India's Modi says he will attend G7 meeting in Canada this month
OTTAWA — India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he will attend the G7 meeting in Kananaskis this month after receiving an invitation from Prime Minister Mark Carney.
'As vibrant democracies bound by deep people-to-people ties, India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests. Look forward to our meeting at the Summit,'
said Modi, on social media
.
More to come.
National Post
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Vancouver Sun
26 minutes ago
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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. 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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. 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CBC
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National Post
an hour ago
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Carson Jerema: Carney ignores his own constitutional power to approve pipelines
Mark Carney isn't interested in being prime minister of Canada. Sure, he may like the title, the presumed prestige that comes with it, as well as meetings with Donald Trump, but when it comes down to the authority the federal government possesses, he'd rather defer to the provinces. He doesn't want to be the leader of the sovereign nation of Canada, he wants to be a project manager for B.C., Quebec and Ontario. Article content Article content At a news conference Friday to discuss his One Canadian Economy legislation, Carney claimed it would streamline the approval of projects deemed in the 'national interest,' and said it was a 'bill that meets this hinge moment' with 'urgency' and 'determination.' The prime minister spoke of how 'it's become much too difficult to build in this country' and that the 'federal government' will 'identify and expedite nation building projects.' Article content Article content Except by 'urgency' and 'determination' Carney means not a streamlined process, but another regulatory regime on top of all the others. And, crucially, when Carney talks about 'nation building' and the 'national interest,' he doesn't mean anything that would be in Canada's interests but would, instead, cede power to the provinces, giving them a veto over infrastructure projects. Article content When asked by a reporter about whether pipelines would be approved over objections from B.C. or Quebec, Carney responded as if Ottawa didn't have the clear authority to do so. 'No. Simply no, we must have a consensus of all the provinces and the Indigenous people,' he said. If that wasn't clear, Carney added, 'if a province doesn't want it, it's impossible.' Article content Article content To drive home an apparent ignorance of Canada's constitution, Carney also said, 'It is not the choice of the federal government.' Article content Article content However, this is incorrect. While the Liberals may choose to not exercise their constitutional powers, it is most definitely Ottawa's 'choice.' Section 92 (10) of the Constitution explicitly grants the federal government power over 'Works and Undertakings connecting' a province 'with any other or others of the Provinces, or extending beyond the Limits of the Province.' Ottawa also has authority over any projects 'declared by the Parliament of Canada to be for the general Advantage of Canada or for the Advantage of Two or more of the Provinces,' even if such projects exist entirely within a single province. Article content What this means is that if Ottawa wants a pipeline that crosses provincial borders, it is entirely within its rights to approve it, even over the objection of provincial obstructionists, be they in B.C. or Quebec. It is a power that could not be more clear and it is one that has been backed up by the courts. In 2019, for example, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled against the provincial government, which was seeking a reference on whether it had the power to put conditions on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which exports heavy oil from Alberta, through, B.C. and to the West coast. The ruling stated that this was 'not within the authority of the Legislature.'
