Latest news with #Bittner
National Observer
12-05-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
Vote recount underway after close federal result in Newfoundland riding
A judicial recount got underway Monday in a rural Newfoundland riding where the Liberals finished with a 12-vote lead. Officials will recount every vote cast in the riding, and it could take a day or two before the results are known, Elections Canada said in an email Monday. The review will decide whether Liberal Anthony Germain or Conservative Jonathan Rowe represents the Terra Nova—The Peninsulas riding in Parliament. The recount in central Newfoundland is one of four ordered after the election last month by the federal elections agency. In all four, the margins between the winner and the runner-up were fewer than 80 votes. Amanda Bittner, a political science professor at Memorial University in St. John's, said the April 28 election was a great example of how sometimes, just a handful of votes can determine who wins. "A lot of the time, voters will not come out to vote, because the costs are high and the payoff is low, and it won't make a difference anyway, so why bother?" Bittner said in an interview Monday. "And then we have elections like this last one where, clearly, when the stakes are high and when competitiveness is high and it seems like a really important election, people do turn out to vote." This year's election is the first in the past decade to end in races close enough to trigger an automatic judicial recount. Such counts are triggered when the winning margin is less than one-one thousandth of the valid votes cast in the riding, as per Elections Canada rules. A judicial recount got underway Monday in a rural Newfoundland riding where the Liberals finished with a 12-vote lead. An automatic recount will begin Tuesday in Milton East—Halton Hills South, in Ontario, after Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen finished 29 votes ahead of Conservative Parm Gill. On Saturday, an automatic recount ended in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne with the Liberals winning by just one vote. In Windsor-Tecumseh, Conservative Kathy Borrelli finished ahead of Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk by 77 votes, which is just above the threshold for an automatic recount, but an Ontario Superior Court judge ordered a review last week. By comparison, all of the recounts ordered in the 2021, 2019 and 2015 elections were requested by candidates, and none had margins narrow enough to trigger an automatic review, according to Elections Canada news releases. The majority had winning margins of more than 100 votes. Bittner said a number of factors contributed to the unique year, including a sense that the election this year was particularly important. People were afraid of United States President Donald Trump making good on his threats to use economic force to make Canada the 51st state, and to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods, she said. And many voters felt like the election would be a close race between the Conservatives and the Liberals, Bittner said — especially since polls showed public favour shifting from the Conservatives to the Liberals in the months before the vote. Support for the NDP all but dried up: the party won 25 seats in the 2021 election, and just seven this year. "There was a lot of uncertainty that led to a lot of close races that wouldn't have been so close in the past, because there would have been more viable third and fourth parties," she said. Terra Nova — The Peninsulas covers a vast area of central Newfoundland. The recount began Monday in a community events hall in Marystown, N.L., which is about 185 kilometres southwest of St. John's. Brian Keating, the town's mayor, said the recount was quite an event for the community of about 5,200 people. "Everybody's been excited about it," he said in an interview. Pointing to Saturday's one-vote recount win for the Liberals, which brought the party one seat closer to a majority government, Keating added: "It's getting more interesting every day, isn't it?"
CBC
20-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
NLers will vote in a scorching political climate, prof says — and they're paying attention to the chaos
A federal election could be called as early as Sunday, and a Newfoundland and Labrador political scientist says it comes at a time when the entire country is paying attention to politics like never before. "A whole bunch of people who normally don't have been following politics," Amanda Bittner, a political scientist at Memorial University, told CBC News Thursday. "A lot has happened in the last two months to shift Canadian attitudes about the parties, about the future of the country." Bittner said Prime Minister Mark Carney's desire to call an election likely comes as the result of a Liberal surge in polling. CBC's Poll Tracker shows Carney with a slight lead over Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — something she says seemed impossible under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "It makes sense, I think, if you're Carney… to say 'OK, well now is the time. We need to get this show on the road, we want to secure the future, and also we have a good shot right now,' which I don't think that they anticipated two months ago," she said. Carney, who was sworn in last week, is expected to ask Governor General Mary Simon to dissolve Parliament and call a federal election on Sunday. That would result in a snap election that could see voters cast their ballots on either April 28 or May 5, according to sources that spoke with Radio-Canada. The election call comes at a key time in Canada's political landscape, just months after Trudeau's resignation and a trade war with United States President Donald Trump. WATCH | Amanda Bittner wants leaders to share meaningful, clear policy: Here's what this political scientist says she'll be watching for leading up to a federal election 3 hours ago Duration 1:10 Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call a federal election on Sunday. Amanda Bittner, a political scientist at Memorial University, says she wants to see leaders and candidates hit the ground running with clear and stated policy in the weeks leading up to the snap election. Bittner said how those leaders choose to respond to the high political temperature will have an impact. "There's a full alphabet of problems at the moment, and so my hope for the next four weeks is that we hear from parties and candidates with clear policy ideas. That they're not just spouting gimmicky phrases," she said. "We actually have big problems that require real solutions. And so my hope is that we're going to hear from politicians who want to be elected on a platform with real content [and] with their real plan." In particular, Bittner said she's curious as to how Poilievre's rhetoric will change as the election develops. Much of his platform centred around being opposed to Trudeau and the federal carbon tax, she said, which Carney announced he would remove effective April 1. In Newfoundland and Labrador, only one of six Liberal MPs have chosen to seek re-election. While Bittner said it's too early to know if a shakeup in the province is imminent, she'll be keeping an eye on how nominations develop. "The question is going to be who are they, and what are they going to do," she said. "It's an exciting time where anything is possible, really."
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Anchorage judge rules state's brown-bear killings are unconstitutional
Four brown bears line up at the top of the falls on the Brooks River on Sept. 6, 2021, to fish for salmon. Brooks Falls draws bears from around the region, as well as Katmai National Park and Preserve tourists who travel there to view the bear crowds. (Photo by L. Law/National Park Service) The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's decision to kill almost 200 brown bears in order to boost a struggling caribou herd violated due process and was unconstitutional, an Anchorage Superior Court judge ruled Friday. Judge Andrew Guidi's 10-page decision means at least a temporary end to the state's controversial bear-killing program, which was intended to aid the struggling Mulchatna caribou herd. 'Unless they want to seek a stay of this decision, they've got to stop killing bears,' said attorney Joe Geldhof, who represented the Alaska Wildlife Alliance in a lawsuit that prompted Friday's decision. The Alliance sued the state in 2023 to challenge the application of Alaska's 'intensive management' project in Southwest Alaska. Originally designed to kill wolves in order to boost the populations of prey species that hunters pursue, the program was expanded in 2022 to cover bears that have been preying on the Mulchatna caribou herd. That herd, which contained 200,000 animals at its peak in 1997, has declined to about 13,000 animals and is closed to hunting. Anchorage attorney Michelle Bittner filed a separate lawsuit, also challenging the state's bear-killing program. Both lawsuits argued that the state's Board of Game failed to follow adequate due process standards before beginning the program. Before a judge could consider the merits of either case, state attorneys argued that Bittner did not have the standing to bring a lawsuit on the issue. That argument went all the way to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled in February that Bittner could bring her case. That cleared the way for the Alaska Wildlife Alliance's lawsuit to advance as well, with oral arguments taking place in March. Ruling Friday on the merits, Guidi concluded that the Board of Game violated due process and did not provide adequate public notice when it began its bear-killing program. 'The notice provided by the BOG contemplating extension of an existing wolf control program to lands managed by the federal government that was altered to include a bear removal program on state lands substantially changed the subject matter of the proposal,' Guidi wrote. 'These changes went far beyond varying, clarifying or altering the specific matter of the proposal addressed in the original notice. As a result, the BOG failed to adhere to mandatory due process standards.' Guidi also found that the Board of Game violated the Alaska Constitution's principle of sustained yield because it valued the sustainability of caribou herds but didn't adequately study what would happen to bear populations. 'The issue of the bear population and distribution is an obvious salient issue touching on sustainability,' he wrote. 'Addressing the sustainability of a constitutionally protected resource like bears almost certainly requires the BOG to engage in more than a rudimentary discussion about a bear population or engage in conclusionary opinions when considering a proposal to initiate a program calling for the unrestricted killing of bears.' A spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Law, which represented the Board of Game in the lawsuit, said the state is reviewing the order and considering its options for how to proceed. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alaskans have grounds to sue over predator-control killing of bears, court rules
A bear sits in the grass in 2023 in Katmai National Park and Preserve. A state predator control program aimed at helping the ailing Mulchatna caribou herd may have killed bears that use the national park, thus affecting people who enjoy Katmai bear viewing and giving them legal standing to challenge the state program, the Supreme Court said. (Photo by F. Jimenez/National Park Service) Alaskans who enjoy watching bears and other wildlife have legitimate grounds to sue the state over predator-control programs that may put those same animals at risk, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled on Friday. The ruling reinstating a lawsuit, dismissed earlier by a Superior Court judge, that challenged a state program that is killing bears and wolves to try to boost a faltering Western Alaska caribou herd. Michelle Bittner, the Anchorage attorney who filed the lawsuit in 2023, does have legal standing to challenge the controversial program that has killed nearly 200 bears so far, the Supreme Court found. Standing, in legal terms, is the authority to challenge an action or law in court. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Bittner argued that her visits to Katmai National Park and Preserve, a destination famous for its brown bears and bear-viewing opportunities, gave her sufficient authority to sue in court to overturn the state's predator-control program aimed at helping the Mulchatna Caribou Herd. At a hearing last summer, Bittner told the justices about her feelings about wildlife, her experiences at Katmai and her understanding, from talking to park staffers, that the Mulchatna predator control program had killed some of the bears that roam into the park. The Supreme Court agreed that Bittner's travels to Katmai and her attachment to the bear-viewing experience there gave her standing to sue the state. 'We hold that because the resident returned to Katmai National Park after the bear population was allegedly reduced by the State's program, she has alleged an injury to her interest in viewing bears there sufficient to demonstrate standing,' the decision said. The justices rejected the state's argument that Bittner lacked legal standing because she did not travel to the exact area where the bear- and wolf-culling program was carried out. 'As long as it is plausible that the harm caused by the predator control program extends to the area of Katmai that Bittner visited, her allegation is sufficient to support interest-injury standing,' the ruling said. Bittner's complaint had been dismissed on Oct. 31, 2023, for lack of legal standing. The court did not rule on the merits of Bittner's case against the Mulchatna bear-culling program. Instead, it sent the case back to the Superior Court level to sort out those questions. Tim Peltier, a regional supervisor for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Division of Wildlife Management, declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling. He cited the case's status as active litigation. Bittner's lawsuit was one of two filed in 2023 that sought to overturn the Mulchatna predator-control program. The other lawsuit was filed by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. That case is still pending in Superior Court and is before the same judge who dismissed Bittner's complaint in 2023. Oral arguments in that case are set for March 3. The Alaska Board of Game authorized the Mulchatna predator-control program in 2022. In May and June of 2023, the department killed 94 brown bears, five black bears and five wolves, carrying out the program's first year of operation. In its 2024 operation, the department killed another 81 bears and 14 wolves. The program is authorized to continue to 2028. The program is highly controversial. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has argued that it is needed to help a caribou herd that crashed from a peak of about 200,000 in 1997 to less than 13,000 in recent years. Hunting for Mulchatna caribou was closed in 2021. The goal is to get the caribou population back up to at least 30,000, according to the department. Removing predators that feed on caribou, especially on caribou calves, is a tool to help achieve that goal, the department has argued. Peltier, commenting by email, said the effects of last year's predator control work is still being studied, 'however at this point it appears that the treatment had a positive effect.' 'Our intention is to repeat the treatment this spring for the third year and to continue to assess the effects,' he said by email. But several scientists argue that factors other than predation, mostly a habitat transformation caused by climate change, are behind the Mulchatna herd's decline. Among those changes is the spread of woody shrubs to an area once dominated by open tundra. The vegetation changes have benefited moose, which have boomed in population, because moose feed on those shrubs. But they harm caribou, which depend on lichen and other tundra plants. Other factors cited by biologists as contributing to the herd's decline include the freeze-thaw cycles that have become more common with climate change but create difficult, icy conditions for caribou, outbreaks of brucellosis, a bacterial disease, and illegal hunting, The way that the Alaska Board of Game approved the program is also at issue in the two lawsuits. Bittner and the Alaska Wildlife Alliance allege that the approval was rushed and failed to provide adequate notice for public comment. Bittner disagreed with the department's suggestion that the bear and wolf kills carried out to date have helped the herd. Numbers are about the same now as they were previously, she said. She said Gov. Mike Dunleavy should instruct Doug Vincent-Lang, the commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game, to pause the program until the legal case is resolved. 'Otherwise, Alaskans, the country, and the world will know that over 200 bears and countless wolves were killed on his watch when bears and wolves are declining all over the country and the world,' she said by email. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
WSFS Announces Kathryn Bittner as Chief Operating Officer, Commercial Banking
WILMINGTON, Del., February 04, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WSFS Bank, the primary subsidiary of WSFS Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: WSFS), is pleased to announce the appointment of Kathryn Bittner to the position of Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Commercial Banking, reporting to James (Jim) Wechsler, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Banking Officer. Bittner succeeds Wechsler who was promoted to Chief Commercial Banking Officer effective January 1, 2025. In her new role, Bittner will oversee operations, finance, sales strategy, and the credit development program for Commercial Banking. "Kathryn's diverse experience and ability to motivate teams and integrate strategy and execution makes her an ideal fit to help lead the Commercial Banking team toward sustained growth and deliver exceptional value to our clients," said Wechsler. Bittner joined WSFS in 2022 as part of the integration with Bryn Mawr Trust and has played a central role in leading Sales Strategy & Enablement for Commercial Banking. She has over 30 years of banking experience including leadership and business development roles at M&T, Citizens, and Mellon. This transition reflects WSFS' continued focus on nurturing high-performing talent to drive innovation and growth across its operations. About WSFS Financial CorporationWSFS Financial Corporation is a multibillion-dollar financial services company. Its primary subsidiary, WSFS Bank, is the oldest and largest locally headquartered bank and trust company in the Greater Philadelphia and Delaware region. As of December 31, 2024, WSFS Financial Corporation had $20.8 billion in assets on its balance sheet and $89.4 billion in assets under management and administration. WSFS operates from 114 offices, 88 of which are banking offices, located in Pennsylvania (57), Delaware (39), New Jersey (14), Florida (2), Nevada (1) and Virginia (1) and provides comprehensive financial services including commercial banking, consumer banking, treasury management and trust and wealth management. Other subsidiaries or divisions include Arrow Land Transfer, Bryn Mawr Capital Management, LLC, Bryn Mawr Trust® , The Bryn Mawr Trust Company of Delaware, Cash Connect® , NewLane Finance® , Powdermill® Financial Solutions, WSFS Institutional Services® , WSFS Mortgage® , and WSFS Wealth® Investments. Serving the Greater Delaware Valley since 1832, WSFS Bank is one of the ten oldest banks in the United States continuously operating under the same name. For more information, please visit View source version on Contacts Media Contact: Andrew Davison(215) 309-1064adavison@ Sign in to access your portfolio
