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Liberal MP Joël Lightbound says his party's COVID policy 'stigmatizes and divides people' – CBC News

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Liberal Quebec MP Joël Lightbound says he’s uncomfortable with the federal government’s handling of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, saying its pandemic response has become “politicized” and “divisive.”

Pointing to more than a dozen developed countries that have started to do away with restrictions already, Lightbound said Tuesday it’s reasonable to rethink Canada’s COVID-19 approach as it becomes increasingly clear that the world will be dealing with this virus for years to come.

Lightbound said people who question existing policies should not be “demonized” by their prime minister.

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“I can’t help but notice with regret that both the tone and the policies of my government have changed drastically since the last election campaign. It went from a more positive approach to one that stigmatizes and divides people,” Lightbound said.

Lightbound said the Liberal government’s decision to put vaccines at the centre of the political debate risks undermining public trust in the country’s public health institutions.

“It’s becoming harder and harder to know when public health stops and where politics begins,” he said. “It’s time to stop dividing Canadians and pitting one part of the population against another.”

WATCH: Liberal MP says he’s ‘uncomfortable’ with politicization of vaccines, pandemic

Liberal MP says he’s ‘uncomfortable’ with politicization of vaccines, pandemic

9 hours ago

Duration 1:50

Liberal MP Joel Lightbound is speaking out against provincial and federal vaccine mandates and COVID-19 policies, many of which were implemented by his party. 1:50

Although he’s criticizing the government’s approach, Lightbound said he has no desire to leave the Liberal caucus.

Liberal MP Steven MacKinnon, the government whip, said Lightbound resigned his position as the Quebec caucus chair over these “disagreements with government policy.” MacKinnon said Lightbound would remain a Liberal MP.

Lightbound — a former parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance — said he hopes his comments will push Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to “adapt to the changing reality of the pandemic and of the world.”

Speaking briefly to reporters before Tuesday’s question period, Trudeau said he understands there’s a lot of frustration with the current suite of policies.

“We’re all frustrated. We’re all sick and tired of restrictions, of mandates. It’s been two years and it’s really, really tiring for all of us,” he said, adding that his government will stay the course.

“Mandates are the way to avoid further restrictions. This government has been focused on following the best science, the best public health advice, to keep people safe and, quite frankly, it’s worked,” Trudeau added, citing Canada’s lower COVID-19-related death rates compared to many other countries.

WATCH: Trudeau says his government is following ‘the best science’

Trudeau says ‘government has been focused every step of the way on following the best science’

7 hours ago

Duration 1:02

The prime minister says he understands the frustration over vaccine mandates but insists that the only way out of the pandemic is through mandates and vaccinations. 1:02

With Omicron case counts on the decline, some provinces, notably Alberta and Saskatchewan, have signalled they will begin to drop restrictions in the weeks ahead. Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer, said last week Canadians will have to “learn to live with this virus and to be less fearful of it.”

Ottawa must offer a ‘roadmap,’ MP says

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, Lightbound said COVID-19-related restrictions have wreaked havoc for too long and the federal government needs to provide some sort of “roadmap” for lifting pandemic measures, such as the strict limits on travel. He said measures that were reasonable in a previous phase of the pandemic should not be “normalized with no end in sight.”

While he didn’t call for an immediate end to all public health measures, Lightbound said the federal government should establish “clear and measurable targets” for lifting pandemic measures to offer hope to Canadians tired of living with some of the most restrictive rules in the developed world.

Lightbound said the federal government should heed the advice of experts like Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, and “reassess” pandemic programs like vaccine mandates once the Omicron wave is under control.

Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam is seen via videoconference as Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos looks on during a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic and the omicron variant in Ottawa on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Last week, Tam said the country needs to find a more “sustainable” way to deal with the pandemic and future variants of the virus.

Lightbound said he supported the Liberal push for vaccine mandates in the last election but has since soured on this policy choice because the data suggest two doses of an mRNA vaccine do little to prevent an Omicron infection. 

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has said that two doses of any of the mRNA vaccines — which were made to target the original strain of the virus — are not very effective against infection and symptomatic disease due to Omicron. It has described vaccine efficacy against an Omicron infection as “low to very low.”

Tam was more blunt in a press conference last week. “The protection against infection is certainly reduced with two doses. It doesn’t protect you against infection,” she said.

People with two doses of a vaccine are less likely to be admitted to hospital, however. PHAC data suggest unvaccinated people are 19 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than people vaccinated with two doses.

A third booster shot provides superior protection, dramatically reducing the likelihood of severe outcomes, according to PHAC data. A third dose might also help to prevent an actual infection.

WATCH: Booster doses offer ‘superior’ protection, Tam says

Receiving mRNA booster ‘superior’ protection against COVID-19, Tam says

4 days ago

Duration 3:20

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, highlights the importance of vaccines, specifically booster doses, in the fight against COVID-19. 3:20

Lightbound said the country’s leaders can’t lose sight of just how damaging restrictions like lockdowns have been for many aspects of daily life.

“A population’s health, it’s kind of like a pie and Omicron is but a slice of that pie. Economic health, social health and mental health must also be accounted for,” he said.

The Quebec MP said the government’s hard line on the vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers is not based on science. Lightbound said the government has produced no research to suggest this sort of mandate — which could sideline 12,000 to 16,000 commercial drivers — will have a meaningful impact on the pandemic’s trajectory.

Lightbound said the vaccine mandate has become a “wedge” issue designed to score political points off the government’s opponents.

Echoing concerns raised by industry groups like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Council of Canada, Lightbound said the policy is too disruptive to the country’s supply chains and pushes up the price of goods.

Trudeau has strongly defended the policy, saying a wave of COVID-19 cases is doing more to disrupt Canada’s supply chains than any vaccine mandate could.

People stand in the Ottawa anti-pandemic rule protest ‘red zone’ in front of Parliament Hill on Feb. 8, 2022. (Simon Lasalle/Radio-Canada)

The opposition Conservatives have made arguments similar to what Lightbound advanced Tuesday. Candice Bergen, the party’s interim leader, has called on Trudeau to present Canadians with a “pathway out of the pandemic” now that vaccination rates are high and Omicron case counts have dropped.

Bergen has called for an end to all vaccine mandates, including those that apply to travellers by air or rail, cross-border essential workers like truckers, and federal public servants and workers in other federally regulated industries.

“It is time to depoliticize the response to the pandemic,” she said.

While he questioned the usefulness of vaccine mandates, Lightbound condemned the ongoing demonstration in Ottawa — a protest that a number of Conservative MPs and senators have embraced.

“I have absolutely no sympathy for them,” he said of racist elements in the convoy. “It’s time to stop the occupation. It’s time for truckers to leave.”

Lightbound also said the federal government should immediately enter discussions with the provinces and territories about increasing the Canada Health Transfer. He said Ottawa should focus its financial firepower on the root cause of lockdowns and restrictions: the country’s limited hospital capacity.

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Trump's claims on crime rates clash with police data – NBC News

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Surging crime levels, out-of-control Democratic cities and “migrant crime.”

Former President Donald Trump regularly cites all three at his campaign rallies, in news releases and on Truth Social, often saying President Joe Biden and Democrats are to blame.

But the crime picture Trump paints contrasts sharply with years of police and government data at both the local and national levels.

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FBI statistics released this year suggested a steep drop in crime across the country last year. It’s a similar story across major cities, with violent crime down year over year in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

NBC News analyzed crime data to evaluate Trump’s assertions about the topic.

U.S. and big city crime rates

Trump’s campaign often refers to crime levels, regularly pointing the finger at Biden.

“On Joe Biden’s watch, violent crime has skyrocketed in virtually every American city,” the campaign said in a news release published this month on its site.

Trump himself has made similar remarks.

“Four years ago, I told you that if crooked Joe Biden got to the White House, our borders would be abolished, our middle class would be decimated and our communities would be plagued by bloodshed, chaos and violent crime,” Trump said in a speech last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “We were right about everything.”

Government figures don’t support that characterization.

Reported violent crime dropped 6% across the board when comparing the last three months of 2022 to the same period in 2023, the FBI reported.

The reported drops were especially pronounced in the big cities that Trump often assails, many of which have Democratic mayors. Violent crime dropped by 11% in cities with populations of 1 million or more, according to FBI data, while murders dropped by 20%, rape was down 16%, and aggravated assault fell by 11%.

Reached for comment, the Trump campaign pointed to other reports indicating that certain types of crimes increased in specific cities.

At the national level, the reported rate of violent crime in 2022, the most recent full year with comprehensive FBI data, was 380.7 offenses per 100,000 people. That’s lower than the overall reported violent crime rate from 2020 — the last full year Trump was in office — when the figure was at 398.5.

The lowest reported violent crime rate of Trump’s presidency was in 2019, when the metric was at 380.8 — in line with the 2022 rate.

The FBI said it will release more comprehensive 2023 crime data in October, just before the election.

The Trump campaign, reached for comment, cited certain categories of violent crime, such as motor vehicle theft, as having increased during the Biden administration, according to FBI figures.

“Joe Biden is trying to convince Americans not to believe their own eyes,” campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, adding that “Democrats have turned great American cities into cesspools of bloodshed and crime.”

New York City crime

Trump, who was born and raised in New York but now lives in Florida, often rails against what he portrays as an increasing crime rate in his former hometown.

Those references to soaring violence have only increased as he faces criminal charges in New York accusing him of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump, who has pleaded not guilty in that case, must also post a $175 million bond to prevent state Attorney General Letitia James from collecting the judgment from a New York civil fraud case.

“I did nothing wrong, and New York should never be put in a position like this again,” Trump posted on Truth Social about the civil judgment in all capital letters. “Businesses are fleeing, violent crime is flourishing, and it is very important that this be resolved in its totality as soon as possible.”

In a separate post, he claimed that “murders & violent crime hit unimaginable records” in the city.

However, major crimes in New York City are down this year by 2.3%, according to police department data comparing year-to-date figures to the same period in 2023.

Those figures for last year were also far below the highs from recent decades. In 1990, more than 527,000 major crimes were reported, compared to more than 126,000 last year, according to New York police data — a drop of more than 75%.

In 2001, more than 162,000 major crimes were reported in New York. The figure dropped by more than 20% over the next two decades.

At the same time, New York City data indicates that the number of major crimes increased in the past few years, though reported violent crimes like murder and rape were down last year from previous years.

‘Migrant crime’

Trump’s dehumanizing language about migrants has become a mainstay of his political speeches since he first sought office in 2015.

In a news release this month, his campaign said the “border Crisis has created a tragic surge in violent crime against innocent American citizens at the hands of some of the world’s most violent criminals.”

Trump has also focused his energy on high-profile cases such as the death of Laken Riley, who was killed in Georgia while jogging. The suspect is a Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022.

“Every day, innocent citizens are being killed, stabbed, shot, raped and murdered because of Biden migrant crime,” Trump said in a video posted to his campaign’s X account last week.

However, there is no evidence of a migrant-driven crime wave in the U.S., according to local police department data.

Crime reports have decreased in several major cities targeted by Texas’ Operation Lone Star, a program backed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that flies or buses migrants from the state to Democratic-run cities across the U.S.

Several of those cities — New York, Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia — have had decreases in year-to-date reported crime totals compared to the same period last year.


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Federal government promising a 'renters' bill of rights' in upcoming budget – CBC.ca

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government will introduce new measures — including a new “bill of rights” — that he says will help protect those who rent their homes as part of the upcoming budget.

Trudeau said the new measures are specifically geared toward younger people, who are renting more than previous generations.

“It’s about changing the rules of the game in a way that meets young people where they are,” he said on Wednesday.

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Ottawa will work with provinces and territories to develop a “renters’ bill of rights” that would introduce a national standard lease agreement and implement requirements for landlords to disclose an apartment’s pricing history to allow tenants to negotiate their rent.

The new measures will also include a $15-million fund for provincial legal aid organizations that help tenants fight against “renovictions” and landlord abuse.

The Liberals are also proposing to change federal rules so that making rental payments on time will count toward someone’s credit scores, something Trudeau said is meant to help renters looking to one day buy a house.

“If you look at someone who pays a $2,000 [per month] mortgage, they’re getting recognition and credit for that from their bank as part of their credit score,” the prime minister said.

“But if you’re paying $2,000 a month on rent, you get no kudos.”

Typically the government doesn’t discuss what is in an annual budget until it is introduced in the House of Commons. But the announcement was made weeks prior to the release of the Liberals’ next budget, which is slated to drop on April 16.

Releasing tidbits from the budget ahead of time is part of a new communications strategy for the Liberals, sources told CBC News. Trudeau and his ministers are expected to make a number of similar announcements in the run-up to the budget, the sources said.

WATCH | Trudeau says new measures aim to help tenants: 

Liberals promise ‘renters’ bill of rights’ to fight housing crisis

5 hours ago

Duration 2:07

The Liberals are looking to create a ‘renters’ bill of rights’ to help deal with Canada’s housing crisis. Justin Trudeau says the plan is geared toward younger people suffering from a rising cost of living. The Conservatives call the measures meaningless.

Before revealing the planned rental measures on Wednesday, Trudeau took a moment to plug the April 16 fiscal plan, saying that the budget will be about “fairness.”

“For Canada to succeed, we need everyone to succeed,” he said.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland joined Trudeau for his announcement and hinted about further announcements ahead of budget day.

“Over the coming days and in the April budget, we are going to launch a no-holds-barred plan to wrestle down the cost of owning and renting a home,” she said.

Wednesday’s announcements came on the same day that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released a report that found a surge in new apartment construction drove housing start increases in several major Canadian cities last year.

But the report also cautions that demand continues to outweigh supply.

The opposition Conservatives, who have enjoyed a healthy lead in recent polls, have made housing — and other cost-of-living issues — a key point of attack against the governing Liberals.

Following his announcement, Trudeau was asked whether he thinks he bears any responsibility for people feeling left behind in the current economy and whether the new measures would be enough to convince younger people to support him in the next election.

In response, Trudeau suggested that a recent rise in the cost of living is not unique to Canada.

“Young people who are key to our present, and obviously key to our future, are seeing a system that is stacked against them. That’s true in Canada but also true elsewhere around the world,” he said. “What we’re focused on now is making sure that young people can see their success in the economy.”

Opposition parties criticize Liberal announcement

Scott Aitchison, the Conservative housing critic, said Wednesday’s announcement was Liberal posturing that won’t get results.

“Today’s photo op is just another set of meaningless measures that won’t result in building the homes Canadians need,” he said in a statement.

NDP housing critic Jenny Kwan criticized the announcement for not going far enough.

“The Liberals are so out of touch with what Canadian renters are experiencing that they keep offering half-measures instead of a real action,” Kwan said in a statement.

The NDP is calling on the government to invest more in affordable housing while temporarily preventing for-profit firms from buying designated affordable-housing spaces.

WATCH | Liberal government promises better protections for renters in upcoming budget: 

Liberal government promises better protections for renters in upcoming budget

9 hours ago

Duration 11:39

The Liberal government unveiled three new proposals Wednesday to better protect renters in Canada. Power & Politics speaks to Marci Ien, minister of women, gender equality and youth, about the proposed protections.

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‘Hillary was right’: Lifelong GOP voter on why he is leaving party – CNN

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‘Hillary was right’: Lifelong GOP voter on why he is leaving party

Texas Trey, a lifelong Republican voter, speaks with CNN’s Laura Coates about why he plans to leave the party before the 2024 election.


01:38

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