In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of June 3 …
—
American anti-racism protests …
Undeterred by curfews, protesters streamed back into the nation’s streets Tuesday, hours after President Donald Trump pressed governors to put down the violence set off by George Floyd’s death and demanded that New York call up the National Guard to stop the “lowlifes and losers.”
But most protests passed peacefully, and while there were scattered reports of looting in New York City, the country appeared calmer by late Tuesday than it did a day earlier, when violence swept through multiple cities.
The president, meanwhile, amplified his hard-line calls from Monday, when he threatened to send in the military to restore order if governors didn’t do it.
“NYC, CALL UP THE NATIONAL GUARD,” he tweeted. “The lowlifes and losers are ripping you apart. Act fast!”
One day after a crackdown on peaceful protesters near the White House, thousands of demonstrators massed a block away from the presidential mansion, facing law enforcement personnel standing behind a black chain-link fence. The fence was put up overnight to block access to Lafayette Park, just across the street from the White House.
“Last night pushed me way over the edge,” said Jessica DeMaio, 40, of Washington, who attended a Floyd protest Tuesday for the first time. “Being here is better than being at home feeling helpless.”
The crowd remained in place after the city’s 7 p.m. curfew passed, defying warnings that the response from law enforcement could be even more forceful. But the protest lacked the tension of the previous nights’ demonstrations. The crowd Tuesday was peaceful, even polite. At one point, the crowd booed when a protester climbed a light post and took down a street sign. A chant went up: “Peaceful protest!”
—
COVID-19 in Canada …
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will continue today to make the case for a co-ordinated global response to cushion the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world’s poorest countries.
He’ll be among the leaders and heads of state to deliver remarks during a virtual summit of the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS).
Among other things, he is expected to promise that Canada will partner with developing countries, which stand to be the hardest hit by the pandemic, and help to rally the world behind measures like debt relief to help them survive the crisis.
That is similar to the message Trudeau delivered last week while co-hosting a major United Nations summit, alongside UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
Without a global co-ordinated recovery plan, the UN estimates the pandemic could slash nearly US$8.5 trillion from the world economy over the next two years, forcing 34.3 million people into extreme poverty this year and potentially 130 million more over the course of the decade.
While no country has escaped the economic ravages of the deadly novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, developing countries, already in debt distress before the pandemic, cannot afford the kinds of emergency benefits and economic stimulus measures undertaken in wealthy, industrialized countries like Canada.
—
And this …
Nova Scotia’s largest nursing home is planning for a future of private rooms to keep residents safe, but it has taken a wrenching pandemic death toll to create the shift — and it remains unclear whether government will fund a long-term fix.
“We’re currently down to fewer than 25 rooms with shared accommodations at the Halifax campus,” Janet Simm, the Northwood facility’s chief executive, said in a recent interview.
That’s a huge shift from before the pandemic when more than 240 residents lived in two- or three-person units. Now, fewer than 50 people remain in the shared spaces, some of whom are couples or others who specifically request a roommate, Simm said.
But the facility’s desire to create more space, which its board sought for years before the pandemic, unfolded through tragedy rather than design.
COVID-19 illnesses spread among the 485 residents after asymptomatic workers brought the virus there in early April, and Simm says the bulk of the 53 who had died, as of Tuesday, and the 240 infected were in shared units.
—
COVID-19 in sports …
Khari Jones doesn’t have to look far for a reminder that racism exists in Canada.
The Montreal Alouettes head coach divulged during a teleconference Tuesday he received death threats while he was the quarterback of the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers because of his interracial marriage. Jones is black and his wife, Justine, is white.
An emotional Jones — speaking just over a week after a white policeman kneeled on the neck of a black man, resulting in a tragic death in Minneapolis — said the threats came in the form of letters that remain in his possession.
“It’s just a reminder you always have to be on alert a little bit,” Jones said. “It could’ve been one person but one is still too many and to do that on the basis of a person’s skin colour is horrible.
“Every once in a while, every blue moon I take a look at them. They never found the person who wrote the letters — he used a fake name — but he’s still out there, people like him are still out there. That was 20-something years ago and it’s still happening.”
—
Interest rate announcement looms …
The Bank of Canada is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged this morning on the first day of governor Tiff Macklem’s tenure.
Economists expect the central bank will maintain its target for the overnight rate at 0.25 per cent, which former governor Stephen Poloz has repeatedly said is as low as it can go.
Poloz and the bank’s governing council would have met over the past few days and finalized the rate decision last night.
Macklem likely would have been part of the meetings, but it’s unlikely that the language of the rate announcement will fully capture his views.
Instead of focusing on the rate itself, experts say they will be paying close attention to the language used in the rate announcement about the expected path for the economy in the coming weeks and months.
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2020
VANCOUVER – The union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver says a tentative agreement has been reached with the company that runs the door-to-door transit service, after an 18-day strike and months of bargaining.
The Amalgamated Transit Union says Local 1724 will hold a ratification vote in the coming days.
About 600 HandyDART employees had been on strike since early September, pausing all service except essential medical trips.
The union says the new contract includes significant wage increases.
It says key issues included staffing shortages and high worker turnover due to poor compensation compared with other transit jobs in the region.
Transdev is the contracted operator of HandyDART, which serves people who are unable to navigate the conventional transit system.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.
KING CITY, Ont. – Harsh Thaker scored 93 runs and captain Nicholas Kirton added 57 to help Canada defeat Oman by 59 runs Friday in ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 play.
It marked a second straight half-century for Kirton, who scored 73 runs not out in Monday’s decisive 103-run win over Nepal in the opening match of the triangular series.
The Canadians finished at 276 for eight in their 50 overs Friday. In response, Oman was 217 all out with four overs remaining in a determined effort after battling back from 105 for seven.
The 19th-ranked Canadians face No. 16 Nepal on Sunday and No. 18 Oman next Thursday. Oman and Nepal meet Tuesday, All the games are at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground.
Oman edged Nepal by one wicket Wednesday, scoring the winning runs on the penultimate ball.
The eight World League 2 teams each play 36 one-day internationals spread across nine triangular series through December 2026. The top four sides will go through to a World Cup qualifier that will decide the last four berths in the expanded 14-team Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
The bottom four teams still have a chance to get to the World Cup qualifier, via another tournament from which the top two teams move on.
Friday’s win moved Canada (6-4) into a tie on points with the 14th-ranked Dutch (6-2) atop the World League 2 table. Oman (2-3 with one no-result) is fifth.
Oman won the toss and elected to field. And the decision paid immediate dividends when Aaron Johnson was caught on the first ball and fellow opener Navneet Dhaliwal was removed lbw on two with Canada at 14 for two in the eight over.
Canada rallied after that with No. 3 batsman Pargat Singh scoring 42 runs, with Thaker and Kirton next up.
Thaker, who was dropped on 30, notched his half-century with a six that just missed a sponsor’s car on display just outside the boundary. Thaker hit four fours and four sixes in his 103-ball knock while Kirton slammed four sixes and two fours off 50 balls.
Saad Bin Zafar and Dilon Heyliger provided a sting in the Canadian batting tail with 22 and 37 runs respectively.
The Oman bats faltered early, losing openers Kashyap Prajapati and Jatinder Singh for zero and five runs, respectively. Oman found itself at 17 for four before Zeeshan Maqsood (27) andAyaan Khan (30) steadied the ship.
With Oman down to its last two wickets, Canada turned to Johnson as its seventh bowler of the afternoon. Known as an opening batsman, Johnson conceded seven runs in his first-ever international over as a bowler and just one in the second.
Fayyaz Butt (44) and Shakeel Ahmed (21 not out) frustrated Canada with a stubborn ninth-wicket partnership.
With five overs and two wickets left, Oman needed 62 runs to win. Dilon Heyliger dismissed Butt with Oman at 217 for nine. Kaleemullah, who goes by one name, was caught by Kirton at the boundary two balls late.
Heyliger followed his career-best five-wicket haul with another four wickets Friday, at the expense of 42 runs in eight overs.
Former Canada coach Pubudu Dassanayake is serving an assistant to Oman coach Duleep Mendis at the tournament.
Canada won all four matches in its opening tri-series in February-March, sweeping No. 11 Scotland and the 20th-ranked host Emirates. But the Canadians lost four in a row to the 18th-ranked U.S. and host Netherlands in August.
Canada which debuted in the T20 World Cup this summer in the U.S. and West Indies, is looking to get back to the showcase 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time since 2011 after failing to qualify for the last three editions. The Canadian men also played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 tournaments, exiting after the group stage in all four tournament appearances.
The Canadian men regained their one-day international status for the first time in almost a decade by finishing in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff in April 2023 in Bermuda.
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024
The funding comes a month after Palestinian officials announced the first cases of polio in 25 years in the Gaza Strip.
The funding will support the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which provides vaccines to children worldwide, including more than a half-million kids in Gaza.
Hussen’s office says the cash should help “the most vulnerable populations” such as girls in conflict situations where there is limited health-care access.
The World Health Organization says the world is on the verge of eradicating polio, with a 99 per cent drop in cases since 1988.
Over the last 24 years, various Canadian governments have spent $1 billion on the effort.
“Together, we will end polio and build a healthier future for children everywhere,” Hussen wrote in a statement.
There is no cure for polio, which can cause paralysis that tends to be permanent, including to the muscles used to breathe.
Still, vaccination campaigns have come under strain as humanitarian crises and the COVID-19 pandemic divert resources and make it harder to inoculate children.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.
