Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the “absolutely unacceptable” conduct at Hockey Canada has shaken the public’s faith in the national governing body for hockey.
“I think right now it’s hard for anyone in Canada to have faith or trust in anyone at Hockey Canada. What we’re learning today is absolutely unacceptable,” Mr. Trudeau told a news conference on Tuesday at Bowen Island in British Columbia.
“There must be a reckoning and there need to be consequences for people who are responsible for that deep lack of respect for the institution.”
The Globe’s Grant Robertson reports that Hockey Canada keeps a special multimillion-dollar fund, which is fed by the registration fees of players across the country, that it uses to pay out settlements in cases of alleged sexual assault without its insurance company, and with minimal outside scrutiny.
This reserve fund has exceeded $15-million in recent years, a Globe and Mail investigation has found. Details of how it operates are not disclosed in Hockey Canada’s annual report.
The existence of the fund has raised new questions about how Hockey Canada handles allegations of sexual assault at a time when it has been accused by federal MPs of trying to sweep an alleged sexual assault by eight Canadian Hockey League players, including members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior team, under the rug without conducting a full investigation.
Mr. Trudeau noted that his government has frozen funds to Hockey Canada pending significant reforms, transparency and accountability.
“A few years ago, I had my son in hockey and when I think about the culture that is apparently permeating the highest orders of that organization, I can understand why so many parents, why so many Canadians who take such pride in our national winter sport are absolutely disgusted by what’s going on,” he said.
Also: A day after an encounter in a hotel room that led to a sexual-assault lawsuit, a player with Canada’s world junior hockey team exchanged text messages with the woman involved. The player began by asking the woman whether she had gone to the police. Story here.
Mr. Trudeau’s comments came during a visit to B.C. that included a stop, on Monday, in the B.C. Interior town of Summerland. Story here.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
ENERGY SECTOR FEARS CARBON PRICING COSTS – The federal government says it plans to implement its oil and gas emissions cap through a new carbon pricing system, leaving the sector worried it will be charged more for greenhouse gas emissions than other heavy industries. Story here.
HILLIER SPEAKS OUT ON TURBINES ISSUE – Retired general Rick Hillier says he fears Canada’s decision to return Nord Stream 1 pipeline turbines to Germany will weaken global sanctions against Russia imposed after its invasion of Ukraine. Story here.
N.S. LEGISLATURE TO HEAD OFF MEMBERS PAY RAISE – Nova Scotia’s legislature will reconvene next week to stop the implementation of a pay bump for its members that would raise annual salaries above $100,000, Premier Tim Houston said Tuesday. Story here.
CAP NEAR FOR RELOCATING AFGHANS UNDER SPECIAL PROGRAM – The federal government is nearing its cap for relocating Afghans and their families to Canada through a special immigration program for those who worked with Canada’s military or government in Afghanistan. Story here.
BROWN MAY FACE LIBERAL MP CHALLENGE IN HOLDING BRAMPTON MAYORALTY – Patrick Brown is seeking a second term as mayor of Brampton, but may face a challenge from a Liberal MP considering a bid for the job. Story here.
SASKATCHEWAN FINANCE MINISTER DEFENDS $8,000 FLIGHT – Saskatchewan’s Finance Minister says it was worth spending nearly $8,000 on a private plane to attend a chamber of commerce lunch. Story here.
SMALLER DEFICIT FOR ONTARIO: FISCAL WATCHDOG – Ontario’s fiscal watchdog is projecting a deficit $5.4-billion smaller than the most recent figure projected by the government. Story here from CBC.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Scott Aitchison is in Toronto as is Jean Charest. Roman Baber is holding a meet-and-greet event in Barrie, Ont. Leslyn Lewis has stops in London and Sarnia. Pierre Poilievre is in Ottawa.
PLETT BACKS POILIEVRE – Manitoba Senator Don Plett, the Conservative leader in the Senate, says he is backing Pierre Poilievre for the leadership of the federal Conservative Party because Mr. Poilievre can rein in the “woke” elements of the party. Mr. Plett had planned to stay out of the race, but changed his mind, says The Winnipeg Free Press in a story here. “We have a woke society out there that we need to move back to where we were in the days of, absolutely, Stephen Harper – but also Brian Mulroney and our very founding forefathers … and most Liberal prime ministers,” he told The Free Press.
THIS AND THAT
The House of Commons is not sitting again until Sept. 19. The Senate is to resume sitting on Sept. 20.
NEW PRESIDENT OF NATIVE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION – Carol McBridge has been elected the new president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada to serve a three-year term as head of Canada’s largest Indigenous women’s organization. She was elected by association members at the organization’s annual general assembly held on July 16.
HEARING SET ON POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN N.S. SHOOTING – The Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security has set a July 25 meeting on allegations of political interference in the 2020 Nova Scotia mass murder investigation, with scheduled witnesses including Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki. Details here.
LETTER FROM THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL – To mark her first anniversary since becoming Governor-General, Mary Simon has written a letter to Canadians available here. “My position has limits. I cannot make policy or create programs. However, I can use my convening role to help build alliances that can promote change.”
HAJDU IN THUNDER BAY – Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, in Thunder Bay, Ont., announced support from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario for medical technology and innovation in the Thunder Bay region. Ms. Hajdu is the minister responsible for the agency.
PETITPAS TAYLOR IN TRURO – Official Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, in Truro, N.S., announced support for three projects in Colchester County to help the region boost tourism and create growth opportunities for local businesses. Ms. Petitpas Taylor is also the minister for the the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
THE DECIBEL
More than two years after Canada’s worst mass shooting, someone there at the start has spoken up. Lisa Banfield, the shooter’s common-law spouse, spoke last Friday at the inquiry into how the RCMP handled the incident. She provided insight into what happened in April, 2020, and described a chilling portrait of intimate partner violence. The Globe’s Greg Mercer tells us about what Banfield witnessed, the shooter’s violent history, and why some of the victims’ families walked out during her testimony. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
In the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, the Prime Minister made an announcement on oceans protection and held a media availability. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray also attended. The Prime Minister was also scheduled to visit a local children’s day camp.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet continues a summer tour of Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Yellowknife, met withTłı̨chǫ Region Chiefs and was scheduled to visit the Yellowknife Farmers Market and hold a meet-and-greet event in a park.
No schedule released for other party leaders.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on why medicare needs major surgery, but Dr. Brian Day should not be the surgeon: “Medicare needs new money, new resources and major reforms. But Dr. Day’s prescription is not the way forward. Revolutionizing Canadian health care by allowing people to spend more of their own money on doctors’ visits or surgeries will not, by itself, magically create more doctors, nurses, hospitals and surgeries. Nor will it cause waiting lists to disappear. Giving you the right to get into a bidding war with your neighbours for scarce medical services is unlikely to yield happy results.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail)on how squabbling over the federal-provincial split in funding won’t fix the health system: “Canadians don’t especially care if the funding for health care is federal or provincial, split 22/78 or 35/65 or 50/50. They want the care to be there when they need it – and it isn’t. Structural reform is increasingly urgent. Part of that equation will have to be a new funding formula, one that requires a lot more accountability than we currently have. The first step has to be setting clear priorities for reform, and costing them out – which is how the premiers should have spent their time, instead of just whinging. Fix the system. We can worry about how we split the cheque later.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail) on how the spouse of the Nova Scotia shooter was another one of his victims: “She was physically and financially trapped for years by an abusive partner who threatened to kill her family if she ever left. Had Ms. Banfield been slightly less fortunate, or perhaps less determined to survive, she could have easily been among the Nova Scotia massacre casualties – in which case there would likely be no question whether she was complicit in the attack. One man was ultimately responsible for what happened on those days; Ms. Banfield was one of his victims.”
Murray Mandryk (Regina Leader-Post)on how news of a costly flight by Finance Minister Donna Harpauer comes at a bad time for the Sask. Party: “Harpauer’s seemingly innocuous flight sure has triggered a lot of resentment over the Sask. Party government’s perceived growing smugness. It likely started with the international trips and Moe’s suggestion that he “makes no apologies” for government travel. An apology? Despite repeated requests from the media, we can’t even get the weekly cabinet itinerary government used to provide. Evidently, where ministers go or who they choose to hold to publicly meet with to discuss “economic sovereignty” isn’t taxpayers’ business. But the outrage over Harpauer’s chartered flight to North Battleford is more about its timing – not only that it happened two days after her budget taxed concerts, football tickets and gym memberships as luxuries but also that we are only finding about it now just as we are getting hammered by 22-per-cent and eight-per-cent respective SaskEnergy and SaskPower hikes.”
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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.
