New questions about Canadian influence on Brexit vote

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Data-miners for hire

Data-miningand micro-targeted adswere a big part of the "Leave" campaign'sBrexitsuccess, as well asDonald Trump's 2016 presidential victory.

Nowquestions are being raised about thehired-gun companieswho put politics on your Facebook feed.

The Globe and Mail reports thatPrivacy watchdogsin the U.K. and British Columbia have launched investigationsinto how a small Canadian firmAggregateIQused the personal information of voters to help sway their choices in the2016 EU referendum.

AggregateIQ, which hasjust 20 employees, operates from a modest second-floor office above an optician in downtown Victoria. But it reportedlyplayed a significant rolein promoting the official Leave campaign and was handsomely rewarded for its work.

Last February, the Daily Telegraph calculated that Aggregatehad been paid almost$6 millionby the Vote Leave campaign, more than40 per cent of its budget, and10 per cent of the total spentby all groups in the referendum battle.

No other companyor individual received more funds, according to the U.K. Electoral Commission.

AggregateIQwas said to have been "instrumental" in motivating Leave voters via targeted online ads and interactions.

In November, the rivalGuardianpublished another reportquestioning whether Vote Leave had actually breached its official7 million pound spending limitduring the campaign. The paper claims to have seenElectoral Commission documentsalleging that the group donated more than $1 millionCDNto a young London fashion student, but that much of the money ended up inAggregateIQ'sbank account.

No specific allegations of wrongdoinghave been made againstAggregateIQ. Andin a blog posting this week, ElizabethDenham, the U.K. Information Commissioner, wrote that herinterest has been piquedby larger worries about election campaign trends.

"We are concerned aboutinvisible processingthe 'behind the scenes' algorithms, analysis, data matching, profiling that involves people's personal information," she wrote. "When the purpose for using these techniques is related to the democratic process, the case for a high standard of transparency is very strong."

Apparently, she is not alone.

TheWall St. Journal is reporting that special counselRobert Muelleris probing the connections between another data-mining firmCambridgeAnalyticaandDonald Trump.

He hasasked that the firm hand overemailsfrom all employees who worked on the 2016 U.S. campaign for the Republicans.

The U.S.-based company was founded byRobert Mercer, a well-known supporter of right-wing causes and co-owner ofBreitbartNews. The data company also provided help to anotherpro-BrexitgroupLeave.EUduring the referendum campaign.

Theadvice and support came atno cost, however, as Mercer is a close friend of prominent-LeaverNigelFarage.

Therehave been calls for the U.K. Electoral Commission to launch an investigationinto the arrangement, but it says its powersdo not extendbeyond British shores.

'Do ask, do tell'

A government inquiry into sexual abuse against children in Australia has handed down sweeping recommendations on how to transform the country into a "do ask, do tell" culture, including mandatory reporting laws, as well as an end to the sanctity of the confession and celibacy requirements of the church.

The 17-volume final report from The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse was tabled today, after five years of work. The commission heard from more than 16,000 victims during 57 public hearings and 8,000 private sessions.

The abuse allegations stretched back 90 years, the report says, and involved state-, private- and church-run facilities like hospitals, schools, orphanages, detention facilities and group homes.

"In past generations, the trust placed by some parents and the broader community in institutions and their members meant that abusers were enabled and children's interests were compromised," says the report.

It describes a "prevailing culture that 'children should be seen and not heard.'"

Many of the commission's findings focus on priests and ministers, and more specifically the Catholic Church. It accounted for 60 per cent of the allegations of abuse in church-run institutions, and is accused of demonstrating a "catastrophic failure of leadership" in the past.

Among the report's recommendations:

• All religious groups be legally required to report allegations or suspicions of abuse to authorities, even if they come via the confessional.

• Candidates for religious ministry undergo "external" psychological testing, including a psycho-sexual assessment to determine if they are fit to work with children.

• A national child abuse prevention strategy be instituted.

• The Australian Catholic Church ask Rome for permission to make celibacy voluntary for priests.

That final demand, at least, might receive a sympathetic hearing in some parts of the Vatican.

Last month, Pope Francis reportedly asked for an official debate of a request by Brazilian bishops that priests in the Amazon region be allowed to marry. The country is experiencing the same challenges in recruiting and retaining priests as many Catholic nations.

In France, for example, the average age of priests is above 60. In the United States, it has gone from 35 in 1970, to 63 in 2009.

he most acute problem might be in Ireland, however, where just five trainees entered the Maynooth seminary this fall, a 222-year low. Once the world's largest supplier of priests, Maynooth was built to accommodate 500 students.

Star Wars

You probably haven't heard anything about it, but there's a new Star Wars film called The Last Jedi...

The film opened last night with "special sneak previews" on 1,300 screens around the world, which sort of stretches the concept.

Expectations are high for the eighth instalment of the original Star Wars series. (There have been two spin-off films as well, with more to come.) By tonight, it will be playing on more than 4,000 screens including 776 giant IMAX ones across 68 countries.

Predictions are that itsworldwide opening weekend box office takewill be in the $424 million to $440 million US range, probably exceeding its cost. (The Last Jedi's budget has remained a secret, but the previous Star Wars episode, The Force Awakens, cost $306 million.)

The hype isn't even bound by gravity. NASA plans to beam a digital copy up to the International Space Station soon so that the crew can stay up to date.

The first Star Wars Episode IV, to everyone's eternal confusion opened on 32 screens in May 1977, making just $1.5 million on its first weekend. Over the following 18 months it made up a lot of ground, eventually earning $786.6 million around the globe or $3.17 billion in inflation-adjusted 2017 dollars.

It remains the most successful Star Wars film. The Force Awakens stands second, having grossed $2.058 billion worldwide.

All told, the 10 films including last year's Rogue One, and 2008's Clone Wars have earned more than $7.6 billion at the box office.

Which explains why Disney purchased LucasFilm for $4.1 billion in 2012.

George Lucas, who created the saga, was paid just $150,000 to write and direct the first film. But he cleverly made what might have been the best deal in Hollywood history, retaining the merchandising and sequel rights.Today, his net worth is estimated at $5.5 billion.

But the most astounding Star Wars numbers remain these: Darth Vader stands 6-foot-8-inches, while Anakin Skywalker's height is 6-foot-1...

Justin Trudeau has already seen the new film, treating patients from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and two of his own kids, Xavier and Ella-Grace to a surprise screening in Ottawa on Tuesday.

Of course, it's not the first time the Prime Minister has gotten the jump on other Star Wars fans. Here he is nerding out at an advance screening of Return of the Jedi as an 11-year-old in 1983:

Justin Trudeau reviews Return of the Jedi

9 years ago

Duration 0:15

An 11-year-old Justin Trudeau gave a quick review of Return of the Jedi to the CBC after the Ottawa premiere in May 1983.

And here he is nerding out on Halloween in 2015, at the age of 42:

Quote of the moment

"It is factually, so far as we have been able to establish, without legal precedent in criminal law."

- Tony Badenoch, a Crown prosecutor in Birmingham, U.K., after Dr. Simon Bramhall entered a guilty plea yesterday. The transplant surgeon has admitted to using an argon beam to etch his initials onto the newly installed livers of two of his patients.

What The National is reading

• Quebec TV network backs away from debunked mosque report. (CBC)
• Nigeria will spend $1 billion in oil surplus money on the fight against Boko Haram. (Bloomberg)
• Russia a 'risk' to undersea cables, warns U.K. defence chief. (BBC)
• Happy Valley-Goose Bay mayor dies from shotgun wound. (CBC)
• Crime-fighting robot retired after launching alleged 'war on the homeless.' (Washington Post)
• The boundary-pushing, satirical Saudi cartoon that millions are watching. (CNN)
• A really, really, really detailed story about Wham!'s 'Last Christmas.' Fair warning. (Guardian)

Today in history

Dec. 15, 1986: Gross toys for Christmas

Department stores can't keep 'Slime' and 'Madballs' on the shelves. Because "research shows that little boys don't want to play with cute little toys."

Gross toys for Christmas 1986

38 years ago

Duration 1:55

Madballs fly off the shelves and kids get a whiff of Stinkor in an icky toy-store trend.