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Vladimir Putin brings up Canada's applause for ex-Nazi in Tucker Carlson interview – National Post

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‘The President of Ukraine stood up with the entire Parliament of Canada and applauded this man. How can this be imagined?’ Putin said

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for joining in a standing ovation for a Nazi soldier in the Canadian Parliament.

“People who exterminated Jews, Russians and Poles are alive. And the president, the current president of today’s Ukraine applauds him in the Canadian Parliament, gives a standing ovation,” Putin said, according to a transcript posted online by the Kremlin. “Can we say that we have completely uprooted this ideology if what we see is happening today?”

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Carlson is the first western journalist to interview Putin, who spoke through a translator in the two-hour interview. While multiple other news outlets have requested interviews with Putin, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, said the interview with Carlson was granted because “he has a position which differs” from that of other English media.

Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Carlson has characterized the conflict as a “border dispute” and said that U.S. foreign policy has been overtaken by hatred for Russia. He called Zelenskyy a “dictator, a dangerous authoritarian” and asked whether Putin should be hated as much as he is.

“It might be worth asking yourself, since it is getting pretty serious, ‘What is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much?’” Carlson told his viewers in February 2022. “‘Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him?’”

Long before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin argued that the purpose of Russia’s belligerence towards its neighbour was to “denazify” Ukraine, just one component of a larger disinformation campaign against Ukraine. The claim that Ukraine is overrun by neo-Nazis has been derided by scholars and condemned by institutions that commemorate the Holocaust.

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When Zelenskyy visited Canada in September 2023, among the guests on Parliament HIll was Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian.

Anthony Rota, who was the Speaker at the time, introduced Hunka as a resident of his riding and a Second World War veteran who “fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians.” Members of Parliament, senators and Zelenskyy all gave Hunka a standing ovation.

It was later revealed that Hunka was a former soldier in the SS Galacia Division, an infantry division of the Waffen SS, the military arm of the Nazi Party. The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS was responsible for a number of massacres and war crimes, although the 1985 Deschênes Commission in Canada, set up to investigate potential Nazi war criminals residing in Canada, concluded that “charges of war crimes against members of the Galicia Division have never been substantiated.” Hunka fought in a unit largely comprised of Ukrainian volunteers.

Rota resigned as Speaker in September, after taking responsibility for Hunka’s invitation to Zelenskyy’s remarks in Parliament.

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The incident was a major propaganda boon for Russia. “This only confirms our thesis that one of our goals in Ukraine is denazification,” said Putin after the incident.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized for Hunka’s appearance on Parliament Hill, however the government said Rota was solely to blame.

“This was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada. All of us who were in this House on Friday regret deeply having stood and clapped even though we did so unaware of the context,” Trudeau told reporters. “It was a horrendous violation of the memory of the millions of people who died in the Holocaust.”

Media reports this week revealed that the Prime Minister’s Office had also invited Hunka to a reception with Zelenskyy in Toronto, which he was unable to attend.

In his interview with Carlson, Putin again seized on the story, although he falsely claimed that it was “silenced in the western countries,” when in fact it made international headlines and featured prominently on Canadian newspaper front pages.

“The Canadian Parliament introduced a man who, as the Speaker of the Parliament said, fought against the Russians during the World War II. Well, who fought against the Russians during World War II? Hitler and his accomplices…. The President of Ukraine stood up with the entire Parliament of Canada and applauded this man. How can this be imagined?” Putin said. “The president of Ukraine himself, by the way, is a Jew by nationality.”

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Trudeau was asked about Putin’s comments on Friday.

“He will, of course, use whatever propaganda he can engage in. But I can tell you Canadians will not be fooled,” Trudeau said.  “So we will continue to be there with Ukraine for as much as it takes for as long as it takes. Unfortunately, we see the lengths to which Russian propaganda will go to try and impact public opinion to try and twist things the way (they) want to.”

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Two youths arrested after emergency alert issued in New Brunswick

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MONCTON, N.B. – New Brunswick RCMP say two youths have been arrested after an emergency alert was issued Monday evening about someone carrying a gun in the province’s southeast.

Caledonia Region Mounties say they were first called out to Main Street in the community of Salisbury around 7 p.m. on reports of a shooting.

A 48-year-old man was found at the scene suffering from gunshot wounds and he was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police say in the interest of public safety, they issued an Alert Ready message at 8:15 p.m. for someone driving a silver Ford F-150 pickup truck and reportedly carrying a firearm with dangerous intent in the Salisbury and Moncton area.

Two youths were arrested without incident later in the evening in Salisbury, and the alert was cancelled just after midnight Tuesday.

Police are still looking for the silver pickup truck, covered in mud, with possible Nova Scotia licence plate HDC 958. They now confirm the truck was stolen from Central Blissville.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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World Junior Girls Golf Championship coming to Toronto-area golf course

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MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Golf Canada has set an impressive stretch goal of having 30 professional golfers at the highest levels of the sport by 2032.

The World Junior Girls Golf Championship is a huge part of that target.

Credit Valley Golf and Country Club will host the international tournament from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5, with 24 teams representing 23 nations — Canada gets two squads — competing. Lindsay McGrath, a 17-year-old golfer from Oakville, Ont., said she’s excited to be representing Canada and continue to develop her game.

“I’m really grateful to be here,” said McGrath on Monday after a news conference in Credit Valley’s clubhouse in Mississauga, Ont. “It’s just such an awesome feeling being here and representing our country, wearing all the logos and being on Team Canada.

“I’ve always wanted to play in this tournament, so it’s really special to me.”

McGrath will be joined by Nobelle Park of Oakville, Ont., and Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta., on Team Canada 2. All three earned their places through a qualifying tournament last month.

“I love my teammates so much,” said McGrath. “I know Nobelle and Eileen very well. I’m just so excited to be with them. We have such a great relationship.”

Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont., Calgary’s Aphrodite Deng and Clairey Lin make up Team Canada 2. Liu earned her exemption following her win at the 2024 Canadian Junior Girls Championship while Deng earned her exemption as being the low eligible Canadian on the world amateur golf ranking as of Aug. 7.

Deng was No. 175 at the time, she has since improved to No. 171 and is Canada’s lowest-ranked player.

“I think it’s a really great opportunity,” said Liu. “We don’t really get that many opportunities to play with people from across the world, so it’s really great to meet new people and play with them.

“It’s great to see maybe how they play and take parts from their game that we might also implement our own games.”

Golf Canada founded the World Junior Girls Golf Championship in 2014 to fill a void in women’s international competition and help grow its own homegrown talent. The hosts won for the first time last year when Vancouver’s Anna Huang, Toronto’s Vanessa Borovilos and Vancouver’s Vanessa Zhang won team gold and Huang earned individual silver.

Medallists who have gone on to win on the LPGA Tour include Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who was fourth in the individual competition at the inaugural tournament. She was on Canada’s bronze-medal team in 2014 with Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont., and Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee.

Other notable competitors who went on to become LPGA Tour winners include Angel Yin and Megan Khang of the United States, as well as Yuka Saso of the Philippines, Sweden’s Linn Grant and Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand.

“It’s not if, it’s when they’re going to be on the LPGA Tour,” said Garrett Ball, Golf Canada’s chief operating officer, of how Canada’s golfers in the World Junior Girls Championship can be part of the organization’s goal to have 30 pros in the LPGA and PGA Tours by 2032.

“Events like this, like the She Plays Golf festival that we launched two years ago, and then the CPKC Women’s Open exemptions that we utilize to bring in our national team athletes and get the experience has been important in that pathway.”

The individual winner of the World Junior Girls Golf Championship will earn a berth in next year’s CPKC Women’s Open at nearby Mississaugua Golf and Country Club.

Both clubs, as well as former RBC Canadian Open host site Glen Abbey Golf Club, were devastated by heavy rains through June and July as the Greater Toronto Area had its wettest summer in recorded history.

Jason Hanna, the chief operating officer of Credit Valley Golf and Country Club, said that he has seen the Credit River flood so badly that it affected the course’s playability a handful of times over his nearly two decades with the club.

Staff and members alike came together to clean up the course after the flooding was over, with hundreds of people coming together to make the club playable again.

“You had to show up, bring your own rake, bring your own shovel, bring your own gloves, and then we’d take them down to the golf course, assign them to areas where they would work, and then we would do a big barbecue down at the halfway house,” said Hanna. “We got guys, like, 80 years old, putting in eight-hour days down there, working away.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Purple place: Mets unveil the new Grimace seat at Citi Field

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NEW YORK (AP) — Fenway Park has the Ted Williams seat. And now Citi Field has the Grimace seat.

The kid-friendly McDonald’s character made another appearance at the ballpark Monday, when the New York Mets unveiled a commemorative purple seat in section 302 to honor “his special connection to Mets fans.”

Wearing his pear-shaped purple costume and a baseball glove on backwards, Grimace threw out a funny-looking first pitch — as best he could with those furry fingers and short arms — before New York beat the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on June 12.

That victory began a seven-game winning streak, and Grimace the Mets’ good-luck charm soon went viral, taking on a life of its own online.

New York is 53-31 since June 12, the best record in the majors during that span. The Mets were tied with rival Atlanta for the last National League playoff spot as they opened their final homestand of the season Monday night against Washington.

The new Grimace seat in the second deck in right field — located in row 6, seat 12 to signify 6/12 on the calendar — was brought into the Shannon Forde press conference room Monday afternoon. The character posed next to the chair and with fans who strolled into the room.

The seat is available for purchase for each of the Mets’ remaining home games.

“It’s been great to see how our fanbase created the Grimace phenomenon following his first pitch in June and in the months since,” Mets senior vice president of partnerships Brenden Mallette said in a news release. “As we explored how to further capture the magic of this moment and celebrate our new celebrity fan, installing a commemorative seat ahead of fan appreciation weekend felt like the perfect way to give something back to the fans in a fun and unique way.”

Up in Boston, the famous Ted Williams seat is painted bright red among rows of green chairs deep in the right-field stands at Fenway Park to mark where a reported 502-foot homer hit by the Hall of Fame slugger landed in June 1946.

So, does this catapult Grimace into Splendid Splinter territory?

“I don’t know if we put him on the same level,” Mets executive vice president and chief marketing officer Andy Goldberg said with a grin.

“It’s just been a fun year, and at the same time, we’ve been playing great ball. Ever since the end of May, we have been crushing it,” he explained. “So I think that added to the mystique.”

___

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