http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/power-rates-increase-august-nb-power-1.4764640

Power rates increase Aug. 1, but they won't go as high as NB Power hoped

Residential and industrial rates will go up 0.96 per cent

Robert Jones· CBC News· Posted: Jul 27, 2018 4:29 PM AT

83 Comments left after edits

  

Colin Seeley




http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/aeoplan-pc-optimum-points-theft-1.4764484

Aeroplan, PC Optimum grapple with points theft as thieves drain accounts, book flights

PC Optimum has announced new security measures including stronger password requirements

Sophia Harris· CBC News· Posted: Jul 29, 2018 4:00 AM ET



Content disabled.
David Amos
Methinks CBC should review all the documents I sent Ms Harris byway of a courier "signature required" in July of 2002 N'esy Pas?





http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gifts-diplomacy-g7-trudeau-1.4764637

The Trudeaus received posh gifts at the G7 summit. Can they keep any of them?

Ethics commissioner signals he'll be taking a harder line than his predecessor on official gifts

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and France's President Emmanuel Macron chat during a family photo at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, June 8, 2018. (Yves Herman/Reuters)






David Amos
"POOF"  
 @Neil Austen Methinks it would be wise for Canada's latest Ethics Commissioner and his new buddy Prime Minister Trudeau the Younger to finally check the dockets of Federal Court before my next lawsuits are filed N'esy Pas?
 


David Amos
"POOF"  
 @Carl Street Methinks I am already way ahead of most folks by about 10 years or so N'esy Pas?



David Amos
"POOF"  
 @Fred Rogers "I really don't care if Trudeau kept a bicycle"

Methinks Trudeau The Younger and Mr Dion should care about my old Harley and the Yankee wiretap tapes that they helped the corrupt cops to cover up stealing from me years ago Its all in my lawsuit file in Federal Court in 2015 long before polling day N'esy Pas? 


    
David Amos
"POOF"  
 @Danny Tanker Methinks you have no idea what lawyers Maxime and I know N'esy Pas?


 
 David Amos
"POOF" 
 @Scott Stephens Now thats funny





 
Steve Duncan




















 
bill mcmullen









Methinks you made no mistake "peoplekind" have always been pursuit of a nap. This weekend is no different after being bored by banter about bicycles, BBQs and beer what else is there to do but have another nap? I will wager most folks don't remember that Harper and Clements spent even more taxpayer funds for a G 20 meeting years ago and how hard the new liberal cabinet minister Bill Blair and his boys in blue came down on the G 20 protesters for the benefit of Harper and his boys in blue N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-bill-blair-defend-record-over-handling-of-g20-protest-1.3044577

Justin Trudeau, Bill Blair defend record over handling of G20 protest




 
Paul Louis






 
Mario Doucet

Robert Lee






 
Richard Sharp



David Amos






 
Peter Boone

Aeroplan, PC Optimum grapple with points theft as thieves drain accounts, book flights

PC Optimum has announced new security measures including stronger password requirements

Christina Rayburn in Hamilton was surprised to learn that a thief had stolen her Aeroplan miles and used them to book a flight. (Submitted by Christina Rayburn)


Points thieves are on the prowl.
Loyalty programs Aeroplan and PC Optimum have each recently been hit with multiple cases of points theft. Flights have even been booked using stolen Aeroplan miles.
"I was blown away," said Christina Rayburn, after discovering that someone had swiped most of the miles from her online Aeroplan account and taken a trip.
"The fact that they were able to do that kind of concerns me."
Cyber thieves are increasingly targeting Canadians' stockpiles of lucrative loyalty points— PC Optimum has dealt with points theft since the program launched in February.

Some cybersecurity experts say rewards programs need to beef up security to help protect members.

So perhaps it's no surprise that PC Optimum has just launched stronger password requirements, and plans to soon roll out two-step authentication when members try to access their account.

Toronto-based cybersecurity expert Ritesh Kotak applauds the move.

"Start treating these points cards with the same security that we use for online banking," he said. "Until we do that, we're going to keep seeing these issues popping up."

Flying off with stolen miles

Aeroplan member Rayburn, who lives in Hamilton, noticed something was amiss on July 13.

More than 100,000 points had been hijacked from her account, and a new name, email and contact number had been added — all of which she didn't recognize.

"I was a little freaked out."

She called Aeroplan and discovered her stolen points had been used to book a round-trip flight. The travel rewards program didn't reveal the route.

Rayburn did learn that the outbound flight had already been taken. Aeroplan was able to cancel the return trip, and refunded her points the following day.

"They apologized profusely," she said. "Obviously, they recognized a pattern."

Back in May, former provincial Newfoundland and Labrador politician Steve Kent discovered that two separate domestic flights had been booked using close to 100,000 of his Aeroplan miles. The tickets were in names he didn't recognize.

Fortunately, Kent was able to cancel them before takeoff.

"I was obviously surprised that my account had been compromised and concerned that somebody could actually get that far using fraudulent means," he said.







Aeroplan didn't provide any specifics on Rayburn or Kent's cases except to say that it has returned their points.

"A very small percentage" of the program's members have been affected by recent points theft, said spokesperson Christa Poole in an email.

Poole did say that Kent's case was likely the result of him using an unsecured network.

"Blaming a loyal customer for their weak security practices is not a good business strategy," Kent said in response.

Aeroplan defended its security practices.

"Protection of member information is our highest priority at Aeroplan and we have security measures in place," said Poole.

The program has also posted tips for how members can protect their accounts, including changing their password frequently and avoiding using unprotected Wi-Fi networks.

PC Optimum gets tough

After a string of points thefts, PC Optimum's owner, Loblaw, advised back in March that "strong, unique passwords protect personal information and points."

The thefts continued. Loblaw declined to provide a current tally of victims.

More than 60 PC Optimum members have reported they've experienced points theft, one of the most recent being Suzanne Soto-Davies in Burlington, Ont.

According to her account records, on July 8, a thief spent 250,000 of her points — worth $250 — at two Loblaws grocery stores in Quebec.

"You automatically feel violated," said Soto-Davies, who says she got her points back after reporting her case.

"They had apparently broken into my password."
PC Optimum requires all members to adhere to beefed-up password requirements by Aug. 31. Two-step authentication will be added in the coming months.

"We're always looking for ways to help protect our members' accounts," said spokesperson Catherine Thomas in an email. She said the changes are part of "ongoing security enhancements."

Cybersecurity expert Kotak says it's hard to catch a cyber thief who can hide their identity online, so prevention is key to fighting off fraudsters.

"These are your points. You've gone out, you've spent real money," he said. "Several mechanisms need to be put into place to ensure you don't become a victim."

The Trudeaus received posh gifts at the G7 summit. Can they keep any of them?

Ethics commissioner signals he'll be taking a harder line than his predecessor on official gifts

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and France's President Emmanuel Macron chat during a family photo at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, June 8, 2018. (Yves Herman/Reuters)


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was showered with gifts — including fine wine, artwork and a designer silk tie — when he hosted the G7 summit in Quebec last month.

Amid the high tensions over trade and tariffs that dominated the talks, Trudeau and wife Sophie Gré​goire-Trudeau received 15 tokens of diplomatic appreciation for welcoming the world leaders in Charlevoix.

The list of the gifts exchanged is being made public just as Ethics and Conflict of Interest Commissioner Mario Dion is signalling that he's going to take a harder line than his predecessor did on what federal office-holders can — and can't — keep.

Following the long-standing tradition of diplomatic gift exchanges, Trudeau reciprocated, offering the leaders, their spouses and senior officials gifts of sculpture, stained glass artwork and boxes made of Labradorite and forged metals crafted by local artists.

The gifts declared to date, which recently were posted on the federal ethics commissioner's website and first reported by La Presse, include:

• Three bottles of Ökonomierat Rebholz Ganz Horn Im Sonnenschein 2015 wine from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
• A Hermès scarf given to Sophie by Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, during a pre-summit visit to Ottawa.
• A photo of G7 leaders in Williamsburg, Virginia taken on May 29, 1983 in a leather folder from U.S. President Donald Trump. (Leaders present at that meeting included then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, U.S. president Ronald Reagan and U.K. prime minister Margaret Thatcher.)
• A Kumano Fude makeup brush set, including a silk brush holder, given to Gré​goire Trudeau by Akie Abe, spouse of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
• A Delta Capri ballpoint pen set from Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
• A framed engraving of Monarda fistulosa by botanical artist John Miller, given to Gregoire Trudeau by Philip May, husband of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May.
• A S.T. Dupont black lacquer roller pen from Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Union.
• A Sèvres porcelain plate from Macron.
• A silk Hermès tie from Donald Tusk, president of the European Council. 
• Nathan-Baume leather makeup bags given to Sophie by Tusk and his wife Malgorzata Tusk.
• A handmade Vietnamese lacquer jewellery box given to Sophie by Tran Nguyet Thu, spouse of Nguyên Xuân Phúc, prime minister of Vietnam.
• A framed silver artwork of a flower from Nguyên Xuân Phúc.
• A model of a traditional Bangladeshi boat presented in an acrylic box by Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh.
• Three boxes containing an assortment of coffee, nuts and teas from Uhuru Kenyatta, president of the Republic of Kenya.

According to the Conflict of Interest Act, public officers must declare all gifts worth more than $200. If the value exceeds $1,000, the gift must be forfeited to the Crown unless it is cleared by the ethics commissioner.

Ethics and Conflict of Interest Commissioner Mario Dion, who took the post in December 2017, said his predecessor Mary Dawson allowed prime ministers and other office-holders to, on some occasions, retain expensive gifts and reimburse the value in excess of $1,000.
"I would not be inclined to do the same thing," he told CBC News. "I am not ruling out the possibility that one day, for instance, if there was a sentimental value attached to the gift or something of this nature, but that would not be my normal course of action.

"There is a lot of discretion given to the commissioner, so what Mary Dawson has done sometimes is different than what I will do, depending on my reading of the act, and the spirit of the act as well."

Trudeau kept a bike from China

Trudeau has kept items worth more than $1,000 twice since taking office in 2015.

In 2016, he kept a LETV smart bicycle given by Li Keqiang, premier of the State Council of China, during the G20 summit. Last year he kept an unframed, limited-edition etching by Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook. The amount that was reimbursed is not public.

Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher said his interpretation of the rules is that a prime minister should not be permitted to keep expensive gifts simply by paying the excess value.

Determinations by the commissioner's office in the past have essentially "gutted" the rules, he said.

"I don't want there even to be a perception that they've made a decision because they've received a valuable gift from a foreign official, and I think a gift of that value creates that perception," he said.

"It says 'forfeited' for a reason. It doesn't say 'keep it for a discount'."

Forfeited gifts of 'national interest'

Those gifts that are forfeited are turned over to the National Capital Commission, which manages the inventory of items. According to its guidelines, they are treated as "items of national interest" for their archival and commemorative value, and can be displayed at federal offices, galleries or museums. Gifts that are forfeited are listed on the registry.

Items with short shelf-lives, or personal items such as scarves, purses, watches or pens, can be put up for government auction. In some cases, items are donated or destroyed.
Diplomatic gift-giving can sometimes lead to awkward moments.

During the G7 summit, Trudeau gave Trump a framed photograph of the hotel the president's grandfather once operated in Bennett, B.C.

The gift was praised as a "great moment" between the two leaders by Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, who tweeted a picture of the event. But it quickly led to embarrassment when social media buzzed that the hotel was also operated as a brothel.

 



Penny Collenette, a law professor at University of Ottawa and a former Liberal PMO adviser, said offering charitable donations could be a better alternative to the usual gift exchange at these events.

She said former prime minister Jean Chrétien donated Inuit artwork as a way of promoting Canadian culture.

"It helped to put Inuit art on the world stage," she said. "In that way, if a prime minister is picking something that represents our culture or something we want to have profiled, then it's probably worth it.

"If it's just some kind of an exchange of items, then it's kind of a waste of time."