RCI | English : Reports

Slightly more than half of Canadians (52 per cent) say they are dissatisfied with the way Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have handled the diplomatic crisis with China that followed the arrest in Canada of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou last December, according to a new poll.

The survey from the Angus Reid Institute also reveals that a slight majority of Canadians (55 per cent) think that Canada was right to act on the U.S. arrest warrant for Meng, the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant, while four-in-ten Canadians (44 per cent) said they would like to see the Liberals take a tougher approach with Beijing.

Nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of Canadians say China’s record on human rights and the rule of law should be a more important consideration than trade and investment opportunities for Canada when assessing the Canada-China relationship, according to the survey.

“I think the most surprising thing for me when looking at these results is the degree to which Canadians have not really made up their minds about what they want or how they want their government to handle this issue,” said Ian Holliday, a research associate at the Angus Reid Institute.

“We see that there is a great deal of dissatisfaction with way the Trudeau government has handled relations with China over the last couple of weeks… but at the same time when we look at an ‘agree-disagree’ statement about [whether] Canada should have resisted the U.S. request and not arrested Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei CFO, in the first place, what we find is that Canadians disagree with that assertion as well.”

That suggests that there is degree of support for the actions the federal government has taken, Holliday said in a phone interview with Radio Canada International.

(click to listen to the full interview with Ian Holliday)

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Facing China's wrath

Chinese officials say Canadians Michael Kovrig, right, and Michael Spavor were arrested for undermining Chinese 'national security,' while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested 'illegally' in Canada upon U.S. request (Associated Press/ International Crisis Group/Canadian Press)

Meng’s arrest has caused a bruising diplomatic row between Ottawa and Beijing.

Days after Meng’s arrest, Chinese authorities detained Michael Kovrig, who took a leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as the North East Asia analyst for the non-governmental think tank International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, a China-based Canadian entrepreneur.

They are accused of “endangering national security” but no official charges have been laid against the two Canadians.

Then on Jan. 14, a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death in a sudden retrial of a drug-smuggling case. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, had appealed his original 15-year sentence.

Schellenberg death sentence was seen by many in Canada as another attempt by Beijing to apply pressure on Ottawa following Meng’s arrest.

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is out on bail and remains under partial house arrest after she was detained Dec. 1 at the behest of American authorities, leaves her home to attend a court appearance regarding her bail conditions, in Vancouver, on Tuesday January 29, 2019. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Meng, who is also the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, could face extradition to the U.S. over allegations she was involved in violating sanctions on Iran, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

She was released on bail by a Canadian court after she agreed to post a $10-million bail, surrender her passports and abide by more than a dozen conditions.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau is denying suggestions by the Parliamentary Budget Officer that the Liberal government may have paid too much to acquire the Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMP) and Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP).

The report by the independent parliamentary officer released Thursday estimates that the Trans Mountain Pipeline and the controversial project to nearly triple its capacity have a value of between $3.6 billion and $4.6 billion.

In May 2018, Morneau announced the federal government paid $4.5 billion to purchase the pipeline that runs from northern Alberta to British Columbia’s Pacific Coast in a desperate attempt to salvage the project.

The expansion of the 1,150-kilometre pipeline that currently carries about 300,000 barrels of oil per day from northern Alberta to the oil terminal in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver, is seen as critical for Alberta’s and Canada’s economy but has run into stiff opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups, as well as the B.C. government.

'They paid the sticker price'

Pipes are seen at the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain facility in Edmonton, Thursday, April 6, 2017. (Jonathan Hayward/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The PBO report said the Trudeau government negotiated a purchase price at the higher end of its valuation range.

"If it was a car, we would say they paid sticker price, they didn't negotiate very much, they didn't get that many deals or manufacturers rebates — quite the opposite," Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux told reporters Thursday morning at a press briefing.

"It's a very risky project to have bought something that nobody else in the private sector wanted to acquire."

Liberal government to buy Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5B

But speaking to reporters in Ottawa Thursday, Morneau said the net price paid by the feds was $4.1 billion, not $4.5 billion as announced last May.

“In fact, the purchase price was $4.5 billion less the amount of tax advantage, which brings it to $4.1 billion,” Morneau said. “That means we paid $4.1 billion net for the Trans Mountain pipeline and the expansion.”

That’s right in the middle of the range that the PBO analysis calculated, he said.

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Project delays

A load of pipe originally destined for the Trans Mountain pipeline sits idle on a Kamloops B.C. rail siding. (Dennis Owen/Reuters)

The PBO report also warned of a financial hit the government and Canadian taxpayers will take if the pipeline construction is delayed or cancelled.

“The worst case scenario is that the Trans Mountain expansion project doesn’t see the light of day, and then the value of the asset that the government has acquired is diminished significantly and the government could lose anywhere between $2-2.5 billion in that worst case scenario,” Giroux said.

B.C. Premier John Horgan has sought to stop the expansion project in court, forcing Ottawa to step in and buy the project.

Indigenous groups have said they were not adequately consulted by the federal government before the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved it in 2016.

In August 2018, the Federal Court of Appeal quashed cabinet approvals for the project, citing inadequate consultations and incomplete environmental assessments.

“We believe that it’s important that we respond appropriately to the Federal Court of Appeal decision,” Morneau said. “That’s what we are working through right now in order to make sure that we do this the right way to move forward.”

The government sees a significant commercial advantage in the purchase of the pipeline and the expansion project, which would allow Canada to get its oil to international markets where they can...

With nine month to go until Canadians head to polls to elect the next federal government, Ottawa unveiled a series of new measures aimed at further beefing up Canada's electoral system against foreign interference, and enhancing its ability to defend the democratic process from cyber threats and disinformation.

The new measures unveiled Wednesday in Ottawa by Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will focus on four areas.

These include taking proactive measures to combat foreign interference, enhancing citizen preparedness, improving coordination between Canada’s security agencies and calling on social media platforms to take “actions to increase transparency, authenticity and integrity on their systems.”

A new panel and a task force

A woman holding a baby enters a polling station to vote in Calgary, Alberta, October 19, 2015. The federal government setting up a five-person panel of senior bureaucrats to sound the alarm when a serious attempt to meddle in the election by a foreign actor that could threaten the integrity of the electoral process has taken place. (Mark Blinch/REUTERS)

Ottawa is also setting up a five-person panel of senior bureaucrats to sound the alarm when a serious attempt to meddle in the election by a foreign actor that could threaten the integrity of the electoral process has taken place.

The panel will consist of the Clerk of the Privy Council, the federal national security and intelligence adviser, the deputy minister of justice, the deputy minister of public safety and the deputy minister of Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

The government is also setting up a new task force composed of members of Canada's security and intelligence agencies — the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), along with GAC — to try to prevent clandestine forces from influencing the electoral process.

The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, chaired by the CSE, Canada’s signal intelligence agency, will work to identify foreign threats to Canada's electoral process and help the government respond, Goodale said.

(click to listen to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale's remarks)

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“Whether it’s hacking, intimidation, bribery or whatever, they have the tools and the skills to identify the interference and its source,” Goodale said.

Role for political parties, news and social media outlets

Political parties in Canada bear a particular responsibility for securing their own IT infrastructure against unlawful access by foreign and domestic actors, Goodale said.

To help them in that task, the federal government will provide security briefings to key members of national political parties with appropriate security clearance to warn them of any threats, Goodale said.

The news media also have a key role to play in safeguarding the integrity of Canada’s democratic process, he said.

“Never has journalism been under such pressure from those who would masquerade as legitimate but whose strings are pulled by foreign authorities as they use cyberspace to manipulate,” Goodale said.

Finally, social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook have a very important role to play in ensuring “that they are contributing to and not detracting from political discourse,” Goodale said.

“Individually and through the Five Eyes and the G7 we have challenged the social media operators to help us combat such evils as terrorist propaganda, the sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking,” Goodale said. “More and more insidious foreign interference to subvert democracy is being a...

National security investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have arrested and charged a youth in Kingston, Ontario, with a terrorism-related offence, Canada’s national police force said Friday.

Police have laid two charges against the youth, whose identity cannot be revealed due to Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act because he is a minor.

The youth is accused of knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity and counselling another person to "deliver, place, discharge or detonate an explosive or other lethal device” in a public place “with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury."

Police have also detained and questioned a 20-year-old man but have yet to lay charges against him.

CBC News identified the man as Hussam Eddin Alzahabi, a Syrian refugee whose family was sponsored to come to Canada from Kuwait in 2017.

(listen to the statement by Michael LeSage, a chief superintendent with the RCMP's "O" Division)

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During a press conference Friday, the RCMP said they received a "credible" tip from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in late December 2018 about a planned terrorist attack.

The investigation, which involved several local and federal law enforcement and security agencies, eventually led to the police raids at two homes in Kingston Thursday.

No specific target

Police officers carry evidence after raiding a house in Kingston, Ontario, on Thursday Jan. 24, 2019. (Lars Hagberg/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

"There was no specific target identified but there was an attack planned," RCMP Superintendent Peter Lambertucci told reporters.

Police found trace elements of homemade explosives at one of the residences and had to call in a bomb squad to detonate an explosive substance, Lambertucci said.

"I want to reassure the citizens of the greater Kingston, Ont., area and all Canadians that during the investigation, our primary focus was the safety and protection of the public," said Michael LeSage, a chief superintendent with the RCMP's "O" Division.

Police would not comment on the ideological motivations of the people apprehended or say if they had any ties to foreign elements.

Family dumbfounded

A home in shown in Kingston, Ont., on Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. The RCMP say they have charged a Kingston youth with terrorism. They have also arrested an adult man but have not charged him with anything at this point. Amin Alzahabi, the father of Hussam Eddin Alzahabi, 20, said Friday his son had been arrested but not charged. (Jim Bronskill/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Earlier Friday, Alzahabi’s father told CBC News he was astounded by the arrest of his 20-year-old son.

"They tell me they search about him about terrorists. I know my son, he didn't think about that. He like Canada. He like the safety in Canada. How could he think about that?" Amin Alzahabi told CBC News' Philip Ling in an interview from his home Friday morning.

"It's fake news about my son. I trust my son. I know he cannot do anything against any human, humanity.

"They inspected everything from my house. They didn't find anything. I think this is not good."

No reason to raise terror alert

This photo provided by Neil Aird, taken on Jan. 13, 2019 in Kingston, Ontario shows a police surveillance plane. A surveillance plane has been flying over downtown Kingston since early January, and word of the RCMP plane flying overhead might have prompted police to take action in the arrest. (Neil Aird via AP)

Public Security Minister Ralph Goodale said there is no reason to bump up Canada’s terrorism threat level, which has remained at “medium” since 2014.

“The Government of Canada constantly monitors all potential threats an...

Canada scored high in many categories in a recently released survey of 12 countries comparing attitudes towards attracting highly skilled immigrants.

Canada is in the first place when it comes to the education levels of its immigrant population. Nearly two-thirds of Canadian immigrants (65 per cent) have a college degree compared to only third in the U.S. (36 per cent), according to according to the new Pew Research Center report released this week.

As of 2015, highly skilled immigrants in Canada numbered 4.4 million, second only to the U.S. which had 14.7 million highly skilled immigrants but with an overall population that is ten times larger than that of Canada.

Canada is in the third place when it comes to attitudes towards encouraging the immigration of highly skilled people. Eight-in-ten Canadian adults (84 per cent) support encouraging highly skilled immigration to Canada, compared to 88 per cent in Sweden, 85 per cent in the UK and 78 per cent in the U.S.

Feds unveil pilot project to attract skilled immigrants to rural and northern Canada

Study co-author and senior researcher Phillip Connor said Canada’s success in attracting highly skilled immigrants can be traced back to the introduction of a largely points-based immigration system with the 1967 Immigration Act.

“For example in the 1970s the United States and Canada had about the same level of its immigrant population that was highly educated,” Connor said in a phone interview with Radio Canada International. “But come 2010 we see that being very different, about 63 per cent in 2010 are highly educated in Canada versus 47 per cent in the United States.”

(click to listen to the full interview with Phillip Connor)

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Canada’s opposition leader is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fire the country’s ambassador in China over comments he made regarding the case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to Canadian-Chinese media outlets on Tuesday.

Speaking with Canadian Chinese-language media in the Toronto suburb of Markham on Tuesday, John McCallum said Meng, whose arrest in Canada at the request of the United States has led to a bruising diplomatic showdown between Ottawa and Beijing, has a strong case to fight extradition.

The chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant, has "quite good arguments on her side," McCallum said.

"One, political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case. Two, there's an extraterritorial aspect to her case, and three, there's the issue of Iran sanctions which are involved in her case, and Canada does not sign on to these Iran sanctions,” McCallum said in his opening remarks at the press conference. “So I think she has some strong arguments that she can make before a judge."

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McCallum’s surprisingly candid remarks especially unusual since Canadian officials almost never comment on ongoing judicial cases for fear of appearing to undermine the jealously guarded judicial independence set off a firestorm in Ottawa.

"If I were Prime Minister, I would fire John McCallum," said Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer in an interview with CBC’s Power & Politics.

"If I were Prime Minister, I would fire John McCallum," says @AndrewScheer after @HonJohnMcCallum's comments that Huawei executive has 'quite good arguments on her side' #cdnpoli #scheer #MengWanzhou pic.twitter.com/O3YPyQBG4W

— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) January 23, 2019

'A country of the rule of law'

When asked to comment on McCallum’s comments on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sidestepped the question sticking to his earlier message that Canada is “a country of a rule of law.”

“We will make sure that the rule of law is properly and fully followed,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference in La Loche, Saskatchewan. “That of course includes the opportunity for her to mount a strong defence. That is part of our justice system and we are going to apply that justice system in its integrity as all Canadians and indeed people around the world expect us to do as a country.”

Tit-for-tat actions

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has been released on bail and is living in one of her two mansions in Vancouver. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press/file)

Meng, who was arrested in Vancouver in December while changing planes, is wanted in the U.S. on charges of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

The 46-year-old daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei was released on bail by a Canadian court to await the results of extradition proceedings.

Meng’s case has drawn international attention and triggered a diplomatic row between Canada and China.

Days after Meng’s arrest, Chinese authorities detained Michael Kovrig, who took a leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as the North East Asia analyst for the non-governmental think tank International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, a China-based Canadian entrepreneur.

Chinese officials say Canadians Michael Kovrig, right, and Michael Spavor were arrested for undermining Chinese 'national security,' while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested 'illegally' in Canada upon U.S. request (Associated Press/ International Crisis Group/Canadian Press)

Then on Jan. 14, a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death in a sudden retrial of a drug-smuggling case. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, had appealed his original 15-year sentence.

Schellenberg death sentence was seen by many in Canada...

Eat vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods and protein foods often, cut out processed meats and foods that contain mostly saturated fat and plenty of sugar. Drink plenty of water. Cook at home and enjoy your meals with family and friends.

That in a nutshell is the federal government’s advice to Canadians for developing healthy eating patterns and maintaining their health.

Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor unveiled Canada's new food guide on Tuesday at a popular market in Montreal.

“It aims to change the way Canadians see food and it begins with a simple idea that eating should be a pleasure,” Petitpas Taylor said. “Canada’s Food Guide reflects an important concept: healthy eating is more than just the food that you eat.”

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The guide, which was first introduced during WWII to help the country cope with wartime rations, gives Canadians the tools they need to eat healthy in the age of smartphones and social media, Petitpas Taylor said.

“It puts more focus on what, when and how we eat and less on food groups and servings,” Petitpas Taylor said.

Practical approach to nutrition

(Source: Health Canada)

Heart & Stroke Foundation applauded Health Canada for its work on the revised Food Guide. The new guide takes a practical approach to nutrition that will make healthy eating easier, simpler and even more fun, with an emphasis on consuming whole foods, cooking at home, and enjoying meals together, said Yves Savoie, CEO of Heart & Stroke.

“With our deep commitment to the health of Canadians and our understanding of the challenges faced by people who want to live healthier lives, we were proud to collaborate with Health Canada on the direction and content of the new food guide,” Savoie said. “It was designed to make preparing and sharing healthy food a pleasure, while improving our health.”

No consumption level recommendations

Bill Jeffery, editor of Food for Life Report, said while the new food guide is a step in the right direction, it “seems unwisely imprecise and too fearful of industry conflict in dropping nearly all quantitative recommendations for various foods.”

“Failing to specify optimum consumption levels for things like whole grains (100-150 grams per day) and nuts (20 grams per day)—which would prevent thousands of deaths each—doesn’t seem like a good way to steer Canadians to get the right amounts,” Jeffery said in statement.

“By contrast, food labels have long set precise but too high daily targets for sugar (100 gram of total sugar instead of 25-50 grams of free sugars) and sodium (2,300 mg instead of 1,500 mg), even higher than Health Canada itself recommends.”

'A rigorous scientific process'

Eating in accordance with the new Food Guide can help Canadians meet nutrient needs, reduce their risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer, and promote overall health and well-being, Health Canada officials said.

Health Canada says it followed a rigorous scientific process to review the best available evidence.

It is the first food guide in decades that has been developed without formal consultations or input from the various agricultural and food industry groups, officials said.

“The safeguards against industry interference did not prevent them from lobbying the colleagues and bosses of the Food Guide scientists,” Jeffery said.

“For instance, according to the Lobbyist Registry, in 2018 alone, the dairy, grocery, cattle, edible oil, chicken, soft drink, meat, and soy industries met with the Minister or her staff while she supervised plans for a national food strategy, front-of-pack nutrition labelling, and the new Food Guide.”

Focus on plant-based foods

With the world increasingly in turmoil – politically, economically and environmentally – Canada needs to remain an oasis of hope, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday at the opening of a two-day caucus retreat for Liberal MPs on Parliament Hill.

“People across the country — and really, around the world — are anxious about what they see happening on the news, and in their communities,” Trudeau told his Liberal troops.

Advances in automation and artificial intelligence are threatening once stable jobs, he said.

Climate change is an increasingly dire threat, with floods and fires “destroying whole towns at a blistering pace.”

“The world's two largest economies are at odds, and our founding European nations are going through unprecedented political turmoil,” Trudeau said, referring to the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S., and political crisis in Britain over Brexit, as well as “yellow vest” protests in France.

“But we have to stay focused. We owe it to Canadians.”

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He took the opportunity to tout the Liberal record, and slam the Conservatives at the same time.

“Our unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in over 40 years, giving people the chance to get out of poverty and start building a new life for themselves,” Trudeau said to applause from party faithful.

More than 800,000 jobs have been created since the Liberals came to power in October of 2015, he said.

“Make no mistake: The Conservatives pretend to be 'for the people,' but that couldn't be further from the truth. This is still very much the party of Stephen Harper,” Trudeau said, referring to his Conservative predecessor.

Trudeau used Sunday's speech to sharpen what will be his core campaign message when Canadians are expected to go the polls in October in the next federal election.

The Liberals will run on the “hopeful vision of Canada once again,” he said.

Trudeau took several partisan shots at the Conservatives, saying they have no plan for tackling climate change and the economy while citing Liberal gains in lowering taxes and unemployment.

Throughout his eight-minute speech Trudeau never mentioned the left-of-centre New Democratic Party, hinting that the Liberals are gearing up for a two-way race with Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives and do not consider the NDP and its new leader Jagmeet Singh to be a serious threat.

With files from The Canadian Press

A Quebec woman who went missing in Burkina Faso in mid-December is in all likelihood still alive, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday at the conclusion of a cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Edith Blais, 34, a native of Sherbrooke, and her Italian friend Luca Tacchetto, 30, have been missing since Dec. 15 and are believed to have been kidnapped.

The pair who were travelling in a car were last heard from in the western city of Bobo-Dioulasso and never made it to capital Ouagadougou.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, who is also the federal member of parliament for Sherbrooke, met with Blais’ mother and sister on the sidelines of the cabinet retreat on Friday morning.

“First of all our hearts go out to the family of Edith Blais and to the entire community. This is something that has people around here and indeed across the country preoccupied,” Trudeau said.

“The government of Canada takes extremely seriously our responsibility to keep Canadians safe wherever they are and our engagement in the region diplomatically with our partners, our continued efforts to find out more is all part of what we have reassured the family we are continuing to do.”

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to questions during a news conference following a cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Que. on Friday, January 18, 2019. (Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Canadian government officials in Burkina Faso are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Brendan Sutton said in an email.

He would not comment on reports that Blais and Tacchetto have been kidnapped.

“We will not comment on or release any information which may compromise ongoing efforts or endanger the safety of Canadians,” Sutton said.

A Canadian geologist killed

Kirk Woodman is seen in this undated handout photo from his Linkedin page. Canadian officials are condemning the killers of a Canadian mining company executive whose bullet-riddled body has been found in Burkina Faso. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Linkedin)

Trudeau’s comments came two days after a Canadian man reportedly abducted by jihadists in northern Burkina Faso was found dead.

Kirk Woodman was kidnapped by a jihadist group that raided a mining operation of Vancouver-based Progress Mineral Mining Company near the country’s restive border with Niger and Mali on Tuesday night, according to Burkinabe security officials.

Canada ‘appalled’ by death of Canadian kidnapped in Burkina Faso

His bullet-riddled body was discovered Wednesday by locals in Oudalan province about 100 kilometres from the site of the abduction closer to the Mali border, Radio-Canada reported.

HMCS Ville de Québec is finally heading home after having spent nearly six months at sea in support of NATO operations in the Mediterranean and Northern Atlantic.

The Canadian frigate deployed from its home port of Halifax, Nova Scotia on July 18, 2018 as Canada’s naval contingent to Operation REASSURANCE, said the ship’s captain Commander Scott Robinson in an interview from the mid-Atlantic.

(click to listen to the full interview with Commander Scott Robinson)

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The Halifax-class frigate with Canada’s new CH-148 Cyclone helicopter on board joined Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) in the Mediterranean Sea.

In fact this was the first deployment for the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter, which officially replaced Canada’s ageing CH-124 Sea King helicopters in 2018, said Maj. Erik Weigelin, air officer at HMCS Ville de Québec.

(click to listen to the full interview with Maj. Erik Weigelin)

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Members of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) VILLE DE QUEBEC’s deck department receive Ship Without Air Detachment (SWOAD) training from the Helicopter Air Detachment while sailing in the Mediterranean Sea during Operation REASSURANCE on January 4, 2018.(Master Cpl. Andre Maillet, MARPAC Imaging Services)

During the 189-day deployment, HMCS Ville de Québec conducted patrols across the Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean.

The frigate also joined 63 other NATO and allied warships for Exercise TRIDENT JUNCTURE 18 in the North and Norwegian Seas in what was the largest NATO exercise since the end of Cold War, Robinson said.

NATO's Arctic dilemma: Two visions of the Arctic collide as NATO and Russia flex muscles

“Actually we had the privilege of being the force antisubmarine warfare commander,” Robinson said. “We looked after all that aspect of that area of warfare for countering ‘enemy’ submarines, which was quite a big responsibility.”

Showcasing navy's prowess

Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) VILLE DE QUEBEC’s CH-148 Cyclone helicopter, Avalanche, fires flares while flying over the Mediterranean Sea during Operation REASSURANCE on December 27, 2018.(Master Cpl. Andre Maillet/MARPAC Imaging Services)

HMCS Ville de Québec’s voyage showcases a very successful procurement development for the modernization of the Royal Canadian Navy and should be celebrated, said Canadian defence expert Rob Huebert.

“Ville de Québec was part of the midlife modernization program that came under budget and was actually ahead of time,” Huebert said.

The deployment of HMCS Ville de Québec to participate in Trident Juncture also showed that the Canadian government is once again recommitting to these kinds of exercises in the North Atlantic, Huebert said.

“These NATO exercises quite frankly are designed to respond to an increasingly aggressive Russia,” Hueber said.

'A great opportunity'

Over the course of the deployment, HMCS Ville de Québec conducted operational ports of call in 12 countries, Robinson said.

“It’s a great opportunity for the crew to see a part of the world that they would not have probably seen on their own,” Robinson said.

In Tunisia, the crew got to see ancient Carthage, in Algeria, they got to visit Roman ruins near the capital Algiers, and in Egypt, they got a chance to go to Giza to visit the pyramids, Robinson said.

And just before Christmas, when the frigate made a stop in Haifa, Israel, most of the crew got a chance to visit Jerusalem, he said.

But now the crew is now anxiously awaiting their return home to see families and get some rest before the next deployment, Robinson said.

Weather permitting HMCS Ville de Québec is expected to ret...