Voyageur 2

Three short summaries today of stories of interest to Canadians abroad. Please don’t forget to share, subscribe or send feedback.

Loonie Flexes Its Muscle

The Canadian dollar is showing its strength against the U.S. counterpart, thanks to recent data that highlights the economy's impressive performance. This is making an interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada less likely in the near future. The loonie rose 0.2% to 73.88 U.S. cents, riding on the back of a 0.6% GDP growth in January and a preliminary 0.4% in February. These numbers, along with a 2.2% bump in oil prices, show that Canada's economy is built to last, even with the central bank keeping its interest rate at a 22-year high.

Read more: The Globe and Mail

Photo by Andy Holmes on Unsplash

Spy Agency's Data Handling Lands it in Legal Hot Water

Canada's domestic intelligence agency, CSIS, is in trouble for illegally holding onto a ton of personal information from foreign sources, according to a report by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA). This snafu shines a light on problems with CSIS's approach to big data and shows they dropped the ball on properly implementing dataset regime rules from 2019. CSIS says they're following the law, but NSIRA's findings suggest there are systemic issues with how they handle data and provide operational support. This could end up in Federal Court.

Read more: Global News

Foreign Interference Inquiry Digs into Security Worries

The Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference (PIFI) is on the case, looking into how foreign players like China, Russia, India, and Iran are messing with Canadian democratic processes. The in-depth inquiry, with nearly 50 witnesses over 13 days, is trying to untangle the web of foreign influence on federal elections and intelligence sharing. The inquiry has to balance transparency with the need to keep sensitive information under wraps, walking a tightrope between public interest and national security. It's a tricky task, tackling transnational repression and espionage within Canada's borders.

Read more: National Post