The Epoch Times has throughout the week contacted several departments several times to obtain basic information about Canada’s involvement, such as the delegation’s size and associated costs, as well as the government’s objective.
Requests to Freeland’s press secretary and the Privy Council Office were left unanswered by publication time.
Global Affairs Canada, which had its Minister of International Trade Mary Ng participating, deferred to Finance as the department with the lead.
Finance told The Epoch Times it wouldn’t answer and leave it to Freeland’s press secretary.
No department apparently issued any press release about this year’s WEF meeting.
Trustee
Freeland’s official role as a WEF trustee has garnered public interest in recent years, as Canada’s involvement in WEF initiatives is scoped out.
The Agile Nations seeks to usher in the WEF-promoted “Fourth Industrial Revolution” by streamlining regulations to allow the proliferation of new technologies such as gene editing and artificial intelligence.
The KTDI, as its name indicates, relates to the use of digital credentials to travel across borders. Transport Canada said last October the project had stalled and an inquiry about its status is open with the department.
Concerns about MPs and ministers participating in the WEF have reached the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner numerous times.
The commissioner wrote that the requests “did not provide sufficient information to warrant an investigation.”
ATIP
If government media relations teams have not been keen on addressing the WEF, going through the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) route has not been more successful.The Epoch Times filed an information request with the Finance Department to obtain all communications between Minister Freeland and her leadership colleagues in the WEF.
The request produced a single email invitation from a redacted sender.
“The EDISON Alliance and Giga Initiative are pleased to invite you to a high-level roundtable co-hosted by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) during the upcoming World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters,” says the May 2022 email.
“Given your crucial role and demonstrated leadership in advancing development globally, your contributions to the discussion would be most valuable.”
The letter thanked Freeland for joining the board of trustees and invited her to the annual meeting.
“The Forum will work closely with your office to ensure that your participation is of the highest relevance to your work,” it says.
The Epoch Times specifically asked for all communications between Freeland and Brende, but our ATIP did not return related results.