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Trudeau: Object over Yukon shot down over threat to aircraft

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OTTAWA –

The U.S. military shot down a fourth high-altitude object in just over a week on Sunday, this time closer to heavily populated areas in southern Ontario and the U.S. East Coast.

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said in a statement Sunday evening that a “high-altitude object” was detected in U.S. airspace over Lake Huron.

“NORAD launched Canadian and U.S. aircraft to investigate and the object was taken down in U.S. airspace by U.S. aircraft,” Anand said.

The move marks the most recent incident in which U.S. fighter jets shot an object out of the sky, starting with a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.

Unidentified cylindrical objects were shot down over Alaska and Yukon Friday and Saturday.

The North American Aerospace Defence Command, the joint U.S.-Canadian air surveillance and defence organization, said in a statement it had closed airspace over Lake Michigan temporarily around noon Sunday to protect civilian planes during unspecified NORAD “operations.” They did not explain further. Nor have they offered reasons why the airspace was closed over Lake Michigan when the object was spotted over Lake Huron.

Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada and the U.S. were co-operating and in constant communication about the situation.

“You can know that this is something that NORAD and Canada and the United States are taking extremely seriously, and we will continue to keep people informed as we know more,” he said.

Canadian military and RCMP recovery teams, aided by a CP-140 aircraft, were searching the Yukon wilderness for the remnants of the object shot down Saturday over the central part of the territory, about 160 km from the Alaskan border.

Trudeau said the object needs to be found and analyzed.

“There’s still much to know about it,” he said. “That’s why the analysis of this object is going to be very important.”

The prime minister spoke to reporters briefly at the airport before boarding a plane bound for Yukon on a trip that was planned before Saturday’s incident but will now include meetings with local government and Indigenous leaders about what happened.

But there is little yet reported publicly about what the objects are.

Defence Minister Anita Anand said Saturday the Yukon object was “potentially similar” to the Chinese spy balloon destroyed Feb. 4. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC’s Sunday morning news show that U.S. national security officials believe both the Yukon and Alaskan objects were small surveillance balloons.

The undercarriage of the first balloon, which contains the surveillance equipment, was located mostly intact in the water on Friday, but efforts to extract it were delayed until at least Monday because of rough seas.

That first balloon was described as being about the size of three school buses and weighing about 450 kg.

The second object that was shot down over Alaska Friday was said to be about the size of a small car. It has not yet been recovered.

Beyond Anand’s comments, no size estimate has yet been provided on the third one shot down over Yukon.

Canadian and U.S. authorities have had little to say about the objects or their intended purpose beyond surveillance. Only the first one has been confirmed to have originated in China.

China has insisted it was a meteorological surveillance balloon that accidentally drifted off course and into the U.S.

American officials said over the course of less than a week the object travelled from China, across Alaska, through parts of Canada into Montana and then across the continental U.S. until it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina near Myrtle Beach.

James Fergusson, deputy director for the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, said in an interview with The Canadian Press that right now any information about what the objects are doing is pure speculation.

“We’re all in the dark right now,” he said.

Fergusson speculated whoever is sending the objects is trying to find out how accurate we are in identifying objects flying into North American airspace, and what we’ll do about them.

“If it is a test of NORAD capabilities, then the tests have failed. We’ve made it very clear … that you cannot penetrate North American airspace without repercussions.”

Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai said Saturday the territory had been in contact with the federal government and had already been in talks with federal officials “to discuss Arctic security” over the previous week.

He will meet with Trudeau in Whitehorse Monday.

In a statement issued Sunday, Yukon’s opposition leader Currie Dixon said the incident “reaffirms the need to modernize our North Warning System, as well as for a fully built-out Canadian Armed Forces base in the Yukon.”

The North Warning System, a chain of radar stations operating under the North American Aerospace Defence Command, gives Canada and the United States the ability to monitor who or what enters Canadian or Alaskan airspace from the north. It is growing outdated, however, and updating it is part of a NORAD modernization effort that is already underway.

The initial balloon was flying at about 18,000 metres, which is higher than most civilian aircraft. U.S. President Joe Biden ordered it shot down on Feb. 1, but the military waited until it was not over a populated area before taking it out.

The second and third were spotted at altitudes of about 12,000 metres, which is at the top end of the normal cruising height for most commercial airplanes.

Trudeau said at that height, the object over Yukon “represented a reasonable threat to civilian aircraft, so I gave the order to take it down.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2023.

With files from Rob Drinkwater in Edmonton and The Associated Press

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RCMP end latest N.B. search regarding teenage girl who went missing in 2021

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BATHURST, N.B. – RCMP in New Brunswick say a weekend ground search for evidence related to the disappearance of a teenage girl in 2021 didn’t reveal any new information.

In an emailed statement, the RCMP said 20 people participated in the search for evidence in the case of Madison Roy-Boudreau of Bathurst.

The release said the search occurred in the Middle River area, just south of the girl’s hometown.

Police have said the 14-year-old’s disappearance is being treated as a homicide investigation.

The RCMP said the search “did not reveal any new information regarding the circumstances of her disappearance.”

There are no plans for another search until police receive a tip or a lead pointing to a new search area.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

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Man Tasered after trespassing in Victoria school, forcing lockdown

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VICTORIA – A middle school in Victoria was forced into a lockdown after a man entered the building without permission, and police say they had to use a stun gun to make an arrest.

Victoria police say officers received multiple calls around noon on Monday of an unknown male entering Central Middle School, leading staff to set off emergency procedures that put the building under lockdown.

Police say its emergency response team arrived within minutes and found the suspect, who “appeared to be in a drug-induced state,” in the school’s library.

A statement from police says the suspect resisted arrest, and officers had to use a Taser to subdue the man.

He’s being held by police and has been assessed by emergency medical staff.

Police say the man was not armed and there were no continuing safety concerns for students and staff following the arrest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

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B.C. Greens’ ex- leader Weaver thinks minority deal with NDP less likely than in 2017

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VANCOUVER – Former B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver knows what it’s like to form a minority government with the NDP, but says such a deal to create the province’s next administration is less likely this time than seven years ago.

Weaver struck a power-sharing agreement that resulted in John Horgan’s NDP minority government in 2017, but said in an interview Monday there is now more animosity between the two parties.

Neither the NDP nor the B.C. Conservatives secured a majority in Saturday’s election, raising the prospect of a minority NDP government if Leader David Eby can get the support of two Green legislators.

Manual recounts in two ridings could also play an important role in the outcome, which will not be known for about a week.

Weaver, who is no longer a member of the Greens, endorsed a Conservative candidate in his home riding.

He said Eby would be in a better position to negotiate if Furstenau, who lost her seat, stepped aside as party leader.

“I think Mr. Eby would be able to have fresh discussions with fresh new faces around the table, (after) four years of political sniping … between Sonia and the NDP in the B.C. legislature,” he said.

He said Furstenau’s loss put the two elected Greens in an awkward position because parties “need the leader in the legislature.”

Furstenau could resign as leader or one of the elected Greens could step down and let her run in a byelection in their riding, he said.

“They need to resolve that issue sooner rather than later,” he said.

The Green victories went to Rob Botterell in Saanich North and the Islands and Jeremy Valeriote in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.

Neither Botterell nor Valeriote have held seats in the legislature before, Weaver noted.

“It’s not like in 2017 when, you know, I had been in the (legislature) for four years already,” Weaver said, adding that “the learning curve is steep.”

Sanjay Jeram, chair of undergraduate studies in political science at Simon Fraser University, said he doesn’t think it’ll be an “easygoing relationship between (the NDP and Greens) this time around.”

“I don’t know if Eby and Furstenau have the same relationship — or the potential to have the same relationship — as Horgan and Weaver did,” he said. “I think their demands will be a little more strict and it’ll be a little more of a cold alliance than it was in 2017 if they do form an alliance.”

Horgan and Weaver shook hands on a confidence-and-supply agreement before attending a rugby match, where they were spotted sitting together before the deal became public knowledge.

Eby said in his election-night speech that he had already reached out to Furstenau and suggested common “progressive values” between their parties.

Furstenau said in her concession speech that her party was poised to play a “pivotal role” in the legislature.

Botterell said in an election-night interview that he was “totally supportive of Sonia” and he would “do everything I can to support her and the path forward that she chooses to take because that’s her decision.”

The Green Party of Canada issued a news release Monday, congratulating the candidates on their victories, noting Valeriote’s win is the first time that a Green MLA has been elected outside of Vancouver Island.

“Now, like all British Columbians we await the final seat count to know which party will have the best chance to form government. Let’s hope that the Green caucus has a pivotal role,” the release said, echoing Furstenau’s turn of phrase.

The final results of the election won’t be known until at least next week.

Elections BC says manual recounts will be held on Oct. 26 to 28 in two ridings where NDP candidates led B.C. Conservatives by fewer than 100 votes after the initial count ended on Sunday.

The outcomes in Surrey City Centre and Juan de Fuca-Malahat could determine who forms government.

The election’s initial results have the NDP elected or leading in 46 ridings, and the B.C. Conservatives in 45, both short of the 47 majority mark in B.C.’s 93-seat legislature.

If the Conservatives win both of the recount ridings and win all other ridings where they lead, Rustad will win with a one-seat majority.

If the NDP holds onto at least one of the ridings where there are recounts, wins the other races it leads, and strikes a deal with the Greens, they would have enough numbers to form a minority government.

But another election could also be on the cards, since the winner will have to nominate a Speaker, reducing the government’s numbers in the legislature by one vote.

Elections BC says it will also be counting about 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots from Oct. 26 to 28.

The NDP went into the election with 55 ridings, representing a comfortable majority in what was then an 87-seat legislature.

Jeram, with Simon Fraser University, said though the counts aren’t finalized, the Conservatives were the big winners in the election.

“They weren’t really a not much of a formal party until not that long ago, and to go from two per cent of the vote to winning 45 or more seats in the B.C. provincial election is just incredible,” he said in an interview Monday.

Jeram said people had expected Eby to call an election after he took over from John Horgan in 2022, and if he had, he doesn’t think there would have been the same result.

He said the B.C. Conservative’s popularity grew as a result of the decision of the BC Liberals to rebrand as BC United and later drop out.

“Had Eby called an election before that really shook out, and maybe especially before (Pierre) Poilievre, kind of really had the wind in his sails and started to grow, I think he could have won the majority for sure.”

He said he wasn’t surprised by the results of the election, saying polls were fairly accurate.

“Ultimately, it really was a result that we saw coming for a while, since the moment that BC United withdrew and put their support behind the conservatives, I think this was the outcome that was expected.”

— With files from Darryl Greer

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

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