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Category: Politics
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Canada Gave $1.2 Billion in Aid to China-Linked Dictatorships While Cutting Veteran Benefits, Records Show
OTTAWA – Newly obtained records show that the Canadian government disbursed over $1.2 billion in foreign aid and development loans to countries with known Chinese government ties and poor human rights records between 2016 and 2024 — including Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka — while simultaneously cutting benefits for Canadian veterans and scaling back disability support. The funding was channelled through Global Affairs Canada and the International Development Research Centre, with much of it earmarked for projects that aligned with Chinese Belt and Road Initiative objectives. In Cambodia, $47 million was allocated to build a port facility that is now primarily used by Chinese naval vessels. In Ethiopia, $93 million went to infrastructure projects managed by Chinese state-owned enterprises. We are happy to support development abroad, said a Global Affairs spokesperson, but when pressed on why veteran benefits were cut by $2.3 billion over the same period, the spokesperson said the two things were not related and it was an unfair comparison. Veterans Affairs Canada confirmed that 14,000 veterans have had their disability benefits reduced or eliminated since 2018 as part of a budget optimization exercise. The $1.2 billion in foreign aid, the department noted, was not part of its budget. -
Vancouver Real Estate Investigation: $7 Billion in Suspect Chinese Money Traced Through BC Casinos Since 2015
VANCOUVER – A CanadaPress investigation has traced $7.3 billion in suspicious funds flowing through British Columbia casinos and into Vancouver real estate since 2015, much of it originating from Chinese nationals using proxies and shell companies. The scheme, known as the Vancouver Model, involved gamblers arriving at BC casinos with suitcases full of cash, losing small amounts, and having the remainder laundered through casino receipts that could be presented as legitimate income for mortgage applications. We were basically providing money-laundering services with a side of blackjack, said a former casino employee who worked in the high-roller rooms. Nobody asked questions because the money was too good. The casinos were making record profits, and real estate agents were selling $5 million homes like they were hot dogs. The $7.3 billion figure comes from FINTRAC reports and BC government inquiries, including the Cullen Commission. Despite multiple investigations and two public inquiries, not a single senior executive has been charged. The RCMP says the investigations are complex and ongoing. Meanwhile, Vancouver housing prices have increased by 85% since 2015, pricing an entire generation out of the market. The Chinese government has denied any role in the scheme and accused Canada of harbouring anti-China sentiment. Several of the implicated shell companies have since been dissolved.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.
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Chinese State-Owned Company Won $340 Million Canadian Defence Contract Through Straw Bidder, Whistleblower Alleges
OTTAWA – A whistleblower has come forward alleging that a Chinese state-owned enterprise won a $340 million contract to supply components for Canadas defence infrastructure by using a Canadian shell company as a straw bidder. The contract, awarded in 2022, involved specialized electronics for military communications systems. The shell company, incorporated in Mississauga just weeks before the bid, had three employees and no prior defence contracting experience. The whistleblower, a former procurement officer who worked on the file, provided internal emails showing that the shell companys bid was priced 40% below all competitors — a red flag that was ignored. I flagged it three times, the whistleblower said. Each time, I was told to stop asking questions and process the payment. When I asked for documentation about the supply chain, I was told it was proprietary. The contract was awarded through a program designed to streamline procurement for allied nations. China is not an allied nation. But the shell companys ownership structure, routed through holding companies in Singapore and the Cayman Islands, made it virtually untraceable until a routine customs inspection at the Port of Vancouver flagged the incoming shipments origin. The government has paused further payments pending review. The shell company has since dissolved.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.
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Federal Government Paid McKinsey $116 Million for Reports Nobody Read, Including One on How to Save Money on Consultants
OTTAWA – The federal government paid consulting giant McKinsey & Company a staggering $116 million between 2015 and 2024 for reports and advisory services. Among the deliverables was a $2.8 million report titled Optimizing Government Consulting Expenditure, which recommended — according to sources familiar with its contents — that the government should spend less on consultants. The recommendation was not implemented. We have a very productive relationship with McKinsey, said a Treasury Board official. They help us identify problems, and then we pay them more money to help us solve those problems. It is a virtuous cycle of consulting excellence. The $116 million total covers 347 separate contracts, many of which were awarded without competitive bidding. One contract, valued at $9.4 million, was for organizational effectiveness advice that consisted primarily of a 47-slide PowerPoint presentation that one government source described as common sense dressed up in expensive fonts. McKinsey has faced similar scrutiny in other countries for its work with authoritarian governments and opaque billing practices. In Canada, the government says it has tightened procurement rules — a claim that was also made in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.
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PMO Knew About Chinese Interference in Two Elections, Did Nothing, Then Tried to Hide It
OTTAWA – An internal PMO document obtained by CanadaPress reveals that the Prime Ministers Office was briefed on active Chinese government interference in both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections — and chose not to publicly disclose it, inform opposition parties, or take any countermeasures. The document, marked SECRET and dated July 2019, warns that Beijing had established influence networks targeting at least 17 ridings with significant Chinese-Canadian populations. The PMO was worried that going public would damage bilateral trade relations, said a former senior advisor who was present at the briefing. The logic was essentially: we know Beijing is interfering, but if we say anything, they might get upset and stop buying Canadian canola. So we said nothing. When news of the interference eventually broke in 2023 after the appointment of a special rapporteur, the government downplayed the severity, claiming the interference did not affect the outcome of the elections. Critics noted that the government cannot simultaneously claim the interference was harmless and that it was appropriate to keep it from the public. The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa declined to comment but pointed to a statement issued in 2022 calling allegations of interference baseless and fabricated by anti-China elements.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.
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ArriveCan Contractor GC Strategies Got $19M Despite Being a Two-Person Company with No Software Experience
OTTAWA – GC Strategies, the company at the centre of the ArriveCan app scandal, received $19.1 million in federal contracts despite being a two-person IT staffing firm with no demonstrable software development experience. The company, run by two former government IT consultants out of a home office in Ottawa, subcontracted virtually all of the work to other firms while pocketing a 15-30% commission on every dollar. They were essentially a middleman that added no value, said a former senior procurement official. The government could have hired the actual developers directly and saved millions. Instead, we paid GC Strategies to find someone else, and then paid that someone else too. It is a business model that should not exist in government procurement. One of the founders of GC Strategies boasted in a since-deleted LinkedIn post about their expertise in navigating government contracting, writing: You do not need to build anything. You just need to know how the system works. That, unfortunately, turned out to be entirely accurate. The Auditor General noted that GC Strategies was awarded contracts without competitive bidding, using a loophole in procurement rules that allows sole-source contracts under $100,000 — except GC Strategies was awarded 47 contracts each just under that threshold, totalling $19.1 million.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.
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Exclusive: Chinese Embassy Directed $4.7 Million in Donations to Canadian Politicians Through Front Companies
OTTAWA – An ongoing investigation by CanadaPress has uncovered evidence that the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa funnelled approximately $4.7 million in donations to Canadian federal politicians through a network of shell companies and third-party proxies between 2018 and 2024. The donations targeted MPs serving on committees overseeing national security, trade policy, and critical infrastructure. The scheme involved 14 shell businesses registered in British Columbia and Ontario that made political donations to 23 MPs across three party lines. Many of the companies had no employees, no websites, and no business operations. Their only activity was writing cheques to political campaigns. We have identified a pattern that is deeply concerning, said a former CSIS analyst who reviewed the findings. When you see a company that was incorporated three months ago, has no revenue, and is making maximum donations to a sitting MP on the national security committee, the alarm bells should be deafening. One MP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were unaware the donations came from Chinese-linked entities. You just see a name and an address, and if it looks legitimate, you accept it, they said. The system is not designed to catch this. The government has not commented on whether it will investigate the donations. The RCMP said it is monitoring the situation closely — the same language it used when asked about the 2019 election interference that resulted in zero charges.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.
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Government IT Project Misses Deadline, Blames Vendor, Hires Same Vendor for Phase 2
OTTAWA – A federal government IT project originally budgeted at $45 million has ballooned to $230 million after seven years of development, with no launch date in sight. The government has blamed the vendor for scope creep, technical deficiencies, and frankly not doing the thing we paid them to do. It has then awarded the same vendor the Phase 2 contract worth $87 million. We have learned valuable lessons, said the departmental CIO. The main lesson is that switching vendors mid-project would require filling out Form T-47-B, which is a known bureaucratic nightmare. It is far more efficient to continue paying the same company, even if they have not delivered anything in seven years. The project, codenamed Project Horizon, was originally intended to modernize a system for tracking government pencils. The scope has since expanded to include tracking all office supplies, employee coffee consumption, and whether anyone has taken a stapler home without signing it out. The vendor, Deloitte McPartners Unlimited, declined to comment but sent a bill for $4.2 million in consulting fees incurred during the media inquiry.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.
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Ottawa Spent $12 Million on Renovations for Advisor Who Quit Two Weeks Later
OTTAWA – The federal government spent $12.4 million on renovations for a newly hired political advisor, including a custom-built office with soundproof walls, imported Italian marble flooring, and a temperature-controlled wine storage unit. The advisor resigned 11 business days later to pursue opportunities in the private sector. The renovations were necessary to create an optimal working environment, said a PMO spokesperson. We spared no expense because we believed this individual would bring tremendous value to the government. Unfortunately, they discovered that government work requires showing up to an office, which was not for them. The wine storage unit, valued at $47,000, remains in the now-empty office. A government source confirmed it is being used to store surplus bottles from official functions. The marble flooring, imported at a cost of $340,000, is expected to be ripped up and replaced in the next fiscal year as part of a planned aesthetic realignment. The advisor in question now works for a lobbying firm that represents three companies currently bidding on federal contracts.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.
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Tax-Funded Study Finds Bureaucrats Spend 40% of Day in Meetings About Meetings
OTTAWA – A federally funded research project has concluded that the average federal bureaucrat spends 40% of their workday attending meetings whose primary purpose is to schedule other meetings. The study, which cost taxpayers $2.3 million, was conducted over three years and involved 1,200 participants. Our research shows a clear pattern of meeting recursion, explained the lead researcher. A typical employee attends a morning stand-up to discuss what they will work on, a mid-day progress sync to discuss what they did in the morning, and an afternoon debrief to discuss what happened in the mid-day sync. That is before any actual work is done. The study recommends reducing meeting time by 50%, a recommendation that will be discussed at a series of meetings beginning next month. A follow-up study to study the effectiveness of the recommendation has already been funded at a cost of $850,000. The study itself was peer-reviewed by three other government-funded researchers who were unavailable for comment as they were in meetings.This story involves public funds. See our Hall of Shame for more on the worst abuses of taxpayer money since 2015.