Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced the appointment of five new members of the Senate.
Michèle Audette, Amina Gerba and Clément Gignac will represent Quebec in the Red Chamber. David Arnot will represent Saskatchewan and Karen Sorensen will represent Alberta.
The Governor General appoints senators on the advice of the prime minister. All five senators will sit as independents, according to a news release from the Prime Minister's Office.
"All new Senators were recommended by the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, and chosen using the merit-based process open to all Canadians," the release says. "This process ensures Senators are independent, reflect Canada's diversity, and are able to tackle the broad range of challenges and opportunities facing the country."
There are 105 seats in the Senate. These five appointments lower the number of vacant seats to 10.
New faces in the Red Chamber
Audette, who is from the Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam in Quebec, was president of the Native Women's Association of Canada from 2012-15. She was also one of five commissioners on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Gignac was a Liberal member of Quebec's National Assembly from 2009-12 and served in the provincial cabinet as minister of economic development, innovation and export trade, as well as minister of natural resources and wildlife. An economist, Gignac also worked in the federal Department of Finance as a special adviser to the deputy minister during the 2008-09 recession.
Gerba, an entrepreneur born in Cameroon, has worked to establish business and economic links between Canada and Africa. She has founded a number of businesses and is a member of the Canadian Council on Africa and the African Business Roundtable. Her companies selling personal care products employ thousands of women in Africa.
Arnot is the chief commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, a position he's held since 2009. He's also worked as a senior Crown prosecutor in Saskatchewan and as a judge on the provincial court. He's worked in the federal Department of Justice in a number of roles, including special adviser to the deputy minister of justice.
Sorensen is the mayor of Banff, Alta. and has had a long career in local politics. She's been a municipal councillor and school board trustee, and has worked in the hotel industry.
The St. Louis Blues have added some depth scoring by agreeing to a five-year, $22.5 million contract with Brandon Saad.
The 28-year-old joins the Blues after one season with the Colorado Avalanche.
Saad recorded 15 goals and 24 points in 44 regular-season games and added an another seven goals in 10 playoff games in 2020-21.
After losing Jaden Schwartz to Seattle and Mike Hoffman to Montreal on the opening day of free agency, plus Vladimir Tarasenko’s unclear future with the team, the Blues needed to add a top-six calibre winger and Saad fit the bill.
The Avalanche recently gave captain Gabriel Landeskog and star blueliner Cale Makar lucrative long-term deals and general manager Joe Sakic said of Saad when speaking with reporters on Wednesday: “Unfortunately with the way the salary cap is, we weren't able to keep him.”
Saad has scored more than 20 goals in five of the past seasons. He has 184 goals and 371 points in 632 career regular-season games split between the Blackhawks, Blue Jackets and Avalanche.
The Lansdowne Park underground parking garage.Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia
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A condition assessment of the parking garage at Lansdowne Park showed “widespread leaks” only five years after it was constructed, forcing the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group to spend money on stopping water infiltration during financially draining times for the company.
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The 2019 Morrison Hershfield report, obtained from the city through access to information, assessed the waterproofing condition as “fair.” The consultants found evidence of leaks in multiple locations of the parking garage and concluded that “significant targeted replacement repairs to the expansion joints and areas with widespread leakage will need to be performed” to make sure the waterproofing reaches its expected 30-year life.
Keeping as much water out of the garage as possible is critical for the city and OSEG since it contains infrastructure that supports the operation of the site, such as mechanical systems, piping, cables and electrical services.
Construction and operation of the mostly one-level parking garage dates back to 2014.
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The consultant estimated the cost of the targeted waterproofing replacement on the garage’s podium deck at $690,000. Other suggested short-term repairs included $130,000 to replace waterproofing where buildings tie into the deck and $125,000 to replace expansion joints.
To complete that work, it could also mean having to spend another $75,000 to remove surface pavement and landscaping to get at the underground parking structure, the report said. The surface was found to be in “excellent” condition by the consultant.
According to information provided to this newspaper by OSEG, leaking has been happening for three main reasons: electrical conduits, expansion joints and a floor epoxy coating that has failed in the area of the high-rise building above the garage.
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OSEG and the city brought in an engineer after the 2019 condition assessment to establish a “leak plan,” understand what elements should be repaired and recommend where the water should be diverted.
Since then, two out of three breached expansion joints have been repaired with another scheduled for repair this fall, OSEG said. The epoxy coatings were repaired in 2020 and the electrical conduits were caulked, though the caulking will be an ongoing maintenance requirement.
OSEG said it has spent $150,000 so far on repairs to stop the leaks. The company also noted that underground parking garages are always susceptible to leaking.
As part of the redevelopment, the city paid to build the urban park, south-side stadium stands and the parking garage.
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Responsibility for the garage is complicated since there are multiple stakeholders, OSEG said. The city has 1,000 spaces leased to TD Place and the retail section of Lansdowne, while three condo corporations together have 288 spaces and the office building has 90 spaces. OSEG is the manager of the shared facilities.
Matthew Knight, the city’s program manager for infrastructure renewal, said the city is currently repairing waterproofing in the parking garage adjacent to the Horticulture Building. The repairs aren’t covered under construction warranty.
Knight said the city is responsible for repair and maintenance of the portions of the parking garage it owns, as well as a portion of the cost for shared facilities.
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Under the agreement with the city, OSEG is required to conduct a third-party engineering report on all city-owned facilities every five years. The report helps decide how much money is required in lifecycle maintenance accounts.
In December 2020, council voted in favour of allowing OSEG to dip into asset maintenance funds to help the company pull through financial challenges caused by COVID-19. Two OSEG-fed reserves — one for the parking garage and another for the stadium and arena — had a combined $4.7 million at the time of the council approval.
OSEG said most of the money in the maintenance reserves was earmarked for lifecycle work at the stadium. The company hadn’t used any lifecycle reserves on the parking garage; it’s paying for any work as required.
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(This newspaper first requested the Morrison Hershfield condition report from the city in November 2020 but was directed to the access-to-information process, which produced the document this month.)
Lansdowne could see a second wave of redevelopment in the coming years.
Last week, council signed off on a plan to further improve Lansdowne and make the long-term agreement between the city and OSEG more financially sustainable. The city and OSEG are investigating if the north-side stands and arena should be replaced and if more residential units should be built on the site.
The north-side stands and arena, which are one structure, have been deemed wildly out of date compared to modern entertainment facilities.
Morrison Hershfield also examined the state of TD Place as part of the 2019 condition assessment of city assets. The consultant eyeballed about $6.7-million worth of maintenance required over five years at the entertainment facility, with the 1967 Civic Centre arena requiring most of the work.
With her bronze medal in the women’s 200-metre freestyle, Toronto swimmer Penny Oleksiak became Canada’s most decorated Summer Olympian. The freestyle bronze was Oleksiak’s second of the Games and sixth overall, moving her ahead of rower Lesley Thompson-Willie and runner Phil Edwards. “I don’t think I’m here by chance,” said Oleksiak, who won four medals at the 2016 Rio Games as a 16-year-old.
HALEY MAKES HISTORY
Haley Daniels made Canadian canoe history when she competed in the women’s C-1 canoe slalom at the sun-drenched Kasai Slalom Centre. Daniels didn’t advance out of the qualifying heats, but her biggest victory was being able to compete at all. Daniels was among the athletes who fought for 12 years for women to be able to participate in an Olympic canoe race, an opportunity that has been afforded men for the past 85. “I know we are always fighting for results, but I’ve had to fight for 12 years just to get here. And so being here is really special for me.”
TENNIS TUMBLE
Any chance Canada had of bringing home a tennis medal ended when Félix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski fell 6-3, 6-4 to the second-seeded Greek tandem of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari on the opening day of mixed doubles competition. Canada’s tennis players won just one match in Tokyo, Leylah Fernandez’s women’s singles opener. It’s a disappointing end to Canada’s Olympic tennis hopes, though the team was without top-ranked players Bianca Andreescu and Denis Shapovalov and veteran Vasek Pospisil.
BLACK INJURED
Canadian gymnast Ellie Black was forced to withdraw from Thursday’s women’s all-around final after suffering an ankle sprain in training. The Canadian Olympic Committee says it hopes Black will recover in time for next week’s balance beam final. The news on Black came shortly after American star and defending champion Simone Biles withdrew from the event to focus on her mental well-being.
SWAGGER RESTORED
The star-studded U.S. men’s basketball team returned to the win column in typically impressive fashion with a 120-66 rout of Iran. American confidence had been shaken after the team suffered a shock 83-76 defeat to France in its tournament opener. The result ended the Americans’ 25-game Olympic winning streak. “After that loss we came together,” guard Damian Lillard said. “It was a lot of communication between then and now where it’s like, ‘All right. It’s time to start looking like Team USA.”’
The Access to Information request was prompted by Iain Stewart's refusal to provide a House committee with unredacted documents about the firing of two scientists
Public Health Agency of Canada President Iain Stewart approaches the bar in the House of Commons to be admonished by the Speaker Anthony Rota on June 21, 2021.Photo by Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press/File
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OTTAWA — A requester seeking access to a week’s worth of emails and messages from the head of a federal agency embroiled in controversy has been told to wait five years or more for a response under Canada’s information law.
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The applicant recently asked the Public Health Agency of Canada for emails, texts and messages that president Iain Stewart had sent or received from June 14 to 21.
The Access to Information request was prompted by curiosity about Stewart’s refusal to provide a House of Commons committee with unredacted documents about the firing of two scientists, which touched off a battle with Speaker Anthony Rota.
The Canadian Press granted the requester anonymity because they are concerned about the possible implications of publicity for their employment as an Ontario public servant.
Under federal access law, agencies are supposed to answer requests within 30 days or provide reasons why more time is needed.
The Public Health Agency of Canada recently informed the applicant that an extension of up to 1,950 days — over five years and four months — would be required. It said the request involves a large number of records, the original time limit would unduly interfere with agency operations and another government institution must be consulted.
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The Public Health Agency had no immediate further comment.
The requester and experts in freedom of information said the lengthy extension defeats the purpose of the access law.
“Transparency is only a lame catchphrase,” said the applicant, accusing the agency of obstructing access to the records.
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
The requester has complained to the federal information commissioner, an ombudsman for users of the law, in the hope she will remedy the delay.
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“She has the chance to take bold action and finally hold federal bureaucrats to account — especially on such a pressing issue of public interest.”
Fred Vallance-Jones, an associate professor of journalism at University of King’s College in Halifax, said the extension amounts to “something like eight months of additional time for each single day of messages, which seems absurd on its surface.”
“It’s important to note that Stewart is a very senior official, and there is every expectation that his communications would be preserved and accessible,” Vallance-Jones said.
“Access to information loses any meaning if information cannot be retrieved in a reasonable amount of time and I think that is doubly true for people at this level who should be able to anticipate such requests.”
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When Sean Holman, who studies the history of freedom of information, first saw the extension notice, he thought: “This must be a joke.”
“This is nothing but delaying access to effectively deny access and another example of how the Trudeau government has broken the Liberals’ election promise to be open by default,” said Holman, a journalism professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
The latest extension comes shortly after New Democrat MP Charlie Angus learned it could take the Justice Department more than six years to process his request for documents related to a new regulator that will handle child pornography and exploitative material.
The federal government is currently reviewing the Access to Information Act and how it is administered.
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In a submission to the review, the group World Press Freedom Canada said federal institutions have little incentive to abide by reasonable time-frames.
“There is no clear limit to the length of extensions they can unilaterally invoke, and blowing past deadlines has no material consequences. The playing field is tilted in their favour.”
The overburdened Access to Information system does not have the resources needed to efficiently process requests, said Wesley Wark, an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa and a senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
At a public consultation session Wednesday, part of the federal review, Wark asked whether there was genuine readiness to fix the problems.
“It would take a real expression of political will.”
The Seattle Kraken have agreed to terms with forward Jaden Schwartz on a five-year contract worth $27.5 million, the team announced Wednesday.
Schwartz, who had spent his entire 10-year career with the St. Louis Blues, is coming off a season in which he scored eight goals and added 13 assists in 40 games played.
Schwartzy
We've agreed to terms with Jaden Schwartz on a 5 year contract ($5.5M AAV). pic.twitter.com/p0ZPIfUUWW
The 29-year-old surpassed 20 goals in four seasons and hit 50-plus points in five, doing so most recently in 2019-20 with a 22-goal, 57-point campaign that was ultimately cut short due to COVID. He was a crucial part of the Blues' Stanley Cup championship run in 2018-19, contributing 12 goals and 20 points in 26 games.
The Saskatchewan native now brings veteran scoring, versatility, and a little bit of grit down the wing to Seattle as the league's newest franchise -- which plucked RFA defenceman Vince Dunn from the Blues via the expansion draft -- assembles its lineup for its inaugural season starting this fall.
The Kraken have been busy in free agency, also signing No. 1 goalie Phillip Grubauer earlier Wednesday.
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