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Saskatchewan Party leader confident heading into election despite tough race

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SASKATOON – Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe says some incumbent governments in Canada have had it rough heading into election season, but he’s confident his party will hold onto power.

Blaine Higgs of New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative Party was defeated by Liberal Party Leader Susan Holt in a landslide election last week, while voters in British Columbia saw a tight race between David Eby’s NDP and John Rustad’s Conservative Party.

Moe says it’s shaping up to be a tough race in Saskatchewan as well, but he and his 61 candidates are focused on their party’s plan to create a strong economy and a bright future.

Moe has said his Saskatchewan Party, if re-elected Monday, would bring broad tax relief and a promise to continue withholding federal carbon levy payments to Ottawa.

The politician hailing from Prince Albert didn’t have any planned campaign stops Sunday, but spent Saturday rallying supporters at an event in Saskatoon.

Early voting ended on Saturday, and polls are closed until Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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North Vancouver declares state of local emergency, 3 homes evacuated after heavy rain

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VANCOUVER – The District of North Vancouver has declared a state of local emergency and ordered three homes evacuated in the Deep Cove neighbourhood over concerns debris left behind from last weekend’s atmospheric river could pose a safety risk.

A statement late Saturday from the district says that during the heavy rain, debris filled the channels of Ostler and Panorama Creeks “limiting their capacity to withstand future heavy rainfall events.”

The district says it’s ordering the evacuations out of an abundance of caution after geotechnical consultants advised that the extent of debris could pose a “life safety risk” to adjacent properties.

The District of North Vancouver was hit with 350 millimetres of rain last weekend and six properties were initially ordered evacuated, but those orders were lifted on Friday.

The weather system drenched B.C.’s south coast, triggering a mudslide and localized flooding that killed at least three people.

The district says the decision to declare a state of local emergency and a mandatory evacuation order is not taken lightly, and that residents of those properties are eligible to receive emergency support services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2024.

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Uruguay’s elections buck the Latin American trend, offering voters a choice between 2 moderates

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Voters in the small South American nation of Uruguay picked a new president Sunday in a race between two moderates that defied regional trends of bitter division and democratic erosion.

The contest between Uruguay’s incumbent conservative coalition and its challenger, a center-left alliance, came to a close after some 2.7 million eligible voters also cast ballots for Parliament and a contentious referendum on overhauling the social security system.

Electoral officials reported to local media a turnout of more than 88% by the time polls closed in the country, where voting in presidential and congressional contests is compulsory. Results were expected to be announced within a few hours.

The pension vote — which would expand the fiscal deficit in one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries — has consumed more media attention in recent weeks than other campaign issues, such as child poverty, education and security.

With the candidates in broad agreement over many issues, no one expects the outcome of the presidential vote to herald drastic change in this nation of 3.4 million people, long considered a model democracy and bastion of stability in the region.

“In a way, Uruguay has been boring, but boring in this sense is very good,” said Juan Cruz Díaz, a political analyst who runs the Cefeidas consultancy group in Buenos Aires. “We’ve seen so many dramatic changes in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and suddenly we face elections in Uruguay in which there is a general consensus, there’s stability.”

While in neighboring Brazil and Argentina, voters recently vented their rage at the status quo, Uruguay’s electorate remains largely satisfied with the government’s business-friendly policies and the economy’s steady growth. The current center-right president, Luis Lacalle Pou, enjoys a 50% approval rating.

The presidential campaigns have played out without the vitriolic insults and personal attacks seen elsewhere, such as the United States, Argentina or Brazil.

The Rambla, a 22-kilometer-long avenue running down the coast of the capital, Montevideo, became a festive gathering spot during the voting day as members of Uruguay’s major conservative and liberal coalitions waved flags and sang songs.

As constitutional term limits bar Lacalle Pou from running for a second consecutive term, the governing party’s candidate is Álvaro Delgado, 55, a congressman and Lacalle Pou’s former chief of staff, who started his career as a veterinarian.

“We voted with joy in a very special election, appreciating this democracy that makes us proud and Uruguay’s spirit of respect and tolerance,” Delgado posted on social media platform X after casting his ballot.

His main challenger is Yamandú Orsi, 57, a center-left former mayor and history teacher with humble roots from the Frente Amplio (or Broad Front) coalition, which governed from 2005-2020 before Lacalle Pou’s victory. The alliance oversaw the legalization of same-sex marriage. Uruguay became the first country to legalize cannabis for recreational use and developed one of the world’s greenest grids, powered by 98% renewable energy.

The latest polls show Orsi in a comfortable lead at 44%, but not winning outright, which would send the country to a run-off on Nov. 24.

Orsi voted in Canelones, the district of cattle and sheep ranches where he served twice as mayor some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Montevideo. He expressed pride in his country’s faith in democracy, restored in 1984 after a 12-year dictatorship.

“Uruguay has had the happiness for 40 uninterrupted years … the happiness that our citizens can elect their leaders,” Orsi said. “In today’s world, it is a beautiful privilege.”

Orsi has benefited from the support of former President José “Pepe” Mujica, the eccentric former guerrilla who helped spearhead Uruguay’s transformation into the continent’s most socially liberal country during his 2010-2015 presidency.

Now 89, Mujica is battling esophageal cancer, but he still managed to cast his ballot in Montevideo on Sunday. Arriving to vote in a wheelchair, he was quickly swarmed by reporters.

“We need to support democracy, not because it is perfect, but because humans have not yet invented anything better,” he told journalists after exiting the polling station.

Like Mujica, who lives in a modest farmhouse on the outskirts of Montevideo, Orsi says he wouldn’t live in the presidential palace if elected.

In a distant third is Andrés Ojeda, 40, a muscular and media-savvy lawyer who has tried to energize apathetic young voters with splashy campaign videos showing him lifting weights at the gym and describing himself as a classic Capricorn.

He backs the ruling coalition but flaunts an unconventional style that he said draws inspiration from other young charismatic leaders in Latin America wielding social media to amass fans, like El Salvador’s populist Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s radical libertarian Javier Milei.

“It’s a lesson to the system,” Ojeda said of his meteoric rise from obscurity. “The new politics is here to stay.”

The electoral contest has largely focused on the rise in homicides and robberies, with the governing coalition advocating a tough-on-crime approach and the liberal coalition seeking to increase the state’s role in security matters.

Voters are also concerned about the one in five Uruguayan children living in poverty and the low rate of high school graduations.

But the overlap between political platforms has left much of the Uruguayan electorate indifferent.

“It was a presidential campaign far removed from the people that did not achieve the levels of engagement that Uruguay historically has,” said Montevideo-based political analyst Julián Kanarek.

More divisive than the presidential race is the constitutional referendum that would overhaul Uruguay’s social security system.

If approved by more than 50% of voters, the $23 billion scheme backed by the country’s powerful unions would lower the retirement age, boost payouts and transfer Uruguayans’ privately managed savings to a government-run trust.

Both leading candidates have spoken out against the proposal, which has already sent tremors through global markets. Shrugging off the fiscal consequences, supporters say it would redistribute Uruguay’s resources more fairly in one of the region’s most expensive countries where the average minimum pension stands around $450 a month.

“It’s about defending our rights, because now I am about to retire,” Amara De Los Santos, 61, said from a polling station after voting “yes” on the referendum.

___

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina



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Ontario government moves to extend 5.7 cent gas tax cut to June 2025

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TORONTO – Ontario is moving to extend a 5.7-cent cut to the provincial gas tax until next summer.

Premier Doug Ford says his government will soon put forward legislation that, if passed, will keep the tax at nine cents per litre until June 30.

The legislation would also extend the 5.3-cent cut to the price of diesel fuel.

The province first temporarily slashed the gasoline and diesel tax rates in July 2022 but have repeatedly extended the cuts since.

Ford estimates the succession of moves will help the average Ontario household save $380 over the three years since the cuts were first introduced.

He also used the extension announcement to call on the federal government to eliminate the federal carbon tax, which Ford has long railed against.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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