Ferry service between Nova Scotia, P.E.I. won’t resume until at least Oct. 19

OTTAWA – The Liberal government survived a second non-confidence vote in as many weeks Tuesday, once again putting off the possibility Canada would be plunged into an immediate election campaign.

Though the Liberals are in the clear for another day, the Bloc Québécois made it clear they may not be so fortunate the next time the Conservatives bring a non-confidence motion before the House of Commons.

Members of Parliament voted on a Conservative motion Tuesday afternoon that called for MPs to declare they have lost faith in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his nine-year-old government.

The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois voted against the motion, as they did with a similar motion last week.

Last month, the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence agreement that had stabilized the minority government for more than two years. New Democrats now will vote on a case-by-case basis but have given no ultimatums for their support.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet has given the Liberals until Oct. 29 to green-light his party’s pension bill, which is estimated to cost about $16 billion over five years.

In exchange, his party will “not unplug the government that isn’t doing well,” he said in French on Tuesday.

“If the government doesn’t accept our request, well, we’ll understand what that means and we’ll begin negotiations that might not be pleasant, but the end will be clear,” Blanchet said in his speech to the House Tuesday, promising in that case to work with other opposition parties to bring the government down.

Acquiescing to the Bloc’s demands, however, will only buy the government a few months of support.

The NDP and Conservatives already voted in favour of the Bloc’s pension bill at second reading, which would increase old age security payments by 10 per cent for seniors aged 65 to 74.

Because it’s a spending bill, the governing Liberals need to support the legislation. They have not yet said whether they will negotiate with the Bloc.

The Liberals increased old age security payments by 10 per cent for people over the age of 75 in 2022, with the intention of targeting the most vulnerable seniors.

Despite all the attention on the political threat to the Liberals, Bloc MP Yves Perron said the vote on the bill is a question of human dignity for seniors.

Instead of debating the motion, Kevin Lamoureux, the parliamentary secretary to the Liberal House leader, outlined other ways his party has supported seniors since it was elected in 2015, including by creating a national dental-care program for low- and middle-income Canadians and drafting national pharmacare legislation.

“These programs are of great benefit to our seniors. Unfortunately, the Bloc have made the decision to vote against these programs,” said Lamoureaux.

Liberal House leader Karina Gould would not comment on the Bloc’s motion Tuesday except to say that she looked forward to the debate.

NDP MP Bonita Zarrillo called the Liberals “cruel and callous” for withholding financial support for the Bloc bill. The vote on the Bloc’s motion is expected later this week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 1, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Tim Walz and JD Vance will face off on the debate stage Tuesday evening in a matchup that both their parties are hoping will demonstrate their vice-presidential candidate’s ability to connect with voters in battleground states that will play a critical role in deciding the U.S. election in November.

“They will both be trying to connect with those key Midwestern voters, that’s part of why each one of them was chosen,” said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics at Western University in London, Ont.

“Thinking about especially male voters in those key Midwestern swing states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.”

Those states swung Republican when former president Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and in 2020 they helped put President Joe Biden in the White House.

Walz, the 60-year-old Democratic governor of Minnesota, has embraced his folksy, plain-spoken demeanour since he joined the ticket earlier this summer. He’s leaned into his Midwestern roots and the title “coach Walz” from his former football coach days.

The strategy has seen him garner high favourability in polls but he will be facing a formidable opponent in Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio.

The 40-year-old has become a mainstay on cable news shows since he was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate in July.

Formerly a Trump critic, Vance was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 after becoming one of the former president’s loudest supporters.

Before entering the political sphere, Vance rose to fame with the 2016 publication of his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

The Republican campaign released a video ahead of the debate to show Vance’s “hillbilly energy.” In the video, which features photos from his childhood, Vance talked about jobs disappearing from communities and the sense of hopelessness that left behind.

Both men are expected to play on their working-class narratives during the debate to give credibility to their party’s plans for the economy and inflation.

Political experts have said Vice-President Kamala Harris dominated the presidential debate last month by prodding Trump into tirades that strayed far from his intended goals of focusing on immigration and the economy.

Aaron Kall, the director of debate for the University of Michigan, said it’s unlikely Vance will fall for the same strategy, and he expects Tuesday night’s debate will lean more into policy.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be barbs.

Walz was given credit for coining the label “weird” to describe his Republican opponents and the attack has stuck to Vance, with numerous viral videos and memes targeting the senator’s past comments and encounters with voters.

“They really couldn’t be more diametrically opposed, kind of like Harris and Trump,” Kall said.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of fireworks, given their personalities.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – When Chris Boucher first played an NBA pre-season game in his home city in 2018, he was a raw talent trying to crack the Toronto Raptors roster.

Six years later, the 31-year-old is back in Montreal as the longest-serving Raptor — and the only remaining player from the 2019 championship team.

“It’s been nuts. It’s been crazy,” said Boucher, reflecting on his journey as the Raptors opened training camp at the Université du Québec à Montréal on Tuesday.

“People thought that surely I would only do a year or two, but now it’s been six or seven years, and I’ve been here longer than anyone else on that team,” he added to a pack of French-Canadian reporters there to greet the homegrown talent.

Toronto’s camp — which includes an open practice at McGill University on Friday night — runs through Sunday’s Raptors versus Washington Wizards pre-season matchup at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Although Boucher has reached veteran status, he’s still playing for his next contract.

Boucher is entering the final year of his deal after watching his role on the Raptors diminish last season, but says he isn’t concerned following a constructive off-season where he worked closely with head coach Darko Rajaković.

“I’m not worried. I’ve put in a lot of work,” Boucher said. “I’ve talked with the coach, I’ve talked with the GM, we’ve spent a lot of time figuring out what I can do.

“The team is young, and I’ve put myself in a good position to change what happened last year.”

As he prepares to play in front of friends and family this week, Boucher is focused on having a solid camp after averaging 6.4 points and 14.1 minutes last season — his lowest numbers in years. He also played just 50 games because he sustained a knee injury in March.

Over the off-season, Boucher said he trained with Rajaković on his playmaking and understanding of the game.

They also worked on improving his mindset and “trying to get me to a better place,” and the head coach took notice.

“We had amazing and heart-to-heart conversations this summer, and I was really impressed with Chris, what he achieved,” Rajaković said. “He worked on his body, he got stronger, he added a couple of pounds of muscle, he was disciplined, he came in the gym, he put in a lot of work.

“That gives me a lot of confidence that he’s ready for the next step, that he’s ready to grow and he’s ready to fit in with our team.”

Rajaković said the season would dictate Boucher’s role and minutes, but he expects the Canadian to help younger players with his leadership while crashing the boards and playing disruptive defence when he’s on the floor.

“I want all 15 guys to put me in a really tough situation to make decisions about who’s going to be playing,” Rajaković said. “Chris is doing an amazing job, and I can see him doing a very important job for our team this year.”

Boucher may be in his 30s, but likes to remind people that he picked up the game far later than most.

“There are a lot of people who have been playing since they were eight or nine years old, but I started when I was 20,” said Boucher, who went undrafted in the NBA.

DAVION’S DEFENCE

Raptors president Masai Ujiri said Monday that the Raptors’ defence being among the league’s worst last season was “not something we’re proud of.”

Off-season acquisition Davion Mitchell wants to be part of the solution.

“That’s the reason I’m in this league,” the point guard said. “Playing defence, putting pressure on the ball, disrupting people offensively … that’s the reason why I’m here.”

The 26-year-old Mitchell, a ninth-overall draft pick in 2021, averaged 5.3 points and 1.9 assists with the Sacramento Kings last season, but has a reputation for his smothering on-ball defence.

“He has a good track history of doing that on a high, high level. My conversations with Davion go even further,” Rajaković said. “He needs to be better off ball … getting in the right spots, not falling asleep for a half of a second, just being as disruptive off the ball as much he is on the ball.”

BARNES EXCUSED

The Raptors excused star forward Scottie Barnes from the start of training camp due to personal reasons. Barnes did not travel with the team to Montreal, but the Raptors said he was expected to join the team later in the week.

Barnes, 23, averaged 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists in his third NBA campaign last season and earned his first all-star selection.

Rajaković said he expects the team’s centrepiece to get up to speed in no time once he’s back.

“Scottie spent a lot of time around the team this year, we have communication daily,” Rajaković said. “He’s an extremely smart player, so he’s going to be able to pick that up very quickly.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.