NATIONAL NEWS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / SOMMAIRE DES NOUVELLES NATIONALES
ADM(PA) / SMA(AP)
July 18 2014 / le 18 juillet 2014
MINISTER / LE MINISTRE
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
CDS / CEM
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
CAF OPERATIONS / OPÉRATIONS FAC
Afghan election: Comment
Jeffrey Simpson: In the aftermath of a presidential election in Afghanistan - a country Canadian troops
have left behind, having spent much blood and treasure - what does the winner face, after a recount
agreed to by both candidates? Problems everywhere, which might all get worse once most of the
remaining foreign forces depart at the end of the year. If Canadian attitudes are any guide, interest in
Afghanistan plunges after the troops return home. The Taliban insurgency continues apace, with violence
up in 2013 over 2012. The Taliban still enjoy safe haven in Pakistan, but are not popular in large swaths
of Afghanistan. The movement's threats to disrupt the two rounds of the Afghan presidential elections
failed. Indeed, voter turnout in the first round (estimated to be around 60 per cent) exceeded that in the
Ontario election, suggesting that Afghans did care. The second round featured a surge in turnout, which
in turn prompted accusations of ballotbox fraud. Political controversy is the last thing Afghanistan needs
as it faces the withdrawal of foreign forces, the insurgency, a weak economy, poor governance, meagre
revenues and a decline in interest among donor countries (G&M A11).
COMMEMORATION/ COMMÉMORATION
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
PROCUREMENT / APPROVISIONNEMENT
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
OTHERS / AUTRES
CFB Gagetown Sewage
Environment inspectors are looking into why millions of litres of sewage is spewing from manholes and
sewage pipes in Burton. The investigation began on Wednesday after the province was notified by the
Daily Gleaner that sewage has been discharging from sanitary lines and manholes from 5th Canadian
Division Support Base Gagetown's wastewater treatment plant over the past year. The waste is travelling
across a 20-metre wide easement that runs across the properties of at least five Burton residents before
the disposal line empties into the St. John River. Environment inspectors were in Burton on Wednesday
evening and Thursday speaking to property owners and officials from 5th Canadian Division Support
Base Gagetown, said Lisa Harrity, a spokeswoman with the Department of Environment and Local
Government. The military base had offered The Daily Gleaner a Thursday interview with Maj. Dave
Burbridge, the commanding officer of the infrastructure and maintenance squadron with the fifth engineer
services unit at the base. Moments before the interview was to happen, Capt. Jamie Donovan, a public
affairs officer with the base, said the interview would have to be rescheduled (L. Stewart: FDG A6, MT&T
B4).
Land Mines: Comment
Lloyd Axworthy, Foreign minister of Canada from 1995 to 2000: An important diplomatic opportunity has
opened for Canadain recent weeks. There is now growing interest and accompanying pressure for U.S.
President Barack Obama's administration to finally bring the United States in as a signatory to the Ottawa
Treaty banning the use of land mines. This would fulfill a special Canadian objective going back to 1997,
when the treaty was still under negotiation in a preconference meeting in Oslo. As it is, the Ottawa Treaty
has become one of the international community's most effective arms-control agreements and a clear
protector of innocent people from the risk of death and maiming. The Obama administration has now
taken steps to become even more closely engaged. A spokeswoman said Washington is considering
steps that would allow it to eventually join the treaty. This has been followed up by strong calls by the The
New York Times and other publications for the United States to sign the treaty. This political ramp-up has
been reinforced by revelations that the Syrian government has been using land mines. The point is that
while significant progress has been made, there is a long way to go before the world is free of this
scourge. U.S. participation in the treaty would go a long way to accelerate action toward that goal - which
takes us to Canada's unfinished diplomatic business and the chance we have to be actively onside in the
promotion and facilitation of the U.S. becoming a full signatory. Canada should be offering every
assistance. As the author of the Ottawa Process that brought about the treaty, I urgeCanada to use its
diplomatic presence and work in collaboration with both Washington and U.S. advocates to reinforce the
move toward full engagement (G&M A11).
HMCS Queen Charlotte gets new commander
Lt.-Cmdr. Allan Dale has taken over command of HMCS Queen Charlotte. The change of command took
place on Thursday although a more formal ceremony will take place on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the unit on
Water Street in Charlottetown. Dale has assumed command from Lt.-Cmdr. Peter Gallant (No byline: CG
A4).
Rendement de 16,3%
Investissements PSP, qui gère les régimes de retraite de la fonction publique fédérale, des Forces
armées et de la GRC, a enregistré un rendement de 16,3 % au cours l'année terminée le 31 mars. Cette
performance, que l'établissement compare à un indice de référence de 13,9 %, porte l'actif net à 93,7
milliards. Comme c'est le cas pour l'ensemble du monde des régimes de retraite, ce rendement
s'explique en partie par le dynamisme des marchés boursiers (Dv A6).
Section: Comment
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: JEFFREY SIMPSON
Headline: After the pullout, it's hard to know where Afghans begin
Page: A11
Date: Friday 18 July 2014
jsimpson@globeandmail.com
In the aftermath of a presidential election in Afghanistan - a country Canadian troops have left behind,
having spent much blood and treasure - what does the winner face, after a recount agreed to by both
candidates?
Problems everywhere, which might all get worse once most of the remaining foreign forces depart at the
end of the year.
If Canadian attitudes are any guide, interest in Afghanistan plunges after the troops return home. A recent
Pew poll found that a majority of Americans also believe their involvement there to have been a failure.
Americans support bringing their troops home. Whether they will keep sending aid to Afghanistan after
the troops return is an open question - they currently send a staggering 64 per cent of the country's
budget, according to the World Bank. Just 10 per cent comes from Afghan sources.
A look at Afghanistan's future is provided in reports by Anthony Cordesman for the Center for Strategic
and International Studies and the invaluable International Crisis Group, whose man in Afghanistan is
Graeme Smith, formerly of The Globe and Mail. Their in-depth reports make for sobering reading, Mr.
Cordesman's being the longest and most detailed.
Where to begin? Perhaps with the economy, which remains in dire circumstances.
It was hoped that mining would provide employment, but foreign investors have been scared off by the
security situation. The country's government can finance but only a small share of its expenses from its
own revenues. Underemployment is huge. Opium remains the biggest agricultural crop - all efforts by
Western countries failed to limit its prevalence, let along eliminate it.
Speaking of government, the World Bank says Afghanistan's governance indicators - rule of law, control
of corruption, effectiveness, accountability, political stability - approach the worst in the world. Writes Mr.
Cordesman: ``Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt and incompetent governments in the world.''
How corrupt? From a general population survey in 2012, half of adult Afghans said they had been obliged
to pay a bribe to a government official, including 51 per cent who reported having paid a bribe to a
teacher. The frequency of yearly bribes for those who paid them was 5.6 per year. The average cost of
the bribe - what we might call bribe inflation - had risen by 29 per cent from 2009 to 2012.
Most of the foreign money that poured into Afghanistan was for military and security purposes, but there
were billions of dollars for aid. (For a while, Afghanistan was the largest recipient of Canadian aid.) And,
yes, more children are in school and health outcomes have improved. Still, the United Nations Human
Development Index ranks the country 175th in the world. Transparency International ranks Afghanistan
174th out of 176 countries.
A very high birth rate, migration and conflict have left the country with a very young population. The
labour force is expected to grow by four million people in the next decade. Where work will come from for
these young people is unknown.
Fingers are crossed for the Afghan military to fend off the Taliban insurgency once NATO (largely U.S.)
forces depart at the end of 2014. Afghan forces have done the bulk of the fighting since the beginning of
2013, with mixed results.
Mr. Smith reports on the army's progress in four provinces: It has done well in one and not so well in three
others.
Mr. Cordesman's analysis is also mixed, which, given how little fighting the Afghan army used to do, is
perhaps not a bad result.
The Taliban insurgency continues apace, with violence up in 2013 over 2012. The Taliban still enjoy safe
haven in Pakistan, but are not popular in large swaths of Afghanistan. The movement's threats to disrupt
the two rounds of the Afghan presidential elections failed. Indeed, voter turnout in the first round
(estimated to be around 60 per cent) exceeded that in the Ontario election, suggesting that Afghans did
care.
The second round featured a surge in turnout, which in turn prompted accusations of ballotbox fraud.
Political controversy is the last thing Afghanistan needs as it faces the withdrawal of foreign forces, the
insurgency, a weak economy, poor governance, meagre revenues and a decline in interest among donor
countries.
Back to Top
ection: Main
Headline: Environment inspectors probe Burton sewage spills
Page: A6
Outlet: The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton)
Byline: LAVERNE STEWART The Daily Gleaner
Date: Friday 18 July 2014
Environment inspectors are looking into why millions of litres of sewage is spewing from manholes and
sewage pipes in Burton.
The investigation began on Wednesday after the province was notified by the Daily Gleaner that sewage
has been discharging from sanitary lines and manholes from 5th Canadian Division Support Base
Gagetown's wastewater treatment plant over the past year. The waste is travelling across a 20-metre
wide easement that runs across the properties of at least five Burton residents before the disposal line
empties into the St. John River.
Environment inspectors were in Burton on Wednesday evening and Thursday speaking to property
owners and officials from 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, said Lisa Harrity, a
spokeswoman with the Department of Environment and Local Government.
"We are now working with our partners to assess the situation and to identify what the next steps will be,"
said Harrity.
The department said it wasn't aware of any issue in Burton until it was informed by The Daily Gleaner.
Harrity said none of the affected property owners had contacted its regional office to complain.
Harrity said the investigation is just getting underway.
"We have been in discussions with the (military) base and we will be working with them basically to get it
mitigated and see what the next steps are in the mitigation," she said.
The military base had offered The Daily Gleaner a Thursday interview with Maj. Dave Burbridge, the
commanding officer of the infrastructure and maintenance squadron with the fifth engineer services unit at
the base.
Moments before the interview was to happen, Capt. Jamie Donovan, a public affairs officer with the base,
said the interview would have to be rescheduled.
"We are unable to provide you with a spokesperson at this point. We do, however, strongly anticipate
being able to tomorrow (Friday)," Donovan said.
The easement on the property owners' land has existed since the early 1950s. The easement permits the
military base to cross the properties with their sewer lines.
Residents say the problem has been ongoing for more than a year after the base informed them of a
planned sewage piping upgrade. Residents were first notified in a June 12, 2013, letter that the
Department of National Defence would be replacing an old sewer line with a new 600-millimetre diameter
concrete sanitary line and installing manholes. As well, a new diffuser would be installed in the St. John
River.
The letter from the military base's former commander, Col. L.C. Dalton, obtained by The Daily Gleaner
states that the construction, environmental protection activities, and restoration of the site would be
finished by Oct. 13, 2013.
But the project is far from finished. Every time there's a significant rainfall, the residents in the area say
sewage can be seen and smelled as it gushes from the exposed manholes and sewage pipes.
Minutes from an April 8, 2014, military occupational health and safety council meeting also obtained by
The Daily Gleaner state that from January to March of this year, there were 10 releases of black water
totalling 26,738,779 litres.
"All releases were weather-dependent," the minutes state.
On June 4, 2014, property owner Weldon Moore received a letter from former base commander Lt.-Col
J.J. Malejczuk apologizing for the sewage that spilled on his property after a recent bypass overflow.
The property owners said the military base has hired a private contractor to do the pipeline replacement.
However, they said, no work has been done in the area for months as the military has waited for an
environmental permit to work around watercourses including the brook behind Munn's property and the
St. John River.
The work started around the latter part of July last year, but when the military base didn't get the permit to
work around the St. John River, the work stopped, the property owners said.
On Moore's property, toilet tissue and human feces cover the ground, and he said he wants the military to
repair the mess.
He said after post-tropical storm Arthur, he called the military base about the massive amounts of sewage
rushing from the manholes on his large property.
Moore said the military did extensive soil samples, but he has not yet heard the results.
Doug Munn, who lives at 126 Route 102 in Burton, said his property has been stripped of grass and has
suffered extensive erosion. He said he's had raw sewage on site for five months.
In March, a portion of the sewer line on his property was removed, he said.
"Right now, every time there is a storm, the raw sewage is going down the pipeline into the St. John River
because the pipeline can't handle all of it," Munn said.
Munn's well is a little more than three metres from the sewer line. He's worried about the safety of water
he and his family have been drinking over the past year.
Munn said a warrant officer from the military base spoke to him on Wednesday night while the
Environment Department was doing its inspection.
"He was asking questions about the pipeline and what they could do to make it right," Munn said.
Munn said provincial environment inspectors took pictures on his land on Wednesday evening, and they
told him they would be returning on Thursday to investigate Moore's property.
James Dort, who lives at 123 Route 102, is also concerned about his drinking water. His well is less than
30 metres away from a sewage manhole that, he said, was gushing liquid high into the air and onto the
ground near his home following post-tropical storm Arthur on July 5.
Harrity said anyone with health issue concerns should be consulting their regional public health office.
"I told them (the military's representative) the only thing that would have made me happy here is if they'd
tested my well water," Dort said.
He said he plans to take a water sample to the provincial water testing facility to determine whether his
water has been contaminated by the sewage.
Chris Good, who lives at 130 Route 102, said he noticed a serious problem after his shepherd-mix dog,
Gage, came running into the house this spring smelling of feces.
Good said he called the military base to complain and to ask that the water in the brook be tested. He
said four military personnel arrived several days later and took water samples from the brook. He said he
never heard back from anyone on the military base.
Good said at times the smell of sewage in the area is so noxious, it's impossible to stay outside.
All of the interviewed residents have either sought or plan to seek legal advice on their situation.
The residents have posted video of the sewage problem on Youtube. The video, made by Burton resident
Tony Bateman, is called "Burton Sewage."
Back to Top
Section: Letter to the Editor
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: LLOYD AXWORTHY
Headline: Another chance to bury this scourge
Page: A11
Date: Friday 18 July 2014
Foreign minister of Canada from 1995 to 2000
An important diplomatic opportunity has opened for Canada in recent weeks. There is now growing
interest and accompanying pressure for U.S. President Barack Obama's administration to finally bring the
United States in as a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty banning the use of land mines.
This would fulfill a special Canadian objective going back to 1997, when the treaty was still under
negotiation in a preconference meeting in Oslo.
As final touches were being debated and clauses were being finalized, prime minister Jean Chrétien and I
felt that there was now a package that would overcome objections from the U.S.
military while holding true to the elements of the treaty. So we began an intensive effort of conversations
with U.S. president Bill Clinton and senior officials of his administration who were very open, in some
cases enthusiastic, at the prospect of joining us.
To allow time for these conversations to succeed, I instructed our delegation in Oslo to work for a day's
extension of the negotiating period. This brought unfounded allegations from certain NGOs in Oslo that
we were going to water down the treaty provisions.
Fortunately, other middle-power countries who were our allies in the treaty-making process, along with
major non-governmental players like the International Red Cross, saw the value of bringing the
Americans aboard and supported the extension.
That gave us 24 hours to work the diplomatic hotlines, and by early evening, word came back from
Washington that Mr. Clinton was ready to come onside. (He had previously called for a land mine ban at
the United Nations General Assembly.) But the Pentagon pushed back, and by 11 that night, the
president had backed away. It was a serious disappointment. Having the United States as a treaty
member would have been a significant addition and put pressure on other big-power holdouts.
As it is, the Ottawa Treaty has become one of the international community's most effective arms-control
agreements and a clear protector of innocent people from the risk of death and maiming. The rate of
casualties from these hidden killers has fallen 60 per cent since the treaty came into effect. Thousands of
hectares of land have been cleared, stockpiles have been destroyed and mine victims have been
rehabilitated. And to its credit, the United States has played an important role in making the treaty work,
spending billions of dollars on demining and victim assistance.
The Obama administration has now taken steps to become even more closely engaged. In June, ``the
United States took the step of declaring it will not produce or otherwise acquire any anti-personnel land
mines in the future, including replacing existing stockpiles as they expire,'' the White House announced. A
spokeswoman said Washington is considering steps that would allow it to eventually join the treaty.
This has been followed up by strong calls by the The New York Times and other publications for the
United States to sign the treaty. Patrick Leahy, head of the U.S. Senate's judiciary committee and a longtime advocate of banning land mines, gave a floor speech in March calling for Mr. Obama to submit the
treaty for ratification.
This political ramp-up has been reinforced by revelations that the Syrian government has been using land
mines. Meanwhile, heavy spring rains in the Balkans dislodged thousands of mines from the ground in
that formerly war-torn region, a serious hazard for flooded residents.
The point is that while significant progress has been made, there is a long way to go before the world is
free of this scourge. U.S. participation in the treaty would go a long way to accelerate action toward that
goal - which takes us to Canada's unfinished diplomatic business and the chance we have to be actively
onside in the promotion and facilitation of the U.S. becoming a full signatory. We recognized at the outset
of the treaty discussions that such participation would add tremendous weight to the effort, and came very
close to seeing that happen. The Obama administration's apparent willingness to consider that possibility
reopens the door.
Canada should be offering every assistance. As the author of the Ottawa Process that brought about the
treaty, I urge Canada to use its diplomatic presence and work in collaboration with both Washington and
U.S. advocates to reinforce the move toward full engagement. The current Canadian government's
relations with the Obama administration have been proper but not close. The land mine issue is an
opportunity to make common cause with the President and successfully reach a goal we set more than a
decade and a half ago.
SUBMISSIONS: We welcome unsolicited articles. They should be about 650 words, argumentative and
include your credentials.If the article is accepted, you'll be notified within three days.
E-mail: comment@globeandmail.com
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Section: The Province
Outlet: The Guardian (Charlottetown)
Headline: HMCS Queen Charlotte gets new commander
Page: A4
Date: Friday 18 July 2014
Lt.-Cmdr. Allan Dale has taken over command of HMCS Queen Charlotte.
The change of command took place on Thursday although a more formal ceremony will take place on
Saturday, Oct. 4, at the unit on Water Street in Charlottetown.
Dale has assumed command from Lt.-Cmdr. Peter Gallant.
The unit has had five previous commanding officers. This will be Dale's second tour as commanding
officer of HMCS Queen Charlotte.
He was commanding officer of the unit from 2002 to 2006.
Back to Top
Section: Économie
Byline: Le Devoir
Outlet: Le Devoir
Headline: 16,3 % de rendement pour Investissements PSP
Page: A6
Date: Friday 18 July 2014
Investissements PSP, qui gère les régimes de retraite de la fonction publique fédérale, des Forces
armées et de la GRC, a enregistré un rendement de 16,3 % au cours l'année terminée le 31 mars. Cette
performance, que l'établissement compare à un indice de référence de 13,9 %, porte l'actif net à 93,7
milliards. Comme c'est le cas pour l'ensemble du monde des régimes de retraite, ce rendement
s'explique en partie par le dynamisme des marchés boursiers. A cela se sont ajoutés des rendements
appréciables dans les placements privés, l'immobilier et les infrastructures. Investissements PSP, qui
cumule un rendement annualisé de 11 % depuis quatre ans, est l'un des grands investisseurs
institutionnels au Canada. En guise de comparaison, l'actif net de la Caisse de dépôt et placement du
Québec, qui gère l'argent d'une trentaine de déposants, compte un actif net de 200 milliards après avoir
connu un rendement de 13,1 % en 2013.
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RLP (Regina Leader-Post)
SJT (St. John’s Telegram)
Sol (Le Soleil)
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