The federal government has ended the use of the Emergencies Act, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.
Mr. Trudeau made the announcement at a news conference alongside several cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. The ministers have been at the forefront of managing and explaining the policy intended to give police extra powers to deal with blockades and protests.
Prior to a vote in the House of Commons this week that enabled the act, Mr. Trudeau said the previously unused legislation afforded powers, such as compelling tow-truck drivers to move big rigs out of Ottawa’s downtown core.
But he said Wednesday that the act is no longer needed, “We were very clear that the use of the Emergencies Act would be limited in time. When we invoked it, it was in place for 30 days, and we said that we would lift it as soon as possible,” Mr. Trudeau told the news conference.
“Today, after careful consideration, we’re ready to confirm that the situation is no longer an emergency. Therefore, the federal government will be ending the use of the Emergencies Act.”
Mr. Trudeau said existing laws and bylaws are now sufficient to keep people safe.
On Monday, Liberal and NDP MPs voted in favour of the legislation. The Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois voted against.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
CHAREST CONSIDERS RUN FOR TORY LEADERSHIP – Former Quebec premier Jean Charest is inclined to seek the leadership of the federal Conservative party but is waiting to see the rules of the race before he makes a final decision, says a source close to Mr. Charest. Story here.
Meanwhile La Presse reports here that former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper “will not sit idly by” if Mr. Charest decides to seek the party leadership, but rather use the influence he has retained in the party to ensure “a true conservative” wins.
CANADA ESCALATES UKRAINE ACTIONS – Canada is sending hundreds more troops to Europe and slapping what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a “first round” of new economic sanctions on Russia for its decision to recognize two breakaway regions in Ukraine and deploy soldiers there. Story here. There’s a Globe and Mail Explainer here on the latest in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
UNEVEN JOB MARKET RECOVERY IN ONTARIO – Ontario’s job market charted a very uneven recovery over the course of 2021, with employment in low-wage industries remaining woefully below prepandemic levels, while the number of people employed in higher-wage white-collar jobs soared to levels not seen before in years. Story here.
OTTAWA PROTESTS
TRUCK BLOCKADE ORGANIZER DENIED BAIL – In Ottawa, an organizer who had a key role in the truck blockade in the core of the country’s capital has been denied bail, and some police checkpoints remain in place to prevent further demonstrations. Story here.
ONTARIO PROMISES MORE AID FOR PROTEST-IMPACTED BUSINESSES – Ontario’s Finance Minister says more help is coming for businesses affected by the weeks-long protest against COVID-19 measures in Ottawa. While Peter Bethlenfalvy didn’t share specifics, he said Tuesday that the province would have more to say on targeted supports soon.
MAN CHARGED AFTER PULLING A GUN IN OTTAWA MALL – Ottawa police say one man has been charged after he pulled a gun inside the capital’s largest mall near Parliament Hill, hours after it was able to reopen in the aftermath of a three-week long occupation of the city’s downtown core. Story here.
MEANWHILE
SUSPICIOUS FIRE AT LIBERAL MP’S OFFICE – Police say a fire that damaged a Liberal MP’s constituency office in Mississauga, Ont., has been deemed suspicious. Story here.
KEY POINTS FROM B.C. BUDGET – Five key points from the B.C. budget that B.C. Finance Minister Selina Robinson introduced on Tuesday. Story here.
CORRECTION: MP Rob Morrison (Kootenay-Columbia) is one of two Conservatives designated as the party’s preferred appointees to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. Incorrect information appeared yesterday.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – The House is adjourned until Feb. 28, 2022 at 11 a.m. (EST).
CLARK ENDORSES CHAREST FOR TORY LEADERSHIP – Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark has endorsed Jean Charest as leader of the federal Conservatives even as the ex-Quebec premier considers seeking the job. On this week’s edition of The Curse of Politics podcast available here, Ms. Clark touted Mr. Charest’s centrist credentials, understanding of the complexities of Canada and the economy, and ability to advance discussion on “the things we have in common rather than the things that divide us.” Ms. Clark was the leader of the B.C. Liberals – a coalition of federal Conservatives and Liberals – and premier from 2011 to 2017. “The Liberals are going to have to decide what they want to do about Justin Trudeau but, honestly, the Conservatives have a chance with a guy like Charest running for office, becoming their leader.”
NEW CANADIAN AMBASSADOR IN CUBA – Geoff Gartshore, who has served at Canada’s embassy in Germany as counsellor and head of the political and economic section, has become Canada’s ambassador to Cuba, replacing Perry Calderwood, a former high commissioner in Pakistan, who was appointed ambassador in 2019. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly made the announcement in a statement today.
BACK TO WORK ON CENTRE-BLOCK RENOVATION – Work resumed Tuesday on the years-long renovation of Centre Block. The program of construction was suspended on Jan. 28 because of the protests in downtown Ottawa.
A NEW GENUIS – Alberta Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan) is announcing the arrival of a son here.
THE DECIBEL – On Wednesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, the Globe’s senior international correspondent, Mark MacKinnon, discusses the role of diplomacy now that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has moved into a more inauspicious stage. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings. The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Incident Response Group on the illegal blockades and the situation in Ukraine. He held an afternoon news conference on the Emergencies Act. And the Prime Minister was scheduled to attend and deliver remarks at the Ukrainian Canadian Congress board meeting.
LEADERS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh meets virtually with the executive of the Canadian Federation of Students and was scheduled to meet virtually with Burnaby South community organizations.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
OPINION
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail)on how our shared reality – and the knowledge that undergirds it – is being assaulted: “This is the other discovery we have made of late, far more disturbing than the first: not just how easily a certain section of the population can be made to believe the most outrageous lies, but how willing a certain section is to tell them. The latter know exactly what they are doing. They know that they are spreading falsehoods, validating lunacy, crossing lines previously considered uncrossable. They just no longer care. How long would the Ottawa occupation have lasted, had certain members of the Conservative Party not given it their enthusiastic support? How much comfort did the occupiers take from their enablers online, as quick to minimize their misconduct (“peaceful protest”) as to exaggerate their mistreatment (“police brutality”)? How healthy can our democracy remain, under this combined assault on reality?”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail)on how the Conservative leadership convention is shaping up to be a competition for the party’s soul: “A contest for the Conservative leadership featuring Mr. Charest and Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre, who has already declared, would be a contest between the establishment and populist wings of the party for its soul. Right now, the populists own it. But if there are enough people in Canada who want to see a fiscally pragmatic, socially moderate Conservative Party led by someone with demonstrated ability, and who are willing to take out a party membership, Mr. Charest might have a chance.”
Andrew Cohen (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how the occupation showed Ottawa is a city still satisfied with mediocrity: “As we know, the City of Ottawa did almost nothing to stop what Mayor Jim Watson called a state of emergency. Nothing. In the first week, the now-former police chief, Peter Sloly, offered daily self-congratulation for avoiding violence. Later, Mr. Watson tried to negotiate with the truckers – a fruitless exercise in appeasement. It took Zexi Li, a heroic young public servant, to get a court injunction to stop the ear-piercing honking. And the federal government, finally, to organize a police intervention to stop the carnival of intimidation. Effectively, this made Ottawa its ward. The occupation of Ottawa was the apotheosis of an inept city. How could this happen in the capital of a G8 country? Easily, actually, if you have an autocratic mayor, a weak city council and a contented constituency.”
Beverley McLachlin (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on how the Ottawa truck convoy has revealed the ugly side of freedom: “Freedom is not absolute. We live in a social matrix, where one person’s exercise of freedom may conflict with another person’s exercise of freedom. Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states this plainly. The Charter gives Canadians a bundle of rights and freedoms. But it prefaces them with this caution – these rights and freedoms, precious as they are, are not absolute. Governments, it proclaims, can limit freedoms, provided the limits are “reasonable” and can be “justified in a free and democratic society.” The bottom line is that you can’t use your freedoms in a way that unreasonably conflicts with or affects the freedoms of other people. The freedoms guaranteed by the Charter stop where they harm others. With freedom comes responsibility.”
Kelly Egan (The Ottawa Citizen)on a blockade miracle – metal seas parted, disaster avoided: “So we wake up, in our hungover state, with no permanent police chief, down two deputies, a remade police board and some pretty deep scars around the council table. No great victory was won by the “Freedom Convoy.” Protesters did not get Justin Trudeau to change his mind on vaccine mandates or have the governor-general take over, or have mainstream media vaporized. In a democracy, policy isn’t changed, or negotiations started, by holding a gun to someone’s head. And was this not a version of that? Protest all you want – but don’t illegally take over Canada’s front porch for three weeks and expect to be invited in.”
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PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.
“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.
Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”
The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”
Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”
The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.
In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.
Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.
In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.
A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.
In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.
But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.
“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.
Americans and Canadians are cousins that is true. Allies today but long ago people were at loggerheads mostly because of the British Empire and American ambitions.
Canadians appreciate our cousins down south enough to visit them many millions of times over the year. America is Canada’s largest and most important trading partner. As a manufacturer, I can attest to this personally. My American clients have allowed our firm to grow and prosper over the past few decades. There is a problem we have been seeing, a problem where nationalism, both political and economic has been creating a roadblock to our trade relationship.
Both Democrats and Republicans have shown a willingness to play the “buy only American Made product” card, a sounding board for all things isolationist, nationalistic and small-mindedness. We all live on this small planet, and purchase items made from all over the world. Preferences as to what to buy and where it is made are personal choices, never should they become a platform of national pride and thuggery. This has brought fear into the hearts of many Canadians who manufacture for and service the American Economy in some way. This fear will be apparent when the election is over next week.
Canadians are not enemies of America, but allies and friends with a long tradition of supporting our cousins back when bad sh*t happens. We have had enough of the American claim that they want free trade, only to realize that they do so long as it is to their benefit. Tariffs, and undue regulations applied to exporters into America are applied, yet American industry complains when other nations do the very same to them. Seriously! Democrats have said they would place a preference upon doing business with American firms before foreign ones, and Republicans wish to tariff many foreign nations into oblivion. Rhetoric perhaps, but we need to take these threats seriously. As to you the repercussions that will come should America close its doors to us.
Tit for tat neighbors. Tariff for tariff, true selfish competition with no fear of the American Giant. Do you want to build homes in America? Over 33% of all wood comes from Canada. Tit for tat. Canada’s mineral wealth can be sold to others and place preference upon the highest bidder always. You know who will win there don’t you America, the deep-pocketed Chinese.
Reshaping our alliances with others. If America responds as has been threatened, Canadians will find ways to entertain themselves elsewhere. Imagine no Canadian dollars flowing into the Northern States, Florida or California? The Big Apple without its friendly Maple Syrup dip. Canadians will realize just how significant their spending is to America and use it to our benefit, not theirs.
Clearly we will know if you prefer Canadian friendship to Donald Trumps Bravado.
China, Saudi Arabia & Russia are not your friends in America. Canada, Japan, Taiwan the EU and many other nations most definitely are. Stop playing politics, and carry out business in an unethical fashion. Treat allies as they should be treated.
