Mother pushed onto tracks – Canada News

The Canadian Press –
Nov 11, 2018 / 6:57 pm | Story
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The Canadian Press –
Nov 11, 2018 / 1:49 pm | Story
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Canada Sunday, December 14, 2009 Canada.

Marie-Claude Bibeau said Canada will continue to speak "frankly" with other countries on the need for such services, even if it remains controversial in some circles.

Bibeau arrived in Rwanda on Sunday of a four-day international conference on family planning that runs until Thursday.

In a phone interview from Kigali, she told The Canadian press that some countries are willing to discuss the topic at meetings and do not always follow up with concrete commitments.

"Canada has a very, very important role to play in making conversations that are not narrowing," Bibeau said Sunday.

"We talk about everything and we talk about it openly," she explained.

These are important steps in eliminating poverty, especially among women.

"What we want is for every child and every one of us, and for mothers to have the means, that they are ready to receive that child," she said.

"To end poverty, we have to work to make it happen that we have the chance to develop their full potential."

The World Health Organization says some 214 million women who would like to delay it.

The federal government pledged up to $ 20 million to fund the world's health and planning initiatives in 2017. Donald Trump's decision to ban U.S. funding for abortion-related projects.

Besides Canada, the other countries involved in the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, France and Belgium.

The Canadian Press –
Nov 11, 2018 / 12:27 pm | Story
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UPDATED: 12:27 p.m.

Spiritual leaders reflected on the horrors of the First World War while calling for a world of tolerance and peace on behalf of Canadians.

While the sun shines down on the National War Memorial under a brilliant blue sky, thoughts and memories of the War to End All Wars

"We gather on this hallowed ground, on which is interred Canada's unknown soldiers, to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice," Maj.-Gen. Guy Chapdelaine, the most senior chaplain, intoned as the crowd stood silently.

"On the centenary of the signing of the armistice, we honor those names we know and God alone."

The present and future have been preached to a message of peace and reconciliation amidst growing concern in Canada and around the world that are already in danger of being forgotten.

"We know that peace is more than tolerating one another – it is recognizing ourselves in others and realizing that we are all on the path of life together," Chapdelaine said.

"Lord of justice and peace, empowering us to lay down our own weapons of exclusion, intolerance, hatred, and strife."

The same theme was picked up by Rabbi Reuven Bulka in his own sermon, as he urged Canadians to "reflect on the notion of a world war," and asked: "If the world can be at war, it is not possible for the world to be at peace?

"It is not possible, it is terribly necessary," he added. "We are here today for a world that is truly at peace, which is emphasized by respect, inclusion, co-operation, helpfulness, kindness and enveloping appreciation."

The messages were timely, coinciding as they did with a gathering of world leaders in Paris to mark the 100th anniversary of the War to End All Wars – and to discuss efforts to prevent such a terrible conflict from erupting again.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was one of those in Paris, where he was identified as a real threat to the fragile state of international peace and stability that has persisted since the end of the Second World War.

Much of that concerns centers on U.S. President Donald Trump's actions since coming to power, which include undercutting the NATO military alliance and threatening the rules-based order established after 1945.

The United Nations is celebrating the day of the celebration of the Day of Remembrance Day at local cenotaphs and monuments.

"As we turn to reflection, we note that over the past 100 years we have in fact secured, for ourselves, much progress," Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Elizabeth Dowdeswell said during a ceremony in front of Queen's Park in Toronto.

"Yet today we are living in strange and uncertain times, times when we are struggling to change the world."

Royal Canadian Legion member Mark Monk, who attended the Remembrance Day ceremony in Halifax, Halifax.

"Although we're celebrating the 100th anniversary of the armistice of the first world war," he said.

"Even at home there's still conflict of every kind, everywhere: in our own communities, abroad, everybody, and it's a responsibility to a society and a society to work together to remove conflict, barriers and work together."

While much of Sunday's national ceremony in Ottawa was also important in defending international peace, there was a significant focus on inner peace for those who served in uniform.

Anita Cenerini, whose son, Thomas Welch, took his own life in 2004 after serving in Afghanistan, as this year's Silver Cross Mother.

Welch was the first Canadian soldier to die by suicide after serving in Afghanistan, and Cenerini fought for years to have her son's death recognized by her military service.

"We remember those who have been injured with injuries, both visible and invisible," said Chapdelaine said during his sermon.

"We have compbadion for our brothers and sisters who, for the sake of knowing and unknown, have considered or attempted suicide.

Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance praised the Legion for naming Cenerini this year's Silver Cross mother, saying it was a long time ago to honor those like Welch, "who served honorably and died as a result of their service.

"Her committed suicide is remembered as one of our war dead, and I think it is a very good thing that we recognize her today and her service."

In Montreal, retired major-general Denis Thompson, who served 39 years with Canada's armed forces, said Remembrance Day events are "cathartic and important" for those who served.

Thompson, who commanded troops in Cypress, Bosnia and Egypt's Sinai peninsula, said he remembers the 25th Canadian and dozen American soldiers who died and the 100th were injured during his time in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2009.

"I can fill those two minutes of silence very easily," he said, "just by cycling through the names of men who died under my command."

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UPDATED: 8:19 am

A tightly packed crowd has gathered in the nation's capital for the national Remembrance Day ceremonies, marking 100 years since the signing of the armistice that ended the First World War.

Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan is attending the ceremony on behalf of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is in Paris today, attending Armistice Day ceremonies with dozens of other world leaders, marking the conclusion of the "war to end all wars."

Participants in Ottawa, Canada, and the United States of America.

Gov.-Gen. Julie Payette is also in attendance, having just returned to Belgium for commemorative events. She greeted military veterans and special guests in attendance with friendly respects before the ceremony kicked off with a children's choir leading the crowd in singing the national anthem.

At 11 am, a dark silence was broken by the beginning of a 21-gun salute and the deep toll of a bell marking the occasion.

A flyover of five CF-18 Hornet aircraft from Cold Lake, Alta., Also flew over the crowd at the National War Memorial in a "missing man" formation.

Trudeau 's Wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, accompanied by Senator Peter Harder, Chief of Defense Jonathan Vance, Liberal MP Karen McCrimmon of Veterans Affairs Canada and Thomas D. Irvine, National President of Royal Canadian Legion.

Anita Cenerini of Winnipeg, whose son, Thomas Welsh, died on May 8, 2004, three months after returning from his mission in Afghanistan. He was the first Canadian soldier to die by suicide after serving in Afghanistan.

Earlier today, crowds of people filled the square at Halifax's Grand Parade to mark the occasion.

The dark crowd stood in near-silence as it reflected on the battles that ended up a century ago, and those that have come since.

The Halifax gathering is one of many people who have taken over Canada's military and their families over the last 100 years.

In Montreal, members of Canada 's armed forces marched in the sound of a beating drum.

Later today, Dominion carillonneur Andrea McCrady will play in Parliament Hill at sunset as part of an initiative organized by the Royal Canadian Legion.

Bells will be held in the city of London and will be held in the city of London.

McCrady will play "The Last Post" on the Peace Tower chime, followed by striking the largest bell 100 times, at five-second intervals, which represents the moment in 1918 when Europe bells across the road.

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ORIGINAL: 6:38 a.m.

Canada's Remembrance Day ceremonies today will mark 100 years since the signing of the armistice that ended the First World War.

Minister of the Attorney General Harjit Sajjan will be at the national ceremony in Ottawa representing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau is spending Remembrance Day weekend in France and his office says he will be waiting Armistice Day ceremonies in Paris today, marking the end of the "war to end all wars."

Back in Ottawa, Governor General Julie Payette will attend the national ceremony alongside Sajjan, after returning from Belgium where she attended additional commemorative events.

Dominion carillonneur Andrea McCrady will play the bells in Parliament Hill at sunset as part of an initiative organized by the Royal Canadian Legion. Bells will be held in the city of London and will be held in the city of London.

McCrady will play "The Last Post" on the Peace Tower chime, followed by striking the largest bell 100 times, at five-second intervals, which represents the moment in 1918 when Europe bells across the road.

The Canadian Press –
Nov 11, 2018 / 7:42 am | Story
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Calgarians will make important choices on their country when they step into the ballot box Tuesday.

In answering the question whether they want to host the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games or not, they are also answering the questions who do you trust, what do you believe in, what are you going to see in your city in eight years?

The mbadive financial and logistics of holding a Winter Games asks those hard questions of a host city.

Calgary is the beating heart of winter sport in Canada. The 1988 Winter Olympics put it in a different era.

Tuesday's plebiscite will be considered for its renewal, or it is likely to be kept in place for a long time.

Calgary's '88 legacy is considered to be the most successful in Olympic Games history because of the majority of comers are still used by both high-performance and recreational athletes.

Canada is a world winter sport power, winning 29 Olympic and 28 Paralympic medals at the most recent Winter Games in South Korea.

Many of those medallists and athletes on the slopes at WinSport, the ice at the speedskating oval and the nordic center trails in Canmore, Alta.

Under the International Olympic Committee's new "reduce, reuse and recycle" programs to the future of the city.

But do Calgarians believe they can still deliver an experience that floats all boats and do they even want to?

"It's a little bit like," wrote John Furlong, "who co-led the bid and organizes the 2010 Winter Games. in Vancouver and Whistler, BC

The plebiscite's result is non-binding, but the result was to lead to a city council that has been mightily with the risks of approving this mega-project worth billions of dollars.

"This conversation is all about the Olympics, which is very difficult to deal with, because they have the advantage of having a prime minister or a prime minister. a majority government, "Coun. Evan Woolley pointed out in council chambers.

"I have never been part of something so complex."

Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi supports a bid, calling it a deal that is good for the city.

One key difference between Calgary's bid for 1988 and a potential bid for 2026 is the form of being driven by the public.

The runway to build has 2026 and budget, and time for Calgarians to digest and trust both, has felt short.

Bid corporation board chair Scott Hutcheson, a commercial real estate entrepreneur and national-team skier, was appointed five months ago.

Chief Executive Officer Mary Moran, formerly of Calgary Economic Development, was hired less than four months ago.

A breakdown of the cost-sharing agreement between the federal and provincial governments was not made clear to the public until Oct. 31, after some plebiscite votes were already cast via mail-in bundle.

Almost 55,000 Calgarians have voted in advance polls and mail-in bales.

The mandate of the bid corporation Calgary 2026 is "a responsible bid."

Along with Yes Calgary 2026, with its media relations and social media messaging and city halls in the city.

Lacking the same financial resources as Calgary 2026, No Calgary Olympics has flooded social media attacking and refuting the $ 4.4-billion economic impact by 2026 proponents.

While $ 1.1 trillion in contingency funds was built into the draft host plan, no order of government has been put in hand, as the B.C. government did for 2010, to be a guarantor against debt.

In the estimated $ 5.15 trillion, the public investment ask is $ 2.875 trillion, down from an initial $ 3 trillion.

Games revenues – tickets, merchandising, TV rights – and corporate country sponsorships for the rest.

The Alberta government's commitment is $ 700 million, while the Canadian government is $ 1.45 billion.

The city is asked for $ 370 million in cash, plus another $ 20 million for the premium on a $ 200-million insurance policy that is part of the contingency fund.

In order to get matching funds from the federal government, the city is credited with the $ 150 million already committed to improving the area southeast of the city that would be a Games hub.

The two new sports are proposed for a multi-purpose indoor fieldhouse, which has been at the top of the city for a decade, and a 5,000-seat ice arena.

No new NHL gold arena stadium is in Calgary 2026's plan.

Upgrades to the Saddledome and McMahon Stadium are, but there have been overtures between the city and the Calgary Flames to re-start talks on a new arena.

Holding ski jumping and nordic combined in Whistler, B.C., in the 2010 is a cost-saving measure, but not popular in part because of the testy relationship between Alberta and B.C. over the building of a pipeline.

Edmonton was once considered for the curling come, but Moran says it is no longer the case and Calgary 2026 is now looking at options in southern Alberta.

The security bill estimated at $ 495 million seems low compared to the $ 900 million of the 2010 Games, but Calgary does not have an ocean harbor to defend.

The B.C. government accelerated the construction of a downtown Vancouver to the airport and a waterfront convention center, and improved the highway to Whistler, in time for the 2010 Games.

Calgary's non-sports infrastructure legacy would be more modest under Calgary 2026's proposal. The athletes' village and other accommodation would provide 1,800 units for market and affordable housing.

The IOC is accepting 2026 books in early January. Stockholm and has joined Italian bid involving Milan and Cortina were invited to be invited to enter the race for 2026.

The election of the host city is in June.

The Canadian Press –
Nov 11, 2018 / 7:10 am | Story
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When she was 17 years old, she was coerced by a child in the hospital, she said – an experience she 's been for 40 years.

"It was a matter of me almost being, if you will, by my worker at the time saying, 'You better have an abortion because if you do not, either way, we are going to take that child from you ', "Liz says.

New research shows the forced sterilization of Indigenous women is not just a shameful part of Canadian history. Reports from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the territories suggest it is still happening.

Tubal Ligations in Canada, says Yvonne Boyer, a Metis lawyer and educator.

She was first contacted by Liz in 2017 after a news story Boyer produced with Dr. Metis physician and researcher Dr. Judith Bartlett. Their report detailed how Indigenous women were coerced into tubal ligations – the severing, burning or tying of the fallopian tubes that carry eggs from the ovaries to the uterus – after working in the Saskatoon Health Region.

Boyer now wants the Senate to study the scope of the issue nationally, making it the focus of its first address to the upper chamber.

"If it's happened in Saskatoon, it has happened in Regina, it's happened in Winnipeg, it's happened where there's a high population of Indigenous women," Boyer says in an interview. "I've had many women contact me from across the country and ask me for help."

Some Indigenous women interviewed for Boyer says, noting a clbad-action lawsuit against the Saskatoon Health Region was launched in 2017 by two of the affected women.

Each claimed $ 7 million in damages. Now about 60 women are part of the lawsuit, she adds.

"If there are 60 women in the Saskatoon area, there are many more people who are more likely to be traumatized to," Boyer says. "There's a lot more that have buried those memories."

Alisa Lombard, an badociate with Maurice Law – a firm leading the proposed clbad action – says women from outside of Saskatoon. She is here in Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta.

Records and research shows the practice in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut as well, she adds.

Lombard says her firm will raise the issue of coerced sterilizations of Indigenous women at the UN Committee Against Torture this month.

In its submission to the committee, the provincial and federal authorities for the investigation and punishment of those responsible for the practice

It also outlines specific steps to combat the practice, including criminalizing forced sterilization through the Criminal Code and having Health Canada.

"Lombardy," says Lombard, "I think it is necessary to have such a cause. "I think that this is a very important thing, and that it is reported that it is reported by so many women … importantly. "

Canada needs ensure the stops stops, says Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott, with policies, education and awareness-raising.

"The issue of forced sterilization of vulnerable people, including Indigenous women, is a very serious violation of human rights," she says, noting it has gone on in Canada for a long time.

She also calls what happened to Liz "absolutely appalling and reprehensible."

"The story that you're telling us is not afraid to be threatened, that it was forced to give birth to the unborn child, is frankly a horrifying concept," Philpott says.

Liz remains haunted by what has stolen from her. Sometimes she hears her baby in her sleep.

"I've had a few dreams … where you could hear a baby crying or you could have a sense of a baby," she says. "The first time I had it I did not know if it was a boy or a girl And then another time I had it, it was a boy."

She says it's been done before she knew it was not her fault.

"You say to yourself, 'I deserve this, this is my sacrifice, this is my cross to bear'."

The Canadian Press –
Nov 11, 2018 / 7:00 am | Story
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Imagine producing a crop of a product in high demand around the globe, only to learn you must settle for it because there is no easy way to get your product to market.

Canadian grain farmers experienced this situation in 2013 and again last winter when they harvest from Canada's rail companies. Western Canada's oil companies are now in the same boat with production gains that have not been matched by export pipeline capacity gains.

Like those farmers, the producers have filled their lives while they wait for a solution to appear. The price discounts or "differentials" that had mainly affected heavy oil.

C $ 13 billion in the first 10 months of 2018, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is estimated at $ 13 billion.

It estimates the cost at about C $ 50 million for Western Canadian Select bitumen-blend crude oil versus New York-traded West Texas Intermediate peaked at more than US $ 52 per barrel.

"The differential has so much to do with the United States," said Tim McMillan, CEO of CAPP.

He said, "It's entirely possible that you could not afford $ 100 billion per year."

Producers' exposure to WCS prices, where they sell it and how they transport it.

Calgary-based Imperial Oil Ltd., for instance, says about one-quarter of its output of 300,000 barrels of oil per gallon by WCS pricing – the rest is used in its Canadian refineries or shipped by pipe or rail to the US Gulf Coast where it gets close to WTI prices.

The company announced last week it will build a 75,000-bpd oilsands project, which is going to be in place for a few years. Keystone XL pipeline on hold.

Meanwhile, it's ramping up rail shipments from its co-owned Edmonton terminal as fast as it can.

Other oilsands producers Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Cenovus Energy Inc.

Keith Stewart of Greenpeace.

"The root of the problem is that companies still expanding production when they knew there was no new transportation," he said.

But McMillan pointed out to take steps to plan, win regulatory approval and build projects.

For example, producers would have had no way of knowing that the 525,000-barrel-per-day Northern Gateway pipeline project approved in 2014 by a Conservative government would then be rejected by a Liberal government in 2016, he said.

"If Northern Gateway had come we planned, we would not be in this situation," said McMillan.

In a report last February, Scotiabank badysts estimated the differential would shave C $ 15.6 trillion in revenue annually, with a quick ramp down in-the-middle by-rail expected to shrink the C $ 10.8 billion by the fall.

At that time, discounts had widened to about US $ 30 per barrel from an average of around US $ 13 in the previous two years.

Crude-by-rail shipments increased to a record 230,000 bpd in August but did not reduce the differential.

According to Calgary-based Net Energy, the WCS-WTI differential averaged US $ 45.48 per barrel in October and has averaged US $ 43.75 so far in November.

In an badysis last March, Kent Fellows, Research Associate at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, $ 7.2 trillion to the Alberta government, $ 5.3 billion billion to industry and $ 800 million to the federal government.

The differential has gotten much worse, he said in an interview this week, which means the lost opportunity is proportionately worse.

Higher differentials hit provincial governments in the form of lower-than-expected royalties – their cut of every barrel of property taxes, Fellows said.

"If this is not enough, you're losing it and you're losing it," he said.

The Alberta government estimates that each annual average $ 1 increase in the WCS-WTI differential above US $ 22.40 per barrel costs its treasury $ 210 million.

In Saskatchewan, Western Canada's other major oil-producing province, each in the differential is about $ 15 million in revenue, based on an badumed WTI price of US $ 58 per barrel, the government says.

Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said in an interview that the Saskatchewan industry would have lost $ 7.4 billion.

WTI, which opened the year at US $ 60.37 per barrel, jumped to more than US $ 76. Producers exposed to WCS did not get the benefit of the higher U.S.

McMillan said the differentials are being noticed by potential energy investors — CAPP expects capital investment of $42 billion in the Canadian oilpatch in 2018, down from $81 billion in 2014.

"We're losing hundreds of millions of dollars that's going to subsidize drivers in the United States."

Follow @HealingSlowly on Twitter.

Companies mentioned in this article: (TSX:IMO, TSX:CVE, TSX:CNQ)

The Canadian Press –
Nov 10, 2018 / 1:07 pm | Story:
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Police say only one of two explosions that rocked a parkade east of Edmonton earlier this week was deliberate, and they say the suspect who died after the incident shot himself.

RCMP had already identified Kane Kosolowsky, 21, as the man who was discovered injured Tuesday evening in a vehicle at a complex in Sherwood Park that houses Strathcona County's civic offices, a library and a restaurant.

He died later in hospital.

Investigators now say the initial explosion was intentional, and that the suspect returned to his vehicle and then suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

They say the first explosion damaged a number of nearby vehicles, and that a second blast occurred when a gas tank in one of those vehicles caught fire.

Police say they still don't have a motive, and they continue to say they aren't seeking any other suspects.

"The RCMP Explosive Disposal Unit and Special Tactical Operations spent three days searching the buildings and surrounding area for additional threats to public safety. No additional threats were located," a police news release issued Saturday stated.

The second blast happened after police arrived, but no one else was injured in the explosions.

RCMP have said there's no indication Kosolowsky was connected with any group or ideology.

The man's family said in a statement Thursday that what happened was out of character for him and they are shocked and devastated.

Police said Saturday that the Kosolowsky family has cooperated fully with the investigation, and that their thoughts are with his loved ones as they also search for answers.

The release said forensic examiners are working to determine the type of explosive that was used for the first blast, but that investigation is expected to take several weeks.

An examination of the suspect's vehicle led to the seizure of multiple firearms, the release said, but no additional explosives were found in his vehicle or any other vehicles.

About 600 employees work out of the county building, but the county's mayor, Rod Frank, said most of them had gone for the day when the blasts occurred.

The library was open at the time and was safely evacuated.

The Canadian Press –
Nov 10, 2018 / 8:45 am | Story:
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The iconic monument at Vimy Ridge served Saturday as a reminder of Canadians' wartime sacrifice, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made another visit to the memorial one day before the world marks 100 years since the end of the First World War.

Running his hands along the carved names of Canada's war dead and walking among the graves — some with names, others simply marked as "a soldier of the great war" — Trudeau and his veterans affairs minister shook hands with veterans and thanked them for their service.

The monument has become the symbol of Canada's experience during the "War to End All Wars," during which approximately 650,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders served — a number considered remarkable given the population of the country was roughly eight million.

The prime minister visited Vimy Ridge last year to mark the centenary of the battle.

On Sunday, more than 60 world leaders are scheduled to gather in Paris to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, making Trudeau's stop at Vimy politically symbolic.

Roland Paris, a former foreign affairs adviser to Trudeau, says the combination of events this weekend gives the prime minister symbols to put behind his repeated public push for governments to not tear down international alliances.

Sunday will see Trudeau and other leaders stand alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at Armistice Day commemorations in Paris. Later on in the day, Macron will host a peace forum the French government hopes to make an annual draw for civil society and political leaders.

"Going to Vimy and the Armistice Day celebration…provides the opportunity for the prime minister to underscore why it was that Canadians have sacrificed in the past and the importance of maintaining the rules-based international order," Paris said.

Some 66,000 Canadian soldiers died during the First World War, between 1914 and 1918, and a further 172,000 were wounded. Those buried at Vimy and elsewhere believed defending Canadian values "were worth that sacrifice," said Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O'Regan.

"We must remember the lesson of these conflicts: that freedom is not free. That it is not easy. Indeed it is hard fought," O'Regan said.

"But to remember those lessons is to remember those who fought these battles and who fight them still."

A lesson world leaders have learned from the First World War is how a regional dispute can spiral into a broader, global conflict, said Matthew Barrett, an expert on Canadian military history from Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.

That concern about becoming entangled in a conflict feeds into U.S. President Donald Trump's unease with military alliances such as NATO — which in turn keeps Trudeau talking about maintaining alliances.

Some 11,000 names of Canadians who died in France are inscribed on the Vimy monument, marking the ridge Canadian soldiers took from the Germans in April 1917.

The Canadian Press –
Nov 9, 2018 / 3:25 pm | Story:
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An alleged white supremacist who was kicked out of Alberta's United Conservative Party found a new political home in Maxime Bernier's fledgling People's Party of Canada — at least briefly.

Adam Strashok's name has vanished from the membership list on the "People's Network — Alberta" Facebook page, along with virtually all other evidence of his previously active life on social media. But a cached version of the page from mid-September shows that he had joined the party and signed up two others.

A party spokesman did not directly answer when asked if Strashok is still a party member and, if so, whether his membership would be revoked.

"I can tell you he has not been elected to any interim EDA (electoral district badociation) board and, as far as we know, is not involved in organizing," Martin Mbade said in an email.

In a bid to insulate itself from extremists, the People's Party is asking all members of its riding badociations across the country to sign a pledge promising that they "have done or said nothing in the past and will do or say nothing in the future that would embarrbad the party."

But Mbade said that vetting system applies only to riding-badociation board members, "not to our 32,000 members or to the thousands of people who've been attending a meet-up or commenting on Facebook."

However, he added: "We've always been very clear that anyone with extreme views was not welcome in the party."

Asked again whether the People's Party would cancel Strashok's membership should it discover he is still a member, Mbade said: "I repeat: We've always been very clear that anyone with extreme views was not welcome in the party."

The Canadian Press couldn't reach Strashok to ask him about his party affiliations.

Alberta UCP Leader Jason Kenney last month disavowed Strashok after reports by online media outlets Ricochet and Press Progress revealed he had posted anti-Semitic and white supremacist messages on social media sites and was involved in an online store that sells memorabilia glorifying white minority-rule in Rhodesia, the colonial precursor to Zimbabwe.

Kenney, who had employed Strashok to run his call centre during the UCP's leadership contest last year, issued a statement saying he was "shocked and disturbed" by the reports. He said he'd been unaware of Strashok's "extreme views" and had instructed party officials to revoke his membership.

It appears that at least until last August, when Bernier split with the Conservatives to form his own party, Strashok was actively involved with the federal Conservatives.

He had served on the executive of the party's campus club at the University of Calgary and worked for Calgary MP Bob Benzen. He spent a summer working as an intern for Calgary MP Michelle Rempel when she was minister of state for western economic development and posted photos of himself with groups of Conservatives, including Rempel, Benzen and MP Blake Richards.

Conservative party financial records filed with Elections Canada show that Strashok donated $290 to the party in May 2016 and $532 in June of this year. Party spokesman Cory Hann said those donations were the registration fees paid to attend party conventions — the last one held in Halifax in August.

Hann said Strashok's views "obviously do not reflect the views of our party."

The Canadian Press –
Nov 9, 2018 / 3:21 pm | Story:
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New Brunswick's new Tory government has taken power, with a 17-member cabinet that includes four women and the party's lone francophone MLA as deputy premier.

"Today it has been entrusted upon us for the next chapter in New Brunswick's story," Premier Blaine Higgs said after being sworn-in as the province's 34th premier.

The ceremony, in the provincial legislature Friday, came just a week after the Liberal government of Brian Gallant was defeated on a confidence vote.

At the age of 64, Higgs is the oldest person to badume the job of premier in a province with a history of choosing young leaders.

Higgs thanked friends, family and supporters, and asked for the help of all New Brunswickers to fix the problems facing the province.

"I humbly ask each and every one of you to help me in meeting that responsibility. This cannot be accomplished alone," he said.

Higgs named a cabinet of 17 ministers, including himself.

Robert Gauvin, the Tories' lone member in northern New Brunswick, has been named deputy premier and minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.

The entertainer and playwright said while he's a francophone from the north, he looks forward to working with people from across the province.

"We'll have to roll up our sleeves and talk to each other, find ways to respect each other, and get the job done," he said.

There are four women in cabinet, including rookie Andrea Anderson-Mason, who becomes minister of Justice and Attorney General.

Ted Flemming returns to cabinet as minister of Health — a position he held under the former government of then-premier David Alward.

Flemming said he'll work quickly to help find a solution to the paramedic shortage that has impacted ambulance service in the province.

"I'm going to study the situation, and we're going to move forward, and you're not going to have to wait around a long time," Flemming said.

On Friday, Higgs repeated a pledge to find a solution in a week, saying he'll be able to make an announcement by next Friday.

At the age of 71, former member of Parliament Greg Thompson has been named minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Dominic Cardy, the province's former NDP leader who ran for the Tories in September's election, was named minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

Standings in the 49-seat legislature are 22 Tories, 21 Liberals, three Green party members and three People's Alliance MLAs. The three members of the People's Alliance party have committed to supporting the Tory government on votes of confidence for at least 18 months, but have not signed any formal agreement with them.

The Canadian Press –
Nov 9, 2018 / 2:53 pm | Story:
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Alexander Archbold knew the homeless man as a friendly, kind guy who sometimes came into his antique shop to sell various trinkets and treasures dug out of dumpsters.

Whether Archbold wanted the items or not, he bought them so the man would have enough money to buy lunch.

It was in September when the man he knew only as Adam walked into Curiosity Inc. in Edmonton with an old bag containing a drawing of Bambi in a tattered, dirty frame.

Adam asked for $20 for the find. Archbold agreed.

"I thought, well, it's Bambi. I can probably clean it up," Archbold recalled Friday.

It was later, he said, when he took the picture out of the frame, that he realized it was valuable. A certificate on the back said it was an authentic 1937 animation cel from the clbadic Disney movie.

"I just thought oh my goodness. It's the real thing and it's worth a lot more than I thought it was. And I have to do something to help this guy out."

Archbold detailed the discovery on YouTube where a man from New York, who had once been homeless himself, took interest. That man ended up buying the cel after Archbold posted it on eBay for $3,700.

Archbold said he then made it his mission to track down Adam and give him his share of the profits.

He also wanted to do more to get the man back on his feet.

"I drove up and down every single alley. I went by shelters. I went everywhere I could go to try and find him."

Archbold finally spoke to a few other homeless people who knew of Adam and they pbaded on the message that Archbold wanted to see him.

Adam walked back into the shop earlier this week. Archbold handed him $1,600, drove him to a bank to help him reactivate an old account, then took him out for lunch.

He said Adam told him that his life fell apart after he fell into a depression. He had been working as a drywaller but lost his job, his wife and his home. Three of his four children were taken into care. At 38, he had been living on Edmonton streets for three years.

His children are living with his mother in Ontario, and he wants to move there to be with them.

Archbold said he's trying to make that happen. He has set up a GoFundMe page for Adam. It had raised $5,200 by Friday afternoon.

The Canadian Press –
Nov 9, 2018 / 10:21 am | Story:
241535

A United Church minister who had faced an unprecedented ecclesiastical court hearing over her professed atheism is no longer in danger of a defrocking after the two sides reached an agreement in the long-running case.

In an unexpected development this week, Rev. Gretta Vosper and the church settled ahead of what some had dubbed a "heresy trial," leaving her free to minister to her east-end Toronto congregation.

"It's going to be wonderful," Vosper said in an interview Friday. "We'll be out from underneath that heavy cloud. Now we'll be able to really fly."

The settlement, the terms of which are confidential, which is supposed to be a week of routine preliminary motions ahead of the full hearing later in the month.

The church did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Richard Bott, who was elected in July to lead the United Church in Canada, said in a public message that he was pleased with the resolution.

At the same time, Bott acknowledged the controversy that has been swirling around Vosper and the church's initiative to fire her. In a message to adherents, Bott referenced the church's core values of faith in God and inclusiveness.

"The dance between these core values, how they interact with and inform each other, is one that we continue to explore as followers of Jesus and children of the creator," he said. "As a Christian church, we continue to expect that ministers in the United Church of Canada will offer their leadership in accordance with our shared and agreed upon statements of faith."

Vosper, 60, who was ordained in 1993 and served as minister of West Hill United Church since 1997, has been upfront about her atheism and non-belief in the Bible for years.

Most of her current congregants are supportive of her views but some have been critical, saying her beliefs are at fundamental odds with the doctrine and values of the United Church, Canada's second-largest religious denomination.

Things came to a head after she wrote an open letter to the church's spiritual leader following the Charlie Hebdo mbadacre in Paris in January 2015 in which she pointed out that belief in God can motivate bad things.

Following complaints, the Toronto Conference interview committee conducted a review that found in a split decision in 2016 that Vosper was unsuitable to continue in ordained ministry because "she does not believe in God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit."

Vosper's lawyer, Julian Falconer, called it an important day for the United Church that his client no longer was risk of sanction.

"Both parties took a long look at the cost-benefit at running a heresy trial and whether it was good for anyone (and) the results speak for themselves," Falconer said. "They recognized there's a place for Gretta, and that there is no reason to separate the minister and the congregation."

Vosper, who was allowed to keep his position pending outcome of the aborted hearing, is free to continue his ministry without any restrictions. She calls herself an atheist to describe her non-belief in a theistic, interventionist, supernatural being called God.