Irem Koca

Irem Koca is a Turkish-Canadian journalist who joined The Hill Times in late 2023. She got her start in Canadian media in the Toronto Star's Ottawa bureau, covering federal politics and national stories under the paper's year-long fellowship. With a background in broadcast journalism, she spent several years as a world news reporter at CNN Turkey. Her freelance work on Turkish politics has been featured in The New York Times and Reuters. Notable highlights of her career include coverage of the 2020 U.S. presidential elections under a Reporting Tour fellowship awarded by the U.S. State Department, and her coverage of the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan in 2019. Koca holds a master's degree in religious extremism from Queen's University, along with a journalism degree from Istanbul Bilgi University and Kingston University, London. She is fluent in English and Turkish.

Spending to outsource legal work more than doubled in the last decade as hundreds of internal positions stayed vacant: government data

The data ‘highlights a real and growing gap between the federal government’s legal needs and its in-house capacity,’ says Gregory Harlow, president of the Association of Justice Counsel.

news | BY IREM KOCA | May 26, 2026

Pentagon’s ‘cancellation’ of Canada-U.S. defence board could have ‘ripple effects’ on major procurements, says former co-chair

‘It’s a shot across the bow. The U.S. administration has clearly been watching the PM’s moves on defence and has concludes that there’s too much talk and too little action,’ says defence expert Christian Leuprecht.

news | BY IREM KOCA | May 21, 2026

Procurement ombud says concerns remain over defence contracting years after ‘deeply troubling’ favouritism findings

‘Remaining concerns around training and contract‑data reporting make it clear that stronger oversight is still needed,’ says NDP MP Don Davies.

news | BY IREM KOCA | May 19, 2026

Feds ‘bypass’ competitive processes, add ‘unnecessary bureaucracy’ in new Defence Investment Agency, say opposition MPs, but Fuhr’s office says it’s ‘improving accountability’

‘This legislation would substantially expand the federal government’s ability to bypass competitive procurement processes and concentrate significant power in a single minister,’ says NDP defence critic Don Davies.

news | BY IREM KOCA | May 18, 2026

NDP, Bloc MPs says feds should impose Buy Canadian policy on Via Rail contract to prevent buying new trains from foreign supplier

Despite the current policy, Canadian content requirements wouldn’t necessarily apply to the upcoming Via Rail contract since its process began in 2024.

news | BY IREM KOCA | May 11, 2026

Feds’ communication over permanent residency plans gave temporary workers ‘false hope,’ says NDP MP Kwan

The immigration minister never said she was launching a new ‘program’ to which people could apply, but the piecemeal rollout and failing to correct the record ‘invited deceit by unscrupulous actors,’ says Tamara Mosher-Kuczer, a top-ranking immigration lawyer.

news | BY IREM KOCA | May 7, 2026

Feds’ promise for new minister leaves unanswered questions about streamlining defence procurement, say observers

Changing the Defence Production Act so that it transfers powers to a new minister won’t necessarily create the promised single point of accountability, says Troy Crosby, a former top procurement official at National Defence.

news | BY IREM KOCA | May 4, 2026

Feds refer a contractor to RCMP alleging it fraudulently over-billed the government

PSPC says it has identified so far a total of $5.5-million in improper billing and recovered $4.8-million to date.

news | BY IREM KOCA | April 30, 2026

Feds roll out new cybersecurity certification for defence procurement

The first of three levels of certification will be implemented for select defence contracts starting this summer.

news | BY IREM KOCA | April 23, 2026

‘A growing gap between funding and outcomes,’ says defence union as feds push to spend billions in defence procurement

‘If we do not fix the system, its structure, its accountability and its capacity, we risk sending money out the door that does not achieve outcomes for our country,’ says June Winger, national president of the Union of National Defence Employees.

news | BY IREM KOCA | April 22, 2026

‘This is not a political problem’: watchdog wants fixes to decades-long issues in Indigenous procurement put on fast track

Procurement Ombud Alexander Jeglic told MPs on April 16 that revisiting the issue in the usual two-year timeline would make his office ‘part of that failure’ already plaguing the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business.

news | BY IREM KOCA | April 16, 2026

‘We’re selling to our allies, but we’re not selling to ourselves’: Canadian defence companies tell Senate National Security Committee

As Ottawa moves ahead with plans to spend $81.8-billion on defence, a Senate committee studying Canada’s defence procurement heard from industry representatives that firms are finding it challenging to sell to their own government due to issues with procurement policies.

news | BY IREM KOCA | April 15, 2026

Push to secure Canadian IP in defence procurement needs a ‘clear plan’ of execution, say experts

The Defence Industrial Strategy recognizes the importance of intellectual property to sovereignty, but observers say the government does not seem to have a solid plan to implement its goals.

news | BY IREM KOCA | April 15, 2026

Liberal, NDP MPs support Turkish earthquake survivors’ plea to extend visas before having to return to disaster-hit country: ‘this is our last chance’

A petition asking to extend temporary work permits by 24 months ‘will ensure people are not forced into uncertainty after already enduring significant hardship,’ says NDP MP Jenny Kwan.

news | BY IREM KOCA | April 13, 2026

It’s Carney’s world: proximity matters for the top 50 influencing Canadian foreign policy

The Hill Times spoke with nearly 20 insiders, including current and former senior government officials, past diplomats, and analysts to determine who has the most influence in the prime minister’s foreign policy sphere.

feature | BY NEIL MOSS, STUART BENSON, IREM KOCA, MARLO GLASS | April 8, 2026

The Hill Times’ 100 Most Influential People in Politics and Government in 2026

The Hill Times spoke with political insiders over the last month to nail down the list of people who are leading and influencing federal government policy and shaping public opinion this year. Here is our Top 100 Most Influential People in Government and Politics in 2026, organized by politicians, pollsters, political influencers, staffers, public servants, and media.

news | BY ABBAS RANA, LAURA RYCKEWAERT, NEIL MOSS, MARLO GLASS, STUART BENSON, KATE MALLOY, SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN, JESSE CNOCKAERT, IREM KOCA, ELEANOR WAND, PETER MAZEREEUW | March 30, 2026