Most Canadians are happy with their environment, says StatsCan – Canada News

The Canadian Press – May 3, 2022 / 12:37 pm | Story: 367819

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Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen rises during Question Period, Wednesday, April 27, 2022 in Ottawa. Conservative caucus members have been instructed not to comment on a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion, suggesting the top court could overturn a 1973 decision that legalized abortion. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The Bloc Québécois was set to ask the House of Commons to vote on a motion Tuesday confirming the right to an abortion, while Conservative MPs are being warned against commenting on the U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion that has thrown the issue back into the domestic spotlight.

Canadian leaders are among the millions reacting to the news first reported Monday by Politico of a leaked draft opinion by the U.S. top court, suggesting it could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion countrywide.

“The right to choose is a woman’s right and a woman’s right alone. Every woman in Canada has a right to a safe and legal abortion,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted Tuesday.

“We’ll never back down from protecting and promoting women’s rights in Canada and around the world.”

The draft decision south of the border also prompted the Bloc Québécois to signal Tuesday it would present a unanimous consent motion after question period confirming that a woman’s body is hers alone, as is her decision to have an abortion for whatever reason.

Earlier Tuesday, Conservative MPs and senators had been warned by the office of interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen to avoid making any comments on the draft opinion.

The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the one-sentence memo.

It is not uncommon for the leader’s office to ask MPs to refrain from commenting on certain issues. In this case, according to a statement from Bergen on Tuesday, MPs were told to stay silent because it would be inappropriate to comment on a matter for the U.S. courts.

Abortion nonetheless remains a thorny political issue for the Conservatives. The party is in the middle of a leadership race in which anti-abortion groups are mobilizing to back candidates who oppose the procedure.

Many Tory MPs also oppose abortion and have over the years brought forward different private member’s bills to try to tighten access.

Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis, who is anti-abortion, is among those heavily favoured by social conservatives in the leadership contest. She is running a campaign that includes what she calls a “No Hidden Agenda” plank in her platform, which includes promises to ban sex-selective abortion and stop funding abortion services overseas.

A campaign spokesman on Tuesday said she wouldn’t comment on the draft decision because it isn’t final.

At least one Conservative leadership hopeful did wade into the debate, warning against Tories once again finding themselves on the receiving end of attacks from the Liberals on the abortion issue.

“While this is a U.S. decision, in its wake it’s important for leaders to commit to protecting women’s rights,” Patrick Brown, mayor of Brampton, Ont., said in a statement.

He went on to say the draft decision gives Trudeau’s Liberal government — which brokered a deal with the federal NDP to stay in power until 2025 — “a lifeline to extend their power far beyond 2025, by making Canadians afraid of Conservatives.”

“Abortion in Canada should be safe, legal and, in my personal opinion, rare,” Brown said.

“That’s why my government will support women and families with policies that encourage other options, such as adoption and increased parental supports … A Conservative party led by me will not change Canada’s abortion laws. Period.”

Michelle Coates Mather, a spokeswoman for Jean Charest’s campaign, said on Tuesday that the former Quebec premier supports abortion rights and would never vote on a private member’s bill promising to restrict access.

The campaigns of Pierre Poilievre, Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

The last time the House of Commons voted on an abortion-related matter was in June 2021 when it defeated a private member’s bill, brought forward by backbench Conservative Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall, to ban so-called sex-selective abortions that she said targeted girls.

A majority of Conservative MPs voted in favour of the defeated bill, including Bergen. She was deputy leader at the time.

Bergen pushed back Tuesday against criticisms toward her party’s stance on abortion. She said access to the procedure was not restricted when Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper was in power, and accused Trudeau of using the issue to divide Canadians.

In spite of her own support for the past sex-selective abortion bill, Bergen said “the Conservative party will not introduce legislation or reopen the abortion debate.”

Abortion also became an issue for former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole during last year’s federal election campaign once it was revealed that his platform included a pledge to protect the conscience rights of health-care workers from having to perform procedures they find objectionable.

During the election, the Liberals themselves made a series of promises to improve abortion access in Canada, including regulating access under the Canada Health Act.

The mandate letter for Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos calls on him to reinforce compliance under the act, develop a sexual and reproductive health rights information portal and support youth-led grassroots organizations that respond to the unique sexual and reproductive health needs of young people.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office has been tasked with changing the country’s Income Tax Act to revoke charitable status from anti-abortion groups, like crisis pregnancy centres.

The recent federal budget did not earmark any specific funding for reproductive rights.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Tuesday the federal government could take two major steps to protect abortion rights in Canada.

“One, commit to increasing health transfers, to make sure the overall system is properly funded, and two, in any case where a province is not funding appropriately services that should be covered by the Canada Health Act … enforce the rules,” he said.

Singh said the act contains measures that allow Ottawa to withhold health-care funding when a province is not providing a service that should be publicly available.

The offices of Duclos and Freeland have not yet responded to requests for comment.

The Canadian Press – May 3, 2022 / 9:27 am | Story: 367776

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Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he is going to review what qualifies as a Canadian film or TV program as part of a move to modernize the country’s broadcast laws.

The definition of Canadian content is at the heart of a draft law before Parliament that would make streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ feature a certain amount of Canadian programs, as traditional broadcasters must do.

Critics say the current rules need updating and programs about Canadian issues — such as the Toronto Maple Leafs — do not tick enough boxes to be counted as Canadian, while others about non-Canadian subjects such as Donald Trump qualify.

Disney’s “Turning Red,” which tells the story of growing up as a Chinese-Canadian teen in Toronto and stars Ottawa-born Sandra Oh, did not count as Canadian under the rules.

Rodriguez, who is set to meet the German culture minister in Germany this week, says he plans to consult on the issue, and is also speaking to other countries about their rules.

The United Kingdom has a broader definition of British film, to include works focusing on British subjects, such as the life of William Shakespeare.

The Canadian Press – May 3, 2022 / 8:46 am | Story: 367767

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A new document shows that the gunman who killed 22 people in rural Nova Scotia had been on the radar of police up to a decade before his two-day rampage in April 2020.

The report tabled Tuesday by the public inquiry into the killings says Gabriel Wortman was the subject of police investigations on at least two and possibly three occasions.

The first occurred in June 2010 when RCMP in Moncton, N.B., were contacted by the gunman’s uncle. Glynn Wortman told RCMP Const. Len Vickers that his nephew, who lived in the Halifax area, had threatened to kill his parents. Later that day, Vickers informed Sgt. Cordell Poirier of Halifax Regional Police that he had also received a complaint from Wortman’s father, Paul, about a death threat from his son.

Poirier’s report on the incident says he and another officer went to the killer’s home in Dartmouth, N.S., where they spoke to his spouse, Lisa Banfield, at 3:25 a.m.

The document says Banfield told the officers that Wortman was asleep. She said he had been upset over a letter he had received the day before related to a lengthy legal battle with his parents over property. Poirier asked Banfield if there were any weapons in the home and she said no.

Poirier later checked with the Canadian Firearms Registry for any possible weapons and reported that “If [the perpetrator] has any weapons they are not registered.” The document states that Wortman had never applied for a firearms licence.

Poirier’s report said he eventually spoke with Gabriel Wortman, who told him over the phone that he had a pellet gun and two inoperable antique muskets hanging on the wall of his cottage in Portapique, N.S.

The Halifax sergeant reported that he contacted RCMP Const. Greg Wiley, who said he was a friend of Wortman’s and would attempt to meet him to discuss the complaint. The document states that Wiley, who worked out of the Bible Hill detachment near Portapique, had struck up a rapport with the killer after responding to a report of a tool theft from his cottage around 2007-08.

However, Poirier reported closing the file on Aug. 26, 2010 after he couldn’t get in touch with Wortman’s father. Meanwhile, the inquiry said Wiley told the inquiry’s investigators he couldn’t recall speaking with Poirier in 2010, and RCMP lawyers later advised that Wiley couldn’t find relevant notes after a search of his home following the mass shooting.

A second threat, this one against police, prompted a warning from the Truro, N.S., police department nearly a year later. On May 4, 2011 the Criminal Intelligence Service of Nova Scotia issued an officer safety bulletin to police agencies about Wortman written by Cpl. Greg Densmore, who warned that Wortman “wants to kill a cop.”

The bulletin was based on information from an unnamed person who told police that Wortman was in possession of at least one handgun and several long rifles that were stored in a compartment behind the flue in his Portapique cottage.

Poirier took note of the bulletin which he thought represented a “viable threat.”

He reported that he spoke to Densmore, the author of the bulletin, and to Wortman’s father before contacting Bible Hill RCMP, where Const. John McMinn, the on-duty supervisor, said he was unaware of the bulletin. Poirier said he provided McMinn with his report from 2010, including information about Wortman’s personal vehicle.

The document says McMinn conducted a database search, but it adds no further details.

The third incident involves a report filed to police on July 6, 2013 by an ex-neighbour of the gunman in Portapique. Brenda Forbes told the inquiry commission that she reported her belief about illegal weapons during a complaint about a domestic violence incident involving Lisa Banfield, the gunman’s spouse.

However, RCMP record searches following the 2020 mass shooting indicate the responding officers took “minimal notes” at the time. Much of the information had since been purged, and RCMP investigators eventually concluded that the incident was “outside the parameters of the homicide (mass shooting) investigation.”

An RCMP email on June 9, 2020 also said there “seems to be a discrepancy” in Forbes’s memory of her call to police and added that there was no record of a “domestic occurrence” on the day Forbes described. “Our member who spoke to her in 2013 says he believes that call was about Brenda — not about a domestic against someone else,” the email states.

Forbes subsequently told the inquiry in an Aug. 19, 2021 interview that police never called her back about her complaint, and they did not make a voice recording when she spoke with them.

Meanwhile, the inquiry’s foundational document also released details about the gunman’s arsenal at his home in Portapique.

It shows that relatives on both sides of his family and others, including neighbours and people who had worked on his property, had been shown his guns. Several people were also shown where they were hidden in the Portapique cottage and in an adjacent warehouse.

All described weapons including high calibre pistols, assault rifles and shotguns, and the document makes it clear that Wortman wasn’t shy about telling people that he had obtained some of the guns in the United States.

Lisa Banfield told the inquiry in an interview that he had “Rambo and military-style guns” and had purchased his handguns in the United States and brought them back to Canada hidden in the back of his truck.

When the gunman was killed by police as he stopped to refuel a stolen car north of Halifax, he had several weapons in his possession.

The document states police recovered a Glock 23 pistol, a Ruger P89 pistol, a Colt Carbine 5.56 semi-automatic rifle, a Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle and a Smith & Wesson Model 5947 handgun that belonged to RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson, whom the gunman had killed shortly before.

The Canadian Press – May 3, 2022 / 6:05 am | Story: 367750

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The Quebec government and the City of Montreal are taking over a light rail system proposed for the east end of the province’s biggest city, sending another major infrastructure project back to the drawing board.

Quebec Premier François Legault said Monday that the province’s pension fund manager, which had initially proposed the light rail line serving eastern Montreal, has pulled out of the project, known as the Réseau express métropolitain de l’Est, or REM de l’Est.

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec pulled out after the provincial government asked it to change its plans to install an elevated rail line through downtown Montreal, Legault said. Without that leg of the line, the pension fund didn’t think it could make a profit on the project, he added.

“There is no social acceptability” for the elevated section, Legault told reporters. “There are concerns about the impact it would have, among other things, on the beauty of the city.”

Christian Savard, the executive director of Vivre en ville, a Quebec City-based think tank that focuses on urban issues, said he worries that with the project headed back to the planning phase, it will never come to fruition.

“Public transit infrastructure always has difficulty moving forward in Quebec,” he said in an interview Monday.

In Montreal, plans to extend the metro system’s Blue Line have been announced five times over the past 33 years — most recently in March — while a rapid bus line on Montreal’s Pie-IX Boulevard is scheduled to open at the end of the year after more than a decade of planning.

In Quebec City, a tramway project had been in the planning phases for more than 20 years before receiving approval from the provincial government in early April. That project was sent back to the drawing board in 2020, after a report from the province’s environmental consultation bureau said it would only offer minimal improvements over existing services.

Also in Quebec City, a “third link” between the city’s downtown and its suburbs across the St. Lawrence River has been discussed since the 1960s. The provincial government recently proposed two tunnels — at an estimated cost of $6.5 billion. A previous plan for a single $10-billion tunnel underwent major revisions in October over concerns it would lead to increased downtown traffic.

“The projects are always approached piecemeal and without coherent planning,” Savard said. Some projects have stalled as successive governments, drawing support from different areas, have taken power in Quebec City.

Legault said he’s committed to making the REM de l’Est happen.

“I want to be very clear: in the past, there have been all kinds of excuses that have been used to delay projects,” he said Monday. “People who know me know that I don’t have a lot of patience and I want this project to be completed as quickly as possible. It’s crucial for the development of eastern Montreal.”

The cost of the REM de l’Est had been projected at $10 billion, but Legault said it’s too early to estimate the new price tag. The exact route of the light rail line will now be decided by a committee made up of representatives from the regional transit planning agency, the City of Montreal, the provincial government and the Montreal transit corporation.

The proposed rail line would be an extension of a larger automated light rail project serving western Montreal and several suburbs. The original REM was conceived and is operated by the pension fund, and the project’s first section — connecting Montreal’s south shore to the city’s downtown — is scheduled to open this fall.

Jean-Philippe Meloche, an urban studies professor at Université de Montréal, said he believes the REM de l’Est could be improved and be cheaper to build. He said the deal with the pension fund made the transit system more expensive than if the government borrowed money on its own to build a similar project, because the profit margin guaranteed to the fund is higher than the interest the government would pay.

“It might be a good train, it might be a good service, but it’s not a good deal,” he said.

Meloche said the original REM benefited from timing. The pension fund was able to install a rail line on the new Samuel De Champlain Bridge, which connects Montreal with its south shore, adding that the provincial government at the time wanted to improve public transit services for its supporters in western Montreal.

The Canadian Press – May 3, 2022 / 5:57 am | Story: 367748

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The Conservatives say the prime minister is trying to create “an audience, not an opposition” after the Liberal government introduced changes to allow midnight sittings for the rest of the spring.

The government says the proposal — known as Motion 11 — would simply organize the business of the House of Commons before it adjourns for the summer, which is scheduled for June 23.

Conservative House leader John Brassard said extending hours at the last moment has a “profound impact” on the people who work in Parliament, including interpreters and other staff.

But the justice minister said they’ll only extend the hours if needed to facilitate debate on key bills before the spring sitting wraps.

David Lametti said MPs have spent 12 sitting days debating the bill to implement some parts of the fall economic statement, which was introduced in December.

That bill would create a tax credit for businesses that improve air quality and ventilation, expand the school supplies tax credit for teachers and create a fuel tax credit for farms in provinces that use the federal carbon-pricing backstop. It was adopted at report stage on Monday.

During a debate on Monday, Lametti said Liberal leadership will ensure staff, including interpreters, have advanced warning of late sitting days, adding they’re mindful of the health and safety needs of staff. The motion put forward by the government last week would allow it to extend hours at any time up to 6:30 p.m., the scheduled end of the day.

Last week, Lametti spoke to a Senate committee about a bill that would allow courts to expand the use of virtual appearances, including by witnesses and potential jurors, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the bill is going before the Senate first to try and speed its passage, because there are so many pieces of potential legislation moving slowly through the House.

“Can you imagine what will happen when we get to the budget?” Lametti asked. “We’re doing this to facilitate debate because of the obstructionist tactics by the Conservative party.”

Bloc Québécois MP Alain Therrien shot back in French that the Liberal government is undermining democracy with the help of the NDP.

NDP House leader Peter Julian argued the Conservatives have been blocking bills for months “without any explanation.”

It appears the NDP will support the government motion, even though it doesn’t fall under the terms of the confidence and supply agreement.

“What the NDP has done by agreeing to this with the Liberals is give Justin Trudeau exactly what he’s wanted for the last six-and-a-half years: he’s now got an audience and not an opposition,” Brassard said.

Meanwhile in the upper chamber, the government representative in the Senate has put forward a motion to continue hybrid sittings due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19.

Sen. Marc Gold said that’s not “government policy,” but rather “to be cautious and careful out of consideration for the health and safety of senators, their families and staff.”

But other senators argue it’s another attempt to avoid accountability. Senate hours have been reduced and there have been fewer committee meetings under the hybrid model. Some pointed out the fact that the public galleries in the House are open, and most provinces have dropped pandemic mandates.

The Opposition leader in the Senate, Donald Plett, said he feels he and his colleagues are “failing to fulfil our duties as senators.”

“I acknowledge that there are ongoing challenges and uncertainties with the pandemic, but treating the Senate like it is a long-term care home is an insult to taxpayers and to the constitutional significance of a senator’s role,” Plett said during a debate.

He suggested senators are likely not quarantining at this point, and said if they’re comfortable going to church or a grocery store, “there is no reason you cannot be in Ottawa.”

The Canadian Press – May 2, 2022 / 2:06 pm | Story: 367703

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A polar bear walks over sea ice floating in the Victoria Strait in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, July 21, 2017. A polar bear that was spotted wandering off on Quebec’s Gaspé peninsula over the weekend was killed instead of being relocated, but experts say the decision to euthanize the animal was necessary. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-David Goldman

Wildlife experts say it was necessary to shoot dead a polar bear that was found wandering on Quebec’s Gaspé peninsula over the weekend.

Sylvain Marois with Quebec’s Wildlife Department said today government officials didn’t have the proper equipment or the tranquillizers needed to handle the 650-pound animal.

He says the bear was killed to ensure public safety after it was spotted in a wooded area Saturday near the town of Madeleine-Centre, Que., located about 580 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Ian Stirling, one of the world’s foremost polar bear experts and adjunct professor at the University of Alberta’s department of biological sciences, says the bear’s large size suggests it had been feeding off the southern Labrador Sea, where food is abundant.

Stirling says the bear most likely ended up in Gaspé by swimming to the peninsula or floating south on a piece of ice from Newfoundland.

Prof. Andrew Derocher, also with the University of Alberta’s biological sciences department, says it is standard procedure to kill polar bears that wander into regions unused to them, adding that it would have been expensive to fly the animal back north.

The Canadian Press – May 2, 2022 / 10:16 am | Story: 367670

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Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien.

Canada’s privacy commissioners say it should be illegal for police to use facial recognition technology to monitor people involved in peaceful protest.

In a joint statement today, federal, provincial and territorial privacy watchdogs also call for a prohibition on any police deployment of the tool that could result in mass surveillance.

They say facial recognition use by police for prevention and investigation of serious crimes should be authorized only if it is targeted, led by intelligence and subject to appropriate time limitations.

The commissioners acknowledge the tool, which analyzes images for biometric facial data unique to a person, can be used to help solve serious crimes, locate missing people and support national security.

But they say facial recognition use by police is not subject to a clear and comprehensive set of rules.

Instead, it is regulated through a patchwork of statutes that, for the most part, does not specifically address different uses or risks posed by the technology.

The Canadian Press – May 2, 2022 / 9:25 am | Story: 367659

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The chair of Ottawa’s police services board says the weekend’s “Rolling Thunder” protest in the capital cost an estimated $2.5 to $3 million to police.

Eli El-Chantiry says a sustainable solution to policing future convoy protests needs to be found and Ottawa police are expecting the demonstrations to continue.

Protesters arrived Friday afternoon as part of the “Rolling Thunder” rally, organized by Freedom Fighters Canada, a group dedicated to speaking out against COVID-19 mandates.

El-Chantiry says the police, including officers brought in from outside the capital, were prepared for every eventuality and had intelligence about the bikers and their plans.

But less was known about the intentions of other protesters in pickup trucks, including 18-wheel big rigs and camper vans not part of the core group.

The police board chair, who has been briefed by Ottawa’s police chief, says the protest — which was relatively peaceful — could have gone another way if officers had not been so well-prepared.

The Canadian Press – May 2, 2022 / 9:11 am | Story: 367655

Photo: Peguis First Nation

Flooding has forced evacuations in some parts of Manitoba after heavy rains caused rivers to swell.

The Peguis First Nation, about 150 kilometres north of Winnipeg, was placed under a mandatory evacuation order after ice jams on the Fisher River drove up water levels.

“We have probably 480 some-odd homes that are completely surrounded by water and roads have been breached,” Chief Glen Hudson said Monday.

More than 200 homes close to the river and housing close to 900 people were evacuated. Residents were sent to hotels in nearby communities, including Selkirk, Gimli and Winnipeg.

“We have been seeing waters at unprecedented levels as far as the Fisher River watershed is concerned,” said Hudson, who added water levels appeared to be higher than during the community’s last major flood evacuation in 2011.

South of Winnipeg, water had risen to cover some rural roads, requiring people to leave before losing road access.

The Manitoba government said southern parts of the province received four to six times the normal amount of precipitation in April, much of it in the form of snow that was melting at the same time as heavy rains on the weekend.

The forecast contains some good news. Dry, warm weather is predicted for the remainder of the week.

The Red River Valley, including Winnipeg, is largely protected by community dikes and diversion channels that were expanded after the so-called flood of the century in 1997.