In The News for Jan. 17: Would the NDP end its deal with the governing Liberals?

In exchange, the Liberals promised to make progress on NDP priorities, including pharmacare.

“We’ll absolutely be watching very carefully to see where the government is at, and whether or not they are going to honour their word,” NDP caucus chair Jenny Kwan said Monday.

Before the holiday break, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh threatened to pull out of the agreement if federal action isn’t taken to improve health care, which the party sees as a national crisis.

Kwan said pulling out of the agreement remains an option.

Cost-of-living policies the Liberals passed last fall, including dental-care subsidies for children under 12 in low-income households, one-time rental supplements for low-income renters and a temporary doubling of the GST tax rebate, had been NDP priorities.

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Also this …

Statistics Canada will release its inflation report for December this morning.

The federal agency’s consumer price index report will provide insight on how quickly prices rose last month as Canada continues to struggle with decades-high inflation.

In November, the inflation rate was 6.8 per cent.

RBC expects the inflation rate eased to 6.4 per cent last month, continuing to trend downward after peaking at 8.1 per cent in the summer.

The latest inflation report comes about a week ahead of the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate decision.

The Bank of Canada has signalled a willingness to press pause on its aggressive rate hiking cycle depending on how economic conditions evolve, but many economists are banking on another rate hike next week.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

A failed Republican candidate who authorities say was angry over his defeat and made baseless claims the election last November was rigged against him has been arrested in connection with a series of drive-by shootings targeting the homes of Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico’s largest city.

Police say Solomon Pena was arrested Monday evening, just hours after SWAT officers took him into custody and served search warrants at his home.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina describes Pena as the “mastermind” of what he says appears to be a politically motivated conspiracy with four other men leading to shootings at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators between early December and early January.

No one was injured in the shootings but in one case three bullets passed through the bedroom of a state senator’s 10-year-old daughter.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

More than 90 countries have expressed “deep concern” at Israel’s punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership and civil society following a U.N. request for an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice on the legality of Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

In a statement released Monday by the Palestinians, the signatories called for a reversal of the Israeli measures, saying regardless of their position on the General Assembly’s resolution, “we reject punitive measures in response to a request for an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice.”

The 193-member General Assembly voted 87-26 with 53 abstentions on Dec. 30 in favour of the resolution which was promoted by the Palestinians and opposed vehemently by Israel. Even though rulings by the International Court of Justice are not legally binding, they can be influential on world opinion.

Israel’s new hard-line government responded on Jan. 6, approving steps to penalize the Palestinians in retaliation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his Cabinet two days later that the measures against the Palestinians were aimed at what he called “an extreme anti-Israel” step at the United Nations.

The government’s Security Cabinet decided to withhold $39 million from the Palestinian Authority and transferring the funds instead to a compensation program for the families of Israeli victims of Palestinian militant attacks.

It also decided to deduct the amount of revenue Israel typically transfers to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority by a sum equal to the amount paid last year to families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed in the conflict, including militants implicated in attacks against Israelis.

The Palestinian leadership describes the payments as necessary social welfare, while Israel says the so-called Martyrs’ Fund incentivizes violence.

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On this day in 1945 …

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

Moscow authorities admitted years later that he died in custody, but the circumstances remain a mystery.

Wallenberg was the first person named an honorary citizen of Canada.

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In entertainment …

A public memorial service for Lisa Marie Presley will be held next weekend at Graceland, the famed Memphis home of her father, Elvis Presley.

A family representative says the memorial for Lisa Marie Presley will be held on the front lawn of the mansion at 9 a.m. on Jan. 22.

The 54-year-old Presley died Thursday, hours after being hospitalized for a medical emergency. It was previously announced that Presley will be buried at Graceland next to her son, Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020.

Elvis and other members of the Presley family are also buried at Graceland.

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Did you see this?

A whistle, a pocket watch and DNA analysis helped a Canadian Forces forensic team identify the remains of a Vancouver soldier more than 100 years after he died in France.

A National Defence statement says the remains of Cpl. Percy Howarth, a soldier in the First World War, were discovered during a munitions clearing process in Vendin-le-Vieil, France, in 2011, but it would be another decade before he could be identified.

Howarth was 23 years old when fought with the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion in the Battle of Hill 70 near Lens, France, in August 1917, and was presumed to have died in the fight.

More than 10,000 Canadians died, were wounded or went missing in that battle, including 140 men from Howarth’s infantry battalion, 118 of whom have no known grave.

Howarth was born in England but immigrated to Canada in 1912 and worked as a sailor in Vancouver before enlisting at the age of 21.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2023

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In The News for Jan. 17: Would the NDP end its deal with the governing Liberals?

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