Senior government sources say the “earliest” departure for the prime minister and the Canadian delegation is late Tuesday afternoon local time.
The prime minister was set to depart New Delhi Sunday night following the G20 summit. However, during pre-flight checks, the Canadian Armed Forces grounded the CFC001 plane due to a technical issue that could not be fixed overnight.
The Department of National Defence (DND) says the maintenance problem involves a component that will have to be replaced.
“The safety of all passengers is critical to the RCAF and pre-flight safety checks are a regular part of all of our flight protocols,” the department wrote in a statement. “The discovery of this issue is evidence that these protocols are effective.”
Sources say that a technician with the part needed to fix the grounded plane is on a commercial flight to India on Tuesday morning. If that part works, and CFC001 can be fixed, sources say the Canadian delegation may be able to depart for Canada sometime Tuesday late afternoon.
“The Canadian Armed Forces continue their best efforts to get the Canadian delegation home,” the prime minister’s Press Secretary Mohammed Hussain wrote in a statement. “Their latest update shows an earliest departure of Tuesday late afternoon. The situation remains fluid.”
If CFC001 cannot be fixed, sources say the government has contingency plans in place but they may not get the prime minister back to Canada as quickly.
The CFC002 Polaris aircraft departed CFB Trenton for India on Sunday night
and is currently in London, U.K. Senior government sources say the backup plane is expected to arrive in India sometime Tuesday.
The government’s smaller Challenger jet is also in London and is able to fly to India if necessary.
The delay returning home means there’s a chance the prime minister will miss at least part of his Liberal Caucus retreat set to start on Wednesday morning.
In October 2016, the aircraft experienced issues and had to return to Ottawa half an hour after taking off with the prime minister, who was heading to Belgium to sign the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Then, in October 2019 as the VIP plane was being towed into a hangar at 8 Wing Trenton, it rolled into a wall. The crash saw the plane out of service for several months as a result of sustaining “significant structural damage to the nose and right engine cowling,” as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) described it.
In order to take Trudeau to the NATO summit in December 2019, a backup aircraft was used. But, that plane was also grounded in London when the RCAF discovered a problem with one of its engines.
The lifespan of the Polaris fleet, which includes five planes, is expected to end in 2027. According to government officials, extending that timeline any further would be difficult due to the age of the equipment.
The updated fleet includes four new and five used aircraft that will be outfitted to feature the same capabilities. The federal government purchased the used planes from a company in Kuwait.
The first of new so-called Husky fleet airplanes arrived in Canada on Aug. 31. The DND says aircrew training among other tasks needs to be completed before the aircraft can be put into service.
The aircraft that arrived in August, which is currently sitting on the tarmac at the Ottawa International Airport with a Government of Canada decal on it, will eventually be used to transport government personnel including the prime minister.
A second Husky aircraft will be grey and arrive in the fall.
DND says the two used CC-330 Husky aircraft are expected to enter into service this fall.
“The current CC-150 Polaris fleet will be retired from service in a phased approach, as the new A330 Husky fleet is integrated and becomes fully operational,” the department of national defence wrote in a statement.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
