Remembering the Canadian general who helped secure Dutch freedom during WWII
And finally, during the Second World War, Canadian Forces played a significant role in driving the Nazis out of the Netherlands. To this day, the Dutch have not forgotten the sacrifice our soldiers made. Mike Armstrong tells the story of the Canadian general who secured the country's freedom.
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Axios
an hour ago
- Axios
How animal welfare became a GOP issue
Animal welfare is becoming part of the Trump health team's agenda, as officials press for changes to drug approvals and product evaluations and portray lab animal testing as a symptom of big-government bloat. Why it matters: The effort is the product of a more than decade-long push to elevate animal welfare issues with the political right that now features congressional oversight hearings and threats to cut off taxpayer funding. Case in point: The Food and Drug Administration is phasing out animal testing requirements for antibody therapies and other drugs and telling companies that use other methods that they may receive streamlined product reviews. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the leaders of the FDA and National Institutes of Health urged Canadian food inspection officials last month to spare hundreds of ostriches infected with bird flu from a planned cull, saying there would be benefit in studying the birds' immune response. Congressional Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have also held hearings on " taxpayer funded animal abuse" and proposed measures that would close down federally funded labs that use animals. Trump had a mixed record on animal welfare issues in his first term. While he signed a federal law outlawing animal cruelty as well as animal fighting, his administration rolled back protections for certain at-risk animals, reversed rules restricting hunting on public lands and even deleted records of animal welfare violations. The FDA's new non-animal testing strategy could accelerate the process for bringing cures to market and give drug and biotech companies more flexibility — though it relies on some still-unproven alternatives like certain AI models. Between the lines: Among those driving the shift is the White Coat Waste Project, a libertarian-leaning group that is targeting what it calls "wasteful and secretive" taxpayer-funded experiments over its ethical concerns around animal testing. Founder Anthony Bellotti, a former Republican congressional staffer, told Axios the group adapted the playbook for cutting off federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Activists "went after the money source, because if you can fund a problem, you can defund it," Bellotti said. "And I said, 'Holy crap, animal testing is virtually all taxpayer-funded.'" The group has portrayed animal experiments as government waste, pointing to studies that show an 85% failure rate in studies that rely on animal models. The group has published controversial investigations of NIH-funded research, claiming taxpayers funded experiments where beagles were "bitten to death by flies" and that former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci wasted $1 million on painful experiments on the dogs. NIAID has disputed the findings. Zoom in: The shift in framing animal welfare so it appeals to conservatives, including linking it to causes like states' rights, has taken place over many years, said Republican lobbyist Marty Irby. "I use the term creation care a lot ... we have all these things that we talk about: taking care of people, health care, whatever the case may be. But you know, you can't just push animals to the side." Efforts to address factory farming not only overlap with the Make America Healthy Again movement's interest in food quality but with national security concerns, since one of the biggest pork producers, Smithfield Foods, is owned by a Chinese company, Irby pointed out. There also are attempts to tie animal testing back to conservative suspicion over the pandemic response, including subjecting hamsters, rabbits, monkeys and many other animals to infectious disease experiments without pain management. The issue polls highly among voters on both sides of the aisle, Irby said. The other side: Animal testing remains critical to understanding disease progression and evaluating the safety of drugs, vaccines, food additives and household products. Because they're susceptible to many of the same diseases and have shorter life spans, lab animals provide a window into disease processes across several generations. Experts say the solution in the near time likely will involve a combination of animal and non-animal testing. What's next: Bellotti said plans to phase out animal testing don't go far enough, and he's continuing to push for more lab closures. "There's a lot of rhetoric coming out of the NIH that doesn't match reality," he said. "Without a funding cut for animals and labs, without a timetable and a deadline and a commitment to phasing it out ... it's status quo."
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
As Trump's deportation push gains momentum, Canada proposes tougher border restrictions
Advertisement 'It's deeply discouraging and, frankly, scary to see the government going down this path,' Sande said. Carney's move comes in the wake of a recent US Supreme Court decision that Canada, and French-speaking Quebec in particular, has long been an attractive choice for members of Greater Boston's large Haitian community. And after the high court cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport them, many were considering relocating to Canada, according to Jeff Thielman, chief executive of the International Institute of New England. The actions on either side of the border leave them and other immigrants in a quandary. 'If our country isn't going to be welcoming, which is a travesty, then maybe Canada can be welcoming. And if Canada says no to them, then what do we do?' said Thielman, whose organization serves refugees and immigrants in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 'Seriously, there's no place for them to go — and it's not fair to them.' Advertisement Since taking office, Trump has sought to end a variety of programs enabling citizens of certain countries to take refuge in the U.S., but lower courts have slowed his efforts. In May, the Supreme Court In a more recent decision, the Supreme Court Canadian officials have worried since Trump's election last year that the looming termination of these programs could lead to an influx of refugees to the north. During the first Trump administration, Advertisement A migrant was searched by a police officer after arriving at the Roxham Road border crossing in Roxham, Quebec, Canada, on March 2, 2023. SEBASTIEN ST-JEAN/AFP via Getty Images So far, evidence of a new surge in northbound migration is mixed. Nationwide, asylum applications processed by Canada so far this year are half those of last year, 14,557 through the first five months of 2024, compared to 31,244 in the same period in 2024, according to the Canada Border Services Agency. But at the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle port of entry, which connects Interstate 87 near the New York-Vermont border with Autoroute 15 in Quebec, officials clocked a dramatic uptick in activity this spring, doubling month-over-month in March and April. Year to date, asylum claims at that crossing — which this year account for more than one-third of such claims in Canada — are up by about 60 percent. The agency declined to provide similar figures for other ports of entry. Rebecca Purdy, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, said the increase in claims at that location has not affected the crossing's operations. She said the government has plans in place to lease additional space in the area to process refugee claims if needed. The most common countries of origin of those claiming asylum at ports of entry this year are Haiti, Venezuela, and the U.S., according to Purdy. Canada's previous prime minister, Justin Trudeau, 'What Justin Trudeau said in 2017 really backfired against him,' Béland said. Pandemic-fueled inflation and a growing housing crisis as many refugees were coming to Canada 'led to a backlash,' he said. Advertisement So when Carney, a member of Trudeau's Liberal Party, campaigned to succeed him this spring, he tacked to the center on immigration. And on Tuesday, when Carney's government introduced its first bill, the message was clear. A truck crossed the Peace Bridge at the Canada-US border in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, on April 2. Laura Proctor/Bloomberg 'A strong border is essential to our national security, to foster safe communities and support our economy,' said Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree at a press conference in Ottawa. The 'It tries to kill at least two birds with one stone,' Béland said. Asked at Tuesday's press conference whether the bill was an attempt to 'appease' the Trump administration, Anandasangaree said he expected it to 'strengthen the relationship with the United States.' 'There are a number of elements in the bill that have been irritants for the U.S., so we are addressing some of those issues,' he said. 'But it's not exclusively about the United States.' Human rights activists have expressed alarm at provisions that would make it harder to seek refuge in Canada. It would prevent those who have been in the country for more than a year to claim asylum, and it would close a loophole Advertisement 'It's this massive expansion of state power that can be used for any purpose,' said Syed Hussan, a spokesperson for Canada's Migrant Rights Network. The Refugee Centre, a Montreal-based nonprofit serving new Canadians, is quick to feel the effects of immigration policy changes on either side of the border. Its clients are most commonly from Haiti and Venezuela at the moment, according to spokesperson Alina Murad, but it hasn't detected a surge in asylum-seekers relocating from the United States. Murad says she understands that citizens of Canada and the U.S. alike 'are hurting and feeling the effects' of inflation and the housing crunch. But she believes people from elsewhere 'are being used as scapegoats.' 'It's not fair to blame refugees and immigrants for bad policies in other areas,' she said. 'These are people who are just trying to get to safety.'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Carney lays out Canada's G7 summit priorities while managing a complicated guest list
With one week to go until G7 leaders gather in Alberta, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced his priorities for the meeting and is managing a guest list that lays bare fault lines in some of Canada's international relationships. The G7 leaders summit will be held in Kananaskis from June 15 to 17. On Saturday, Carney said Canada will "seek agreements and co-ordinated action" on three core missions. The first is protecting Canadian communities and the world by strengthening peace and security, countering foreign interference as well as transnational crime and improving joint responses to wildfires. The second is "building energy security and accelerating the digital transition" through fortifying critical mineral supply chains and using artificial intelligence to boost economic growth. Finally, Carney said Canada will push to secure new partnerships that will catalyze "enormous private investment to build stronger infrastructure, create higher-paying jobs and open dynamic markets where businesses can compete and succeed." Those international goals tie closely to Carney's domestic agenda. WATCH | Carney and his Liberals table One Canadian Economy bill: Earlier this week, the Liberal government tabled the One Canadian Economy Act — a bill it says will eliminate federal barriers to internal trade and explain how nation-building infrastructure projects will be identified and approved faster. Many provinces are eager to take Carney up on nation-building plans, especially provinces ready to extract more critical minerals for their regions. B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix said one project on his mind is the North Coast Transmission Line, which would expand the province's electricity system and could unlock more critical mineral extraction in B.C.'s northwest. "It's a project that exists. We're working with First Nations on [it] right now. That's a significant project," Dix said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is pushing to use powers in his government's recently passed Bill 5 to designate the mineral-rich Ring of Fire as a special economic zone, where cabinet can exempt companies and projects from having to comply with any provincial law, provincial regulation or municipal bylaw. Ford put the Ring of Fire at the top of his list presented to Prime Minister Mark Carney for consideration as a potential nation-building project. Carney came under fire earlier this week when it was announced he'd invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit just months after the RCMP accused his government of acts of murder, extortion and coercion. The prime minister defended the move and said on Friday that India and Canada "have now agreed importantly to continued law enforcement dialogue. So there's been some progress on that." Last fall, the RCMP laid out allegations accusing agents of the Indian government of playing a role in "widespread violence" in Canada, including homicides, and warned that it poses "a serious threat to our public safety." That came after Canada accused Indian government agents of being involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian activist for Sikh separatism. WATCH | B.C. Liberal says constituents 'concerned' over Modi's G7 invitation: The Sikh Federation of Canada called the invitation "a grave insult" and Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who represents the Surrey riding where Nijjar was shot, said neither he nor many of his constituents support Modi. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has also been invited to the G7 summit, but it's not confirmed whether she will attend — a hesitation that underscores some diplomatic tensions after some premiers suggested Canada ditch Mexico and pursue a new bilateral trade agreement with the United States. Arturo Sarukhán, former ambassador of Mexico to the United States, said Sheinbaum should attend because it would allow her to "reset relationships with Canada" and leave aside "the pissing match that Canadians and Mexicans have been in since the fall." Sarukhán also said on Rosemary Barton Live that Mexico's attendance "would allow Carney and Sheinbaum to have a first sit-down with Donald Trump on neutral ground" to discuss a looming renegotiation of the North American free trade deal. When asked whether the North American free trade deal will hold up, Sarukhán said "probably the outcome of the process is that we will end up with two separate free trade agreements. One between the U.S. and Canada [and] one between Mexico and the United States." "That's not a good outcome for future North American competitiveness if the U.S. wants to be successful in its recalibration of its relationship with Beijing," Sarukhán said. "It needs Canada and Mexico for that recalibration to be successful."
