Five stories in the news for Monday, April 15
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ONTARIO’S CARBON TAX COURT CHALLENGE GETS UNDERWAY
Ontario’s battle against Ottawa’s carbon tax gets underway in the province’s top court today. Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government has denounced the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act as an illegal tax grab that will drive up the price of gasoline and heating fuel. The federal Liberal government, on the other hand, insists it is responding appropriately to an issue of national concern — climate change. The climate change law applies in provinces that have no carbon-pricing regimes of their own that meet national standards.
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ALBERTA’S ELECTION CLASH OF TITANS FIZZLES
Alberta’s election campaign promised a titanic clash of ideas and ideologies between two nationally known leaders, but delivered a burlesque of biting attacks and bozo eruptions — and a surprise guest appearance by the RCMP. Rachel Notley will make history Tuesday as either the first Alberta NDP premier to win re-election or the first-ever leader of an Alberta party that failed to win a renewed mandate on its first try. A win for Jason Kenney’s United Conservatives, as predicted by the polls, means a return to the right-centre for Alberta, its traditional home since the middle of the last century.
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1 DEAD, 1 IN HOSPITAL, 1 IN CUSTODY AFTER SHOOTING AT B.C. CHURCH
A 25-year-old man is in custody following a shooting at a church in Salmon Arm, B.C., that left one person dead and sent another to hospital Sunday morning. Local RCMP say the shooting happened during an event at the Church of Christ in the community about 100 kilometres north of Kelowna, and that investigators do not believe it was religiously motivated. Police also say the suspect knew at least one of his alleged victims.
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INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S INQUIRY SEEKS RCMP FILES
The national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women is fighting in court for access to two RCMP files the national police force is refusing to hand over. The inquiry is set to issue its long-awaited report in June, but says it wants the contested Mountie files to complete its work on one of the saddest chapters in Canada’s recent history. Little is publicly known about the two disputed files other than their titles: “Missing Person: Missing Indigenous Woman” and “Homicide: Murdered Indigenous Woman.”
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FINAL REPORT EXPECTED ON N.S. ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES
A commission looking to redraw Nova Scotia’s electoral map is expected to issue its final report today. In an interim report released in November the commission called for the restoration of four electoral districts aimed at improving representation for black and Acadian voters. The districts were eliminated in 2012, but the changes led to a successful court challenge by the province’s Acadian community. Today’s report follows a set of public consultations in January and February that presented four alternatives for consideration.
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ALSO IN THE NEWS:
— Bank of Canada to release its spring Business Outlook Survey and Senior Loan officer survey.
— Canadian Real Estate Association expected to release March home sales results.
— Small Business Minister Mary Ng announces in Toronto an investment in women entrepreneurs.
— Annual conference of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health opens in Edmonton.
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The Canadian Press
