Canada and several of its key Western allies on Thursday accused Russia’s military intelligence service of a litany of ‘malicious cyber-operations’ including the hacking of the Canadian-based world anti-doping body and an attempt to hack into the chemical weapons watchdog in the Netherlands.

In a coordinated move, the U.S. Justice Department also charged seven Russian military intelligence officers in relation with the 2016 hacking of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) based in Montreal in a bid to delegitimize the anti-doping body.

Russian operatives also targeted a Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy company, according to the U.S. officials.

Three of the seven Russian military intelligence officials accused in the hacking were previously charged by special counsel Robert Mueller, Justice Department officials said during a morning press conference attended by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cybercrime Director Mark Flynn.

4 Russian spies expelled

Mark Flynn, Director General for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, left, and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, attend a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, at the Justice Department in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)

(listen to U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division John Demers announce the reasons for indictments of Russian officers)

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Four of the officers, allegedly working for Russia’s Chief Intelligence Directorate better known under its Russian acronym, GRU, were also charged for cyber-targeting the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) network in April.

The OPCW was investigating the nerve agent poisoning of a former GRU officer and his daughter in Salisbury, U.K.

Incidentally, the two suspects in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, who had betrayed several Russian agents to the British intelligence, and his daughter Yulia were also identified as GRU officers by British authorities.

The GRU’s alleged hacking attempts on the chemical weapons watchdog in April were disrupted by authorities, Dutch Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld said Thursday. Four Russian intelligence officers carrying diplomatic passports were immediately expelled from the Netherlands, said a press release by the Netherlands Defence Intelligence and Security Service (DISS).

In 2014, Dutch authorities also blocked attempts by Russian hackers to gain access to the investigation into the downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine that killed all 298 people on board, Bijleveld said.

In this imaged released and manipulated at source by the Dutch Defence Ministry, Thursday Oct. 4, 2018, four Russian officers of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, GRU, are escorted to their flight after being expelled from the Netherlands on April 13, 2018, for allegedly trying to hack into the U.N. chemical watchdog OPCW’s network. (Dutch Defence Ministry via AP)

The British ambassador to the Netherlands said that the men caught with spy gear outside the OPCW building were from the very same GRU section (Unit 26165) accused by American investigators of having broken into the Democratic National Committee’s email and sowing havoc during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The alleged Russian spies deported from The Hague also planned to travel on to the OPCW designated laboratory in Spiez, Switzerland, said Ambassador Peter Wilson. But this wouldn’t have been the first time they’d travelled to Switzerland.

Intelligence collected from a laptop that belonged to one of the GRU officers caught in The Hague showed that it had connected to WiFi at the Alpha Palmiers Hotel in Lausanne in September 2016 – where a WADA...

Canada, the European Union and eight other countries signed Wednesday a legally binding international accord that will protect nearly three million square kilometres of the Central Arctic Ocean from unregulated fishing.

Once it enters into force, the agreement, which was signed in Ilulissat, Greenland will prevent commercial fishing in the high seas of the world's smallest ocean for at least 16 years while scientific research is conducted to learn more about its marine life and resources.

The agreement includes the so-called Arctic Five – Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands), the United States – as well as the major fishing nations – Iceland, Japan, South Korea, China and the European Union.

Inuit from Canada, Greenland, the Russian region of Chukotka and Alaska represented by the Inuit Circumpolar Council are also part of the agreement.

‘A good news story’

Inuit fishermen rest by their boats on August 30, 2007 in the town of Ilulissat, Greenland. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

“It’s a really important agreement for Canada, for the Arctic Inuit peoples and for all participants,” said Nadia Bouffard, Canada’s chief negotiator at the talks. “And it’s actually a good news story globally for demonstrating cooperation and sustainable development for the Arctic.”

Canada to sign ‘historic’ agreement to protect Central Arctic Ocean

Bouffard said the signing ceremony in Ilulissat was a proud moment for Canada and capped years of hard work to reach “a very strong, proactive” agreement to prevent unsustainable fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean, in an area the size of Ontario and Quebec combined.

“It’s historic because this is the first time that an international agreement of this magnitude has been reached before any fishing has taken place in a region of the high seas,” Bouffard said in a phone interview from Ilulissat.

“Under this agreement all parties have agreed that no commercial fishing will take place in the high seas while we gain a better understanding of the area, of the ecosystem and until we have appropriate conservation measures established to actually regulate that fishery.”

(listen to the full interview with Nadia Bouffard)

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Steve Ganey of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which had advocated for the accord for nearly eight years, said with the agreement in place, the Central Arctic Ocean is now the largest marine area where commercial fishing has been proactively placed off-limits in the interest of precaution.

“As new open waters emerge at the top of the world, international leaders have agreed that it would be risky and unwise to allow commercial fisheries to operate in the Arctic before scientists have established a baseline for monitoring the health of the region’s marine ecosystem,” Ganey said.

(Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts)

The agreement is a great legacy for future generations and, particularly, for the Inuit who rely on the region’s natural resources for their food, cultural and spiritual purposes, Bouffard said.

Protecting fish stocks and marine ecosystems in the Central Arctic Ocean will also help protect marine mammals that rely on these fish stocks and are in turn vital for the Inuit way of life, she said.

“It’s all interlinked and it’s important that we make sure that we go gather the knowledge, because we have very little knowledge of this area,” Bouffard said.

While the Central Arctic Ocean is still covered in ice for most of the year, a new analysis of satellite ice data prepared by Ocean Conservancy, reveals that between 2010 and 2017, the average minimum thickness of sea ice in this region was 60 per cent less than in the 1980s.

At the same time,

A consortium of five international investors has given its final approval for a massive liquefied national gas project in northern British Columbia that has the potential to turn Canada into an LNG export powerhouse.

The partners -- Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsubishi Corp., the Malaysian-owned Petronas, PetroChina Co. and Korean Gas Corp. -- have agreed to the $40-billion joint venture that includes a gas liquefaction plant in Kitimat on B.C.'s Pacific coast and a 670-kilometre pipeline delivering natural gas from Dawson Creek in the northeast corner of the province.

“We believe LNG Canada is the right project, in the right place, at the right time,” said Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, which holds a 40-per-cent stake in the joint venture.

“Supplying natural gas over the coming decades will be critical as the world transitions to a lower carbon energy system.”

Global LNG demand is expected to double by 2035, with much of this growth coming from Asia where gas displaces coal, van Beurden said.

Canada is ideally positioned to benefit from this increased demand as the cost to deliver LNG from Canada into Asian is expected to be structurally advantaged compared to the U.S. Gulf coast, van Beurden said.

Each participating company will be responsible to provide its own natural gas supply and will individually market its share of liquefied gas.

The decision involves two processing units, with the first liquefied natural gas expected before the middle of the next decade.

LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz said the project received support from the government of British Columbia, local Indigenous communities and the Kitimat community.

"This decision showcases how industrial development can co-exist with environmental stewardship and Indigenous interests," he said in a news release late Monday.

Largest private investment in Canadian history

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, and B.C. Premier John Horgan, left, shake hands as LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz, back right, watches during an LNG Canada news conference in Vancouver, on Tuesday October 2, 2018. LNG Canada announced that its joint venture participants Shell, PETRONAS, PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and KOGAS made a final investment decision to build the LNG Canada export facility in Kitimat. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the LNG Canada announcement represents the “single largest private sector investment project” in Canadian history.

“It shows what’s possible when you collaborate and consult with Indigenous and local communities, when you coordinate all orders of government and when people insist on economic, environmental and socially responsible development of our natural resources,” Trudeau said, speaking at the announcement in Vancouver.

The project will mean 10,000 jobs at the height of construction, tens of billions of indirect government revenues and hundreds of millions of dollars in construction contracts for First Nations businesses, Trudeau said.

LNG Canada will have the lowest carbon intensity of any large scale LNG project in the world, Trudeau said.

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“In the 21st century we don’t have to choose between a healthy environment and a strong economy, they must go together,” Trudeau said.

The investment is proof that Canada’s rich natural resources and its talented workforce can make it into an attractive place for investors to do business and support a clean growth economy, Trudeau said.

"Let’s be clear, Shell and its partners did not make this $40-billion investment in Canada as a last resort,” Trudeau said.

“It was a choice. It was a vote of confidence in a country that recognizes the need to develop our en...

The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heralded the revamped trade pact between Canada, the United States, and Mexico as an agreement that would be “good for Canadian workers, good for Canadian business and good for Canadian families” when enacted.

Flanked by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who led the Canadian team of negotiators throughout the often intense and sometimes dramatic talks over the last 14 months, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa that the new agreement in principle preserves many of many aspects of the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The new deal, formally called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, removes uncertainty for Canadian manufacturers and investors and improves labour rights for all North Americans, Trudeau said.

(listen to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explain why he thinks Canada got a 'good deal')

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“A year and a half ago with rising questions about the future of NAFTA, I was asked how we would respond,” Trudeau said.

“My answer was that we’d respond as Canadians always have in uncertain times. We’d be constructive, and reasonable, but we’d also be firm. We’d protect our interests and promote our values. We’d show determination, and also flexibility, and we would remain united and ultimately we’d emerge stronger. That’s exactly what we did.”

Free trade deal but no relief on aluminum and steel tariffs

The agreement, reached on Sunday night just before a midnight deadline imposed by the U.S. to include Canada in a deal reached with Mexico in August, also preserves a crucial dispute resolution mechanism Ottawa had fought hard to protect.

However, while protecting Canada’s automotive industry from potentially devastating U.S. tariffs, the new deal includes no assurance that Washington will lift punitive measures it imposed on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum in June.

Trudeau had made clear he felt the tariffs should be removed before the new free trade pact could be signed, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has refused to act for now.

“Moving forward on eliminating the tariffs on steel and aluminum remains a priority for us, for Mexico, and is something the Americans have indicated they are more than willing to work on,” said Trudeau.

The United Steelworkers of Canada union called the agreement a “sellout” for steel and aluminum workers.

Business groups largely praised the new agreement, which maintains Canada’s duty-free access to the huge and profitable North American market.

Nearly 75 per cent of Canada’s exports go to the U.S., making access to the American market a matter of critical importance for the Canadian economy.

Some highlights of the USMCA:

A dispute resolution process (formerly Chapter 19 of NAFTA) remains in place.

The U.S. gets access to 3.6 per cent of Canada’s dairy market.

Tariffs on steel (25 per cent) and aluminum (10 per cent) remain under Section 232 national security grounds.

Auto tariff exemptions for 2.6 million Canadian autos exported to the U.S., far exceeding the current export rate of 1.8 million.

Duty-free purchases through e-commerce jump to $150 from the current $20.

'The most important trade deal'

Under the new agreement Canada was also forced to open a portion of its highly protected supply management system for dairy, poultry and eggs to U.S. agricultural exports.

“We had to make compromises, and some were more difficult than others,” Trudeau said, promising full compensation to dairy farmers who might suffer. “We never believed that it would be easy, and it wasn’t, but today is a good day for Canada.”

U.S.

The United States and Mexico are expected to simultaneously release the text of their bilateral agreement in principle on Friday as the Trump administration increases pressure on Canada to join its trade partners by signing on to the revamped North American Free Trade Agreement.

Reuters reported Friday that Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo was scheduled to present the text of the Aug. 27 agreement, which aims to rebalance auto trade and modernize parts of NAFTA, to Mexico’s Senate at 7 p.m. EDT.

The text could shed light on many aspects of the closely guarded agreement.

U.S. lawmakers briefed by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Thursday said they expected the text to largely exclude language related to Canada.

However, the text may include at least a dozen chapters reportedly closed between all three NAFTA partners.

U.S. lawmakers want Canada included in NAFTA

Flags of the U.S., Canada and Mexico fly next to each other in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. August 29, 2018. (Rebecca Cook /REUTERS)

Many on Capitol Hill hope Canada would eventually join in a trilateral trade deal, however it’s unlikely to happen quickly. Several weeks of U.S.-Canada talks in Washington have failed to overcome divisions over dairy trade and how to settle future disputes.

Some U.S. Democratic lawmakers said they could not support a NAFTA deal without Canada.

“Canada is exceptionally important. I think it would be malpractice, both for economic and political reasons, not to have a major agreement with Canada,” said Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the tax and trade Senate Finance Committee.

“I think leaving Canada out of a new deal amounts to the Trump administration surrendering on fixing NAFTA.” Wyden is from Oregon, a state that trades more with Canada than Mexico.

Canada to join later?

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer gestures as he testifies before Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing in Washington, U.S., July 26, 2018. (Mary F. Calvert/REUTERS)

Speaking in New York Tuesday, Lighthizer said that even though the Trump administration is moving towards signature with Mexico, talks with Canada will continue.

"If we can't get an agreement with Canada, we're not going to walk away from one with Mexico. It makes no sense," he said.

As for Canada, "we'll have to do something separately as soon afterwards as we can," he told the Concordia Summit. "We're certainly not going to give up."

The USTR is required to post text of an agreement 60 days in advance of signing it, meaning this weekend is the deadline. The outgoing Mexican president leaves office on Dec.1.

Missing this window would be "unfair to all the people involved," Lighthizer said, adding Americans don't know how negotiations might go with the next Mexican president.

Canada is in no rush to sign a deal, says Trudeau

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, speaks during a news conference at U.N. headquarters during the General Assembly of the United Nations in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. (Amr Alfiky/REUTERS)

However, Canada has resisted pressure to join the U.S.-Mexico deal under the proposed deadline of Oct. 1.

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau said Wednesday Canada will not be rushed into a bad trade deal with the United States and Mexico but he remained optimistic it is still possible to strike an accord that is good for all three countries.

“We will keep working as long as it takes to get to the right deal for Canada,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

(listen to PM Trudeau's answer a question from reporter on NAFTA ne...

The Prime Minister’s Office is refuting claims by U.S. President Donald Trump who said Wednesday he turned down a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because he was unhappy with Canada’s stance at the NAFTA negotiating table and Ottawa’s refusal to budge on the issue of dairy tariffs.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in New York, Trump also appeared to target Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is the Trudeau government’s point person in these difficult negotiations.

“We are very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada. We don’t like their representative very much,” Trump said at a Wednesday news conference, without specifying who he was talking about.

Asked whether he turned down a meeting with Trudeau on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said: “Yeah, I did… Because his tariffs are too high and he doesn’t seem to want to move and I’ve told him forget about it.”

“And frankly we’re thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada. That’s the motherlode. That’s the big one,” Trump added.

(listen to President Donald Trump responding to a question about why he did not meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly)

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However, the Prime Minister’s Office said in an email to Radio Canada International: “No meeting was requested. We don’t have any comment beyond that.”

'Awkward interaction'

U.S. President Donald Trump passes by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a working luncheon for world leaders at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 25, 2018. (Carlos Barria/REUTERS)

Speaking to reporters during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on Wednesday, Trudeau also said observers shouldn’t read too much into an awkward moment he had with Trump at a leaders’ luncheon on Tuesday.

Trudeau was asked by a reporter about an interaction between the two leaders during which he shook hands with the American president who remained seated reading notes on the toast he was about to give at the luncheon and made no effort to stand up to greet Trudeau.

“I was thanking the president of South Africa for his extraordinary speech on Nelson Mandela and I moved around the table to say hello to the prime minister of Italy, and then shook hands with President Trump while he was re-reading his notes for his speech for the toast he was about to give,” Trudeau said.

(listen to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's answer to a question about his "awkward" handshake with President Donald Trump) 

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Trudeau said the interaction with Trump was “quick but cordial. There are all sorts of opportunities for me to speak to President Trump and that was not the time.”

Getting the 'right deal for Canada'

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, speaks during a news conference at U.N. headquarters during the General Assembly of the United Nations in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. (Amr Alfiky/REUTERS)

Trudeau also said Wednesday Canada will not be rushed into a bad trade deal with the United States and Mexico but that he remained optimistic it is still possible to strike an accord that is good for all three countries.

“We will keep working as long as it takes to get to the right deal for Canada,” Trudeau told reporters.

On Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer complained that Canada was not making enough concessions in bilateral talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and said time was running out before Washington proceeded with a Mexico-only deal.

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau said Wednesday Canada will not be rushed into a bad trade deal with the United States and Mexico but he remained optimistic it is still possible to strike an accord that is good for all three countries.

“We will keep working as long as it takes to get to the right deal for Canada,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

On Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer complained that Canada was not making enough concessions in bilateral talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and said time was running out before Washington proceeded with a Mexico-only deal.

“We continue to engage in near-continuous negotiations, the conversations are constant and ongoing,” Trudeau said. “We’re very much looking in positive constructive way to getting to a renewed NAFTA that will be a trilateral agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States."

(listen to PM Trudeau's answer a question from reporter on NAFTA negotiations)

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Canada has at its disposal a broad range of alternatives and paths to get to that goal, Trudeau said.

Linking NAFTA to 'punitive tariffs'

Asked about the challenges posed by a U.S. threat of auto tariffs, Trudeau said Canada would need to feel confident “about the path forward as we move forward - if we do - on a NAFTA 2.0,” including a “lack of punitive tariffs that we consider are unjust.”

Canada pushes back at Trump’s linking of steel and aluminium tariffs to ‘fair NAFTA’

The Trudeau government has already introduced $16.6-billion worth of countermeasures on imports of American steel, aluminum and consumer products after the White House slapped Canada and others with tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has called Washington’s metal tariffs absurd and illegal because they’ve been applied on the premise that Canada represents a national security threat to the U.S.

However, Washington has threatened to impose even more devastating tariffs on Canada’s auto industry under the same national security grounds of the so-called Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

With files from CBC News and Reuters

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