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Immigration, pension: A look at survey questions put forward by Alberta Next panel

Immigration, pension: A look at survey questions put forward by Alberta Next panel

CTV News5 hours ago

Premier Danielle Smith created the Alberta Next panel, which touches on immigration, pension and police. CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Lampa has more.

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N.S. government mulling larger role for RCMP as it restructures policing
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CBC

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  • CBC

N.S. government mulling larger role for RCMP as it restructures policing

Social Sharing The Nova Scotia government says it is considering a larger role for the RCMP as the province restructures and modernizes policing services. Justice Minister Becky Druhan has announced six changes aimed at improving policing, resulting from a review launched in September 2023. The review was announced about six months after the Mass Casualty Commission released its final report on the shooting rampage in central and northern Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead in April 2020. Druhan says municipalities will be allowed to keep their local police as long as the force meets provincial standards; otherwise they will need to switch to the RCMP. As well, the minister says the province will introduce a new billing system for municipal police services, and establish a single police records database to replace the three existing systems. Other changes including creating community safety boards, recruiting more officers, and adding more resources for police in the field.

Author wins defamation case against Regina professor over ‘racist garbage' comment
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Globe and Mail

time34 minutes ago

  • Globe and Mail

Author wins defamation case against Regina professor over ‘racist garbage' comment

A university professor who called a book 'racist garbage' on social media and was part of a campaign to cancel the author's bookstore events has been found liable for defamation, in part because she didn't read the whole book. Michelle Stewart, a professor in gender, religion and critical studies at the University of Regina, who is also an associate dean for academic integrity and equity, was sued over a Facebook post in 2016 that was critical of When Police Become Prey: the Cold Hard Facts of Neil Stonechild's Freezing Death. Mr. Stonechild, a Saulteaux First Nation teenager, was found dead of exposure in a field in 1990 and his death was the subject of a public inquiry. The book, written by Alberta-based journalist Candis McLean, argues that two Saskatoon police officers who were fired after the public inquiry were treated unjustly. Saskatchewan Court of King's Bench Justice Neil Robertson ruled that by calling the book 'racist garbage' Dr. Stewart had defamed Ms. McLean. While the word 'garbage' could be defended as fair comment, he wrote that being called 'racist' is defamatory. 'Many Canadians will shun and decline to listen to a racist,' he wrote. Judge Robertson concluded that the book is not racist, however, and that Dr. Stewart's statement is 'objectively false.' He wrote that the defendant did not point to anything in the book that would support her accusation. He described commentary such as 'racist garbage' as part of a 'cancel culture,' which seeks to curtail debate and suppress books rather than debate their merits. Dr. Stewart did not respond to an interview request. In court, Dr. Stewart's lawyer had argued that as an expert in policing and colonialism it was not only her right but her responsibility to comment on the book, according to the ruling. However the judge found that Dr. Stewart had not read the book before making her comment, or at least not all of the book, and therefore could not rely on the defence of responsible communication. Responsible communication is one of the common defences to a charge of defamation and was established by a 2009 Supreme Court decision related to publications on matters of public interest. Dr. Stewart had argued that she had reviewed parts of the book and understood its premise, and that her life's work is anti-racism. The judge, however, found that there was no 'diligence in verification' and her communication was therefore not responsible. The comment that prompted the lawsuit was made in 2016 on a Facebook page connected to a group called the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism, which undertook a campaign to persuade venues to cancel Ms. McLean's book signing events. Dr. Stewart and others called the venues to complain about the book, and the venues responded by cancelling Ms. McLean's events. The judge ruled that Dr. Stewart's actions induced a breach of contract and therefore Ms. McLean was entitled to compensation. Ms. McLean had been seeking more than $160,000 in damages, however the ruling awarded just slightly more than $6,450. An apology was never published, although the two parties disagreed over whether one was offered, the judge wrote. Ms. McLean said the eight-year court battle was worth it, even if the amount she will receive is far less than the approximately $40,000 she spent on legal fees. 'It was really the principle of the thing,' Ms. McLean said. Tavengwa Runyowa, Ms. McLean's lawyer, said his client 'has laid her own brick in the wall of justice.' He said the amount awarded by the judge may reflect that the Facebook post was likely seen by a relatively limited group. Ms. McLean said what troubled her is that Dr. Stewart did not carefully read the book before attacking it. 'In all of Dr. Stewart's high-flown, virtue-signalling verbiage, such as her claim it was her obligation as an expert to speak out, not once did I find her mention the word truth. Truth is discovered by doing the hard work of following the dictates of the evidence, wherever that may lead,' Ms. McLean said. 'I find it both disappointing and alarming that an academic criticized me and my book without first doing a close textual exegesis.' Ms. McLean said she has written to University of Regina president Jeff Keshen to say the incident has caused her to lose confidence in the university. 'Academics should not react blindly. They have a duty to gather all the facts before taking action that could harm someone or create a false narrative,' Ms. McLean wrote in her e-mail. Mindy Ellis, a spokesperson for the University of Regina, said the university has been apprised of the court's judgment and has no comment.

'Cut the middle man': Alberta floats swapping equalization for more provincial tax-collecting
'Cut the middle man': Alberta floats swapping equalization for more provincial tax-collecting

Vancouver Sun

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  • Vancouver Sun

'Cut the middle man': Alberta floats swapping equalization for more provincial tax-collecting

OTTAWA — Alberta is pitching that provinces collect more tax dollars and Ottawa less, in its latest volley against the federal equalization program. The idea was put forward on Tuesday in an explanatory video posted to the website for the newly launched Alberta Next panel . The video proposed that the current fiscal arrangement in which Ottawa collects roughly 60 per cent of all tax revenues be flipped on its head. 'What if we cut out the middleman and instead had provincial governments — that are responsible for delivering health care, education and social services — collect around 60 per cent of all taxes(?)' asked the narrator. 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. The clip draws inspiration from an unlikely source, pointing to a fiscal decentralization scheme recently floated by Quebec . 'Quebec has already proposed having the federal government let provinces keep GST revenue generated in their provinces in return for ending the federal health transfer … Why not apply that same logic to all federal transfers?' 'Less money collected and wasted in Ottawa, less federal transfers with only a modest amount of equalization for the smallest provinces and territories that actually need it.' The three-minute video leads to an online survey on the equalization program geared to Alberta residents. The idea of swapping health transfers for GST revenue was one of 42 recommendations put forward to Quebec's government last fall by a special advisory committee on constitutional issues. Alberta currently receives more than $8 billion annually from Ottawa through major federal transfers. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said shortly after April's federal election that she was no longer willing to 'subsidize' larger provinces like Ontario and Quebec through the federal equalization program. ' That was never the intent of equalization, and it needs to end,' Smith said in an early May address to Albertans. Total equalization payments will reach a record $26.2 billion in the 2025-26 fiscal year, with Quebec taking home slightly more than half of this haul. Smith has recently called for the equalization program to be downsized and reconfigured to prioritize the needs of smaller provincial economies like Manitoba and the Maritime provinces. Alberta hasn't gotten an annual equalization payment since the 1964-65 fiscal year and, according to one recent study , has seen less than 0.02 per cent of all payments under the program since its inception in 1957. Sixty-two per cent of Albertans voted in a fall 2021 referendum for equalization to be removed from Canada's Constitution. Daniel Béland, the director of McGill University's Institute for the Study of Canada, said he's 'not optimistic' about Alberta's suggestion that larger provinces stop receiving equalization programs in exchange for greater tax collection powers. 'This idea of cutting Quebec out of equalization is politically a non-starter,' said Béland. 'I mean, it would create a very strong backlash in (Canada's) second largest province. That's 78 seats in the House of Commons.' 'The logic of equalization is not about size, but about fiscal capacity on a per-capita basis,' added Béland. He also said that there was little basis for the comparison between health transfers and equalization payments. 'Health transfers bring provinces together because they have a shared interest in getting more money from Ottawa. With equalization, there are explicit winners and losers,' said Béland. Equalization is one of six topics the Alberta Next panel will be looking into. Others include the Alberta Pension Plan, a provincial police force and constitutional changes. Smith named University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe, an expert on equalization, to the panel on Wednesday. The premier has said that ideas and discussions from the panel will be used to shape questions put forward to Albertans on next year's referendum ballot. National Post Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .

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