'Just asking for courtesy,' Smith tells coal protesters
Calgary Watch
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, while taking questions about her government's coal policy, engaged with some anti-coal mining protesters in Fort Macleod.
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National Post
16 minutes ago
- National Post
Ivison: President Trump, the G7 and Canada's new ‘realistic' foreign policy
Article content The last time he came north was to the Charlevoix summit in 2018, when he refused to sign the joint communiqué and called his host, then prime minister Justin Trudeau, 'dishonest and weak.' Article content Article content To discuss whether we can expect another Trump wrecking ball in Alberta, John Ivison is joined by Louise Blais, former Canadian ambassador and deputy permanent representative at the United Nations, who is now a strategic advisor to the Business Council of Canada. Article content Ivison asked if the G7 can function properly when the president of the United States clearly disdains multilateralism in all its forms. Article content Blais pointed out that this is the first multilateral meeting since Trump was re-elected. Article content 'But all the leaders this time have had practice. They've had their one-on-one meetings with them. We're all at the receiving end of a slew of tariffs. But you can see that the leaders are trying to find a way to keep relations cordial. I think everyone will try to avoid a disaster. It's not without its dangers. It can be unpredictable. But it is my sense that the prime minister has been speaking to the president and I don't think he has been speaking to him only about Canada-U.S. relations and the lifting of our tariffs. I think he's also been speaking to him about the G7 and how we can maybe make him at ease and move some things of common interest forward,' she said. Article content Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that if the U.S. does not want to lead, Canada will. Ivison asked if this is empty rhetoric or whether Canada has a real opportunity to set the agenda? Article content 'I'm very cautious about that ambition personally. I think there's a very good chance that the prime minister will shine next week. If you had asked me a month ago: 'Should we pass on this G7 this year?', I would have probably said yes. Too risky, wrong year for us. We're in an election. It was really difficult to prepare. Article content 'But now that we're on the other side, we're already seeing the elements of the foreign policy that the prime minister wants to put forward. We have established some form of cordial dialogue with the president. I think that it's actually turned into an opportunity for Mark Carney to show leadership and to balance sort of the core interests of Canada with international leadership. Article content 'On the other hand, he needs to be careful and not present himself too overtly as an alternative. If the world sees it that way, then fine. But I think he personally has to be careful because he has to balance both the president and the president's sense of himself.' Article content Blais said Trump's relationship with China will have a massive influence on how he handles allies at the G7. 'I think that the sense probably now in the White House is that it's difficult for the Americans to take on China on their own. And so, the president is coming to the summit having absorbed that and having (concluded) that if they really want to make headway, they will have to work with allies,' she said. Article content Ivison said former G7 Sherpa and now Canadian Senator Peter Boehm has suggested there will be no consensual joint communiqué this time, and that the G7 may wrap up with a summary statement from Carney, as the chair of the meeting. Article content Blais said she is hearing that there may be separate statements on different issues like Ukraine. Article content 'In other words, not putting everything into one, where if you don't agree on every single comma and every single period, the whole thing is out the window. I know that from experience at the UN, it can happen. It's tough. It's really tough to get consensus now in general in the multilateral world,' she said. Article content Ivison suggested Carney's decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, despite human rights concerns, is symbolic of a new realism in Canada's foreign policy under Carney. Article content Blais agreed: 'It's clear that he's signalling that he wants a foreign policy that is much more focused on our core interests. And those core interests are very simple. They're sovereignty, territorial, primarily, and of course, economic prosperity. Those are the two things that really Canada needs to focus on… We need to grow up. We need to adapt. And we need to prioritize those interests. That doesn't mean that we will sacrifice our values at the altar of our own core interests. But it's a balance that is shifting.' Article content Blais said her time at the United Nations taught her that world leaders and ambassadors quickly grew tired of Canada attaching progressive values to its relationships. Article content 'We were pushing things that certain countries weren't ready for. And it's okay to try to improve the lives of people around the world. But at the end of the day, we have to think about our impact as a nation. We're not a super-power, we have to be realistic. And we certainly can't promote those things at the expense of our own interests. I think that's where it went too far. Article content 'To be honest, what always struck me is no matter how principled the position we took, and no matter what the price of that position might have been, we did not impact the change that we had hoped for. Article content 'We ended up really with very complicated relationships with very important powers, some of them regional, some of them global, and it hurt our interests.' Article content
CBC
20 minutes ago
- CBC
The word 'family' has caused controversy for this Ontario school board. Here's why
Social Sharing The Waterloo Region District School Board has been talking a lot about the word "family" this month. The board has released two separate statements so far in June after media reports and rumours circulated online that teachers were being taught the word "family" is racist. It stems from a professional development day training session in November 2023 when teachers from Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School near Baden, Ont., discussed several words and what they meant to students, the school board says. Screengrabs from a presentation called "Dismantling Whiteness at W-O: Words Matter" have appeared on alternative media sites such as Juno News and Rebel News. The photo of a slide show presentation shows that the word family has been "identified as harmful by our racialized students." The Juno News headline reads: "School board trains staff that the term 'family' is harmful, racist." In a video report, which was posted to YouTube on June 6, Rebel News senior editor Tamara Ugolini was critical of the board. "When someone's telling you that the term 'family' is rooted in white supremacy and to dismantle the family unit because it's rooted in patriarchy, you can tell them where to go," Ugolini says on the video. Maedith Radlein, chair of the Waterloo Region District School Board, says the training materials reprinted by those media outlets were shared out of context "and interpreted incorrectly." "That screenshot was interpreted to mean that what was being said was that we are against family. That screenshot was, in fact, part of a larger presentation that was a discussion about language," Radlein told CBC K-W's The Morning Edition host Craig Norris on Wednesday. Radlein says people have been emailing board staff and trustees and "are, of course, very upset because if that was indeed a message it would be something to be very concerned about." "I would like to unequivocally state that that is not our message. We value families and we work with them every day as we seek to help their students achieve and enjoy their school experience," she said. 2 statements The school board issued its first statement on June 6, stating they were aware of the media reports and wanted to clarify and provide context around what had been reported. "The session explored how different communities may experience public institutions differently, and how educators can be thoughtful and inclusive in their communication," the statement said. "These discussions are part of our ongoing commitment to human rights, equity and learning." The second statement was released June 10. It was a letter to the community from Radlein in which she noted "the word 'family' and what it represents is integral to all we do." The alternative media reports say the training was offered by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF). Dave VandenBerg, president of OSSTF District 24, said in an email to CBC News that the slides in the Juno News post were not from a presentation created by the teacher's union. "All staff meetings include time for OSSTF. It seems that the inclusion of OSSTF time at the end of the meeting was misunderstood to mean that OSSTF created the presentation," he said. CBC News has requested information from the school board about who created the presentation but have not yet received a response. Reports linked to parental rights movement: Researcher Lisa Gasson-Gardner is an assistant professor of religious studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary and researches new religious movements. She says the messaging in the reporting of this story by alternative media outlets appears to be linked to the parental rights movement. "Folks who are concerned about critical race theory are also concerned about parents having rights, are also concerned about gender ideology," she said. Gasson-Gardner says grassroots groups who are part of this movement know how to communicate. They say things that "seem obviously true," like parents should be informed about what their children are learning about in school, but then there's an underlying message the average reader may miss. "Consider that, when we say, 'Oh, we want to have a neutral classroom or a politics-free classroom,' what is neutral that we don't talk about?" she said. Gasson-Gardner says parental rights groups are good at mobilizing and she's seen evidence they've worked to get people elected to school boards in Alberta and Ontario. That's why she says it's important to understand who the people are who run for these positions, especially with Ontario municipal elections set for October 2026. "If you care about education, you have to pay attention to what's happening," she said. Aim to create 'moral panic' Carmen Celestini is a full-time lecturer of religious studies at the University of Waterloo. She says there are also groups who are attempting to create "moral panic" around critical race theory in education. Critical race theory is the idea that racial bias is inherent in certain systems, including legal and social institutions. She says the arguments being made in the reports by alternative media are similar to anti-critical race theory posts in the U.S. They "believe that [critical race theory] is an attack on national values and beliefs. Those values are expressed in their beliefs and values with little concern for others," Celestini said. "The school board should respond and be transparent in addressing issues such as this," Celestini said. "Yet, those who believe these negative narratives most likely have distrust in the institutions such as education and legacy media, so the board will not be converting the mindset of those who believe this, but will engage those who may have heard about this." Board 'meeting the needs of all students' Radlein said the training session on language took place on a professional development day and they looked at a number of words. Family was one of the words. "The message was that the word family does not mean the same thing to everybody," Radlein said. Radlein said school board staff need to educate themselves and be aware of where they may be assuming something about students or have an unconscious bias. She says this isn't the first time the board has been a target for people who don't agree with their philosophies. "I certainly think that the initiatives that our board does around truth and reconciliation, around equity, about gender identification and orientation, I certainly think that that is a lightning rod for many groups that have differing opinions," Radlein said. "I cannot speak as to why this is happening, but I do know that we are a board that is known for our commitment to meeting the needs of all students, to welcoming everybody, no matter who they are. And some people may not agree with that approach."
CBC
40 minutes ago
- CBC
What Carney's G7 invite list says about his priorities
At Issue this week: Minister Mark Carney invites Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the G7 summit. Canada gets a defence spending boost. And how close are we to a trade deal with the U.S.?
