Canada’s former top soldier Jonathan Vance pleaded guilty Wednesday to obstruction of justice connected to a sexual misconduct investigation, and was granted a conditional discharge by the court.
Mr. Vance, the military’s former chief of the defence staff, entered the guilty plea in a virtual appearance. His defence lawyer, Rodney Sellar, and crown attorney, Mark Holmes, made the joint recommendation for the conditional discharge.
In a joint statement of fact, Mr. Vance acknowledged that he last year called Kellie Brennan, a Major in the Forces, to try to convince her not to report the full extent of their relationship to the military police. The statement of fact says that Ms. Brennan resisted and told him she would disclose they had sex while he was chief of the defence staff and she was a subordinate.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
PLANS DELAYED FOR ARCTIC MILITARY FACILITY – Repeatedly delayed plans to establish a military refuelling facility in Canada’s High Arctic have once again fallen behind schedule. Story here.
CONCERNS RAISED ABOUT SUPPORT FOR UKRAINIANS WHO HAVE FLED TO CANADA – Ukrainian-Canadians hosting family members and friends who have fled Russia’s invasion say they are worried about trying to support loved ones with little material support from the federal government, and that Ukrainians without contacts in Canada would have difficulty settling here. Story here.
INDIGENOUS DELEGATES FROM CANADA AMBIVALENT ABOUT VATICAN DISPLAY – As they walked through a private display prepared for them in the Vatican Museums, dozens of Indigenous delegates from Canada saw beautiful pieces of history from their home territories. But the group’s members, in Rome this week for a historic series of talks with Pope Francis about the legacy of Canada’s church-run residential school system, experienced mixed emotions. Story here.
FEDERAL BUDGET SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 7 -Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will deliver the 2022 budget on April 7. Story here.
TRUDEAU VISITNG WILLIAMS LAKE FIRST NATION – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s Minister of Indigenous-Crown Relations are scheduled to visit the Williams Lake First Nation Wednesday to discuss the nation’s recent findings at the site of a former residential school and to listen to survivors. Story here from CBC.
ONTARIO GOES TO SUPREME COURT TO STOP RELEASE OF MANDATE LETTERS – The Ontario government has asked Canada’s top court to weigh in on the province’s nearly four years-long fight to keep Premier Doug Ford’s mandate letters to his cabinet ministers secret. Story here from CBC.
TORY MP SAYS TRUDEAU A DICTATOR – Lethbridge Conservative MP Rachael Thomas has called out Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a dictator in remarks in the House of Commons. Story here from CTV.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
VIERSEN BACKS LEWIS – Leadership contender Leslyn Lewis has been endorsed by another MP. Alberta MP Arnold Viersen (Peace River-Westlock) said, in a tweet, that Ms. Lewis “exhibits the exceptional qualities that Canada needs in a Prime Minister.”
OLIVER SUPPORTS POILIEVRE – Former Conservative finance minister Joe Oliver is backing Pierre Poilievre for the leadership declaring in a social media post that Mr. Poilievre has the communication and leadership skills that can defeat the Liberals.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, March 30, accessible here.
P.E.I. PREMIER TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 – Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King says, in a tweet, he has tested positive for COVID-19, and, as a result will isolate.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL VISITS ONTARIO – Governor-General Mary Simon and her husband, Whit Fraser, are taking what’s billed by her office as a two-day visit to Ontario this Thursday and Friday. Stops in Toronto include meetings with Ontario Lieutenan- Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Premier Doug Ford, Toronto Mayor Doug Ford, Indigenous leaders, a visit to the Kapapamahchakwew – Wandering Spirit School, and meetings with members of the Ukrainian community.
CARNEY BACKS CLIMATE-CHANGE PLAN – Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England widely seen as a competitor to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is giving a thumbs up to the Liberal government’s climate-change plan, announced this week in a social media posting here.
NO-NEW-SHOES BUDGET – MP Ed Fast, the Conservative finance critic, is against Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland buying new shoes or resoling her shoes for the looming April. 7 budget – a tradition among finance ministers. “What I would say is given the fact that many Canadians can’t afford new shoes any more, I think it would be wise of the Minister to avoid buying new shoes this time around,” Mr. Fast told journalists on Tuesday.
DEPUTY SPEAKER DENOUNCES HARSH TALK IN HOUSE – Deputy Commons Speaker Chris d’Entremont urged MPs, on Tuesday, to stay within bounds on language. In remarks to MPs, he cited “the recent use of certain language that may be deemed inflammatory.” Mr. d’Entremont said members must be mindful of avoiding statements that attack or demean the character of other members. “We are all here as elected representatives and each of us is entitled to respect. Personal inflammatory language has no place in our debates,” he said. The deputy speaker did not cite any specific examples.
THE DECIBEL
On Wednesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Globe reporter Dave McGinn , who has been reporting on the federal child-care deal that all provinces and territories have now signed, talks about why early childhood educators have been leaving the industry in droves, and what needs to happen to make this plan work. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
In Williams Lake, British Columbia, the Prime Minister held private meetings then, along with Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller met with Willie Sellars, the chief of the Williams Lake First Nation, council members, elders, residential school survivors, and other members of the community.
LEADERS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh attended the NDP’s national caucus meeting, and participated in Question Period. With NDP Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson, Mr. Singh was later scheduled to meet with a delegation from the Social Democratic Party of Germany
No schedules released for other party leaders.
TRIBUTE
Former Canadian senator Joyce Fairbairn, the first woman to serve as leader of the government in the Senate, has died, aged 82. Story here from CBC.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Boardon the Harper-Trudeau F-35 dogfight: From fiasco to debacle, and back to fiasco: “Justin Trudeau, seizing on the stench that had attached itself to the F-35, promised in the 2015 election that, if elected, his government would never, ever purchase the jinxed fighter and would instead launch an “open and transparent competition” for a cheaper model better suited to Canada’s needs. The Liberals won that election and the next two after that. And then, this week, the whole schmozzle went full circle, and the Trudeau government concluded the F-35 is the one for Canada. It would be great if this political farce ended here. But there is already a troubling sign that the Liberals may have made the same mistake as the Harper Conservatives, which was to understate the estimated cost of buying fighter jets in order to make an easier sale to voters.”
Gary Mason (The Globe and Mail) on how Canada will respond to Russian designs on the Arctic: “It’s time that Canada became serious about the North, including properly defending it. Our poor, tattered military is largely absent from the region. More than a decade after former prime minister Stephen Harper first unveiled plans to establish a more robust presence in the region by building a modern naval base, little has happened. That needs to change.Equipment-wise, our Arctic presence consists of four non-combat CC-138 Twin Otter utility planes and some patrol vessels, according to Robert Smol, a retired Canadian military-intelligence officer who served for more than 20 years. It’s not exactly the posture of a country taking northern sovereignty and security matters seriously. No, Canada has taken the region for granted for far too long.”
Adam Radwanski (The Globe and Mail)on how Ottawa demands more of every economic sector – and itself – with its new ambitious climate plan: “The federal government has produced by far its most comprehensive roadmap to date for making good on Canada’s international commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. In so doing, it has also laid bare the unprecedented degree of urgency and nimbleness that will be required – of the government itself, and of all the country’s major economic sectors – to have any real chance of reducing national emissions 40 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, as promised.”
Linda Cardinal and Rémi Léger (Policy Options)on strengthening French language laws in Canada: Three major legislative initiatives: “For the first time in more than 30 years, three major language policies are front-and-centre in Canadian politics: The Official Languages Act at the federal level, the Charter of the French Language (commonly referred to as Bill 101) in Québec and the French Language Services Act in Ontario. The Ontario government passed changes to its law in December 2021, while the new legislative initiatives in Québec and Ottawa are expected to be enacted in 2022. There are plans to revise a fourth law, New Brunswick’s Official Languages Act, in 2022. Not since the 1970s and 1980s has there been such concerted action on language policy in Canada.”
Thomas Mulcair (The Montreal Gazette)on cracks starting to show in Quebec Premier François Legault’s armour: “That reflex of Legault’s — to complain bitterly whenever he feels the feds haven’t respected his areas of jurisdiction — has come back to haunt him in recent days. In key files involving public transit, an area that is first and foremost municipal jurisdiction, it’s Legault who has been called out for stepping on the toes of the province’s two largest municipalities, Montreal and Quebec City.”
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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.
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.
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.
