adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

News

‘We’ve had enough’: Protests over carbon price hike halt traffic across Canada

Published

 on

Anger over the increase to the federal carbon price led to protests across the country Monday, including several that stalled traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway and at provincial border crossings.

Ottawa’s planned $15-per-tonne increase in the federal consumer carbon price came into effect Monday, bringing the levy to $80 per tonne.

That translates to the carbon price on fuel rising from about $0.14 to almost $0.18, bringing a litre of gasoline up 3.3 cents per litre on average.

Speaking outside a gas station in Nanaimo, B.C., Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called Monday’s increase a “cruel April Fool’s Day joke on Canadians” amid the high cost of living.

“We need to unify our country around an optimistic vision to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime,” he said when asked about the protests.


Protesters against the carbon price gather along Highway 1 near Hope, B.C. on April 1, 2024.


Global News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the increase also means larger quarterly rebate cheques for Canadians, which he said Monday are set to go out on April 15.

But protesters in several provinces who descended on government buildings and blocked roads Monday — many holding signs that echoed Poilievre’s “axe the tax” and “spike the hike” slogans — said the increase is contributing to their affordability woes.

“We’ve had enough,” Jeff Galbraith, a People’s Party of Canada candidate, told Global News at a rally in Hope, B.C. that grew throughout the day, with protesters later disrupting traffic on three nearby highways including the Trans-Canada.

“I think we got a lot of frustrated, disillusioned, disheartened, disenfranchised Canadians. A majority of Canadians … they feel they have no voice anymore.”

In Cochrane, Alta., hundreds of protesters blocked the Trans-Canada Highway down to a single lane. RCMP officers were on hand to monitor the event.

“Gas is coming up. Everything’s coming up. We can’t afford it,” said Nicki Langlouys, a participant in Monday’s protest. “I know people who are losing their homes.”


Anti-carbon levy protesters wave signs and chant slogans as they block a westbound lane of the Trans-Canada highway near Cochrane, Alta., Monday, April 1, 2024.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh.


JMC

The event, organized by a group called Nationwide Protest Against Carbon Tax, was one of about 15 that took place across the country, including on Parliament Hill.


Breaking news from Canada and around the world
sent to your email, as it happens.

Protesters also temporarily blocked part of the Trans-Canada Highway linking Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and Alberta and British Columbia.

Samuel Field, a mechanic from Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley who owns a repair shop and a convenience store attended the protest in Aulac, N.B. He said his customers are already feeling the pinch from the rising cost of living.

“It’s important for me to stand up for them, because I’m there to provide for them,” he said. “I want us all to succeed. It’s not good what’s going on. Our industries are being destroyed, our communities are being destroyed, it’s hurting our families.”

Field, who served as a spokesperson for the protest group, said Monday morning that demonstrators intended to stay there until federal carbon pricing is done away with.

However, the RCMP in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick announced Monday afternoon that traffic was flowing again.

Field said the protest was not intended to block the border, and described it as a “traffic slow” to raise awareness for the issue.


Click to play video: 'Highway between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia shutdown due to carbon pricing protest'
1:25
Highway between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia shutdown due to carbon pricing protest

 


By around noon Monday, dozens of people were gathered on Parliament Hill, some waving “axe the tax” signs, while others draped themselves in Canadian flags or expletive-laced messages about the prime minister.

Some premiers have called on the federal government to cancel the hike because of the affordability crisis, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

Alberta was hit with another hike Monday as the provincial government fully reinstated its fuel tax, meaning an increase of four cents per litre. The 13-cents-per-litre tax was suspended for all of 2023 and partially reinstated in January 2024.


Click to play video: 'Alberta hit two-fold with federal carbon tax increase, reinstated provincial fuel tax'
1:46
Alberta hit two-fold with federal carbon tax increase, reinstated provincial fuel tax

 


Smith joined other provincial leaders, including Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, in testifying before a parliamentary committee last week about their opposition to the increase. Other premiers have written to Trudeau directly urging him to reverse course.

Over the weekend, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey called on Trudeau to hold an “emergency meeting of leaders from across the country” to talk about potential alternatives to the federal carbon price.

Trudeau told reporters Monday that provinces have always had the ability to come up with their own alternative plans that include the minimum carbon price, and that many premiers were choosing instead to simply “complain about it and make political hay out of this.”

Poilievre has made the carbon price and Monday’s scheduled increase a key issue, hosting “axe the tax” rallies across the country. He was set to hold another one in Nanaimo later Monday evening.


Click to play video: 'Protests across the country after carbon tax rises'
5:31
Protests across the country after carbon tax rises

 

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

News

Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

 on

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

AP MLB:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

 on

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

___

AP tennis:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

News

Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

 on

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending