By Canadian Press

The Thursday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Sep 8, 2017 | 9:53 AM

Highlights from the news file for Thursday, Sept. 7

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QUEBECER DESCRIBES IRMA AS TERRIFYING: A Quebec man living on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin is calling hurricane Irma the most terrifying experience of his life after 300-km/h winds ripped the roof off his house and others in the same complex. The Category 5 storm left disaster in its wake Wednesday when it hit Saint Martin, where Rene H. Lepine has lived permanently for four years running a real-estate development. Before that, Lepine had been a frequent visitor to the island — his wife and extended family are from the area. But nothing could prepare him for the fury of Irma. “It was the most terrifying experience of my life, to put it mildly,” he told The Canadian Press in a Facebook conversation Thursday as he used a gas generator to keep his phone charged. Irma’s path of devastation across the northern Caribbean left at least 10 dead and thousands homeless after destroying buildings and uprooting trees on a track Thursday that could lead to a catastrophic strike on Florida.

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LIBERAL TAX PLAN DEMONIZES CANADIANS, SCHEER SAYS: The federal Liberals are demonizing the country’s small business owners to pay for their own out-of-control spending, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Thursday. Scheer opened a two-day meeting of Conservative MPs and senators by hammering on the Liberal government’s plan to end what it calls unfair tax advantages for the wealthy by changing elements of the tax code. The proposed changes to the tax code announced by the Liberals earlier this summer provided an unexpected political gift to the Conservatives, seeking new momentum in Opposition after Scheer was elected leader of the party in May. Dozens of groups have rallied against the changes and Trudeau got an earful at a town hall Wednesday night in Kelowna, B.C., where the Liberals are currently meeting. Scheer told caucus the subject will be top of mind when Parliament resumes this fall, as the Opposition seeks to press the government on other hot-button issues from the summer. 

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CANADA URGED TO PUT ‘DREAMER’ SYSTEM IN PLACE: U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to end protections for those who entered the U.S. illegally as children could spark a new wave of immigration and asylum requests, some analysts warn. If that happens, they say, Canada’s already stressed systems would come under further pressure and potentially intensify a backlash against newcomers. About 1.7 million illegal migrants to the United States — the vast majority of them Mexicans — are either registered or qualify for registration under a five-year-old policy called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. The program, which Trump wants ended, allows them to obtain work permits and protects them from deportation. Martha Batiz, an award-winning Mexican-Canadian writer and academic, said Canada would do well to put a system in place to welcome Dreamers, many of whom have grown up in the U.S. and are therefore culturally adapted and speak English as well as Spanish. Otherwise, she said, they might feel desperate enough to create the kind of risky and uncontrolled influx recently seen with Haitian and African migrants.

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CHIEFS WANT MANITOBA TO DECLARE STATE OF EMERGENCY: Some Indigenous leaders want the Manitoba government to declare a state of emergency and free up more hotel rooms for people who have fled forest fires in the north. Chief Dino Flett of Garden Hill First Nation says people living in close quarters in emergency shelters in Winnipeg have been getting sick. He says this is the first time he can recall large shelters being used for forest fire evacuees because of a lack of available hotel rooms. Garden Hill and two other Indigenous communities were evacuated last week, and more than 1,000 people were initially put up in two large shelters in Winnipeg. The Canadian Red Cross says it has been transferring people to hotel rooms as they become available, and only about 300 people remain at a shelter. Premier Brian Pallister says he won’t declare a state of emergency, and says everyone involved is doing the best they can.

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PROTESTERS BUILD TINY HOMES IN PIPELINE PATH: Members of the Secwepemc Nation in British Columbia say they are building the first of 10 tiny homes that will be placed directly in the path of Kinder Morgan’s $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Kanahus Manuel of the Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society says the house is a symbol of sustainability in the face of an environmentally damaging project and is based on homes built at the Standing Rock protest in the United States. Manuel says she lived in a tiny home at the Dakota Access Pipeline protest for three months in 2016 and asked the designer of the building to create plans for buildings that could be placed in Trans Mountain’s path. She says the mobile houses will be occupied by people struggling with a housing crisis in the Secwepemc Nation and will be 5.5 metres wide and 3.6 metres tall with a wood stove and solar panels. Trans Mountain, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Canada, did not immediately respond to a request for comment but it announced yesterday that it had hired six contractors in advance of planned pipeline construction activities this month.

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NOVA SCOTIA JUDGE WHO ACQUITTED CAB DRIVER TO BE INVESTIGATED: Nova Scotia’s chief justice has ordered an investigation into complaints against a provincial court judge who presided over a high-profile case involving a taxi driver accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated female passenger. Justice Michael MacDonald issued a statement Thursday saying a three-member review committee will look into allegations of misconduct against Judge Gregory Lenehan. Lenehan faced intense public scrutiny in March when he issued an oral decision that concluded the Crown had failed to prove the woman’s lack of consent. He followed up by saying, “Clearly, a drunk can consent,” then acquitted 40-year-old taxi driver Bassam Al-Rawi. Lenehan’s choice of words set off a storm of social media criticism, a letter-writing campaign calling for a judicial council to investigate, and two public protests. The Crown has appealed Lenehan’s decision.

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NEW MURDER TRIAL ORDERED FOR EX-SOLDIER: Ontario’s top court has ordered a new murder trial for an ex-soldier who walked free because his case took too long to be heard. The Crown had appealed a judge’s decision to stay a first-degree murder charge against Adam Picard under new time limits established by the Supreme Court of Canada last summer. It also alleged Ontario Superior Court Justice Julianne Parfett mischaracterized the nature of the delays, failed to consider the complexity of the case and did not properly account for a transitional period in applying the new rules. Picard was arrested in December 2012 in the killing of 28-year-old Fouad Nayel, who police believe died the day he went missing in June of that year. The trial was set to begin in 2016 when the murder charge was stayed in a surprise decision.

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NDP LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE SINGH GETS RIVAL’S HELP: Federal NDP leadership hopeful Jagmeet Singh has clinched the backing of veteran politician and former leadership rival Peter Julian. Julian says Singh represents the diversity the NDP needs in order to thrive against the Liberals and Conservatives. He says he has been impressed in recent weeks by the breakthrough Singh had made in signing up new members. Julian notes there is a distinction between debating fellow leadership hopefuls and choosing whom to support, and he took the time necessary to make the right choice. Julian, who represents the British Columbia riding of New Westminster-Burnaby, dropped out of the race in July, citing poor fundraising numbers. The race to replace outgoing NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is heating up, with the first round of voting scheduled to take place later this month.

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TORONTO TO BID FOR AMAZON HEADQUARTERS: Toronto Mayor John Tory says he will be leading the charge to convince Amazon that it should call the city its second home. Amazon announced Thursday that it is hunting for a site for a new headquarters in North America, in addition to its sprawling Seattle hub. Tory says in a statement that Toronto is a prime candidate for the technology giant and that city staff plan to put together an attractive bid. Amazon says that it will spend more than $5 billion US to build another headquarters in North America to house as many as 50,000 employees. The technology company plans to stay in its current Seattle headquarters and the new space will be a full equal of its current home, said Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. Cities have a little more than a month to apply through a special website, and the company said it will make a final decision next year.

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TORONTO COUNCILLOR APOLOGIZES FOR ‘KNITTING’ COMMENT: Toronto’s deputy mayor is apologizing for comments he made about the city’s outgoing chief planner after backlash from critics who called his words sexist. Denzil Minnan-Wong told the Toronto Sun last week that Jennifer Keesmaat “should stick to the knitting,” meaning city planning, rather than weighing in on other matters. Keesmaat fired back on CBC’s Metro Morning on Thursday, saying she found the comment deeply offensive. Minnan-Wong says his comments were taken out of context, but added he nonetheless believes the city’s next chief planner should focus on planning. Keesmaat plans on leaving the role next month after five years on the job during which she has often been an outspoken advocate on accessibility, transit and public space issues. Several local councillors, from Mary-Margaret McMahon to Mike Layton to Joe Cressy, called out Minnan-Wong for his comments. “First of all, I’m not going to mince words, he might as well have told me to go back to the kitchen,” Keesmaat told Metro Morning host Matt Galloway. “Just so you know, I’ve never been there — I’m not a very good cook — I think it’s a deeply offensive comment.”

The Canadian Press