Senior Chinese Communist Party leader holds talks with PM Oli and President Bhandari as the ruling communist party on the verge of split.
A Chinese delegation reportedly held talks with Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and President Bidya Devi Bhandari in Kathmandu on Sunday in a first diplomatic step by the neighbouring power after the prime minister dissolved parliament a week ago.
The four-member delegation led by Guo Yezhou, a vice minister in the international department of the Communist Party of China, arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday to assess the political situation following the rift in the governing Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
China has poured millions of dollars into Nepal in recent years in aid and infrastructure investment as it incorporates the country in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative project.
In the past few years, many Nepali communist leaders have visited China for “training programmes” amid growing engagements between the NCP and the Chinese Communist Party.
Hundreds of people have protested against the dissolution of parliament [Hemanta Shreshtha/EPA]
Sandwiched between China and India, politics in Nepal is also influenced by the priorities of its giant neighbours. India has been pushing back against Beijing’s growing clout in a country that New Delhi considers its own backyard.
Prime Minister Oli decided to dissolve the country’s parliament last Sunday and called for parliamentary election more than a year ahead of the schedule following a power struggle in the NCP. He had led an alliance with former Maoist rebels to a landslide victory in 2017.
The move triggered deep political unrest and street protests in the Himalayan nation as it grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic and left the ruling party on the verge of a split.
“I think the Chinese have come to assess the overall situation after the dissolution of parliament and virtual break-up of the Nepal Communist Party,” said Narayan Khadka, a senior leader of the opposition Nepali Congress party.
The Chinese Embassy in Nepal was not immediately available for comment.
Violation of the constitution
Earlier, Bishnu Rijal, a central committee member of the NCP, said the Chinese official was expected to meet Oli and his opponents.
Oli has said that internal squabbling and a lack of cooperation from his party paralysed decision-making, forcing him to seek a fresh popular mandate, but opponents say he rushed with the decision before exhausting all the options.
Prime Minister Oli has said that internal squabbling and a lack of cooperation from his party paralysed decision-making, forcing him to seek a fresh mandate [File: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]
On Friday hundreds of protesters including three former prime ministers sat on a road near Oli’s office against his sudden move. They say Oli had no power to dissolve parliament and that he had violated the constitution.
“We’ll organise stronger protests against this dissolution by an unrestrained prime minister,” said Pushpa Kamal Dahal or Prachanda, one former prime minister.
Oli has rejected their demands and pledged to press ahead with parliamentary elections next year, on April 30 and May 10.
The prime minister has lost support within his ruling party this year, with some senior members accusing him of sidelining them in decision making and key appointments, and calling for him to step down.
Nepal’s 2015 charter does not give the prime minister the prerogative to dissolve the parliament without exhausting alternatives, constitutional expert Bipin Adhikari said.
“It is unconstitutional at the first sight,” he said.
The Supreme Court is hearing more than a dozen petitions challenging the dissolution of parliament and calling of early elections. It has given the government until January 3 to provide reasons for the dissolution, said the Supreme Court spokesman Bhadrakali Pokharel.
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.
