Mounties warn of armed robbery suspects west of Edmonton

WINNIPEG – Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is standing by his government’s decision to turf backbencher and defence lawyer Mark Wasyliw from caucus because a partner at the firm he works at represented convicted sex offender Peter Nygard.

The NDP removed Wasyliw on Monday saying the legislature member for Fort Garry failed to demonstrate “good judgment” by continuing to work at the law firm.

Kinew said that in the days leading up to the dismissal, caucus told Wasyliw he would have to give up his job as a lawyer if he wanted to stay with caucus.

Wasyliw declined, said Kinew.

“You can be affiliated with the NDP or you can be affiliated with Peter Nygard. But you can’t do both,” Kinew told reporters Tuesday.

“The caucus leadership made the decision to ask him to leave, and I support that decision 100 per cent.”

Kinew wouldn’t say whether caucus voted on the decision.

“We don’t talk about family business in public,” the premier said.

Following his dismissal, Wasyliw accused Kinew of being a micromanaging bully and called him a “toxic and dysfunctional leader.”

Wasyliw said he believes he was turfed because he has butted heads with the premier on some issues. He alleged the premier ignores caucus and cabinet concerns.

Kinew denied the allegations and said he has never bullied anyone on the job, yelled at any of his staff or dismissed opposing views.

“I’m more than comfortable to entertain opinions, because I think the consensus is stronger at the end of the day,” said Kinew.

Wasyliw has said he will continue to sit in the legislature as an Independent and speak for constituents who feel the NDP has strayed from its traditional values.

The Criminal Defence Lawyer Association of Manitoba has condemned the rational for Wasyliw’s ouster, arguing it sends a message that defence lawyers can be punished for having unpopular clients.

Nygard, who founded his fashion empire in Winnipeg, was sentenced earlier this month to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting four women at his company’s headquarters in Toronto. The 83-year-old continues to face charges in Manitoba, Quebec and the United States.

The NDP defended Wasyliw in 2019, when the Progressive Conservatives criticized him for representing impaired drivers. At the time, the NDP caucus said defence lawyers play an important role in ensuring the constitutional rights of Canadians to a fair trial.

Kinew said individuals have the right to be defended, but a sitting MLA shouldn’t be the one to do that.

“I have a huge amount of respect for the independence of the judiciary and respect for the administration of justice in Manitoba,” the premier said.

“But there is no correlation between the role of government and the political decision makers who sit around the government table. It’s completely separate.”

The Opposition Progressive Conservatives have called for a third-party investigation into the bullying allegation.

“This isn’t about politics and the fallout between Wab Kinew and Mark Wasyliw,” said Tory Leader Wayne Ewasko.

“This is about civil servants and staff at the legislative assembly. Protecting the respectful workplace they deserve and ensuring that people feel safe coming forward to report any misconduct by the premier and his senior staff.”

Wasyliw was first elected in 2019. Before the NDP formed government in 2023, he served as the party’s finance critic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index slipped lower Tuesday despite strength in energy stocks, while U.S. markets were mixed but more or less flat one day before an interest rate decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Markets were in a holding pattern ahead of a much-anticipated interest rate decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday, said Anish Chopra, managing director with Portfolio Management Corp.

The central bank is expected to cut its key rate for the first time since it hiked rates to fight inflation.

But markets are undecided on whether the Fed will cut by a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point. They’re leaning toward the latter, according to data from CME Group.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 15.90 points at 41,606.18. The S&P 500 index was up 1.49 points at 5,634.58, while the Nasdaq composite was up 35.93 points at 17,628.06.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 24.37 points at 23,677.70.

After a couple of weaker-than-expected jobs reports in the U.S., bets for a larger cut grew over fears the central bank had waited too long to start cutting rates.

The market believes the data shows enough of a slowdown in the economy and inflation for the Fed to make a bigger cut, said Chopra.

However, a larger rate cut could send a worrying signal, he said.

“If the Fed started out with a bigger rate cut, it’s just a more concerning sign that they are behind the curve on cutting interest rates,” he said.

New data on U.S. retail sales Tuesday didn’t move the needle, added Chopra, showing a mixed bag: shoppers spent more last month than expected, but less than expected when removing automobiles and fuel from the occasion.

The Fed is more concerned with continuing to fight inflation while avoiding too much softness in the job market, Chopra said.

“When you look at the retail sales data … it may just be an indication that the economy just isn’t slowing as quickly as some people had forecasted.”

In Canada, the Consumer Price Index reached the central bank’s target of two per cent in August.

“Gasoline prices coming down have had a big impact on inflation,” said Chopra.

The Bank of Canada has already cut rates three times this year as the Canadian economy softened faster under interest rate hikes than the U.S. economy.

The Bank of Canada has two more rate decisions in 2024, said Chopra, and some market watchers are looking at whether a half-point cut could be in the cards.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.57 cents US on Monday.

The November crude oil contract was up 94 cents at US$69.96 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$16.50 at US$2,592.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was essentially unchanged at US$4.27 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

EDMONTON – It could cost at least $2.1 billion to end work on Calgary’s first phase of its long-sought $6.2-billion Green Line light rail transit project.

City officials and Green Line board members say more than $1.3 billion has already been spent on land acquisition, utility work and new rail vehicles, and a wind down could cost another $850 million.

The numbers were revealed at a city council meeting Tuesday, as members discussed the fallout of losing Alberta government funding for the project.

Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen has said the province will pull its $1.53-billion portion from the project if the city doesn’t rejig the line’s route and extend it farther south.

Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen penned a letter to Gondek in early September saying the province would pull its $1.53 billion in funding from the $6.2-billion project if the city doesn’t rejig the line’s route and extend it farther south.

City chief administrative officer David Duckworth said Tuesday that pausing work to wait months for other alignment proposals is untenable at this stage in the process, and the city can’t afford to take on the risks.

He said Dreeshen’s announcement earlier this month has left the city no other option but to bring work to a halt.

If the project is shut down, more than 1,000 staff and contractors would be off the job by the end of the year, although some construction work would need to stretch into 2025.

Coun. Sonya Sharp said before the meeting that she wanted to see the project better handled and communicated among elected officials before it reached an impasse.

She said council owes it to Calgarians to consider the province’s proposal.

“Let’s just pause and think — let’s not knee jerk reaction this. Let’s maybe take 90 days or three months, whatever they need, to work this out, and let’s think of a proper work plan and get everybody at the table, including the federal government,” she said.

“We can’t just walk away and not be a part of this.”

Mayor Jyoti Gondek has said it’s clear the province isn’t willing to budge on rerouting demands, and the city is also mulling over how it might transfer costs to the province.

“(The province) has the ability to impose, really, anything they want on us. And by imposing the wind-down of this project, they have saddled us with costs that I don’t believe we should have to bear,” Gondek said in an interview Monday.

Among other changes, Dreeshen wants expensive downtown tunnelling off the table.

Gondek said such proposals have been studied and rejected, and subsequent meetings with Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government haven’t moved the two parties to a compromise.

Dreeshen has declined to say whether the province would backstop liabilities for delayed or cancelled contracts, but reiterated that he is working to get alternative proposals from an independent engineering firm.

“We will continue to collaborate with the City of Calgary and our federal partners to ensure an orderly transition from an expensive and high-risk project with extensive tunnelling to a new and longer above-ground alignment that will benefit many more Calgarians,” he said in a Monday statement.

Council approved an updated, shortened line in July, with an added $700 million in costs to municipal coffers.

The premier has called the Green Line “the incredible shrinking project” and said it needs a complete rethink to be more cost-effective.

Speaking on her radio call-in show Saturday, Smith said she wants more direct political oversight of mega projects.

“I’d be looking to be quite a bit more involved than we were in the past,” the premier said.

Gondek said the only way forward is for the provincial government to oversee whatever project proposals it comes back with.

“In the world of the UCP government, it’s power and control. And they will leverage it to get what they want,” said Gondek.

The mayor said the city can’t afford to wait for more reports to begin another approval process. It’s too late for tweaks.

“If (the provincial government) wanted to delay things to figure out a solution, the time for that was July,” she said.

She added that the funding agreement for the Green Line with the federal and provincial governments expires March 31.

The dispute has become highly politicized, as former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, who left city hall in 2021, became leader of the Opposition NDP in June.

Dreeshen has labelled the Green Line project the “Nenshi nightmare.” He has said the former mayor is responsible for mismanaging the project from the start and that it was never properly engineered.

Nenshi, in turn, has blamed Dreeshen for turning the project into a political football and putting jobs at risk.

Nenshi told a Calgary Chamber of Commerce event that the province is wasting money with its “petulant, toddler decision.”

“They lit $800 million on fire. Why? So they could insult me,” he said

The Calgary Construction Association has said the UCP’s decision undermines confidence in the reliability of government funding for major infrastructure developments across the province.

It has urged the province to reconsider.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.