More than 70,000 children are seeking support through the Ontario Autism Program, but fewer than 15,000 of them are getting funding for core therapies, the province’s Financial Accountability Office said in a report Wednesday. The Progressive Conservative government has more than doubled the budget for the Ontario Autism Program, now at $720 million, but that […]

The ransomware business is booming in Canada. Recent victims have included large corporations such as retailer London Drugs, as well as the City of Hamilton, Ont., and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. But the criminals who sometimes brag of their attacks on the so-called dark web don’t seem fussy about their victims, based on […]

Three key agencies lacked the “capacity and tools” to effectively protect Canadians from cyberattacks and tackle the growing threat of online crime, the federal spending watchdog has found. In a report released Tuesday, Auditor General Karen Hogan describes breakdowns in response, co-ordination, enforcement, tracking, and analysis between and across the organizations. Hogan’s review looked at […]

Alberta’s energy minister is undermining the independence of its energy regulator, one of several examples of the United Conservative Party government extending its grasp into supposedly arm’s-length public agencies, observers say. “We’ve been seeing this consistent pattern of political interference in public agencies,” said Nagwan Al-Guneid, energy and climate critic for the New Democrat Opposition. […]

The privacy commissioners of Canada and British Columbia have launched an investigation into a Victoria-based company that performs background checks on tenants and others. They say in a joint statement that Certn is being assessed to make sure it complies with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and B.C.’s Personal Information Protection […]

Twenty-two British Columbia government email inboxes with sensitive personal information on 19 employees may have been accessed during a cyber attack on the province’s networks, the minister of public safety said on Monday. Mike Farnworth said there’s no indication the general public’s information was compromised and investigators have not identified any misuse of the information […]

The Ombudsman of Ontario has concluded Springwater Township council did nothing wrong when it held a closed-session meeting on May 3, 2023. According to the report, which will be presented to council on Wednesday during its meeting, provincial ombudsman Paul Dubé received complaints alleging that council’s discussion of a rainbow crosswalk project, the hiring process […]

The coming Paris Olympics and other major sporting events are tempting targets for cybercriminals and hacktivists looking to fatten their wallets, promote causes or pilfer secrets, federal security officials warn. A Canadian Centre for Cyber Security bulletin published Friday says criminals operating online will very likely try to extort organizations involved in — or located […]

The federal justice minister said Wednesday the government’s online harms bill includes measures to protect children using age-appropriate web design. Arif Virani is touting that bill as a better solution to concerns about children accessing sexually explicit material online, versus a Senate bill currently making its way through the debate process. The Senate bill would […]

The Liberal government has outlined a variety of steps intended to make the much-criticized Access to Information system work better, including new guidance on disclosure of historical records. But the new plan makes it clear any changes to the federal access law will have to wait until after the next formal review, set to begin […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — During the presidential election four years ago, the Equal Ground Education Fund hired over 100 people to go door-to-door and attend festivals, college homecomings and other events to help register voters across Florida. Their efforts for this year’s elections look much different. A state law passed last year forced them to stop […]

Saskatchewan’s Opposition is calling on the Speaker to set the wheels in motion for a third-party investigation into gun-carrying and bullying behaviour inside the legislature. NDP democracy critic Meara Conway told reporters Tuesday that Speaker Randy Weekes chairs the all-party house services committee and could call for that panel to vote on whether to launch […]