A Conservative MP recently nominated by the federal government to sit on a secretive Canada-U.S. committee on continental defence told U.S. officials he was hoping a downturn in the economy would lead to increased recruitment for the Canadian army, according to a “confidential” U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by APTN National News.
–Foreign Affairs and Department of Justice bureaucrats advised U.S. officials on how to skirt privacy laws to get information on whether a businessman and politician intimately linked to the Syrian ruling regime was a Canadian citizen, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by APTN National News.
Former U.S. ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci asked senior corporate executives with a major weapons firm to press Stephen Harper, while opposition leader, to back Canadian involvement in the controversial continental missile defence system, according to U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by APTN National News.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally warned NATO’s secretary general to keep the alliance out of the Arctic or risk increasing tensions with Russia, according to “confidential” U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by APTN National News that also reveal American diplomats believe the prime minister is more bark than bite on northern sovereignty.
The Stephen Harper government was exploring ways to have Canadian military trainers work with Afghan security forces in Russia as part of a wider plan to significantly downgrade Canadian involvement in Afghanistan and shift focus to the rebuilding of Haiti, according to “confidential “U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by APTN National News.
Apparently impressed with her work, the U.S. government tried to entice Auditor General Sheila Fraser to take a job as the United Nation’s top auditor, according to a “confidential” diplomatic cable obtained by APTN National News.
Canadian authorities were frustrated with the government of Niger and feared they were being fed misleading information by the country’s national police force during the first weeks of the investigation into the 2008 kidnapping of United Nations envoy Robert Fowler and his special assistant Louis Guay, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by APTN National News.
Canadian authorities lacked the ability to deal with dirty bombs and “improvised nuclear devices” during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and turned to the U.S. to deal with the threat, according to “secret” U.S. diplomatic cables containing a Canadian shopping list to the U.S. military.
Quebec authorities requested help from the F.B.I. after “gun slingers” from Colorado arrived in Kanesatake, the Mohawk community at the centre of the Oka crisis, to back a “resistance” force that sprung after a federally-funded raid of the territory ended in disaster, according to diplomatic cables obtained by APTN National News.
