It was meant to be the icing on the cake. The crowning of Iraq as champions of the Arabian Gulf was supposed to bring to a conclusion a tournament that had welcomed Iraq back into the international scene.
Celebrations, however, were overshadowed by the reported deaths of at least four from a stampede which also injured dozens of others ahead of the tournament’s final on January 19. Poor crowd control, awful security protocols and mismanagement resulted in the fatal chaos.
Instead of the focus being placed on sport, the failure of the security forces and resulting tragedy at the final became a metaphor for the gross ineptitude of the Iraqi government and burst the bubble of the two-week high that had been the Arabian Gulf Cup.
With hours to go before kick-off it was clear Iraqi government officials were not in control of the tens of thousands of fans who had descended on Basra’s ‘Palm Trunk’ stadium. Government officials quickly began discussing the possibilities of postponing the final of the tournament or even having it transferred to another neutral country as news of causalities began to spread.
Yet the government should have anticipated such crowds and been much better prepared. It was known the match was sold out and it was expected that those without tickets would attempt to crash the match.
Just two weeks earlier, after having attended the opening ceremony in Basra myself, I had written about how badly organised the crowd control was. It was a disaster waiting to happen as tens of thousands were shepherded through bottlenecked gates.
The failures of the government to prepare for the chaos is akin to the patchwork solutions they have implemented to combat years of malignant corruption and collapsing public services.
Even the infrastructure for the football facilities highlighted how jerry-built the rest of the preparation was. Iraq did invest in constructing a stunning 65,000-seater stadium in Basra, but what about the surrounding infrastructure? Dirt tracks lead up to the stadium. A lack of public transport facilities means that cars must rush towards the stadium down single-lane roads, alongside pedestrians. And on January 19, an inadequate number of turnstiles and riot police contributed to the deaths of excited spectators. The government must be held to account.
But as is usually the case with Iraq, the government – in a press release by the prime minister – chose to brush over the failures and instead praise the security forces. “We are also saddened by the unfortunate incidents that took place” is all Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani said, opting to not address the deaths directly. Instead, his statement — which thanked teams and fans for participating in the tournament — had a self-congratulatory feel to it and referred to the prime minister’s “feelings of hope and pride”.
Iraqi fans of course used the occasion to remind the government of their grievances, as the final was due to kick off, by unfurling a banner of Omar Sadoun, a young protestor who was killed by the country’s security forces during a wave of anti-governmental protests in 2021. In all, around 600 Iraqis had died in the crackdown on those protests.
Promises after promises of change by a string of governments have failed to result in any meaningful action against corruption. In November for instance, reports emerged of how governmental officials had plundered $2.5bn of public funds. Yet that heist accounts for a mere one percent of the total amount lost to corruption since 2003.
This is all money which could have been used to bolster Iraq’s failing public services, including crowd control in Basra.
In Basra, for example, more than 100,000 people were hospitalised in 2018 because of a lack of access to clean water. Last summer Basra also suffered from consecutive days without any electricity, despite soaring temperatures, once again sending people to hospital as a result of heatstroke and severe dehydration. This even impacted football matches leading up to the Arabian Gulf Cup as electricity cuts switched off the floodlights during matches.
The corruption can be found in each corner of Iraq’s government, including the health sector. After decades of underfunding, hospitals struggle to care for patients in dire need of treatment. Drugs destined for public consumption often get sold to private businesses with officials pocketing the profits.
Even the sports sector has been impacted by corruption and incompetence. The Basra International Stadium was first opened in 2013. That surrounding roads, turnstiles and access into the stadium have still not been developed a decade later is directly related to the preventable deaths at last week’s final.
What was meant to be a joyous occasion has sadly been shadowed by the unnecessary loss of life.
Iraqis should be proud of the success of their team at the Arabian Gulf Cup. Their government, though, has no reason to feel proud of itself. The stampede in Basra should serve as a reminder to the government that fighting corruption and supporting public services must now become a priority for Iraq to truly progress.
Without that, every win for Iraq will be accompanied by an own-goal.
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.
