The Canadian Press
CHICAGO — Kevin Lankinen was steady for Chicago — all night long. Elvis Merzlikins delivered for Columbus — until the third period. Lankinen made 32 saves and the short-handed Blackhawks jumped on two costly mistakes by Merzlikins, topping the Blue Jackets 3-1 on Sunday. “Gritty effort from our group,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. Patrick Kane and Philipp Kurashev each had a goal and an assist for Chicago, which had dropped three in a row. The Blackhawks improved to 1-1 on a four-game homestand after losing 2-1 to the Blue Jackets on Friday night. The game was tied before Merzlikins mishandled the puck behind his net at two different points in the third, and Chicago scored each time. Pius Suter got to one in the corner and sent his shot off the goaltender and into the net at 7:41, lifting the Blackhawks to a 2-1 lead. “You’re just trying to get it on net because you know the guys are going to go there and if it hits him and goes in or it just bounces out, it’s going to be a dangerous play,” Suter said. On Merzlikins’ second misplay, Kurashev fed Kane for his fourth goal at 13:40. “I messed up. Not once, twice tonight,” Merzlikins said. “So (the) team doesn’t deserve this.” Columbus had a chance to get one back when Andrew Shaw was sent off for hooking, but Chicago killed off the penalty. Boone Jenner scored for the Blue Jackets, and Merzlikins stopped 33 shots. “You know it’s never one guy’s fault,” Columbus forward Jack Roslovic said. “We need to score more goals and maybe if there’s a communication thing we need to do better, and we’ll find that and we’ll just prepare and use that for the next game.” Chicago got a sorely needed victory a day after it cancelled practice out of concern about potential exposure to COVID-19. Blackhawks forward Ryan Carpenter and defenceman Nicolas Beaudin were placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list, joining teammates Alex DeBrincat, Adam Boqvist and Lucas Wallmark. The league’s unavailability list covers multiple factors such as isolation due to a confirmed positive test or quarantines due to being “a high risk close contact.” “It’s tough once it gets in the locker room. It’s obviously going to find a way to get to some people,” Shaw said. “But we’re all following protocols. We have our masks on. We’re staying away from each other. We’re doing Zoom meetings. “I mean, we’re following all the guidelines we’re supposed to be following and the trainers are making sure of it as well and helping us out.” The Blackhawks already were without captain Jonathan Toews because of an illness, and key forward Kirby Dach could miss the entire season after he had wrist surgery in December. Colliton held a Zoom meeting with his team Saturday and talked about working through adversity. “The most important thing is that we push through and we find a way to persevere anyway, and that’ll be great for us in the end,” Colliton said. “That can make our team stronger. We’re trying to build a foundation that we can rely on in hard times, so ‘Why me?’ would be the total wrong approach, I think.” Chicago used a pretty passing sequence to jump in front in the first period. Mattias Janmark found a streaking Kane in the middle, and he touched it over to Kurashev for a tap-in at 12:32. Columbus tied it when Jenner stuffed home a rebound with 2:32 left in the period. It was Jenner’s third goal of the season. The Blue Jackets had a chance to take the lead in the second, but Lankinen made a nice right pad save on Alexandre Texier about six minutes in. Merzlikins also faced some pressure, knocking away an open look for Chicago forward David Kampf. NHL DEBUT Chicago forward Reese Johnson played almost 11 minutes in his NHL debut. He logged a team-high seven hits. UP NEXT Blue Jackets: Open a four-game homestand against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. Blackhawks: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. ___ Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap ___ More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Jay Cohen, The Associated Press
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VICTORIA — Premier David Eby has pushed the pause button on a contentious bill that would have allowed the province to recover health care and other costs attributed to the marketing of risky products in B.C.
Two dozen business and industry groups had called for the New Democrats to put the bill on hold, claiming it was so broadly drafted that it could be used to go after producers, distributors and retailers of every kind.
“It is safe to say that we got the attention of these major multinational companies,” the premier told reporters on Tuesday, citing the deal with Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and X, the major players in the field.
“They understand our concern and the urgency with which we’re approaching this issue. They also understand the bill is still there.”
The New Democrats maintain that the legislation was never intended to capture the many B.C. companies and associations that complained about it.
Rather it was targeted at Facebook owner Meta and other social media companies and the online harm done to young people. A prime example was the suicide of a Prince George youth who was trapped by an online predator.
Still, there was nothing in the wording of Bill 12, the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, to indicate its application would be confined to social media companies or their impact on young people.
Some critics wondered if the bill’s broad-based concept of harms and risks could be used to prosecute the liquor board or the dispensers of safer-supply drugs, products with proven harms greater than any sugary drink.
Perhaps thinking along those lines, the government specifically exempted itself from prosecution under the Act.
This week’s announcement came as a surprise. As recently as Monday, Attorney General Niki Sharma told reporters the government had no intention of putting the bill on hold.
Tuesday, she justified her evasion by saying the talks with the social media companies were intense and confidential.
She said the pause was conditional on Meta and the other companies delivering a quick response to government concerns.
“British Columbians expect us to take action on online safety,” she told reporters. “What I’ll be looking for at this table is quick and immediate action to get to that better, safety online.”
A prime goal is addressing online harassment and “the online mental health and anxiety that’s rising in young people,” she said
“I want to sit down with these companies look at them face to face and see what they can do immediately to improve the outcomes for British Columbians.”
Meta has already committed to rectifying Eby’s concern that it should relay urgent news about wildfires, flood and other disasters in B.C. Last year, those were blocked, collateral damage in the company’s hardball dispute with the federal government over linking to news stories from Canadian media companies.
Eby says he was very skeptical about the initial contact from the companies. Now he sees Meta’s willingness to deliver emergency information as a “major step” and he’s prepared to give talks the benefit of the doubt.
Not long ago he was scoring political points off the social media companies in the harshest terms.
“The billionaires who run them resist accountability, resist any suggestion that they have responsibility for the harms that they are causing,” said the premier on March 14, the day Bill 12 was introduced.
Given those characterizations, perhaps the big, faceless billionaires will simply direct their negotiating team to play for time until the legislation adjourns as scheduled on May 16.
“The legislation is not being pulled and we’re not backtracking,” said Sharma. “We can always come back and bring legislation back.”
The government could schedule a quick makeup session of the legislature in late May or June or even in early September, before the house is dissolved for the four-week campaign leading up to the scheduled election day, Oct. 19.
More likely, if the New Democrats feel doublecrossed, they could go back to war with the faceless billionaires with a view to re-enacting Bill 12 after a hoped-for election victory.
Even if the New Democrats get some satisfaction from the social media companies in the short term, they have also framed Bill 12 as a way to force the marketers of risky products to help cover the cost of health care and other services.
B.C.’s attorney general says the province can bring the online harms legislation back but it will first seek remedies through negotiations with social media companies.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The British Columbia government has agreed to shelve proposed legislation that would have allowed it to sue social-media companies for online harms after Meta, TikTok and others agreed to work with the province to put voluntary protections in place.
The social-media companies have not agreed to anything other than talks, but Attorney-General Niki Sharma credited the proposed legislation with bringing the key players to the province’s door.
“Our bill was able to get the attention of some pretty big companies out there and get them to the table with us, and I’m pleased with that,” she told reporters Tuesday.
The government can bring the bill back, she said, but it will first seek remedies through negotiations. “We could be locked in litigation for years, but at this stage it’s my obligation to see if we can come to some kind of improvements,” Ms. Sharma said.
Premier David Eby said the agreement was hammered out after Meta reached out to the province. A spokesperson for the company could not immediately be reached for comment.
Danielle Morgan, a spokesperson for TikTok, said her company is committed to developing new safeguards. “We look forward to joining Premier Eby and working with industry counterparts … to discuss best practices towards our shared goal of keeping young people safe online.”
The province introduced Bill 12, the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, in March with the promise that it would allow government to recover costs associated with the promotion, marketing and distribution of products that are harmful to adults and children in the province.
But while the bill received the support of researchers who study the impact of some platforms on mental well-being, particularly in teenagers, the broad scope of the legislation alarmed business leaders who warned it could be used to target companies well beyond social-media platforms.
“The net spread so widely, it could capture just about anything you could imagine,” said Bridgitte Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. She said the provincial government heard the concerns of many different sectors when it withdrew the bill from this spring’s legislative agenda. “We’re delighted the government is going to hit pause on this.”
The B.C. bill was tabled just weeks after Ottawa introduced Bill C-63 to create a new Online Harms Act, which is meant to hold tech platforms accountable for the content they host.
Kaitlynn Mendes, a professor of sociology at Ontario’s Western University, is an expert on the impact of online harms on youth, including sexual exploitation, self-harm, anxiety and anti-social behaviour.
She said the B.C. government is being optimistic in thinking it can bring social-media giants into line without a legal cudgel.
“I think that is wishful thinking. Industries don’t want to be governed. They’d rather have codes of conduct but that relies on them being good faith actors – ultimately, they are going to act in their best interests. I’d be skeptical that it’s going to change anything,” she said in an interview.
“I really hope the Canadian government doesn’t try to rely on deals. We need to have structures in place to hold these companies accountable.”
Mr. Eby issued a joint statement on Tuesday with representatives from Meta, TikTok, Snap and X, saying they have reached an agreement to work to help young people stay safe online through the new BC Online Safety Action Table.
“Digital platforms are powerful tools, which can connect family members and loved ones and are places where we find like-minded people. Places where community is built and sustained. But the internet is also a place where criminals and scammers are constantly seeking new ways to find and extort potential victims,” the joint statement said.
Mr. Eby championed the pursuit of tackling social-media harms after meeting with the grieving parents of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old who killed himself last October after being sexually victimized online.
“Carson was deceived by an online predator, tormented and sexually extorted. He took his own life before his parents were aware of what was happening,” the statement continued. “Premier Eby made a promise to Carson’s parents that his government would find ways to make sure Carson left behind a legacy that will help protect other young people.”
The province will place Bill 12 on hold while the parties meet to discuss how to protect youth from online harms before they happen.
Ms. Sharma said there are three areas B.C. wants addressed: sexual exploitation of youth online; rising mental-health issues and anxiety among young people; and online harassment and bullying.
B.C.’s bill was modelled on its efforts to seek damages from major tobacco companies over tobacco-related health costs. The province was the first Canadian jurisdiction to launch such a lawsuit, in 1998, but that case is not yet resolved – underscoring the lengthy process involved in reaching a resolution.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.
Opening arguments began in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Monday, with much of the news media coverage homing in on as many details as possible about the proceedings.
Jon Stewart called the trial a “test of the fairness of the American legal system, but it’s also a test of the media’s ability to cover Donald Trump in a responsible way.”
Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez, took the stage with Madonna in Mexico City over the weekend.
The economist Stephanie Kelton will chat with Jordan Klepper and Ronny Chieng, the guest co-hosts, on Tuesday’s “Daily Show.”
In “Under the Bridge,” Hulu’s chilling new series, Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone investigate the murder of a teenager.
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Auston Matthews turns it up with three-point night as Maple Leafs slay Bruins in Game 2 – Toronto Sun
Caution about Canada's private real estate sector abounds as valuations slow to adjust – The Globe and Mail
Bird flu virus found in grocery milk as officials say supply still safe
