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N.B. election: Blaine Higgs says Indigenous people ceded land ‘many, many years ago’

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MONCTON, N.B. – New Brunswick is “ceded” land, the province’s Progressive Conservative leader said Friday on the campaign trail, highlighting his party’s position regarding a major lawsuit involving First Nations.

In a speech in Moncton, N.B., Blaine Higgs said the fundamental premise of the lawsuit “is whether the land (title) is ceded or unceded, and certainly we have evidence to say it was ceded many, many years ago.”

Higgs restated the party’s position while accusing the Liberals of failing to give an accurate costing of potential legal settlements with First Nations.

Indigenous groups in the province, however, don’t see it that way. They say First Nations never relinquished or legally signed away their lands to the Crown. A land claim filed in December 2021 by the six chiefs in the Wolastoqey Nation says private and public corporations have long exploited resources on Wolastoqey lands. The chiefs want land returned, compensation for the use of that land for the last 200 years and a title to a significant part of the province.

Higgs has said the title claim has far-reaching implications. One of his party’s 11 campaign promises is to “defend landowners.”

“The provincial government is being sued to assert Aboriginal title over the entire province,” the platform reads. A re-elected Progressive Conservative government, it says, “is committed to reconciliation and working with First Nations, but treaties have already settled this matter. We will defend landowners in court.”

On Thursday, Wolastoqey chiefs issued a news release saying the Tories’ election platform “villainizes” First Nations and is filled with “falsehoods about our title claim and fearmongering about our intentions.”

“As we have said dozens of times, we are not seeking to displace individual New Brunswickers from their lands, residences of farms.”

As well, the chiefs say, “the Supreme Court of Canada has twice held that the Peace and Friendship Treaties do not cede and surrender land.”

The Wolastoqey Nation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Higgs’s statements on Friday.

A Liberal Party spokeswoman said leader Susan Holt had no comment on Higgs’s speech either. The party’s platform says it would “commit to rebuilding relationships with First Nations based on a nation-to-nation relationship that establishes trust and a shared understanding of treaty obligations.”

The Liberals have also said if they form government they would “renegotiate tax agreements to ensure all parties have a fair deal.”

With just days left before the Oct. 21 vote, Holt was in Moncton focusing her message on her pledge to spend about $625.5 million more on health over the next four years. That money includes $115.2 million to create 30 community clinics that would bring together doctors, nurses and other health professionals under one roof.

Also among her health promises is $74 million on payments to nurses to encourage them to stay in the province in the 2024-25 fiscal year, and $37 million more over the following 12 months.

But the Greens critiqued the Liberal plan, saying they would spend $480 million to create at least 70 community care clinics over four years.

Higgs told reporters the public should be skeptical about the Liberals’ long list of election promises, saying they aren’t based on realistic cost estimates.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.

— Story by Michael Tutton in Halifax.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Groundwater at Eagle Gold mine in Yukon shows high cyanide levels

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The Yukon government says groundwater samples at the site where a mine’s ore containment facility failed in June “continue to reveal high levels of cyanide.”

In a written update, the Yukon government says tests from Dublin Gulch below the slide at the Eagle Gold mine also show metals such as cobalt, copper, mercury, nickel, silver and selenium in the groundwater.

While the government says the form of mercury found in the groundwater “has low potential for accumulating in the tissues of fish and wildlife,” it says the tests do show that more action is needed to protect the environment near the mine.

Those protections include several planned groundwater interception wells below a safety berm that is now 30 per cent complete, and the statement says work on three of the wells has already begun.

The ore containment facility failure in June caused millions of tonnes of cyanide-contaminated rock to escape.

Mine owner Victoria Gold is in receivership, but the Yukon government says it is in regular communication with the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun situated downstream and current mercury levels in nearby Haggart Creek “do not pose a heightened risk” to residents’ health.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Where will B.C.’s election be won or lost? Here are five bellwether ridings to watch

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British Columbia voters are heading to the polls, and political podcast co-host Mike McDonald says he is watching five ridings as bellwethers.

Here are the five ridings he’s watching as indicators of whether the NDP or the B.C. Conservatives will form government, and why:

Nanaimo-Lantzville

McDonald says one of the key factors in determining bellwethers is a history of centre-right support in places that swung to the NDP in 2020.

Nanaimo-Lantzville is a new riding, carved mostly out of Nanaimo and Parksville-Qualicum, both of which went to the NDP in 2020.

McDonald says Parksville-Qualicum in particular had been held by the BC Liberals since 1996 until Adam Walker’s victory for the NDP in 2020. But Walker has since been removed from the NDP caucus and is running for re-election as an Independent.

Meanwhile, the B.C. Conservatives are running Gwen O’Mahony, another former NDP MLA, who represented Chilliwack-Hope from 2012 to 2013.

North Vancouver-Seymour

This Metro Vancouver riding had been BC Liberal territory from 1991 to 2020, when Susie Chant became the first New Democrat to win there since 1972.

McDonald says while the riding had been held for decades by the BC Liberals, the centre-right margin of victory had been diminishing from 32 percentage points in 2009 before it ultimately flipped to the NDP.

He says the heavily urban riding is “not a great fit” for the B.C. Conservatives’ and their rural lean but it may still swing right if the momentum for change carries into Metro Vancouver.

Surrey-Cloverdale

This is a rare riding where two sitting MLAs will battle for a place in the next legislature.

NDP incumbent Mike Starchuk won the riding in 2020 with 52 per cent of the vote, but it had previously been staunch BC Liberal turf, all the way back to 1991 when the riding was created.

Starchuk faces one of the highest-profile candidates on the B.C. Conservative slate: Elenore Sturko, the MLA for Surrey South who won that riding as a star candidate for BC United. But she defected to the Conservatives this year to run in Surrey-Cloverdale.

McDonald says this may be the front line between B.C. Conservative support in the Fraser Valley and the NDP’s base in urban areas, the so-called “orange wall.”

Langley-Willowbrook

McDonald calls this another “orange wall” riding.

He says the newly created riding has experienced demographic changes spurred by urban families spreading out in search of affordability, making it “kind of an NDP place.”

Incumbent New Democrat Andrew Mercier won in 2020 with 47 per cent of the vote when the riding was known as Langley. The new riding comprises mostly of that seat that had gone to BC Liberal or Social Credit candidates in every previous election back to 1966.

Maple Ridge East

This riding has sided with the party that formed government in every provincial election since 2001.

It is held by the NDP’s Bob D’Eith while the Conservatives are running political newcomer Lawrence Mok.

McDonald notes that every riding he has chosen as a bellwether includes a Green party candidate. He says the Greens have seen some momentum as the NDP shifts to the centre in response to the Conservatives on policies such as the carbon tax and involuntary care.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Voters head to the polls today in Halifax and other Nova Scotia municipalities

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HALIFAX – Results of the Halifax municipal election are expected to be known tonight as voters head to the polls to choose their next mayor.

Frontrunners for the mayor’s chair include former Liberal MP Andy Fillmore — who recently resigned from his seat in Parliament — and current Halifaxcouncillor Waye Mason.

They are among 16 candidates in the Halifax Regional Municipality mayoral race, where top campaign issues have been housing, affordability and accessibility.

About a quarter of voters in the municipality cast their ballots in advance polls.

Outgoing Halifax Mayor Mike Savage announced in February that he would not seek another mandate, and on Sunday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointd him to be Nova Scotia’s next lieutenant-governor.

Electors in 48 of Nova Scotia’s 49 municipalities will cast ballots today, except in the town of Mulgrave, where the mayor and four councillors have been acclaimed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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