The shadows of two previous, brutal wars — and the potential consequences of one raging in eastern Europe — hung over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he arrived Thursday in Japan for the opening of the G7 leaders summit.
The day began in South Korea with a commemoration and a steep hike along a newly constructed trail in Kapyeong, the scene of the April 1951 battle of Kapyong, the first desperate fight involving Canadian soldiers during the Korean War.
The day ended in Hiroshima, Japan, the city obliterated by an atomic bomb in August 1945 in the world’s first use of a tactical nuclear weapon by the United States.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida deliberately chose his hometown as the venue for the Group of Seven leaders meeting to highlight the risk the world faces today of a nuclear confrontation. Russia has threatened on more than one occasion to use tactical nuclear weapons in its war in Ukraine.
Trudeau’s tightly scripted visit to Kapyeong, about 50 kilometres northwest of Seoul, saw him open a so-called peace trail on the rugged landscape of the former battlefield. The hiking trail connects former Canadian positions and ends at the summit of Hill 677, which was the strategic position Chinese troops tried to overrun during a drive to take Seoul, the South Korean capital.
Trudeau and Governor of Gyeonggi Province Kim Dong-yeon at the Canadian War Memorial Garden on Thursday in Kapyeong, South Korea. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
The offensive was halted by the Commonwealth brigade, which was made up of Canadian and Australian troops, supported by U.S. tanks.
“It’s a very important battle at a very key juncture of the war,” said Andrew Burtch, a historian at the Canadian War Museum. “If it had gone poorly, it might have meant very different results for South Korea and that’s one of the reasons it’s been so remembered in terms of the broader importance to Canadian military history.”
More than 500 Canadians killed in Korean War
The prime minister’s visit on Thursday is significant because, unlike European battlefields, few Canadian politicians have walked the ground in Korea. Throughout the Korean War, 516 Canadians lost their lives, including 10 at Kapyong.
“It’s a stretch of ground that hasn’t been as well documented, perhaps as other battles — admittedly costlier battles during the First and Second World Wars — but still it resonated long after the guns stopped firing,” said Burtch.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War, a fact that also makes Trudeau’s brief sojourn on the trail important. He took part in a brief wreath-laying ceremony before hiking the trail to the top where he mingled with some students from a Canadian curriculum private school, CMIS Canada.
Trudeau speaks with students as they descend the Kapyong Battle Commemorative trail in Kapyeong on Thursday. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Reminders of another, more devastating, war were evident when Trudeau touched down in Hiroshima, where nuclear disarmament is almost considered an article of faith, especially for Japan’s prime minister.
“Kishida is walking a fine line,” said Chris Johnstone, an expert in Japan at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“He recognizes the need for the nuclear umbrella, Japan’s dependence on U.S. extended deterrence; that that’s more vital than ever, frankly, in the current security environment, but he still does uphold this vision, if you will, of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Trudeau and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol unlink their arms following a toast at an official dinner at the Blue House on Wednesday in Seoul. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Many of the survivors of the atomic bombing have told Japanese media that they hope the leaders of the western democracies will change their perception of nuclear weapons by walking the ground where they were used.
Roland Paris, an international affairs professor at the University of Ottawa, said the world is in a precarious state as many of the arms control agreements that kept the potential use of nuclear weapons in check have withered away.
“A lot of those mechanisms that help to stabilize the nuclear world since the Cold War, during the Cold War, those mechanisms have been eroding,” Paris said.
“Those nuclear arms control agreements have been falling by the wayside. There’s been more and more nuclear, saber rattling.
“I think that the fact that this summit will be held in Hiroshima will have great symbolic significance.”
If anything, Paris said, the G7 Summit could provide momentum to renegotiate some of those agreements that have fallen by the wayside.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
