Coal mining town hall with premier in Fort Macleod draws hundreds
Calgary Watch
Hundreds of people packed a town hall in Fort Macleod, hoping the premier and cabinet ministers would hear their views on coal mining in Alberta.
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CBC
28 minutes ago
- CBC
2 MLAs form new B.C. political party that courts social conservatives
Social Sharing Two of B.C.'s three Independent MLAs have formed a political party that wants to lower taxes, take away teachers' right to strike, and crack down on so-called mass immigration. The party, called One B.C., also wants an end to what it calls B.C.'s "reconciliation industry," and to see the province allow for private healthcare. Dallas Brodie, MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena, is the interim leader, while Tara Armstrong, who represents Kelowna–Lake Country–Coldstream, is the party's house leader. "There is a hunger out there for the policies that the B.C. Conservative party initially put forward and we all ran on," said Brodie. "We've got the base now disillusioned with what's happening with that party." Both politcians were elected as members of the B.C. Conservatives, but parted ways in the winter. One B.C. registered as a political party on June 9. Absent from the ticket is the third Independent MLA, Jordan Kealy, who is also a former B.C. Conservative. Kealy, the MLA for Peace River North, said there was a clash over the new party's values and leadership. "There was a disagreement in what our perspectives were and that's one of the reasons I asked to have more time to think about things," Kealy told CBC News. Watch | Why these B.C. Conservatives became Independents: 3 former Conservative MLAS will sit as Independents in B.C. Legislature 3 months ago Duration 2:37 It an attempt to grow the party and poach MLAs, One B.C. sent an email to those sitting as B.C. Conservatives. Armstrong and Kealy left in solidarity, accusing Rustad of diluting Conservative values. Since then, the trio has pushed issues in the legislature such as repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ending sexual orientation and gender identity policies in schools. CBC News asked Brodie how she can repair relations with Indigenous communities, including the Musequem First Nation in her riding, which said she has advanced views that amount to a denial of the experience of residential school survivors. Brodie denied that she was mocking residential school survivors in the podcast interview posted to YouTube. "I was mocking post-modern, woke culture that does not seem to accept that there are certain truths that are objective truths," she said. Brodie said Rustad advanced a "lie" to "dirty me up after while I was being thrown out of the party." WATCH | Comments made on a podcast changed the course of this MLA's career: MLA's podcast comments get her removed from B.C. Conservative caucus 3 months ago Duration 0:21 As for what she means by "defunding the reconciliation industry", Brodie said large sums of money are going to "law firms, accountants, consultants, developers and chiefs and councils and the money is not getting down to where it needs to be." "I don't know anybody in this province who doesn't want a better way forward for the Native kids and the kids who are living on reserves," Brodie said. Wade Grant, a Liberal MP and former Musqueam councillor, said it's shameful that Brodie is trying to "play into the fear of what reconciliation means." "Reconciliation is about bringing together Indigenous peoples, the First Nations, Inuit back into the fold of the mosaic of Canada," he said. Grant said Brodie's position is really "setting reconciliation back generations when we've moved so far forward." WATCH | Indigenous leader calls out residential school denialism: UBCIC president says politicians need to stop advancing residential school denialism 2 months ago Duration 9:57 The party also advocates for making teachers essential workers and stripping their right to strike, and to slash income taxes by 50 per cent for those making $100,000 or less. It also wants to end what it calls the "government's deadly healthcare monopoly" by allowing British Columbians to purchase private health care or insurance. NDP MLA Sheila Malcolmson says the party is founded on division. "These MLAs have attacked one group after the next — Indigenous people, LGBTQ+ people. They just want to make people hate each other. It's the most divisive and harmful politics we've seen in B.C. in our lifetimes," she said. Forming an official political party gives the two MLAs a pay raise, funding for caucus staff and more opportunities to ask questions in the legislature. Former B.C. Liberal and B.C. United communications director Andrew Reeve says the new party could siphon off votes from the B.C. Conservatives, which is also facing a challenge from another new party, Karin Kirkpatrick's Centre B.C.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Manitoba premier hints at using emergency powers to open up hotel rooms for wildfire evacuees
Manitoba's premier says his government could use emergency powers to free up hotel rooms for people who escaped the wildfires still raging in the province's north. Premier Wab Kinew told reporters Thursday the province along with partners in the hotel industry have opened thousands of rooms for the more than 21,000 people who've fled the fires — but that there's still many families sleeping on cots weeks after the government declared a provincewide state of emergency. "We have emergency powers. We've been very restrained in how we're using them and we don't want to use them," he said, calling on hotel operators sitting on rooms to voluntarily open them up for evacuees. "For those operators of hotels who aren't stepping up, we need to see more," he said. "We all know that there's more rooms out there that we could be tapping into." The premier made the remarks after landing in Winnipeg following a trip to the front lines of the battle against the largest wildfire currently raging in the province. For his final stop, Kinew toured the congregate shelter that's been set up to welcome evacuees in Thompson, about 400 kilometres north of Winnipeg as the crow flies. It's "pulling at the heartstrings when we see families with kids sleeping on cots in a hockey rink," he said. "There's rooms in Thompson people could be accessing and I'd like to see those opened up. There's rooms in other parts of the province.… We're not talking about forever here." Some First Nations leadership have been urging the province to free up the hotel rooms for evacuees. WATCH | Province takes over security at Winnipeg evacuee shelter amid safety concerns: Province takes over shelter security after wildfire evacuee safety concerns 5 hours ago Duration 2:38 Safety concerns have prompted the Manitoba government to take over security at a congregate shelter in Winnipeg for people fleeing from the 21 active wildfires in the province. Meanwhile, officials say rain and cooler weather have helped to fight the fires, but hotter, drier weather is raising the fire danger. Last week, Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias wrote a letter calling on the government to use emergency measures to make the rooms available. Kinew said he hasn't heard feedback from any hotels declining to host evacuees, but that the province has "a lot of data" about the rooms that are currently occupied. "I feel confident saying we know that there's more that some in the hotel sector can do," he said. Flin Flon 'like a scene out of a movie': premier The premier started Thursday's tour in Bakers Narrows — where firefighters are staging their response to the fire threatening the City of Flin Flon and other communities. The province's largest fire was 307,780 hectares as of the latest fire bulletin Thursday afternoon. "What really strikes me is that we're in a helicopter there with somebody who's been in the Manitoba Wildfire Service for decades and they say you'd have a big fire, you know, once every eight years or so," Kinew said. "Now, it's every single year we're getting these massive blazes and they're happening earlier and its going later into the year." After Bakers Narrows, the premier went into Flin Flon, where roughly 5,000 people have been forced out of their homes. The city is about 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. "If you've ever been to Flin Flon, it's a city like many others in Manitoba," Kinew said, noting the usually busy streets are now deserted. "You go there right, now, it's like a scene out of a movie." Kinew said he met firefighters from all over the province in Flin Flon, including volunteers using their vacation time to help out as well as recently trained First Nations firefighters. He also said he met people coming from the U.S. and thanked them for stepping up. The crews have "held this huge, massive wildfire at bay. The biggest wildfire that we can recall being on their doorstep, and they've done it by working together," he said. "It's amazing just to see the co-operation to protect such an iconic city."
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Canada's UN vote on Israel criticized as departure from past position
Canada joined 148 other countries in voting in favour of a United Nations resolution that calls for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza, despite opposition to the motion from the U.S. and Israel. The vote Thursday took place days after Ottawa imposed sanctions against two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers for 'inciting violence against Palestinians' in the West Bank, in a rare rebuke to an allied country. It's another example of how Canada's policy toward Israel appears to be shifting under Prime Minister Mark Carney, who took office in March. A major Jewish-Canadian lobby group condemned the Canadian government's vote, saying it marked a significant departure from Ottawa's previous position at the United Nations. 'The resolution makes no demand for Hamas to disarm or be excluded from Gaza's future. It ignores Israel's right to self-defence, dismisses its legitimate security concerns, and says nothing of the existential threat posed by a genocidal terrorist group,' the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) noted in a statement. CIJA noted that last September, when Justin Trudeau was still prime minister, Canada abstained from a similar UN resolution vote on the grounds, according to the Department of Global Affairs, that Canada could not 'support a resolution where one party, the state of Israel, is held solely responsible for the conflict.' The Jewish-Canadian group argued that Canada's vote will only embolden Hamas, the Palestinian militant group fighting Israel. Hamas is designated as a terrorist group by Ottawa. Canada, Western allies sanction two Israeli lawmakers for incitement of 'extremist violence' The resolution also called for the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and unrestricted access for the delivery of desperately needed food to 2 million Palestinians. The vote in the 193-member General Assembly was 149-12, with 19 abstentions. Speaking before the vote, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon vehemently opposed the resolution. He denied that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war, calling the accusation 'blood libel,' and insisted that aid is being delivered. Experts and human-rights workers say hunger is widespread in Gaza and that Palestinians are at risk of famine if Israel does not fully lift its blockade and halt its military campaign, which it renewed in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas. Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bob Rae, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations in New York, told the General Assembly Thursday that the Canadian government 'profoundly regrets' that the resolution 'does not with explicit language, condemn Hamas's horrific terrorist attacks on October the 7th, 2023, in which over 1,200 people were killed' in Israel. He said Hamas's taking of hostages, 'many of whom were killed, still remain in captivity, and is entirely unacceptable to us and frankly, I think, to this assembly.' Mr. Rae said he is sorry that an amendment could not be made to the resolution, adding that Canada continues to condemn Hamas and 'it is clear that Hamas must disarm and that the organization cannot have any role to play in the future governance of Gaza.' Thursday's vote also comes ahead of a UN conference next week that aims to reinvigorate an international push for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States has urged countries not to attend. NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson said voting for the resolution is the 'bare minimum' Canada should be doing to help Gaza. She said Ottawa should be suspending its free-trade agreement with Israel, take more action to end all weapons trade with Israel and recognize the state of Palestine. Asked about the criticism of the Canadian government from CIJA, Ms. McPherson said the group 'seems very out of touch' on some things. 'There are children that are dying right now of hunger.' With reports from the Associated Press and Reuters
