In the News

The Finance Department has approved a $10-billion loan guarantee for Trans Mountain to help the pipeline company finish its expansion work. Responding to suggestions that this was tantamount to a fossil fuel subsidy, the department pointed out that “it does not reflect any new public spending” and that guarantees are “a common practice which puts in place an insurance policy for the institutions that have invested in the project.”

Having reported what it claims to be its first confirmed coronavirus case since the pandemic began more than two years ago, North Korea is in national lockdown. State media say the Omicron outbreak occurred in the capital, Pyongyang, but did not disclose the number of cases. North Korea has rejected vaccination even when offered supplies by other countries.

The federal government has committed $3.5 million on two projects designed to improve abortion access in Canada. This comes as the U.S. seems headed for a judicial reversal of a decades-old Supreme Court legalizing the process and a potential increase in the number of American women seeking services in Canada.

Poor management of personal protective equipment procurement in the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic wasted nearly $1 billion, Quebec’s auditor general said May 11. Guylaine Leclerc also reported that despite a rapidly-aging demographic, the province’s health ministry’s projected health care needs are 15 years out of date.

The president and prime minister of historically non-aligned Finland today announced their support for the nation to apply for NATO membership, setting the stage for a parliamentary vote within a few days. There has been a dramatic shift in public support for the decision due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and similarly neutral Sweden is expected to follow suit.

The namesake son of Ferdinand Marcos, the former Philippines dictator, evidently has scored a landslide win in the presidential election. Unofficial results today show that he captured 97 per cent of the vote. His running mate, Sara Duterte, daughter of the outgoing, had a formidable lead in the separate vice-presidential race.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Russia’s ambassador to Canada, Oleg Stepanov, has been spreading misinformation and propaganda to Canadians but she has no plans to expel him for fear of reciprocal action by Russia. She also says “the Canadian public is able to see through the lies of Vladimir Putin.”

A parliamentary committee’s attempts to learn more about the RCMP’s use of facial recognition were so unproductive May 9 that Conservative MP James Bezan called officials’ testimony “evasive.” The committee’s hearings are in response to a warning last year that the Clearview AI software violated Canadian privacy laws but Bezan said the officials’ “one-word answers and being dodgy is not fulfilling our work.”

As a statutory review of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unprecedented invocation of the Emergencies Act begins, a key architect of the legislation has suggested that a lack of commitment to release details of the discussions which prompted the PM to act against the “freedom convoy” earlier this year could be problematic. Former Conservative defence minister Perrin Beatty says the “the greatest level of transparency” is a must if there is to be public confidence in such actions by government.

U.S. First Lady Jill Biden met her Ukrainian counterpart, Olena Zelenska, met in Ukraine on Mother’s Day, Zelenska's first public appearance since Russian began invading her country Feb. 24. Biden’s visit coincided with a U.S. announcement of more sanctions against not only Russia but also neighbouring Belarus, where its autocratic leader has been openly supportive of Vladimir Putin.

A 19-year-old resident Windsor resident has been charged by the RCMP with participation in a terrorism organization arising from alleged participation in a neo-Nazi group. Believed to be the first such charge laid under the auspices of the Anti-Terrorism Act passed by Parliament in the wake of the September 2001 attacks on the U.S., it carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

A court in Belarus has sentenced a Russian student for six years in jail after finding her guilty of inciting social enmity and discord. Sofia Sapega and her dissident journalist partner were aboard a Ryanair flight to Lithuania which was forced to divert to Minsk where they were immediately arrrested or the orders of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping says anyone who questions his country’s “dynamic zero-tolerance” approach to the coronavirus pandemic can expect the Communist Party to “resolutely fight against any words and acts that distort, doubt or deny our country's epidemic prevention policies.” The politburo said May 5 that its policies “can stand the test of history” because “our measures are scientific and effective.”

The two perceived front-runners for the leadership of the federal Conservative Party, Ottawa MP Pierre Poilievre and former Quebec premier and federal cabinet minister Jean Charest, clashed vigorously May 5 during the first debate of the race to replace Erin O’Toole. The winner will be announced Sept. 10.

The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s assessment report, published last August, weighted its prediction modelling according to how it reproduced other evidence. Now there’s a call for the rest of the scientific community to do likewise so that there is useful consistency on how the phenomenon should be addressed.

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule on a case which could return abortion jurisdiction to state governments, Minister of Families, Children & Social Development Karina Gould said May 3 that she could see no reason why U.S. women could not seek abortions in Canada. “If they . . . come here and need access, certainly . . . that’s a service that could be provided,” she said.

The federal privacy commissioner plans to investigate a “shocking” potential privacy breach that exposed personal information of dozens of whistleblowers at the Canada Revenue Agency whistleblowers available to all for months via public court documents. The investigation is in response to a n Opposition MP request after reports that the whistleblowers’ identities had become public as part of unrelated Federal Court proceedings.

The European Union is in step with many other countries in sanctioning Russia over its invasion of Ukraine but is split internally when it comes to dependence on Russian energy supplies. EU ministers met May 2 in Brussels to discuss the situation but remain divided as they pursue alternatives.

Police in Victoria police say that “freedom” protests in their city over nine weeks months racked up nearly $360,000 in overtime for uniformed and civilian staff. However, since the events focused on B.C. legislature, the costs are being covered by the provincial government.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP have been told they could be doing a better job of investigating extremism in the prison system. “One of the concerns we have is the lack of coverage over persons convicted of terrorism offences once they are in jail,” two national security experts say in an internal report. “Where a person has been convicted of a terrorism offence, it is likely that they will continue to adhere to an extremist ideology and influence others who will pose threats to national security upon release.”

A potential default on its foreign debt May 4 has been avoided by Russia paying US$650 million in interest. “There cannot be any talk of default,” Elvira Nabiullina, head of Russia’s central bank said April 29, acknowledging that there had been “difficulties with payments.” Her country holds some $40 billion in bonds on which interest must be paid in the currency specified.

This being Mental Health Week across the country, the CEO of the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association says it’s past time to address how law enforcement responds to calls from people in crisis. A 2019 review found that 70 per cent of deaths within 24 hours of police contact involved a “mental health issue.”

Health Canada announced April 28 that it had approved Canadian Blood Services’ submission to eliminate the three-month donor deferral period for gay and bisexual men as well as some members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. Starting “no later than Sept. 30”, donors will be screened on the basis of higher risk sexual behaviours, regardless of gender or sexuality; CBS needs the time to train some 1,600 employees “so that they can have appropriate conversations with all of our donors.”

Randy Hillier, an Independent member of the Ontario legislature who was ousted from the Conservative caucus over his often extremist views, was told April 27 that bail restrictions imposed after the “freedom convoy” protest in Ottawa earlier this year will remain in effect. He had sought to remove a condition barring him from the downtown core which is expected to be the scene of a large motorcycle rally this weekend, but the judge declined, saying Hillier has “an interesting record of not following the law.”

A parliamentary committee was told April 28 that more than 25 per cent of Canadians, some “with a sympathy toward violence”, evidently believe conspiracy theories. Université de Sherbrooke professor David Morin was explaining a report, based on the results of a national poll last summer, that he is preparing for the Quebec government. He also told the committee that there has been a 250 per cent increase in violent demonstrations in western countries over the past five years and that Canada saw a 25 per cent increase in hate crimes in 2020.

Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, told its milliions of users April 28 that it would begin publish their Internal Protocol Address on their account in an attempt to fight “bad behavior” online. The Communist Party said the country’s already prolific censors are not doing enough. Chinese users’ province or municipality are to be unveiled while users overseas will see their IP addresses displayed.

Chinese authorities are enforcing full or partial lockdowns in more than two dozen cities in a concerted push to address coronavirus outbreaks. An estimated 180 million people are affected by the measures with the largest concentrations in Beijing and Shanghai.

Canadians should be telling Ottawa and the provinces that it’s time to reduce taxes as revenues are “pouring” in government coffers. So says economist Jack Mintz, the President's Fellow of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. “With so much meddling in the economy, inefficient governments can’t even deliver good service with the money they have on hand,” he says. “Governments profit from more personal, corporate and sales/excise taxes as salaries rise and goods and services become more expensive. The only good news in all this is that federal and provincial budgets are close to being balanced, a goal that could actually be achieved with just a smidgeon of fiscal discipline.”

A report on the relationship between the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP suggests that their information-sharing needs an overhaul, starting with why police are asked to make arrests on grounds of national security. In one profiled case, RCMP officers quit when asked to carry out an arrest without being told the reasons.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been formally labelled an act of genocide by the House of Commons, which unanimously approved a motion to that effect April 27 by Alberta MP Heather McPherson. “Sanctions have been implemented too slowly,” she said, urging the government to direct more funds to the International Criminal Court to ensure it has the resources to investigate atrocities in Ukraine.

B’nai Brith says antisemitism in Canada was at record levels last year, notably in British Columbia and Quebec. Its latest annual audit found 2,799 anti-Jewish hate crimes, a seven percent increase from 2020. They included not only vandalism of synagogues and swastikas in schools but also a seven-fold jump in violence such as physical attacks.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly served notice April 26 that the government would amend change its sanctions law to permit the sale of seized and sanctioned foreign assets, using the revenues to compensate victims or to help rebuild a foreign state. “These changes would make Canada's sanctions regime the first in the G7 to allow these actions,” she said, zeroing in on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We will continue to apply maximum pressure on the Putin regime and impose severe costs for this war of choice.”

A court in military-ruled Myanmar today found former leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of corruption, the latest verdict in a series of secret trials condemned by human right groups as shams. The previously-imprisoned 76-year-old Nobel laureate has been under house arrest since her elected government was overthrown in a February 2021 coup.

With a convoy of 500-1,000 motorcyclists expected to arrive in Ottawa this weekend for rallies near Parliament Hill and the Canadian War Museum, police say they are prepared to enforce the full letter of the law to ensure the situation remains peaceful. The “rolling thunder” organization includes a military veterans’ club which says its aim is to “restore fundamental freedoms for all” while upholding the law.