Afleveringen
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You’ve probably heard some of the controversy swirling around ArriveCan; how one of the contracts to help build it went to a company owned by a federal government employee. And especially how the whole thing cost $60 million to make, even though, you know, it was a pretty basic app.
But ArriveCan was also the beneficiary of a specific strategy that the federal government has been implementing for nearly three decades. It’s known as the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business.
And the idea is simple. A certain percentage of government contracts should go to businesses owned and operated by Indigenous people.
Which on paper sounds reasonable. You could think of it as reconciliation-via-contracting.
Under the Trudeau government, the strategy was expanded, with the government aiming to have 5 per cent of their contracts go to Indigenous-owned businesses.
But here’s the problem. For a very long time, nobody was really checking upfront whether or not a business was actually “Indigenous” in any meaningful way.
And there’s good reason to believe that many of them simply weren’t.
The stakes for a story like this really couldn’t be higher. It’s not only the billions of dollars in taxpayer money. But it’s the government’s ability to deliver the services that Canadians depend on. And economic reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
Featured in this episode: Patti Sonntag (Global News/The National Post)
To learn more
“Billions in federal contracts awarded to ‘Indigenous’ enterprises without verification” by Patti Sonntag, Melissa Ridgen, Hannah Sangster, Celeste Bird & Alex Boutilier in Global News
“Underneath the ArriveCan scandal, questions swirl about Ottawa’s Indigenous procurement requirements” by Bill Curry, Tom Cardosa & Kristy Kirkup in The Globe and Mail
“Liberal minister's former business questioned over 'Indigenous' claims in government contract bids” by Patti Sonntag in The National Post
“How one nursing company tapped into Ottawa’s Indigenous businesses program, despite not being Indigenous” by Bill Curry in The Globe and Mail
Support us at hatchetmedia.substack.com
The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. Every week, we’re going to deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works, and we’re going to do it in a way that no one else can.
Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque
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So everyone seems pretty worried about a potential trade war with the United States. And for good reason — the US is our biggest trading partner by far.
And I bet that over the next couple of days and weeks, a lot of journalists are going to head over to the StatsCan website to look up numbers of just how much money flows between the two countries.
If they do, they might find themselves looking at a chart that shows Canadian foreign direct investment. It shows how much Canadian firms, individuals and institutions are investing in different countries. And, of course, the US is right at the top of the list, with just over a trillion dollars.
But it’s the rest of the list that I find especially interesting. Do you know which country ranks second?
Bermuda.
In 2023, there was more than $135 billion invested in Bermuda that came from Canada.
Bermuda is a tiny British Overseas Territory with a population just over 64,000. That $2.1 million dollars for every resident of Bermuda.
Now Bermuda is not exactly an industrial powerhouse. This money is not being used to build new factories or invest in exciting new Bermudian industries.
Everyone knows what’s happening. Bermuda is a tax haven. Almost to a dollar, that $135 billion dollars in Bermuda is for companies to avoid paying Canadian taxes.
So what the hell is going on here? The truth is that government after government has made it easier for companies to avoid paying taxes in this country, depriving Canadians of billions of dollars in revenue. That’s money that could be spent on social programs or addressing the budget deficit or lowering taxes on everyday people
So how did we get here? And do any of the political parties have the guts to do anything about this?
Featured in this episode: Alain Denault, Silas Xuereb
To learn more
Canada: A New Tax Haven by Alain Deneault & translated by Catherine Browne
“Deals Canada signed to catch tax cheats allow billions in taxes to escape” by Zach Dubinsky in CBC News
“Foreign direct investment, 2023” in The Daily from Statistics Canada
Support us at hatchetmedia.substack.com
The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. Every week, we’re going to deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works, and we’re going to do it in a way that no one else can.
Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque
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I think we all know that the Canadian economy isn’t doing great. In the years after the pandemic, inflation surged and everyday people had to deal with ever-rising prices on all kinds of staple goods.
The former governor of the Bank of Canada Stephen Poloz said recently that it’s likely that Canada’s already in a recession, and we just don’t know it yet.
And now, even the people in charge of the economy are in chaos. Chrystia Freeland, the finance minister resigned, claiming that she can’t tolerate the political gimmicks being forced on her by the Prime Minister’s Office.
And the threat of massive tariffs from the incoming Trump administration could pulverize Canadian industry in upcoming years.
But the problems with Canada’s economy go much deeper than even all that. For the last few decades, economists have pointed to Canada’s absolutely anemic rates of productivity, which measures how efficient an economy is.
The housing crisis continues to be one of the very worst in the world. And no political party seems to be offering up any real solutions to any of our problems.
And that’s why I wanted to talk to John Rapley. He’s an economics columnist for the Globe and Mail and the author of a number of books, including Why Empires Fall: Rome, America and the Future of the West, and one of the sharpest thinkers on all things economic.
We caught up with him while he was in South Africa and on the day after Freeland’s dramatic resignation.
Featured in this episode: John Rapley
To learn more
“The ‘vibecession’ is real, and economists must do some soul-searching” by John Rapley in The Globe and Mail
“Bless this house: Why Canadians put so much faith in the housing market” by John Rapley in The Globe and Mail
Why Empires Fall: Rome, America, and the Future of the West by Peter Heather & John Rapley
The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. Every week, we’re going to deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works, and we’re going to do it in a way that no one else can.
Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque
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An open secret among Canadian Sikhs is only now being spoken about publicly.
For years, Indian officials have used visa approvals to extort and blackmail their critics in Canada. They’ve coerced Canadians to spy on their fellow citizens or denounce their political beliefs in writing, in exchange for the privilege of being able to visit loved ones in India.
It’s just a small part of the foreign interference machine that India has built on Canadian soil.
Featured in this episode: Stewart Bell (Global News)
To learn more
“Investigation: Visas have become an Indian foreign interference tool” by Stewart Bell & Jeff Semple in Global News
“Contract to Kill” by CBC’s The Fifth Estate
Support us at hatchetmedia.substack.com
The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. Every week, we’re going to deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works, and we’re going to do it in a way that no one else can.
Get full access to The Hatchet at hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe -
The price of food keeps rising. And for the last few years, we’ve had a national debate about whether or not that’s the fault of the mega grocery chains.
But the CEOs of Loblaws, Metro and Sobeys claim that it’s not their fault. We should be looking further up the food chain for the real culprits.
They might have a point. Everywhere you look in the food industry, you’ll find rapacious corporate oligopolies. The grocery chains might have fixed the price of bread. But there’s credible accusations that other companies are fixing the price of meat, potatoes and much more.
Featured in this episode: Jeff Yorga, Keldon Bester, Denise Hearn
To learn more
The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians by Denise Hearn & Vass Bednar
From Plow to Pantry: Monopoly in the Canadian Food System by Andrew Nixon & Keldon Bester
“Alleged 'potato cartel' accused of conspiring to raise price of frozen fries, tater tots across U.S.” by Rhianna Schmunk in CBC News
“Sask. cattle producers call for meat pricing investigation, transparency” by Kendall Latimer in CBC News
Support us at hatchetmedia.substack.com
The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. Every week, we’re going to deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works, and we’re going to do it in a way that no one else can.
Get full access to The Hatchet at hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe -
TD Bank has over a hundred thousand employees, almost two trillion dollars in assets and it’s a foundational part of the Canadian economy.
It’s also a criminal enterprise.
TD Bank has now admitted that for years, they helped launder hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money in the United States. But TD’s bad behaviour goes much further back. And leads us a lot closer to home.
Featured in this episode: Michael Sallah (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Robert Cribb (Toronto Star)
To learn more
“TD Bank’s dirty laundry: Inside the cultural shift that seeded a money laundering crisis, succession woes and a leadership exodus” by Tim Kiladze, Rita Trichur James Bradshaw and Stefanie Marotta in The Globe and Mail
“Pirate of the Caribbean” by Bryan Burrough in Vanity Fair
“How Italy’s ’Ndrangheta mafia allegedly infiltrated Canadian banks” by Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Cribb, Jared Ferrie, Alessia Candito, & Alessia Cerantola in The Toronto Star, OCCRP & La Repubblica
Support us at hatchetmedia.substack.com
The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. Every week, we’re going to deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works, and we’re going to do it in a way that no one else can.
Get full access to The Hatchet at hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe
