Five stories in the news for Tuesday, March 26
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CANADIANS EVACUATED COUNTER-TERROR TROOPS IN MALI
Canadian peacekeepers were called upon to evacuate several wounded French soldiers in Mali earlier this month after their counter-terrorism patrol was ambushed by militants. The previously unreported evacuation marked the first time the Canadians have been asked to help non-UN forces in the sprawling West African nation, where the French have been conducting counter-terror operations since 2014. Canadian mission commander Col. Travis Morehen says the UN and France have agreed to help each other in extreme circumstances and that his peacekeepers ended up saving allied lives.
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TRUDEAU MEETING WITH LABOUR LEADERS IN WINNIPEG
Justin Trudeau will be focusing on the training benefits in the recently released budget as he meets with labour leaders in Winnipeg today. The prime minister arrived in the city yesterday evening and gave a speech at Liberal donor event about how this fall’s election is a choice about the kind of country Canadians want. Trudeau warned people not to move towards populism and dog-whistle politics. Trudeau never spoke about the S-N-C-Lavalin controversy ,but alluded to it by telling the crowd of supporters that the Conservatives are trying to avoid talking about the recently released budget because they don’t have a better plan.
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SNOWDEN ‘GUARDIAN ANGEL’ ARRIVES IN CANADA
A woman who escaped violence and human trafficking, and helped shelter former CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden when he fled to Hong Kong, has arrived in Canada with her daughter after being granted refugee status. Vanessa Rodel and her seven-year-old daughter Keana arrived in Toronto on Monday before travelling to Montreal, where they will settle in an apartment provided to them by a non-profit group that filed her 2016 asylum application. Her lawyer, Robert Tibbo, said Rodel was part of a group that became known as Snowden’s “Guardian Angels.” They helped the fugitive at Tibbo’s request in 2013, when the whistleblower fled the United States to Hong Kong after leaking classified information about the U.S. National Security Administration.
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B.C. BRINGS IN TAX CREDIT TO SPUR LNG DEVELOPMENT
British Columbia is changing the province’s tax structure for liquefied natural gas projects, aiming to encourage more development through a natural gas tax credit. Finance Minister Carole James says the change was introduced in legislation Monday and is meant to bring jobs and other financial benefits to the province through economic partnerships with Indigenous Peoples while also protecting the environment. Under the changes, the government would amend the Income Tax Act to implement the tax credit for LNG development. It would also repeal the Liquefied Natural Gas Income Tax Act, which it says created barriers for investment and left the province open to footing the bill for special industry tax and regulatory protections.
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NOVA SCOTIA TO TABLE BALANCED BUDGET TODAY
Nova Scotia’s Liberal government is expected to table its fourth consecutive balanced budget today. Finance Minister Karen Casey says past fiscal prudence means the budget will contain increased funding for priority areas such as health care and education. Casey says the capital plan announced earlier this month shows the province is committed to boosting health care spending for things that are needed. The capital plan contains $156.9 million for redevelopment of the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax and design work for new health-care facilities in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
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ALSO IN THE NEWS:
— A sentencing hearing will be held for Matthew Percy, a former Saint Mary’s University groundskeeper who was found guilty of sexual assault and voyeurism.
— The trial continues of Lance Matthew Regan, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of a fellow inmate at Edmonton Institution in 2011. The charge was initially thrown out due to trial delays and the Supreme Court’s Jordan decision.
— Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale delivers a keynote address to the Regina and District Chamber of Commerce.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: CORRECTS typo in headline of 3rd item
