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U.S.-Canada bridge reopens after police clear protesters

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North America’s busiest trade link reopened for traffic late Sunday evening, ending a six-day blockade, Canada Border Services Agency said, after Canadian police cleared the protesters fighting to end COVID-19 restrictions.

Canadian police made several arrests on Sunday and cleared protesters and vehicles that occupied the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, after a court order on Friday.

The blockade https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/truckers-ambassador-bridge-perfect-spot-threaten-us-canada-trade-2022-02-11 had choked the supply chain for Detroit’s carmakers, forcing Ford Motor Co, the second-largest U.S. automaker, General Motors Co and Toyota Motor Corp to cut production.

The bridge carries about $360 million a day in two-way cargoes – 25% of the value of all U.S.-Canada goods trade.

A Windsor Police official told reporters that 20 to 30 arrests had been made. Police also seized vehicles within the demonstration area, according to an earlier statement.

Police stepped up their presence on Sunday with more than 50 vehicles, including cruisers, buses and an armoured car, as the number of protesters dropped to around 45 from roughly 100 on Saturday. Windsor Police tweeted “there will be zero tolerance for illegal activity”.

In Ottawa, counter protests started blocking vehicles trying to join the protests on Sunday, with residents losing patience over the three-week-old demonstrations.

In the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the Pacific highway border crossing in Surrey was temporarily closed on Sunday afternoon, for a second day, by a group of about 200 protesters, according to a Reuters photographer on the scene. A small group of protesters gathered on U.S. side of the border, blocking incoming vehicles.

The “Freedom Convoy” protests https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/how-ottawas-anti-vaccine-mandate-protests-are-spreading-globally-2022-02-09, started in the national capital Ottawa by Canadian truckers opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, entered its 17th day on Sunday. But it has now morphed into a rallying point against broader COVID-19 curbs, carbon tax and other issues, with people joining in cars, pick-up trucks and farm vehicles.

“We’re fed up, we’re tired. We want Ottawa to be boring again,” said an Ottawa resident at a counter protest in front of the city’s police headquarters.

The Canadian government had discussed whether to invoke special emergency powers https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada-emergency-f-idCAKBN21442M to deal with the protests in the capital, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair told CBC News on Sunday. Blair said the lack of police enforcement in Ottawa was “inexplicable.”

The rarely used Emergencies Act would allow the federal government to override the provinces and authorize special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies anywhere in the country. It has only been used once in peacetime – by Trudeau’s father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau – in 1970.

Strangling bilateral trade, protests have spread to three border points, including in Alberta and Manitoba. Canadian police have said the protests have been partly funded by U.S. supporters, and Ontario froze funds donated via one U.S. platform GiveSendGo on Thursday.

The estimated loss so far from the blockades to the auto industry alone could be as high as $850 million, based on IHS Markit’s data, which puts the 2021 daily flow in vehicles and parts at $141.1 million a day.

“Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador Bridge came to an end,” Windsor City Mayor Drew Dilkens said in a tweet.

In Europe, a convoy of 150 cars protesting COVID-19 restrictions left Paris on Sunday morning and headed towards Brussels, protesters told Reuters.

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna In Bengaluru, Kayla Tarnowski in Windsor, Ontario, and Chris Helgrin in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Julio Cesar Chavez and Carlos Osorio in Windsor; Jen Gauthier in SurreyWriting by Denny Thomas; Editing by Amran Abocar, Lisa Shumaker, Daniel Wallis and Gerry Doyle)

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Saskatchewan Party flirting with majority win in early election returns

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Saskatchewan’s election unfolded as predicted in early returns Monday, with Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party dominating in rural constituencies and Carla Beck’s NDP fighting for enough urban votes to eke out a path to victory.

Moe’s Saskatchewan Party was edging closer to securing the 31 seats needed for a majority in the 61-seat legislature, powered by victories in its traditional rural base.

Beck’s New Democrats were leading or elected in about two dozen seats in Regina and Saskatoon but needed to sweep the major cities.

The NDP also gained back the rural northern riding of Athabasca, which it won in 2020 only to lose to the Saskatchewan Party in a subsequent byelection.

Moe, in his second election as leader of the Saskatchewan Party, retained his seat in Rosthern-Shellbrook. No polls had reported yet in Beck’s riding of Regina Lakeview.

Several other cabinet ministers retained their seats: Agriculture Minister David Marit, Energy Minister Jim Reiter, Advanced Education Minister Colleen Young, Highways Minister Lori Carr, Health Minister Everett Hindley and Trade and Immigration Minister Jeremy Harrison.

Harrison was a controversial figure on the hustings. Earlier this year, he apologized for carrying a gun into the legislature about a decade ago while on the way to go hunting.

The Saskatchewan Party was seeking a fifth-straight majority to add to its 17 years in office, while Beck’s NDP was looking to take back government for the first time since 2007.

The voting caps a month-long campaign that focused on health care, affordability and crime.

Moe promised broad tax relief and continued withholding of federal carbon levy payments to Ottawa.

His platform would cost an additional $1.2 billion over four years. He said his tax reduction plan would save a family of four $3,400 over four years. It also includes tax credits for those looking to grow their families or put their children in sports and arts.

Moe promised deficits in the first two years, followed by a surplus in 2027.

Beck pledged to spend more to fix health care and education, pause the gas tax, and remove the provincial sales tax on children’s clothes and some grocery items.

She said her promises would cost an additional $3.5 billion over four years, with plans to cut what she calls Saskatchewan Party waste and to balance the budget by the end of her term.

Moe also promised that his first order of business if re-elected would be to ban “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls.”

He said he made the promise after learning of a complaint at a southeast Saskatchewan school about two biological boys using a girls change room.

It was later revealed that a parent of the two children who were the subjects of the complaint is an NDP candidate. Moe said he didn’t know that when he made the promise.

Beck has said such a ban would make vulnerable kids more vulnerable. She also promised to repeal a Saskatchewan Party law that requires parental consent if children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school.

Political experts said Moe was favoured to win the election, given his party’s strength in rural areas, but recent polls suggested a closer race.

At dissolution, the governing Saskatchewan Party had 42 seats, while the Opposition NDP had 14. There were four Independents and one seat was vacant.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.

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After years of legal battles, Montreal suburb finally kills deer in park

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MONTREAL – A Montreal suburb with a park overpopulated with white-tailed deer says it has carried out the first phase of its cull, with 64 animals killed.

Longueuil, Que., has fought against activists for years to carry out the cull, and says it will thin the herd further before February.

Between Tuesday and Thursday hunters using air guns shot and killed 64 deer at Michel-Chartrand Park, a green space on Montreal’s South Shore.

Longueuil officials say the operation went smoothly and that other culls will take place until February, when a provincial permit expires.

The city has said it needs to restore ecological equilibrium to the park, where up to 114 deer had been living in a green space that can accommodate about 15.

Officials had been trying to kill the animals since 2020 but faced strong opposition and legal challenges from animal rights groups.

In October 2023, the province’s Court of Appeal sided with the city.

The meat will be donated to a local food bank for distribution by the end of the year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2024.

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‘On my bucket list’: Iconic Banff sign, a must-see for visitors, moving to safer spot

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BANFF, Alta. – A popular selfie spot for visitors to Banff National Park has become a victim of its own success.

The two-metre-high, $350,000 “Banff” sign was installed in 2017 on Mount Norquay Avenue, one of two entrances into the Alberta mountain park’s idyllic townsite.

But the narrow two-lane road, which runs from the Mount Norquay Ski Resort seven kilometres away, is fraught with traffic jams, even between the peak tourist seasons of winter and summer.

Town officials have decided it needs to be moved.

“We’ve debated this for over three years now,” said Darren Enns, Banff’s director of planning and environment. “We’ve finally reached the point that we made the decision to take the next step forward.”

Banff gets about four million visitors a year, and Mount Norquay Avenue sees 55 to 60 per cent of the traffic, said Enns.

In the summer, there are about 17,000 vehicles a day on the avenue, with lots of pedestrians crossing the road from a parking lot to the sign.

“We’re very fortunate to not have any public safety incidents. But certainly that’s always top of mind, and our council has directed us to look at a more pedestrian-oriented environment for the sign,” said Enns, adding a move could happen as early as next summer.

On a recent sunny day in October, a steady stream of visitors made their way from across the road to the sign, causing traffic to stop.

A lineup of about 30 people waited for a chance to take photos, many offering to snap shots for others.

Mike Jones and his wife were among those in line.

“It’s something we always do when we go to a touristy place. We always like to have a memory of wherever we’re visiting, whether it’s Banff or somewhere else. It’s kind of what we do and I know a lot of others think the same way,” said Jones, who is from Fort McMurray.

He was surprised to hear the sign will be moving but said it’s likely the right call.

“I’m sure they’ll pick a good spot and a safe spot,” he said. “If it’s causing an issue, they do have to move it.”

Alissa Kittelson, her husband and two daughters were visiting from Minneapolis.

“Banff was on my bucket list. It’s beautiful. I’ve seen photos and I wanted to come and check it out. I hope it makes the Christmas card,” Kittelson said.

She was glad to get the family photo before the landmark is moved.

“I feel like it’s the perfect spot. We’re right on the edge of town. You can see the beautiful mountains behind it. You can see the beautiful trees. I’d be sad to see it moved.”

Enns said there are a couple of places where the sign could find a new home, including a downtown park. But the most likely location is a kilometre away at the Banff train station, where there are about 450 parking stalls.

“It’s always great to see a project that is so successful that it has unintended consequences around it,” Enns said.

“I’m very grateful for all the interactions we’ve been able to provide our visitors and all the memories that we’ve been able to create.”

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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