a Canada Research Chair in cybersecurity.
“If I know that you cannot report me, or you cannot ask for help, I would ask for more money,” he said.
The legality of ransoms was one of several topics in the hour-long event held March 29. Beagan Flood, Dehghantanha and Purse were joined by Terry Cutler of Cyology Labs and Mandy D’Autremont of the Canadian Federation for Independent Business. Gabriel Friedman, a Financial Post reporter, moderated the panel.
The group also discussed inadequate knowledge in cybersecurity among IT professionals, the costs to small businesses of reducing their risk, and the trade-off with civil liberties in combating cybercrime through regulation.
Mastercard Inc. partnered with the Financial Post as sponsor of the Safety Net series, which includes eight feature articles, a four-part online cybersecurity course, a podcast and the virtual panel.
About
Experience
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I edited the op-ed pages for the Telegraph-Journal, New Brunswick's newspaper of record. I also worked with the opinion page editors for the Brunswick News chain, including daily papers in Fredericton and Moncton and six weekly papers throughout the province. Principally, I author editorials representing the paper's view of provincial and municipal affairs. I also solicit, edit, organize and publish comment pieces by public policy experts, columnists and community voices.
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Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) Jan 2016 to Jul 2017 · 1 yr 7 mos Halifax, Nova ScotiaResearch Coordinator
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Policy analysis, research, writing for publication, editing, translation, managing interns, campus outreach, event planning, website development, media appearances, speechwriting.
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Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Aug 2009 to Jul 2016 · 7 yrs Montreal, Canada AreaOn-ice official (Linesman)
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National Post, Inc. Jun 2015 to Oct 2015 · 5 mos Toronto, Canada AreaIntern
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I was an intern with the National Post editorial board.
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Dowbiggin Enterprises Sep 2013 to Jun 2015 · 1 yr 10 mosResearch Assistant
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I was a grad student in Queen's political science program, concentrating in political theory. My Major Research Paper / M.A. thesis explored the argument over the legitimacy of judicial review with respect to religious freedom and the separation of church and state. My supervisor was Prof. Andrew Lister. I completed courses in ethnic nationalism, history of political thought, ancient philosophy, constitutionalism, philosophy of science, and American foreign policy. I was a teaching assistant for Prof. David Haglund in an undergraduate course in international relations.
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Education
AIMS merges with the Fraser Institute to create Canada’s largest independent public policy think-tank
The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies and the Fraser Institute are excited to announce their formal merger to create the largest independent think-tank in Canada, covering public policy from coast to coast. The merger is an opportunity for a renewed AIMS—within the Fraser Institute—to continue to be a distinctive Atlantic Canadian voice on economic and public policy issues affecting the region. “The coming together of our two great institutions will enhance the important work AIMS has been doing for more than twenty years, providing practical policy solutions to raise living standards and increase prosperity for people in Atlantic Canada today and for future generations,” said Niels Veldhuis, President of the Fraser Institute.
IMS History
1994-1995
AIMS launches with Brian Lee Crowley as Founding President and Cedric Ritchie as Chairman. Five major publications, three events, including one with Sir Roger Douglas of New Zealand who served as Minister for two labor governments. A presentation to Parliament about social security reform.
1995-1996
Purdy Crawford joins as Chairman “to help create a culture where public policy decisions are informed by all the relevant points of view.” AIMS hosts first annual conference: “The Coming Revolution in Local Government.”
1996-1997
Release of two books: Taking Ownership & Looking the Gift Horse in the Mouth the latter of which won the prestigious Sir Antony Fisher Award in 1997. AIMS 2nd annual conference on school choice. Chairman Purdy Crawford announces that AIMS has developed a prominent voice “that even our most vociferous critics find impossible to ignore.” Brian Lee Crowley also leaves for a position on the Globe and Mail editorial board and Don Cayo replaces him.
1997-1998
AIMS publishes Frank McKenna’s last speech as Premier of New Brunswick, emphasizing market solutions to economic development problems facing the region. The Institute also hosts a student conference, looking into issues such as post-secondary education, Canadian unity and federal transfers. AIMS hosts third annual conference: “Everybody’s Business: Market Solutions for Rural Development in Atlantic Canada.”
1998-1999
Don Cayo returns to the Telegraph Journal after two years as president of AIMS and Brian Crowley returns to AIMS. Fred McMahon, a senior policy analyst and winner of a Sir Anthony Fisher Award, accepts research post in Toronto.
1999-2000
A “watershed year,” according to Chairman Purdy Crawford as AIMS increased its funding and welcomes 1999 Nobel Prize Robert Mundell to the team. AIMS published two companion books by Fred McMahon: Road to Growth and Retreat from Growth, and four other major research papers. “Operating in the Dark,” authored by Brian Crowley, Dr. David Zitner, Director of Medical Informatics at Dalhousie University and Nancy Faraday-Smith, AIMS Policy Analyst, wins the Sir Antony Fisher Award. Former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed speaks at an AIMS event.
2000-2001
Purdy Crawford announces his departure as Chairman and Gerald Pond becomes AIMS’ Third Chairman. AIMS research on federal transfers is discussed during a private dinner with Finance Minister Paul Martin and several Canadian public policy experts. Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm tabled an AIMS report on offshore royalty regimes in the legislature. The government of British Columbia supplied each of their newly-elected MLAs with a copy of Road to Growth: How Lagging Economies Become Prosperous. AIMS received its first mention in the Wall Street Journal.
2001-2002
James Buchanan, 1986 Noble Prize economist, is the keynote speaker at an event focusing on equalization and federal transfers in joint-effort between AIMS, the Montreal Economic Institute and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Authored by Ken Boessenkool, AIMS publication “Equalization Initiative” receives the Sir Antony Fisher Award. The Institute’s healthcare research also featured prominently in the Mazankowski Report and the fifth volume of the Kirby Senate Committee report. With respect to the energy sector, Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm cited AIMS research as a key inspiration of his government’s policy on energy exports.
2002-2003
Gerald Pond announces his departure as Chairman and David Mann becomes AIMS’ Fourth Chairman. Another banner year for AIMS: “Definitely NOT the Romanow Report” received extensive national coverage and culminated in a fourth Sir Antony Fisher Award. AIMS launched its first annual “High School Report Card.” Official Opposition Leader Stephen Harper identified AIMS as “Dollar for dollar, the best think tank in Canada.”. White House policy advisor David Frum identified AIMS as “the special forces of the think tank movement.”
2003-2004
“AIMS continues to serve as a strong and distinctive voice on public policy in Atlantic Canada,” — Chairman David Mann, on AIMS 10th anniversary year. 12 new reports on critical public policy issues, hosted upwards of 10 key events, published 22 commentaries to engage the public, policymakers, and the private sector, and addressed the Standing Committees at the House of Commons.
2004-2005
With over 200 think tanks and research organizations spanning 67 countries in the competition, AIMS wins the 2005 Templeton Freedom Award for outstanding research, the only North American outfit to be honored. 11 reports on public policy issues facing Atlantic Canada, 29 commentaries, and 12 special events featuring speakers such as former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. AIMS launched Atlantica.org, a website dedicated to free trade between Canada and the United States in the Atlantic region.
2005-2006
The annual “High School Report Card,” featured in Progress magazine, garnered more than one million hits on AIMS.ca. AIMS equalization papers “The Flypaper Effect” and “The 100 Per Cent Solution” received widespread regional and national coverage. AIMS launched the “Canadian Health Care Consensus Group,” comprising healthcare experts such as medical practitioners, former health ministers, and past presidents of the Canadian Medical Association.
2006-2007
David Mann announces his departure as Chairman and John F. Irving becomes AIMS’ Fifth Chairman. In his final “Message from the Chairman” Mann remarked that the Institute’s “ideas … have gone from the embryonic to the mainstream in fairly short order. This is why AIMS exists, not only to have good ideas, but also to share those ideas with others so that the uncommon becomes commonplace and the lives of individual Canadians get better.” Brian Crowley leaves for post at the Department of Finance Canada & Vice-President and Director of Operations Charles Cirtwill replaces him as Acting President.
2007-2008
AIMS President speaks in Milan on “Freedom of Choice in Education: Responsibility as a Systemic Principle.”. AIMS senior fellow Brian Fergun speaks at annual economics lecture of Cyprus Economic Society and David Mackinnon at the Empire Club of Canada on equalization. NB Education Minister Kelly Lamrock: “I think AIMS has done a huge service to the public in reminding us of the importance of having clear goals and measuring them well.” Municipal Report Cards; 38 papers, almost 1,000,000 unique visitors, 6,000,000 website hits and 500 news stories covering AIMS.
2008-2009
Fifteen years after founding AIMS, Brian Crowley announces his departure as President. Executive Vice-President Charles Cirtwill replaces him. AIMS hosts the “When Tea and Sympathy Are Not Enough” conference, on pharmaceutical issues, and Maclean’s Magazine features the Institute’s “National Municipal Performance Report” on their July cover issue. Throughout the year, the Institute published 37 papers and featured in more than 600 news stories.
2009-2010
John F. Irving announces his departure as Chairman and John Risley becomes AIMS’ Sixth Chairman. AIMS celebrates its 15th anniversary in Halifax with Afghan Ambassador Jawed Ludin and in Moncton with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush as keynote speakers. On the heels of Paul Bennett’s paper about expanding Nova Scotia’s “Tuition Support Program” , the provincial government expands the initiative. AIMS’ presentation to the Liberal government in New Brunswick inspires new tax reform legislation. AIMS’ “High School Report Card” inspires the Newfoundland and Labrador government to pursue education monitoring.
2010-2011
AIMS hosts Andrew Ross Sorkin, the author of “Too Big To Fail.” Michael Zwaagstra, AIMS Fellow in Education, spoke at the “Putting Students First and Fixing Our Schools” conference. AIMS expanded the “High School Report Cards” beyond Atlantic Canada into the Western Provinces in conjunction with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. AIMS published 44 papers and commentaries that were featured in more than 400 news stories.
2011-2012
Former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney speaks at AIMS event, drawing 600 guests. On the public finance file, AIMS published two large studies to mark the end of the Federal Fiscal Arrangements Act and another one that used Ontario’s “Drummond Report” to analyze public finance in Atlantic Canada.
2012-2013
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty spoke in Halifax and joined Chairman John Risley for an hour-long fireside chat about the Canadian economy. Events with Kings MP Scott Brison, on “The Future of Atlantic Canada’s Economy” & Alessando Colombo of Politecnico di Milan on Municipal Policy and “Subsidiarity.”
2013-2014
Marco Navarro-Genie replaces Charles Cirtwill as President of AIMS. AIMS research team participates in consultations with provincial and federal government officials, including Nova Scotia Minister of Finance Diana Whalen and Federal Minister of Finance Joe Oliver. AIMS hosts Lorraine Mitchelmore, Shell Canada’s President, in back to back dinner events in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
2015 – 2016
Brought together 300 business and community leaders to address the major issues facing Nova Scotia’s economy. This high profile event placed AIMS at the center of the current discourse on the direction of our economy; most specifically, it enhanced a sense of agency within the business community and the community at large to improve the economic realities in our region. Published 60+ papers, studies, and opinion pieces authored by AIMS staff, research fellows, and contributing authors.
Jackson Doughart, AIMS on Campus
Aside from his professional pursuits, Jackson is an on-ice official and plays drums for the rock bands Chaotically Zen and Magnetic North.
Brunswick News editor-in-chief named to ‘Top 25 under 35’ class
Jackson Doughart, the editor-in-chief of Brunswick News has been named to Editor and Publisher Magazine’s Top 25 under 35 class for 2023.
Doughart, 31, is featured along with dozens of up-and-coming media workers across North America. In the winner’s announcement, Doughart does a short question and answer feature. His questions and answers are included below:
Q: What advice do you have for other young professionals in the news industry?
A: Jump at every opportunity to work across functions (e.g., sales, editorial, marketing, product) and learn the whole business, not just one specialized area.
Learn how to interpret and discuss data as our industry becomes more analytics-focused.
Get off of Twitter. It’s bad for you.
Q: How do you bridge the gap between traditional and digital journalism?
A: Reward journalists for breaking out of the print workflow. We must update our readers early and often to build a relationship with them.
Be transparent about growth progress and show people the path to a sustainable, digital-dominant business.
Adapt the presentation to the audience. A five-part series used to work for print, but it doesn’t engage online readers the same way. We need to package enterprise journalism so readers can digest it at their own pace and so the work can have a lasting impact.
Two other Canadian media workers were also recognized for their outstanding potential and achievements. The CBC’s Natascia Lypny and Cara McKenna, an editor with IndigiNews were also named to the 2023 class.
