Liberals' Tyler Watt takes Nepean from Conservatives
Nepean voters have picked Tyler Watt to replace Lisa MacLeod as their MPP, CBC News projects.
This suburban Ottawa riding contains Barrhaven as a major hub, with Highway 416 running down its middle and the Rideau River essentially forming its eastern border.
It's gone Progressive Conservative since its creation in 1998, with John Baird handing the baton to MacLeod. The longtime MPP did not run this election after six winning campaigns.
Seven candidates ran for the seat.
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Vancouver Sun
6 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
Toronto parents rally to save job of long-serving principal at arts high school
For more than three decades, Barrie Sketchley has led Rosedale Heights, an art-focused high school near Toronto's tony Rosedale-Moore Park neighbourhood. Now more than 80 years old, Sketchley's fate will be decided on Monday when the board of trustees votes to approve — or reject — suggestions on principal assignments made by Toronto District School Board (TDSB) staff. Sketchley is expected to be forced to leave the school he helped build into something students and parents say is pretty special. And they are outraged and upset, racing against the clock to save his job. This is all happening against a backdrop of a number of controversies involving Canada's largest school district. Just last week, Ontario's Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation to give the province more oversight over local school boards. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. It was two weeks ago that parents and students first heard that Sketchley was expected to leave. The TDSB has a policy on transferring principals between schools; while this is meant to ensure that good principals are being moved around, parents haven't always been happy with the decisions. When Zara Kheiriddin, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student at the school, first found out that Sketchley was going to be moved, she acted quickly: with a friend, she organized a petition to keep him — and secured nearly 300 signatures from fellow students and teachers before Sketchley himself shut it down. 'It's like, resounding, that most of students and parents and the staff, too, want him to stay,' said Zara. 'It's the school where I've felt the safest personally from, like, bullying and typical other — the kind of stuff you get in other schools.' Zara is the daughter of National Post columnist Tasha Kheiriddin, who, in turn, wrote to Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra expressing concern over Sketchley's transfer. 'The community is asking for fairness, respect for a principal who has given everything to public education, and the right to maintain leadership that reflects the school's unique mission and values,' Kheiriddin wrote. 'I urge you to look into this matter immediately.' Calandra's office did not respond by press time to National Post's request for comment. 'It just shows that not only do they disrespect parents, they're disrespecting a valued educator who's given so much to the community. That they would force him out in this way is appalling,' said Kheiriddin in an interview. On Monday, trustees from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) will meet to discuss Sketchley's future. Given Sketchley's age, some are concerned that a transfer would be a de-facto forced retirement. Weidong Pei, the trustee for Willowdale, wrote last Thursday to Clayton La Touche, the director of education at the TDSB, formally arguing that Sketchley should be allowed to remain at Rosedale. 'Transferring Mr. Sketchley at this stage of his career — which would in effect amount to a forced retirement — would not only be undignified, it would also deprive RHSA and the TDSB of one of our most valued and effective school leaders,' he wrote. In an interview, Pei said that he's hoping the decision can be reversed, and if Sketchley chooses to retire, he can do so 'on his own terms.' Scores of parents and students have emailed trustees to protest Sketchley's transfer. 'This is not the right thing to do,' said Pei. Deborah Williams, the trustee who represents the area of Toronto where Rosedale is located, declined to comment on the specifics of Sketchley's case. Katrina Matheson, the chair of the parents' council at Rosedale, said people are 'just really shocked at how disrespectful it is,' to be moving Sketchley after so many decades of service. He has been a TDSB teacher and principal for more than 40 years. But there's another lingering issue, too. Within the walls of Rosedale, there's a burgeoning controversy about the student selection lottery. Since Rosedale is an arts-focused school, students are required to submit expressions of interest in attending. However, 20 per cent of seats are reserved for people from visible minority communities and First Nation, Inuit and Métis students receive priority admissions. In the past, Rosedale itself made decisions about which students would attend the school, but now it's handled centrally, at the TDSB. Parents and staff told National Post that Sketchley allegedly objected to this loss of control, and is perceived as a troublemaker by the TDSB. Sketchley himself declined to comment, citing TDSB policy. 'There's people who skip classes and talk about how annoying it is to go to an art school and that they're only there because their friends are there, or their parents make them go there,' said Zara. The TDSB declined to comment on Sketchley's case, saying it cannot comment on 'any decisions that have not been approved by the Board.' 'The next round of decisions with regard to principal assignments — which happens routinely across our system throughout the year — will be made at upcoming Board meetings in June,' wrote TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird in an email.
Edmonton Journal
6 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
Toronto parents rally to save job of long-serving principal at arts high school
Article content Just last week, Ontario's Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation to give the province more oversight over local school boards. It was two weeks ago that parents and students first heard that Sketchley was expected to leave. The TDSB has a policy on transferring principals between schools; while this is meant to ensure that good principals are being moved around, parents haven't always been happy with the decisions. When Zara Kheiriddin, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student at the school, first found out that Sketchley was going to be moved, she acted quickly: with a friend, she organized a petition to keep him — and secured nearly 300 signatures from fellow students and teachers before Sketchley himself shut it down. 'It's like, resounding, that most of students and parents and the staff, too, want him to stay,' said Zara. 'It's the school where I've felt the safest personally from, like, bullying and typical other — the kind of stuff you get in other schools.'
2 days ago
Immigration minister defends sweeping new powers in border bill
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab is defending controversial new measures in the Strong Borders Act, such as giving her office the power to cancel immigration documents en masse and placing time limits for asylum seekers to make their applications. There's a lot of applications in the system. We need to act fairly, and treat people appropriately who really do need to claim asylum and who really do need to be protected to stay in Canada, Diab told CBC News. We need to be more efficient in doing that. At the same time, Canadians demand that we have a system that works for everyone. Introduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, is meant to protect Canadian sovereignty, strengthen the border and keep Canadians safe, according to the federal government. The bill would make dozens of amendments to existing laws. Its proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act would force asylum seekers entering the country, including students and temporary residents, to make claims within a year. Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said mass cancellations of immigration documents would not be done without careful consideration by cabinet. Photo: CBC / Mark Crosby The new law would also require irregular border crossers, people who enter Canada between official ports of entry, to make an asylum claim within 14 days of arriving in Canada. And it would speed up voluntary departures by making removal orders effective the same day an asylum claim is withdrawn. Groups such as the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers are raising concerns about these measures. There are a few categories of people who may end up making a claim after they've been in Canada for more than one year for fully legitimate reasons, said Adam Sadinsky, the group's advocacy co-chair. He cited examples such as changes in government in someone's country of origin, the breakout of conflict or their human rights advocacy in Canada placing a target on them. They may now be in danger returning back home in a way that they weren't when they first arrived, he said. Federal government data shows some 39,445 asylum claimants processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency between January and April. (new window) Sadinsky said if the government's motivations are about clearing backlogs, it may be creating another problem. Asylum seekers who find their application rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada can file appeals to the Refugee Appeal Division. However, shutting them out of the asylum route after a year could make them turn to the Federal Court of Canada for recourse instead, a body that has been public (new window) about its own courtrooms facing severe delays with immigration cases. It's a lot more work for the court, Sadinsky said, when people start getting removal dates from Canada and they have to ask the court for motions for stays of removal from Canada. Sadinsky suggested the government could have reduced backlogs by issuing blanket approvals for would-be asylum seekers from countries where Canada recognizes there is an imminent danger to sending them back, such as Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. WATCH: Public safety minister says border bill will give law enforcement better tools to deal with crime Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? Public safety minister says border bill will give law enforcement better tools to deal with crime Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, will 'keep our borders secure, combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of illegal fentanyl and crack down on money laundering,' as well as 'enhance the integrity and fairness of our immigration system.' Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the government needed to act, though he recognized courts are facing efficiency problems. We need to be able to do two things at once, he said about changing the asylum system and reducing court backlogs. Reached for comment, the office of the chief justice of the Federal Court said in a statement it would simply hope that any potential impact on the court's workload would be taken into account, citing a previous amendment to immigration law under Stephen Harper's Conservative government in 2010 that included four new court positions. Mass cancellation powers The Migrant Rights Network, an advocacy group, said it is alarmed about the government giving itself the ability to cancel previously issued immigration documents in large groups. What this is, is setting up of a mass deportation machine, said its spokesperson Syed Hussan. Just go out and say we're walking away from the Geneva Convention. Diab said any mass cancellation decisions would be taken by the whole cabinet, not just her office, and they would not be done lightly. These are in exceptional circumstances, when you're talking about mass cancellation or suspension, she said. For example, when COVID happened, we literally had applications coming in, and the system had no authority to suspend or cancel those applications … we could have health risks again. We could have security risks. Bill C-2 is now moving through Parliament. The legislation would normally be studied by parliamentary committee next, though neither Diab nor Gary Anandasangaree, the public safety minister, could say which committee would pick it up. Committees have not been named yet for this sitting and it is unclear if they will before Parliament wraps up for the summer at the end of June. The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers said it intends to write a letter outlining its concerns to the federal government, and would hope to present at committee when the moment arrives. Raffy Boudjikanian (new window) · CBC News ·
