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Liberals mum on chance of meeting China’s Xi at G20, push to further isolate Russia

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BALI, INDONESIA — The federal government won’t say whether it asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is pressuring G20 leaders to further isolate Russia.

“Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine is creating food and energy crises. It’s disrupting supply chains and raising the cost of living,” Trudeau told business leaders in a Monday speech in Bali, Indonesia.

“Families are worried that they’re not going to be able to put food on the table, or won’t be able to heat their homes during winter.”

Trudeau was in Indonesia to meet with the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies. That includes Xi, who is making his first trip outside China since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Xi met Monday with U.S. President Joe Biden, and has announced plans to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron.

China’s Foreign Ministry said that between the G20 summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting in Thailand, Xi will also meet the leaders of Senegal and Argentina “among others, upon request.”

Trudeau will be at both summits, yet when asked Sunday and Monday, Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly would not say whether they sought a meeting with Xi.

Instead, Joly said she will have a chance to speak with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, as she did in July.

“It is important for Canada to continue to have these open channels with China, but at the same time, our stance is clear,” she said Monday.

Last week, Joly said China is a threat to global stability by undermining human rights and trade rules. “We will co-operate with China when we must,” she said.

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa responded that the speech hurts Canada’s interests by “creating division and fomenting confrontation in the region.”

Canada’s stance on Russia is also at odds with some other G20 states, which want to maintain ties in spite of the invasion of Ukraine. In recent months, China, India and South Africa have abstained from United Nations resolutions condemning Russia.

“My focus is going to be making sure that the world comes together to reinforce that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin made a terrible, terrible choice when he decided to invade a peaceful neighbouring country,” Trudeau said Sunday.

As the summit host, Indonesia has asked leaders to focus on shoring up health systems and boosting food and energy security, and has stressed the importance of focusing on consensus instead of division.

Indonesia has reportedly asked G20 countries who have been vocal against Putin to tone down the rhetoric in order to forge consensus on other issues.

“Indonesia is between a rock and a hard place,” Joly said.

“Canada’s work is to always make sure that we can bring countries along; that we can find ways to address even difficult issues, and that’s why we’ve been having many ongoing conversations with Indonesia.”

On Monday, she announced $500 million for Ukraine’s military, including surveillance and communications equipment, as well as fuel and medical supplies.

The half-billion dollars doubles the amount Ottawa announced in its budget this past spring.

“Our goal is to make sure that the troops in Ukraine on the ground have access to additional military support soon, and we’ll have more details to provide in the coming days and weeks,” Joly said.

She also announced new sanctions against 23 Russians whom Joly says have violated the human rights of opposition leaders.

The G20 summit comes as Canadian industry leaders seek deeper ties with Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country that has a soaring economy.

Canada and Indonesia have done two rounds of negotiations for a trade deal aimed at growing the $3.5 billion in annual bilateral trade.

In recent years, the exchange has been roughly equally split, with Canada predominantly selling grain, fertilizer, wood pulp and oilseeds, and buying Indonesian rubber, electrical equipment and apparel.

Relations between Ottawa and Jakarta have been relatively smooth, aside from disputes in the 1990s around human rights and tumult in East Timor. Canada played a key role in Indonesia securing its independence from the Netherlands in 1949, with Ottawa’s then-ambassador to the UN, the general Andrew McNaughton, helping to dislodge an impasse in negotiations.

Indonesia’s poverty rate has dropped to 9.78 per cent in 2020 from a quarter of the population at the turn of the millennium. Nearly two-thirds of the country’s roughly 280 million people are of working age.

But COVID-19 slowed the economic boom and climate change threatens the world’s largest archipelago, with at least a third of the population at risk of natural disasters.

Indonesia is a key emitter of greenhouse gases, and Canada has pushed the government to better preserve its tropical forest and peatlands. Ottawa has argued that Indonesia’s pursuit of economic development and burning of coal is threatening its extensive biodiversity.

While in Cambodia, Trudeau made announcements aimed at deeper ties with Southeast Asia as a counterbalance to China.

The prime minister’s plane left Cambodia an hour and a half late on Monday, which his office said was due to issues clarifying the flight path. That delay postponed a planned meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Trudeau did meet Monday with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and is set to also meet newly minted Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2022.

 

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

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S&P/TSX composite index gains more than 350 points, U.S. stock markets also rise

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index gained more than 350 points Thursday in a broad rally led by energy and technology stocks, while U.S. markets also rose, led by a one-per-cent gain on the Dow. 

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 354.22 points at 25,390.68.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 461.88 points at 43,870.35. The S&P 500 index was up 31.60 points at 5,948.71, while the Nasdaq composite was up 6.28 points at 18,972.42.

The Nasdaq lagged an otherwise decent day for Wall St., rising just 0.03 per cent as it was dragged down by Google parent Alphabet and some of its tech giant peers. 

The tech company’s stock fell 4.6 per cent after U.S. regulators asked a judge to break it up by forcing a sale of the Chrome web browser. 

Amazon shares traded down 2.2 per cent while Meta and Apple both moved lower as well. 

After a substantial run for major tech stocks this year, that kind of news “shakes people a bit,” said John Zechner, chairman and lead equity manager at J. Zechner Associates.

Meanwhile, semiconductor giant Nvidia saw its stock tick up modestly by 0.5 per cent after it reported earnings Wednesday evening.

The company yet again beat expectations for profit and revenue, and gave a better revenue forecast for the current quarter than expected. 

But expectations for Nvidia have been so high amid the optimism over artificial intelligence that even beating forecasts wasn’t enough to send its stock flying the way it has in previous quarters, said Zechner. 

Nvidia essentially caps earnings season in the U.S., with companies largely beating expectations, said Zechner — though those expectations weren’t exactly lofty for companies outside the tech and AI sphere, he added. 

The Dow led major U.S. markets as the post-election hopes for economic growth continued to fuel a broadening of market strength, said Zechner. 

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, said Zechner, and there’s no guarantee he will do what he’s promised.

“There’s a lot of unknowns, but for now the markets seem to be assuming that whatever comes of this, the U.S. will continue to lead global growth,” he said. 

However, some of Trump’s promises — chief among them widespread tariffs on imports — have sparked bets that inflation may rear its head again.

The market has pared back its expectations for interest rate cuts as a result, said Zechner. 

“Nobody’s talking about a half-point cut, that’s for sure,” he said. 

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.63 cents US compared with 71.46 cents US on Wednesday.

The January crude oil contract was up US$1.35 at US$70.10 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up nine cents at US$3.48 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$23.20 at US$2,674.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was down three cents at US$4.13 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) 

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Halifax security forum gathers as Trump’s support for Taiwan, Ukraine in question

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HALIFAX – Uncertainty is a key theme this year at the annual, three-day gathering in Halifax of political leaders, defence officials and policy analysts who aim to promote democratic values around the globe. 

The 300 delegates from 60 countries will take part in the Halifax International Security Forum, which begins Friday, less than three weeks after Donald Trump’s United States presidential election victory — a result that has raised questions about U.S. military support for the threatened democracies of Ukraine and Taiwan.

Over the past two years, Trump has repeatedly taken issue with the almost $60 billion in assistance to Ukraine provided by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, and he’s made vague vows to end the war. The president-elect has also been unclear if his upcoming administration would defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion by China, and has suggested the self-governed island “should pay us for defence.”

Peter Van Praagh, president of the forum, said in an interview Wednesday that in November 2016 — after Trump’s first ascent to the White House — there was “a level of shock that this could happen,” but he said this year shock has been replaced with a feeling of incertitude.

“One of the things that the president-elect Trump brings to the table is a level of uncertainty …. Now everybody is looking to reduce that uncertainty and get some type of clarity on what his priorities will be,” he said.

Van Praagh expects the speakers at the 16th forum will present evidence justifying why the Trump administration must continue Biden’s financial and military support for Ukraine, arguing that the security of democracies around the globe depends on it.

He said he’s pleased former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen will deliver a speech Saturday, which is expected to emphasize how U.S. support for Ukraine is crucial to the security of her country and its democracy.

Tsai left office in May. During her two terms in office she came under frequent attack from China for her refusal to recognize Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over the island.

Van Praagh said the politician — who remains an influential figure in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party — is expected to describe how the threat from China isn’t isolated from the conflict in Central Europe. “All of these things are connected. Ukrainian security is connected with security in eastern Asia,” he said. 

Van Praagh said he hopes speakers at the forum help to influence members of the U.S. congressional delegation on the importance of backing Taiwan and Ukraine.

In 2016, former Republican Sen. John McCain was a prominent and influential figure in Washington, and he regularly attended the Halifax security forum — bringing the ideas he heard back to the Senate. An award has been given out in his name at the forum each year since he died in 2018.

This year, two Republican senators, James Risch of Idaho — who may chair the influential foreign relations committee after Trump takes office — and Mike Rounds from South Dakota are attending as part of the U.S. congressional delegation, along with four Democratic Party senators.

“These guys not only have a say, they have a vote,” said Van Praagh.

Risch will be a speaker at the opening session of the conference on Friday, along with Democratic Party Sen. Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire, as they discuss America’s role in the world. The opening day will also hear from Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, who will sit on a panel titled “Victory in Ukraine” alongside Rounds.

Other invited guests include Gen. Jennie Carignan, head of the Canadian Armed Forces, who will sit on a panel with U.S. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific command, and Andrew Shearer, director of Australia’s Office of National Intelligence, on Saturday.

Many of the events over the forum’s three days, including a plenary session on threats to the Canadian Arctic from Russia and China, tie back to the conflict in Ukraine, and to whether Western democracies should continue to back the country.

“Should we succeed in Ukraine and push Russia out of Ukraine, every other international challenge becomes easier,” Van Praagh said. “If Russia succeeds, everything becomes more difficult.”

“The alternative is chaos and more war.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.



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50-50 chance: After tie vote, Cape Breton-area councillor to be chosen by random draw

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HALIFAX – It will be the luck of the draw that chooses the next councillor for a district in northern Cape Breton after two candidates earned the same number of votes in a recent municipal election.

Amy MacKinnon and Wanda Hennick both received 145 votes on Oct. 19 in the district that includes the Victoria County communities of Dingwall, Aspy Bay and Bay St. Lawrence. To break the tie, the winner will be chosen on Friday by random draw — a selection process stipulated in the Nova Scotia Municipal Elections Act.

Hennick said the voting results were a “shock” to everyone in the district. The random draw is undemocratic, she said, and makes some people in her district feel like their votes won’t count. The winner should be determined in a byelection, she added.

“I’m not happy about it,” she said in an interview. “We owe our constituents an actual election. They didn’t vote to have someone’s name pulled out of a box. If that was the case, why didn’t they do that from the beginning? They feel like their votes were taken from them.”

MacKinnon couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

Each province has its own rules about what to do if a municipal election ends in a tie. Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick follow the same procedure as Nova Scotia. In Prince Edward Island, a coin-flip determines the winner, while in Ontario, the deciding vote is cast by the returning officer. 

Blair Gallop, Victoria County’s returning officer, says the Oct. 19 election isn’t the only time a tie has been recorded in Nova Scotia municipal politics; in 1979, Harvey Lewis became mayor of Louisbourg after his name was picked from a hat.

Hennick said she will travel to Sydney, N.S., for the recount, though she initially thought about boycotting it. Regardless of Friday’s outcome, she thinks her district will be in good hands. 

“It’s 50-50. We’re both strong women in this district and we do a lot for our community here, so I feel confident if I don’t get (elected), the district is going to be looked after very well with Amy. If I win, then perfect.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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