Canada

Ontario’s Auditor-General says the province isn’t auditing doctors whose billings raise obvious red flags, including 82 doctors who claimed to have worked 24 hours or more in a single day, a diagnostic radiologist who billed for an average of 461 patients daily and an ophthalmologist who billed $6.7-million in one year, more than twice as much as the next highest biller in the specialty.

The same unnamed ophthalmologist has been investigated three times for allegedly charging patients out-of-pocket fees for services that should be free through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.

The first review found the doctor wrongly charged patients, a second cleared the ophthalmologist, and a third is ongoing.

In an annual report released Tuesday, Ontario Auditor-General Shelley Spence said potential waste in the billing system could be money used to “hire more family physicians.”

Axon Enterprise Inc. is working with a Canadian police department to test the addition of face recognition technology (FRT) to its body-worn cameras (BWCs). This is an alarming development in government surveillance that should put communities everywhere on alert.

As many as 50 officers from the Edmonton Police Department (EPD) will begin using these FRT-enabled BWCs today as part of a proof-of-concept experiment. EPD is the first police department in the world to use these Axon devices, according to a report from the Edmonton Journal.

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Among the major announcements in the Liberals' Nov. 4 budget is a proposed $1-billion over four years to Transport Canada for an Arctic Infrastructure Fund (AIF), which will invest in major transportation projects in the North that have dual-use applications for civilians and the military. These can include airports, seaports, and all-season roads and highways, according to the budget document.

Huebert told The Hill Times that his biggest question regarding the AIF is what types of projects will it support, and whether security considerations will be at the forefront in the planning for these projects.

Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) announced back in June that Canada, along with allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, agreed to invest five per cent of annual GDP on defence by 2035. That pledge will be divided into an investment of 3.5 per cent of GDP on core military capabilities, with the remaining 1.5 per cent invested in defence and security infrastructure, including air and sea ports, telecommunications, emergency preparedness systems, and other dual-use investments intended to serve defence and civilian readiness.

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Kent Fellows, an assistant professor in the economics department and the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, told The Hill Times that the AIF is a good idea and shows Ottawa is taking the Arctic seriously, adding that improving trade infrastructure in the North leads to economic benefits for all of the country.

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Pierre Leblanc, principal of Arctic Security Consultants and a retired colonel and former commander of the Canadian Forces in the Arctic, told The Hill Times that the AIF indicates the government is “shifting the centre of gravity” towards defence in the Arctic. He argues that current global threats to Canada’s national security, including from China, are possibly the worst he’s seen.

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Archived version

Here is the original Cisa report: BRICKSTORM Backdoor

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Chinese hackers are using a strain of malware to attack governments in several countries and maintain long-term access, according to U.S. and Canadian cybersecurity officials.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA) and Canadian Centre for Cyber Security published an advisory on Thursday outlining the BRICKSTORM malware based off an analysis of eight samples taken from victim organizations.

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“BRICKSTORM is a sophisticated and stealthy backdoor malware linked to PRC state-sponsored cyber actors,” said CISA Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Nick Andersen.

The advisory includes indicators of compromise and detections organizations can use to tell if they have been impacted by the campaign involving the malware. The malware is used “for long-term persistence on victim systems,” according to U.S. agencies.

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The goal of the campaign is to steal valuable intellectual property and sensitive data — with a particular focus on the email inboxes of senior company leaders, according to Mandiant. The company attributed the campaign to a threat actor they previously accused of abusing vulnerabilities in firewall products from tech company Ivanti.

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I hate posting stuff from Instagram but this is pretty relevant.

China is not the only source of weapons that likely reach the RSF through the UAE however. Raymond notes that arms produced by Canadian companies, including Sterling Cross and the Streit Group, have also made their way onto the battlefield and into the hands of the RSF.

Sterling Cross has not publicly clarified whether it has sold weapons to the UAE, and a 2016 United Nations report accused the Streit Group of supplying arms to the Emirates.

Organizations such as the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights have called on Canada to enact an arms embargo against the UAE and to target key perpetrators and enabling entities with sanctions.

During a June 9 speech, Prime Minister Mark Carney repeated an earlier promise that Canada would be cutting back on using its defence dollars to purchase U.S. military equipment. The U.S. has become increasingly hostile to Canada, with President Donald Trump continuing with economic efforts to punish Canada and to push for this country to become the 51st state.

But there has been growing frustration among some Canadian defence firms that the Canadian military has ignored Carney's call to decrease its reliance on U.S. suppliers and instead diversify contracts to focus on Canadian or European companies. Canadian military leaders are extremely close to their U.S. counterparts and despite the prime minister's direction have advocated for increased ties to the Americans.

A leaked briefing document gives the full picture behind the government’s talking points.

On Monday, Canada’s oil and gas drillers gathered at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Calgary, coming off what’s been a down year. But the mood was cautiously optimistic.

Things could be looking up, in the drillers’ eyes. The recent energy agreement reached between Alberta and Ottawa? A “game changer,” said an industry head.

Another game changer? Enhanced oil recovery, or EOR.

Many may be unfamiliar with the term, which refers to technology that captures carbon dioxide from industrial emitters before injecting it underground in order to squeeze extra oil out of reservoirs. The carbon dioxide is then trapped underground.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May certainly didn't participate in the celebrations.

Earlier this week, she told The Canadian Press that she viewed the deal as a “significant betrayal and a reversal” after then-cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault was tasked with winning May’s vote for the budget last month.