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'I can't express the anger I feel,' Iranian-Canadian says of news Iran likely shot down plane – CBC.ca

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Payman Parseyan says he’s filled with anger at the news his home country’s government is believed to be responsible for the deadly plane crash that killed several of his friends.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Thursday that Canada has intelligence from multiple sources that indicates an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down the Ukrainian jetliner that crashed after takeoff in Tehran on Wednesday. He said it may have been unintentional.

Iranian officials have denied the allegation. Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, called it “illogical” and “impossible,” the semi-official ISNA News Agency reported. 

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All 176 people on the flight died. Of those, 138 were bound for Canada, 63 were Canadian citizens, and at least 31 were Albertans.

Parseyan, a member of Edmonton’s Iranian-Canadian community, spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off. Here is part of their conversation. 

How are you taking the news today that this plane was likely shot down by an Iranian missile?

Part of me says this wasn’t as much of a surprise as it might seem. Part of me is very angry that this would happen. And most of me is just, like, we’re not going to get our friends back. The “why” doesn’t matter. It’s the “what.”

Given that this was the country of birth of many of these people, or the country where their families come from and still are … does that compound this tragedy?

It’s the hypocrisy of the regime that just drives me crazy. Because they continually bring up in the 1980s when the Americans shot down the passenger jet that came from Iran, and that tragic incident that occurred at that time.

And now that they’re the culprits behind something similar, instead of standing up and being accountable or saying, you know, “Based on the heightened tensions, there was a malfunction of our equipment” or whatever caused it … they’re cowering and hiding.

[They’re] hindering American resources and Boeing’s request for reviewing the black box or important flight recorder data. They’re not playing ball with other countries that want to come in and help facilitate an independent and accountable and transparent investigation to ensure that investigators get to the bottom of this in an appropriate manner.

Candles and photos of the victims were placed on the steps of the Alberta Legislature in commemoration of the tragedy. (Zahra Premji/CBC)

Canadians have been hearing the stories, the absolutely extraordinary stories, of people whom we’ve lost in this country, and some who were visiting this country. And I want to ask you, in particular, about one of your friends, Pedram Moussavi and his family. Can you tell us about them?

I can’t think of a time when I saw Pedram and we didn’t laugh more than a quarter or half of the conversation. He was always a happy guy, always positive. He was always willing to help and willing to listen.

His lovely little girls, they were always playing together. Anytime we would see each other at, say, one of the local Persian restaurants, one of his girls were always ask questions on, like, how the food is made or what’s going on.

His wife [Mojgan Daneshmand] was such a leader in her position [as an engineering professor]. … When she came in the room and smiled, like, the whole room didn’t have any other permission but to smile. Everyone had to smile with her in a very bright and good sense.

Victims of the Ukraine International Airlines crash in Iran, University of Alberta professors Mojgan Daneshmand and Pedram Mousavi, pose in an undated family photo in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Family photo/Reuters)

You lost other friends as well.

Saba and Sara [Saadat] were were such bright lights in our youth community. Saba helped co-found the youth association, the first ever for our community.

Their mom [Dr. Shekoufeh Choupannejad] was this dominant community figure that was, like, looked up to her co-workers [in medicine].

Shekoufeh Choupannejad, centre, with her daughters Saba, left, and Sara Saadat. (Supplied by Mehdi Hashemi)

You have been playing in the past two days such a large role in speaking for Iranian-Canadians from Edmonton, keeping us connected. You’ve been so generous about that and helping them and helping us understand it. But for yourself, having these losses, how are you processing that? 

Doing some of these interviews helps keep my mind off of it affecting me personally. And so it helps create a barrier for me from hitting those emotions. But, you know, I hit some of those emotions in two or three of the interviews yesterday, and shed a few tears for my friends. It’s tough.

Have you had time, yourself, to process this, given how much you’re trying to do to help others?

I don’t know if someone can ever fully process what what we lost. But I recognize that we are a strong community that needs to continue to always progress and push forward. And so that means that we have to, at some point, accept that our friends will not be with us, but they would want us to stand up and move the community forward.

Edmonton’s Payman Parseyan reflects on the ‘devastation’ after learning people he knew were killed in the Iran plane crash 7:08

We spoke with many people who were saying their mothers and fathers are [in Iran] as they came here to study or to work. So many sad reunions, I would imagine, are anticipated now.

My heart burns for the families of the people that are still there, and they have to live with this, and their family will never come back.

This is why the recent news from today must be even more disheartening, knowing that it didn’t have to happen like this.

Do you feel that Canada is doing all it can to push Iran to get to the bottom of what happened?

I don’t think so. I think they should have listed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization long ago.

The vast majority on that flight was Canada-bound.  We have a vested interest on that flight, and with the allegations that the Iranian government is potentially responsible for downing it means that the Iranian government is directly responsible for taking the lives of 138 people bound for this country.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps … is the organization that’s [most likely] to have fired the missile, [according to Economist defence editor Shashank Joshi, who spoke with As It Happens on Thursday.]

I can’t express the anger I feel. This is the same organization in Iran that is responsible for killing its own citizens in the protests that happened two months ago. It’s the same organization responsible for the Quds Force, which was the force that backs dictators like [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, and it spreads terrorism through those proxy groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

And so for the same group to be responsible for the deaths of many of our fellow citizens … it’s upsetting to hear it.

For the deaths of your friends.

They’ve been responsible for deaths of my personal family members in Iran prior to this incident.

I can’t reiterate the amount of action that we should be taking against this organization and their illicit activities.

And it’s so unfortunate, because many Iranians won’t mention this … because if they do, that same organization, if they ever travelled to Iran, would show up and arrest them. And God knows what will happen to them when they’re taken away or where they’ll go.


Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from CBC News. Interview produced by Chris Harbord. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

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Child care in Canada: Trudeau unveils new help for providers – CTV News

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The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.

The prime minister unveiled a trio of child-care-centric commitments that will be included in the upcoming federal budget, with the aim of opening up more $10-a-day child-care spaces across the country, as the Liberals continue to work towards creating 250,000 new spaces by March 2026.

Specifically, the Liberals are vowing to offer $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants to public and not-for-profit child-care providers, so they can build or renovate their care centres. 

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This funding will be administered through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMCH), which Trudeau called “a common sense approach that will help child care be developed alongside housing.”

An additional $48 million is being earmarked for the next four years to extend student loan forgiveness — similar to the program offered to rural doctors and nurses — to early childhood educators, in an effort to incentivize more teachers to work in smaller communities. 

The federal government is also promising $10 million over the next two years to train more early childhood educators.

The prime minister, speaking in Surrey, B.C., alongside the minister currently leading the file, Jenna Sudds, touted the bilateral child-care agreements in effect across the country for seeing thousands of children placed in affordable spaces.

However, in recent months Canadian parents and care providers have sounded alarms about increasingly long daycare waitlists. And, operators in some provinces have threatened to withdraw from the lower-cost program because they’re struggling to make ends meet. 

Trudeau said while the government has funded 100,000 spaces so far and is aware of the challenges in rolling out this new national program, not enough families have access and not all provinces are moving as fast as they should. 

“I want to take a moment to talk to young moms, many of you millennials. You’ve grown up with so many pressures in this economy, the 2008 recession, COVID, climate change … and we want to make sure that everyone — especially moms raising kids — has the best chance to succeed and thrive,” Trudeau said.

“As Canada grows, as families grow, we want to make sure more kids can access high-quality child care… That’s what fairness for every generation is all about.”

The prime minister also got political, accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of opposing the program, despite the Official Opposition voting in support of a recently passed Liberal piece of legislation meant to enshrine in law a commitment to the Canada-wide early learning and child-care system, and the long-term funding needed to maintain it. 

Reacting to the news, NDP MP and critic for children, families, and social development Leah Gazan said the announcement was a “direct result of advocacy” by her party, care workers, unions, and women’s organizations.

She also pointed the finger at the Conservatives, accusing them of trying to stall the program and push for a “for-profit private system that parents can’t afford.” 

Liberal pre-budget strategy

Similar to how Wednesday’s rollout of renter-fairness-focused pre-budget news went, cabinet ministers are making echo announcements of the new child-care affordability measures across the country Thursday afternoon. 

This is all part of a new communications strategy the Liberals are employing in the lead up to the release of the April 16 federal budget.

Practically every day between now and when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland releases the massive economic document, the Liberals are expected to tease out bits and pieces of the budget.

In an effort to stretch out their ability to market the measures within it, Trudeau as well as members of his cabinet will unveil new initiatives over the next two weeks, to the point that the vast majority of the budget will be public prior to budget day.

Traditionally, governments have held budget news — save for some pre-tabling leaks — for the day the document is tabled in the House of Commons post-daylong reporter and stakeholder lockup.

Kicking off this strategy on Wednesday, Trudeau issued a video across social media platforms indicating the overall theme for the 2024 budget will be “generational fairness,” a message meant to speak to millennials and Generation Z.

“When I first decided to run for office, one of my biggest motivations was working to create a Canada that young people saw themselves… As prime minister, I’ve never lost sight of that,” Trudeau said in the clip.

“You as a young Canadian are the heartbeat of our economy. You power our growth and you deserve an economy that gives you a fair shot at success. But, this moment we’re all living in is throwing big challenges your way… So we’re going to roll up our sleeves and work like hell. And we’re going to tell you about what we’re doing to fix it, over the next two weeks.”

While Trudeau’s 2015 election victory was credited in part to a historic surge in young people turning up at the polls, Poilievre has been chipping away at that Liberal voting bloc of those aged 43 and under, seeking to appeal to their current struggles to get ahead with his “powerful paycheques” and housing affordability arguments.

In November 2023, Trudeau tapped Max Valiquette, a marketing guru with self-described expertise in understanding younger generations, as his new executive director of communications.

“We’re witnessing a different communication strategy from the government. They’re implementing something they’ve not tried before. We’re not going to have a budget day on April 16. We’re going to have budget days between now and April 16,” said political commentator Scott Reid in an interview on CTV News Channel.

“Frankly, this government knows that it needs to break through, it knows that it needs to connect with Canadians… Is it going to turn around the polls overnight? No. Might they get a little bit more of a hearing than they otherwise would have been? Probably.” 

With files from CTV News’ Vassy Kapelos and Annie Bergeron-Oliver

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Ontario releases 2023 Sunshine List, top earner made $1.9M – CBC.ca

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Five employees at Ontario Power Generation are in the top 10 earners on the province’s so-called sunshine list for 2023, with the province’s highest salary nearing $2 million.

The annual sunshine list documents public sector employees with salaries over $100,000. In this year’s edition, there are 300,570 names, more than 30,000 higher than last year.

Kenneth Hartwick, CEO of the electricity Crown corporation, is in the top spot again with a salary of $1.93 million.

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Two other executives at the organization — chief strategy officer Dominique Miniere and chief projects officer Michael Martelli — made nearly $1.2 million and nearly $1 million, respectively.

You can find a list of the top 100 earners below.

The presidents and CEOs of the Hospital for Sick Children and the University Health Network are also in the top 10, earning around $850,000 each. So is Phil Verster, who is president and CEO of the provincial transit agency, Metrolinx, with a $838,097 salary.

Caroline Mulroney, president of the Treasury Board, highlighted other high growth areas in a release.

“The largest year-over-year increases were in the hospitals, municipalities and services, and post-secondary sectors, which together represented approximately 80 per cent of the growth of the list,” she said.

The list shows 17 professors or associate professors at the University of Toronto had earnings of $500,000 or more.

A statement from a University of Toronto spokesperson said the school competes with top universities and private-sector employers around the world for faculty members.

“This occasionally results in salaries above the usual range for a small number of faculty members.”

An Ontario Power Generation building.
Five employees at Ontario Power Generation are among the top 10 spots of the annual sunshine list for 2023. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)

Premier Doug Ford earned $208,974 last year. His chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, earned $324,675.

Matthew Anderson, CEO of Ontario Health, a provincial agency the Ford government created in 2019, earned $821,000. Meanwhile the public servant leading the Ministry of Health, deputy minister Catherine Zahn, earned $477,360, and Health Minister Sylvia Jones, $165,851.

There are more than 25,000 registered nurses on the list, including seven who earned more than $300,000 last year.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas, who was appointed to the top post in the province’s judiciary last May, earned $388,960.

The police chiefs of Thunder Bay, Daniel Taddeo, ($376,428) and Hamilton, Francis Bergen, ($374,492) were paid more last year than OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique ($373,472). Taddeo retired in April 2023. 

Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw, who took over the post in late 2022, earned $353,411. 

Organizations that receive provincial government funding are also required to disclose salaries for the sunshine list, so it includes top earners at some registered charities.

The chief executive of the True Patriot Love Foundation, Nicholas Booth, earned $421,149. The foundation funds support programs for veterans and military families. 

The president and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross Society, Conrad Sauve, earned $412,970, while the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s chief executive, Medhat Mahdy, earned $394,057.

Salaries of other key Ontario public figures include:

  • $826,539 for Ontario Pension Board CEO Mark Fuller.
  • $709,581 for Ontario Lottery and Gaming Association president & CEO Alfred Hannay.
  • $601,376 for Registered Nurses Association of Ontario CEO Doris Grinspun.
  • $596,392 for Dean of Ivey Business School, Western University, Sharon Hodgson.
  • $563,291 for LCBO president & CEO George Soleas.
  • $546,053 for Dean of the Faculty of Health Science, Queen’s University, Jane Philpott.
  • $533,112 for Royal Ontario Museum president & CEO Joshua Basseches.
  • $486,192 for University of Toronto president Meric Gertler.
  • $464,148 for Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore.
  • $455,091 for Chief Coroner Dr. Dirk Huyer.
  • $404,003 Art Gallery of Ontario director and CEO Stephan Jost.
  • $395,974 for former auditor general Bonnie Lysyk.

Adjusting sunshine list threshold

The sunshine list has been around for almost 30 years, always set at six figures and up. 

At Queen’s Park on Thursday, some members of provincial Parliament faced questions on whether the $100,000 starting point should be adjusted.

Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner said it should be pegged to the rate of inflation, but others disagreed.

“I think that people think that $100,000 is still a lot of money, especially in an affordability crisis,” said NDP MPP Catherine Fife, who’s also the finance critic.

Government House Leader Paul Calandra said the government has no plans at this time to change the threshold on the sunshine list.

“I think it’s an important document that serves the people well in highlighting the salaries of our public employees.”

The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, enacted by former Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris in 1996, compels organizations that receive public funding from the province to report the names, positions and pay of people who make more than $100,000.

The interactive chart below shows the top 100 earners on the list, based on both salary and benefits.

Search the complete Sunshine List for yourself here.

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1 dead, 2 critically injured after car crash in Montreal

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Montreal

Three people are in hospital with critical injuries after their vehicle crashed into a tree. Police believe they might be connected to two drive-by shootings that took place early Thursday morning.

2 drive-by shootings also took place overnight

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Montreal police are investigating a car crash possibly linked to two drive-by shootings. (Mathieu Wagner/Radio-Canada)

Urgences-santé say one person died and two others were critically injured after their vehicle hit a tree in the Rosemont neighbourhood.

Montreal police believe the crash may be linked to two drive-by shootings early Thursday morning.

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The first happened around 5 a.m. on Pie-IX Boulevard. Police say a car was shot at repeatedly and the driver, a 41-year-old man, was injured in the upper body. He was transported to hospital, but his life is not in danger, say police.

Shortly afterward, shots were reported in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough, near the intersection of Saint-Joseph Boulevard and Henri-Julien Avenue. No one was injured.

Police say they are investigating to determine if there is a connection between the collision and the shootings. Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant says it’s possible those in the vehicle were involved in the shootings.

The province’s independent police watchdog is now involved.

with files from Chloë Ranaldi

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