The Quebec town now governed by a WWE wrestler
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A week ago, Beijing was telling Canada not to sail through the Taiwan Strait anymore (even though it’s international waters). Now, the People’s Republic of China even has a problem with the idea of Vancouver selecting a Taiwanese municipality as one of its sister cities. In a sternly worded Tuesday statement, the PRC’s Vancouver consulate said it will “firmly oppose any official tie” between Vancouver and Kaohsiung, a Taiwanese port city of roughly equivalent population . “There is only one China in the world,” it read , adding, “We hope that the government of Vancouver city will handle Taiwan-related issues prudently and properly.”
There are few political alliances more meaningless than sister city status; Vancouver’s relationship with its five existing sister cities (one of which is in Mainland China) amounts to little more than the occasional phone call or student field trip. But here’s where the story gets really odd: Vancouver hasn’t said anything about becoming the sister city of Kaohsiung (and, in fact, the official Vancouver website says they are “not entering into any new international partnerships”). The statement appears to be premised entirely on the fact that Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart recently met some members of the city’s Taiwanese community , who pitched the idea to him.
The CEO of SNC-Lavalin – the Quebec engineering firm best known for having its own eponymous political scandal – has decided to lay low for a while until nobody notices he can’t speak French . Quebec executives have been under a kind of “witch hunt” after Montreal-based Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau attracted official censure from both Quebec Premier François Legault and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland after revealing that he did not speak French. SNC-Lavalin CEO Ian Edwards was scheduled this week to give an English-language address to the Canadian Club of Montreal.
As COP26 wrapped up Friday in Glasgow, Scotland, it had the dubious distinction of being by far the most carbon-intensive UN climate change conference since the first one was convened in 1995. According to an accounting by the U.K. government, emissions at Glasgow were almost double those of the last UN climate change conference at Madrid in 2019. Canada was disproportionately responsible for this dubious milestone: Ottawa flew more delegates to Glasgow than any other participant country , including the host nation.
It turns out that when the government suddenly starts handing out billions of dollars with minimal oversight, it tends to attract the attention of organized crime . Criminal organizations “knowingly and actively” defrauded COVID-19 programs such as the $71.3 billion Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, according to internal financial intelligence reports acquired by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin. The precise quantity of money stolen is not known, but a former intelligence analyst interviewed by CBC last week said it was “unlikely, highly unlikely” that a single person would ever be punished for CERB fraud.
The people of Rawdon, Que. can now rest easy knowing that their community is in the capable hands of a former WWE wrestler . Raymond Rougeau had a 19-year professional wrestling career that culminated in a WWE run in the late 1980s as one half of The Fabulous Rougeaus along with his brother Jacques. In Monday’s Quebec municipal elections, the 66-year-old Rougeau claimed the Rawdon mayor’s seat with more than 60 per cent of the vote . Fun fact: The Fabulous Rougeaus ended their career as heels (wrestling talk meaning that they played the villain in bouts), and were best known for ginning up outrage in Quebec crowds by waving tiny American flags.
Thousands of poppy-wearing Canadians gathered at cenotaphs on Thursday for the first in-person Remembrance Day services since 2019. But in B.C., the day would not be over without at least three noted instances of disruptive nonsense . Anti-vax activists grabbed the microphone at an unofficial Kelowna remembrance event – after the official event had already been canceled due to fears that it would be hijacked by anti-vaxxers. A Remembrance Day event near Kelowna had to be moved at the last minute after it received a threat that someone at the event would be “killed” if the colour party flew the United Nations flag . And somebody desecrated the Cranbrook, B.C. cenotaph with graffiti reading “the real heroes are the vaccinated.”
The Toronto District School Board has pulled students out of a book club event that was to be hosted by star criminal attorney Marie Henein. The reason given was that Henein successfully defended former CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi from sex assault charges. At the same time, the board also withdrew from a book event with author and former Islamic State prisoner Nadia Murad on the grounds that it would promote “Islamophobia.” How did Henein react to all this? As she told The Globe, “There are words for this. Misunderstanding is not one of them.”
It’s been two weeks since a CBC Investigation alleged that prominent Indigenous health scholar Carrie Bourassa wasn’t actually all that Indigenous at all . Lest anyone think that Bourassa had simply gotten a little carried away with stories about her family history, Colby Cosh writes that Bourassa’s academic career took a number of dark, deliberative turns in which her increasingly expansive claims of Indigenous identity were used to obtain power and influence . “Her confabulations about her personal history wouldn’t be consistent with the standards of a newspaper, let alone those of a university,” wrote Cosh.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford reportedly became personally invested in easing the regulations that allowed a suspected pit bull named Blu (or Dwaeji) to be returned to his owners. While pit bulls remain banned in Ontario, the just-passed reforms allow suspected pit bulls such as Dwaeji to walk free until their breed can be confirmed. After Dwaeji attacked a 13-year-old boy in the face four days after release, however, Ford says that he’s staying the course . “Nothing is going to change right at this point,” he said .
An Ontario teenager, Megan Breeze, was denied a co-op placement at a Hamilton hospital because health administrators saw a photo on social media in which Breeze was flashing the “ok” sign – an expression of assent in which the index finger and thumb are touching to form a circle. Why was this disqualifying? Because a few years ago, some internet trolls decided to start branding innocuous gestures as white power symbols on the (apparently very prescient) assumption that even their most absurd contentions would trickle down to mainstream society within months. As Breeze told the Hamilton Spectator , “I wasn’t given much information except I was being kicked out of my co-op.”
John Ivison noticed something interesting in his analysis of the new Conservative shadow cabinet: It’s mainly a room full of MPs who did not support Erin O’Toole’s run for the leadership. It’s also heavy on rookie MPs (of the 17 new Conservative MPs entering the House of Commons, nine made shadow cabinet). All-in-all, Ivison is a fan , and characterized O’Toole’s “canny critic shuffle” as being one of the few things the Tory leader has done right since Election Day.
Ottawa’s latest plan to increase housing affordability (you know, aside from raising interest rates or incentivizing new construction) includes a proposed ban on “blind bidding.” Instead, properties would be subjected to something more akin to an open auction, with the idea that prices would go down if buyers had a more transparent view of what others were offering. Economist Mike Moffatt has actually studied blind-bidding bans in practices, however, and he writes in The Line that it will actually just make everything worse.
There’s one overarching problem with climate change policy that nobody seems to address: Many of the countries and organizations tasked with fixing it are corrupt as hell . Sabrina Maddeaux’s many cited examples include rampant embezzlement of climate funds in Bangladesh, as well as carbon credits being funnelled to political cronies in Eastern Europe. “You can throw all the money in the world at green initiatives, but if that money goes missing into the coffers of kleptocrats and their friends, we’ve actually made the problem worse,” she writes .
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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax
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