Prince Edward Island’s Premier is welcoming newly announced help from the federal government as the province grapples with the fallout from a month-long potato export ban to the United States.
The money will be used to support the diversion of surplus potatoes to food banks, help dispose of surplus potatoes in an environmentally sound way, and open new markets.
“These supports will be critical in diverting world-class potatoes to food banks, food-aid groups and those who can use them instead of destroying these perfectly good nutritious potatoes,” the Progressive Conservative Premier said in a statement.
“These types of creative solutions are exactly what we need to do in the interim to move our excess potatoes until the U.S. market is reopened.”
In announcing the fund at a news conference Monday, Ms. Bibeau said the federal government is working with stakeholders in PEI on details around implementing the assistance program, and also trying to resolve the ban. She also said Ottawa is trying to resolve the situation.
“We are really doing everything possible to reassure the Americans, working with the industry, working with the province,” she said. “Our hope is to reopen the market for fresh potatoes as soon as possible.”
Since Nov. 22, farmers in PEI have been barred from exporting potatoes to the United States because of the discovery of a fungal potato wart on two fields in the province. The wart poses no threat to human health or food safety.
When the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced the move, it confirmed high levels of the fungus in two PEI farms – a first in 21 years. The PEI potato crop is worth more than $1-billion annually to the province’s economy.
Reporter Greg Mercer explored the struggles of Prince Edward Island potato farmers earlier this month in a story here.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
BREAKING– Amid rapidly growing COVID-19 cases, Quebec’s Health Minister says bars, theatres and entertainment venues will close as of 5 p.m. Monday, while restaurants will be allowed to remain open at reduced capacity between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. Story here.
$400M FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR PHOENIX COMPENSATION – Ottawa paid out $400-million to federal public servants last year as part of continuing compensation for damages related to the Phoenix pay system, which caused major payroll disruptions across the government. Story here.
TORIES RULE OUT CANADA-CHINA COMMITTEE – The federal Conservatives say they will not launch a bid to resurrect a parliamentary committee that probed Canada-China relations for more than 18 months. Story here.
CHALLENGE TO MANITOBA PREMIER’S ELECTION REJECTED – A judge has rejected a court challenge of the vote that made Heather Stefanson leader of Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives and the province’s Premier. Shelly Glover, who came up just short with 49 per cent of the ballots on Oct. 30, alleged there were several problems with the way the race was run, but the justice ruled Ms. Glover did not produce evidence of any irregularities that could have altered the outcome. Story here.
MONTREAL/OTTAWA MAYORS HAVE COVID-19 The mayors of two major Canadian cities have tested positive for COVID-19. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson disclosed his diagnosis, but says he is not experiencing symptoms. Story here from CTV. Montreal Mayor Mayor Valerie Plante also says she has tested positive so is working remotely in isolation. Story here , from CBC.
FEDS DEPOSIT MILLIONS INTO WRONG ACCOUNTS – The federal government deposited nearly $26-million into the wrong bank accounts during the last fiscal year – and more than $10-million of it may be gone for good. From CBC. Story here.
OMICRON STALLS RETURN OF FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVANTS – Plans for federal public servants to return to work have been thrown into doubt by the Omicron variant. “There’s no blueprint for the return,” Kathryn May reports in Policy Options. “Departments will muddle through, adapt as they go, much like they did when employees were first sent home to work in March 2020. The eventual return will expose what rules and policies will have to be updated.” Story here.
THIS AND THAT
The House of Commons has adjourned until Jan. 31, 2022, at 11 a.m ET.
FOREIGN MINISTERS CONCERNED ABOUT HONG KONG ELECTIONS – Foreign ministers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America have issued a statement, noting the outcome of the Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong, and expressing “grave concern” over the erosion of democratic elements of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s electoral system. “We urge the People’s Republic of China to act in accordance with its international obligations to respect protected rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, including those guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” says the statement issued by Global Affairs Canada.
THE DECIBEL – On Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, science reporter Ivan Semeniuk explains what the latest science says about how Omicron is different from other variants like Delta, in three important ways: its transmissibility, how well it can escape the vaccines we have now, and how sick it can make us. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Personal, in Montreal.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
No schedule released for Deputy Prime Minister.
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
OPINION
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail)on Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s winter of MP discontent: “Andrew Scheer didn’t get this far. Now Erin O’Toole faces the long cold winter of a losing Conservative leader. Making sure that the many Tory MPs who are still ambivalent about his leadership don’t turn cold on him in the next few months will be key to his survival. Already he has seen a handful of current and former officials try to kick-start moves to have an early vote on his leadership – he booted Conservative Senator Denise Batters from the party’s caucus, but Tory senators chose to keep her in their group, anyway. Now, Conservative MPs are heading back to their ridings, back to constituents and party members and holiday cheer, and Mr. O’Toole doesn’t know how much of their conversations will be grumbling about the state of the party and the Leader.”
Kelly Cryderman (The Globe and Mail)on Brian Jean returning to politics, with his sights set on his former UCP leadership rival, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney:“Is this a real thing? Until now, internal party frustration with Mr. Kenney has failed to lead to any major turning point, despite many times in 2021 when it seemed possible. The most recent example, at the UCP AGM in November, was a mixed bag of internal party votes that went both for and against Mr. Kenney. But there was not much in the way of visible dissent, and the Premier came out of the weekend looking buoyed and confident. But now there is an actual thing – the leadership review – for the Premier’s opponents to organize around. Mr. Jean – who was leader of the Wildrose party in the 2015 election that saw the NDP win power after more than four decades of Progressive Conservative rule – has an advantage of being able to campaign full-time while Mr. Kenney still has to do the difficult work of governing through an Omicron wave of the pandemic.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail)on the need for a strong pandemic response now, despite Omicron being discouraging: “Don’t fall for the cynical rhetoric of the selfishly unvaccinated, such as failed politician Maxime Bernier, who tweeted recently that “both the vaccinated and unvaccinated can spread the virus.” While that is superficially true, it reeks of false equivalency. As American professor Dr. Sarah Parcak responded in a now viral tweet: “Both Serena Williams and I can play tennis.” The point here, masterfully made, is that the unvaccinated are still far more at risk of poor outcomes if they contract the coronavirus. Vaccines aren’t the only tool in our pandemic tool box either. We’ve gotten much better at treating COVID-19, with the arrival of antivirals, and a better understanding of how to best use monoclonal antibodies and other drugs.”
Sheema Khan (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on the proof of systemic racism in Quebec Premier François Legault’s own Bill 21: “Defenders of the bill assert that it is the natural outcome of the Quiet Revolution, during which Quebec removed the entrenched influence of the Catholic Church. Yet, as Melinda Meng points out in the Harvard International Review, the Catholic Church designed the provincial curriculum to indoctrinate children, with priests and nuns central to its delivery. Today, teachers are hired to deliver a religiously neutral curriculum designed by the state. Their personal belief has no correlation with the curriculum.”
André Pratte (The Montreal Gazette) on how the anti-Bill 21 initiative of some mayors from outside Quebec is already backfiring: “I have no doubt that the mayors and councillors think they are usefully supporting freedom of religion. But, believe me, as someone who is fighting Bill 21 from within Quebec, this does not help at all. If this debate becomes a Quebec vs. ROC issue, Quebecers will rally behind their government, and the Quebec-based opponents of Bill 21 will have an even harder time being heard.”
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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
