Two Sask. Métis council members suspended from duty
Watch
WATCH: Re-elected members of the Métis Nation Saskatchewan Provincial Council were turned away from Tuesday's swearing in ceremony by security.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
Electric vehicle mandate risks being next carbon tax without 'adjustments,' EV industry warns
OTTAWA — The head of a national association representing the electric transportation industry says the federal government, and provinces with a zero-emission vehicle sales mandate, should make 'short-term adjustments' to their programs at the risk of the policy going the way of the now-cancelled consumer carbon tax. Article content Electric Mobility Canada President Daniel Breton's comments come as auto-makers and others in the industry express a fresh round of concerns about the Liberals' sales mandate, which has set a target of reaching 100-per-cent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035, beginning with initial targets of hitting 60 per cent by 2030 and at least 20 per cent by 2026. Article content Article content Article content 'We believe that B.C, Quebec, and the federal government should make short-term adjustments, because between now and 2030 we don't know yet what's going to happen south of the border. We don't know yet what's going to happen between Canada and the U.S.,' Breton told National Post in an interview Thursday. Article content Article content 'Lowering the targets between now and 2030 would be a reasonable path.' Article content With Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre ratcheting up his efforts in demanding that the mandate be scrapped, arguing it removes 'choice' from consumers, Breton, a former Quebec environment minister, says the risk of not making short-term adjustments at the federal level is that, 'this is going to become a political hot potato.' 'Like the carbon tax was.' The consumer carbon tax was a signature climate policy of the Liberals until March, when Prime Minister Mark Carney cancelled it, saying it had become 'too divisive.' That followed a years-long campaign by Poilievre, who criss-crossed the country, promising to 'axe the tax,' blaming it for forcing consumers to pay additional costs amid a cost-of-living crisis. Article content Article content Breton, whose association represents 180 members in the electric transportation industry, including those who sell electric cars, says 'we have to find a pathway' that will allow people and those in the traditional automotive industry to buy credits and 'ease into this regulation.' Article content A credit system is at the heart of the federal policy, which the Liberals finalized in 2023 as part of their plan to reduce Canada's overall greenhouse gas emissions, taking aim at the transportation sector, one of the top emitters. Article content The government says manufacturers can earn credits by either selling or making zero-emission vehicles, which Ottawa defines as either a battery-powered vehicle or a plug-in hybrid, or by purchasing credits from an electric vehicle maker, or putting money towards building out charging infrastructure. Article content Companies that fail to comply could face penalties under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Algonquin College grad grapples with staff over Palestinian flag
For her convocation ceremony last week, Algonquin College graduate Rama Al-Zubi wanted to walk across the stage at Canadian Tire Centre waving her Palestinian flag. "When it's my time on stage, I'm celebrating me, and Palestinian is me," Al-Zubi told CBC. Before she was able to wave the flag of her homeland, however, she first had to win a tug of-war with a faculty member who tried to pull it away from her as her name was being called. The incident on June 19 was captured on video. "I yelled, 'Let go!' and took the flag away from him," Al-Zubi recounted. "He was pulling very hard." Tug-of-war over Palestinian flag at Algonquin College convocation 10 hours ago Duration 0:09 Al-Zubi, a graduate of the college's film and media production program, said she was not told of any policy that would prevent her from waving the Palestinian flag during the ceremony. Other graduates crossed the stage with flags from their home countries including Ecuador, but did not experience pushback from faculty or security personnel, Al-Zubi said. "I don't think it's the problem of a flag, I think it's a problem with the Palestinian flag," she told CBC. College says flags were banned In a statement to CBC, Algonquin College said graduates were informed in advance of the venue's policies, which included a ban on flags. "In keeping with venue rules, flags were not permitted inside," the college said in a statement to CBC. "However, some flags were missed during security screening. As a result, various national flags — including Palestinian flags — were carried across the stage during 12 ceremonies held over four days in Ottawa." The college said security personnel "including venue and College staff, worked to uphold the guidelines," but added it regrets "any distress the enforcement of these rules may have caused." Another video posted on social media shows venue staff confronting a graduate with a Palestinian flag after she crossed the stage. That person declined to speak with CBC. Al-Zubi said she feels like her alma mater tried to stifle her freedom of expression. She said her Palestinian flag, which normally hangs on her bedroom wall, was a gift from a sister and is an object that "feels the closest to home." She said there has been no follow-up nor disciplinary action from the college since the ceremony. Incident 'troubling,' says law prof João Velloso, an associate professor of law at the University of Ottawa, said he found the footage of the June 19 incident "troubling." "It's not necessarily the flag, but how the staff tried to grab it aggressively instead of just managing it," said Velloso, who was part of a committee shaping the University of Ottawa's response to the months-long encampment of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on campus last year. Velloso argues convocations are inherently political events, and activism is going to happen despite institutions trying to prevent it. "In the West, just receiving a degree in gender studies is a political statement," he said. "Graduations come with a political dimension." Velloso said one way to manage it would be to allow flags and offer support to students who may be triggered by them – whether the flag is from Palestine, Israel, Russia, Ukraine or other conflict zones.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
NATO's history of running hot and cold on Ukraine is running cold again
Social Sharing There was a particularly telling moment at a bygone NATO summit about four years ago, which perfectly captured the sometimes capricious way the Western military alliance regards Ukraine. The secretary general of the day, the often unflappable Jens Stoltenberg, was asked about the Eastern European country's long-standing bid to join the allies. At that point, Ukraine had been waiting more than a dozen years for admission. And much like the first signs of an approaching storm, there had been an ominous buildup of Russian forces on the border the previous spring. Stoltenberg was asked if he foresaw any scenario under which Ukraine would join NATO unchallenged by Russia. (Full disclosure: I am the one who asked the question). It was — perhaps — sadly prescient. Stoltenberg, however, waved it off. Each nation has the right to pick and choose its alliances and associations, he responded. The point — then and now — is that Ukraine had chosen. It had picked a side and charted its own course. It had thrown its lot in with allies in 2008 in the belief, perhaps misguided, that the Western promise of fairness and collective security was their future. And yet, then — as now — Ukraine was left waiting outside the door. Ukraine on the sidelines At this week's NATO summit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — whose every word leaders hung on during the 2022 and 2023 gatherings — was relegated to the sidelines and the dining hall as Western leaders discussed his country's fate behind closed doors. In fairness, Zelenskky did get face time with major leaders, including the American president, Donald Trump. Through that meeting, he secured additional, urgently needed U.S. Patriot missile battery systems. There was a collective guarantee of additional aid worth 35 billion euros from European allied countries. Canada — at the G7 the week before — promised an additional $4.3 billion. The summit ended with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who is rarely offside with the Trump administration these days, stating that Ukraine's path to join NATO, as declared at the 2023 Vilnius summit, is still "irreversible." Maybe he didn't get Washington's memo. It was clear the summit was tailored for Trump — a short, narrowly focused agenda aimed at getting allies to show him the money on defence spending. Ukraine was a necessary, but unpleasant, afterthought. Canada, the original sponsor of Ukraine's membership in 2008, went along — seemingly reluctantly. "We would have preferred, Canada would have preferred a special session with NATO, with Ukraine, absolutely," Prime Minister Mark Carney told journalists at the conclusion of the summit on Wednesday, While Carney said he raised several points related to Ukraine during the closed-door leaders' meeting, he clarified most of the collective agenda discussed had nothing to do with Ukraine and everything to do with the concerns of other allies. He used the Arctic as an illustration of something Zelenskyy might not care about. The prime minister's remarks shed light on what is essentially the fundamental divide between Europe and the United States (at least this iteration under the Trump administration) over Ukraine. "The U.S. does not see Ukrainian security as essential to European security, and our European allies do," former U.S. ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker told a recent panel organized by the Center for European Policy Analysis. The Europeans, he said, "feel that if Putin is allowed to prevail in Ukraine — or if Ukraine does not survive as a sovereign, independent state — they are at risk." WATCH | Ukrainian describes aftermath of bombing: 'I woke up in the rubble,' Kyiv resident says after Russian strike 3 days ago Duration 0:29 Valeriy Mankuta, a construction worker in Ukraine's capital, told journalists he was sleeping when he felt a blast, waking up in rubble with a giant slab overhead. The blast was one of many overnight, as Russia launched another barrage of strikes on Ukraine. That was implicit in Rutte's enthusiastic reassurance about Ukraine's membership bid, even though it risked the ire of Trump. "They see the need to support Ukraine as integral to our security through NATO. The U.S. simply doesn't see it that way," said Volker. The U.S. "thinks NATO is NATO. You do Article Five protection for NATO members, and the more that is done by our European allies themselves the better," he said. "And Ukraine, it's unfortunate. It's a war." Russia's red line Russian President Vladimir Putin has made Ukraine's potential membership in NATO a key red line for allies, insisting that his neighbour be barred from entering the Western alliance — forever. Trump in his pursuit of some kind of Nobel Peace Prize bought into the argument and made criticism of Moscow verboten — either at NATO or the G7. As late as a month ago, Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair. Bullocks, says NATO's former secretary general Lord George Robertson. "I had nine meetings with Vladimir Putin during my time as secretary general," said Robertson, who led NATO from 1999 to 2003, as Putin came to power and the alliance began its expansion to include former Eastern Bloc countries. "At no point did he complain about NATO enlargement. Not at all." Robertson, in a recent interview with CBC News, describes Putin's NATO argument as "retroactive justification" for going to war against his neighbours (Russia also invaded Georgia in 2008). Forgotten in the wash of history, the flood of misinformation, the recent clash of egos, the rush to rearm and the massaging of policy points is an agreement signed by Putin and allied leaders — including U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien — which established the now-defunct NATO-Russia Council in 2002. "Vladimir Putin put his signature on the Rome Declaration, which endorsed the NATO-Russia Founding Act (1997) and the guarantee of territorial integrity of all nations in Europe," said Robertson. "His signature is on it with mine." The date and the event is burned into his memory. "May 20, 2002, the same day that he stood beside me at the press conference and said that Ukraine is a sovereign, independent nation, a state which will make its own decisions about peace and security," Robertson said. "And now the same man says Ukraine is not a nation and somehow, violently, it has to be absorbed inside his concept of a new Russia." The former secretary general, during his interview, confessed to often carrying around a copy of the more than two-decade-old declaration in his suit pocket. The document, for Robertson, is an ever-present reminder of Putin's betrayal — perhaps even a personal keepsake of a crown achievement that history has turned to dust.
