Ex-MLA gets 3 years in jail – Canada News

The Canadian Press –
January 11, 2019 / 16:30 | Story:
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Three people were killed and 23 injured when a double-decker bus crashed into a transit shelter in Ottawa on Friday afternoon, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said.

The accident occurred west of downtown at 3:50 p.m., early in the rush hour. The bus was bound for Kanata, a suburb farthest from Ottawa, Watson told a news conference at City Hall in the evening.

Two of the dead were on the bus; one was on the platform at Westboro Station, a major stop on the city's bus route, Watson said.

The Ottawa Hospital trauma center said it received nine "critically ill" patients from the collision.

Photos posted on Twitter showed great damage in front of the bus, with the roof of a shelter well on the second deck of the vehicle.

"Most seriously injured were in the upper right side of the bus," said Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau. "I want to express my sadness and condolences for the Ottawa police service and other emergency services."

He said police are still investigating the cause of the accident. The driver of the bus was "detained on the spot and will be questioned in our police station," said Bordeleau.

"This will be a long investigation," he said.

The Canadian Press –
January 11, 2019 / 4:04 AM | Story:
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The Canadian Press –
January 11, 2019 / 3:39 p.m. | Story:
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The news that celebrity jewelry maker from Quebec, Caroline Neron, filed for bankruptcy Thursday is shedding light on the qualifications of stars chosen for the French-language version of the province of the business show, "Dragon & 39; s Den ".

Described by the media as a "thunder" in the Quebec retail industry, Neron's financial problems called into question his aptitude for evaluating entrepreneurial talent in Radio-Canada's "Dans l & e; oeil du dragon." The show relies on prominent entrepreneurs who decide to invest in throwing entrepreneurial beginners.

François Lambert, a former member of the program, said that the French CBC does not ask its potential stars to reveal their wealth or demonstrate that they have the time and liquidity to invest properly in startups.

"They never asked to see my numbers," Lambert said in an interview. "They can say they ask to see people's numbers, but no, because they never did this to me, and that week exploded on their faces."

Other embarrassing choices to play the role of dragon include Gilbert Rozon, founder of Just for Laughs at odds with allegations of sexual crimes, and Martin-Luc Archambault, who left the show in September under a cloud. An investigation by Canada's Privacy Commissioner revealed that his IT company has violated various provisions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Lambert co-founded Aheeva Technology Inc., a call center software available in 75 countries, and says it has investments in 10 companies, including a start-up company called Boostmi – an on-demand roadside assistance application.

The businessman said a small survey would have flagged concerns about Rozon and Archambault, and he said there are other people with whom he appeared and who did not belong to the program. Radio-Canada should look for candidates who have money and who have sold a business, he argued.

"We make money from a company, actually, when we sell it," Lambert said. "I had just sold my business when they asked me to be at the show … I was not an impostor and I had my place there. You become a dragon when your company ends, and you have time to invest and apply your revenue recipe to others. "

Marc-Pichette, a spokesman for Radio-Canada, said the public broadcaster and producers of the program "conduct a basic review of the (a) application based on information given in good faith by the potential dragon."

He added that when Rozon was on the show in 2016 he was an internationally celebrated figure who had also been chosen by the city of Montreal as a commissioner for his 375th birthday in 2017.

La Presse in Montreal said on Friday it contacted all eight entrepreneurs with whom Neron made deals last season at the fair, which ended in June 2018. None of them received any money from the jewelry store. Neron left the show in December.

During an interview with TVA TV on Thursday, Neron said it is closing 9 of the province's 14 stores and releasing 64 of 152 employees.

She gained prominence in Quebec as a singer and actor. Michel Nadeau, head of a think tank on governance of public and private companies, said the Neron brand was strong in Quebec, and she was one of the few people to make a name in the jewelry market.

"It was one of the rare companies in the jewelery, handicraft and craft industry that has managed to impose a mark on the industry – it has succeeded," said Nadeau. "She's very, very present on television and on the radio." The problem was that she grew the business very quickly, he said, investing too much in retail stores and small stores in extremely high-rent shopping centers.

Lambert, who was not invited to the upcoming season of "Dans l & # 39; oeil du dragon", said that the story of Neron should serve as a lesson to all "entrepreneurs" who spread so little and do everything and nothing, instead to run their own company. " "

The Canadian Press –
January 11, 2019 / 11:30 a.m. | Story:
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada granted asylum to a Saudi woman who escaped alleged abuse from her family and was hiding in Thailand.

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, 18, was arrested last Saturday at a Bangkok airport by immigration police who denied her entry and seized her passport.

She barricaded herself in a hotel room at the airport and launched a social media campaign that drew global attention to her case.

Trudeau says that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has asked Canada to consider Alqunun as a refugee and Canada accepted.

"This is something we are pleased to do because Canada is a country that understands how important it is to uphold human rights and uphold the rights of women around the world," Trudeau told a news conference in Regina.

Alqunun's case highlighted the cause of women's rights in Saudi Arabia.

Several Saudi women fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and have returned home.

Canada, taking Alqunun, could further disrupt relations between Saudi Arabia and Canada.

In August, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada's ambassador to the kingdom and withdrew its own ambassador after the Canadian Foreign Ministry tweeted support for women's rights activists who had been arrested. The Saudis also sold Canadian investments and ordered their citizens studying in Canada to leave.

Alqunun had previously said on Twitter that he wanted to seek refuge in Australia.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne met with senior Thai officials in Bangkok on Thursday. She later said that Australia was evaluating Alqunun's request for resettlement.

The Canadian Press –
January 11, 2019 / 7:19 | Story:
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The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that a law that restricted the voting rights for long-term expatriates in the last 25 years was unconstitutional.

In a ruling today, the country's top court said the restriction can not be justified.

The court said that the idea of ​​electoral justice promoted by the government was vague.

The case was brought by two Canadians who have lived for years in the United States.

They have retained a 1993 law that prohibits expatriates abroad for more than five years from voting, violating their voting rights to vote.

The Liberal government canceled the ban last month, but the long-running case continued.

More coming.

The Canadian Press –
January 11, 2019 / 5:32 am | Story:
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Bankruptcies have risen in Canada, the Bank of Canada chief said this week, and he hopes they will increase further as the central bank continues to raise interest rates.

Governor Stephen Poloz said he hears how the higher costs of lending can be directly from people who feel the pain.

"We are well aware that our decisions affect everyone – they affect everyone's financial well-being and many Canadians carry a high debt," Poloz told reporters on Wednesday after keeping the bank's benchmark interest rate at 1.75 percent. "I do not have to work hard to remind myself. I get daily correspondence from people explaining to me what their situation is."

According to the bank, Poloz responds personally to e-mails and letters addressed to him from the public. Last year, for example, about 200 people contacted him directly. The most common topics of the messages are the state of the Canadian economy, inflation and interest rates, a bank spokeswoman said. If they are not abusive and include return addresses, it responds.

Poloz's decision to leave rates unchanged this week is probably just a pause in the bank's interest rate trajectory while the country deals with what it described as a temporary economic setback from a sharp decline in oil prices.

The central bank will continue to raise rates once Canada overcomes the bland trend and the economy builds momentum, he said. A stronger economy encouraged Poloz to raise the rate target five times since mid-2017 to keep inflation from becoming too hot.

But in recent months, the number of Canadians facing financial problems has increased. Insolvencies saw a slight increase after spending almost a decade at very low levels. After a long period of cheap loans, Canadians have accumulated record heaps of debt.

"About bankruptcy statistics, I understand they got it," said Poloz when asked about recent figures. "My understanding of the data points is that they are picked up from an extraordinarily low level. So there is, at any point in time, always a number of unhappy people who may lose their job or what you have and go through this process .

"And it would not be surprising to see things improve a bit when interest rates rise."

Poloz added that the bank was deliberately very careful and very gradual in its walks, while reminding people that the low-rate era would not last.

The Bank of Canada said it is likely to continue raising its trend rate until it reaches the so-called "neutral" level of between 2.5 and 3.5 percent. That would mean between three and seven increases of more than a quarter of a point.

The Canadian Press –
January 10, 2019 / 11:51 a.m. | Story:
246443

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his cabinet on Monday to deal with the resignation of Treasury Board chairman Scott Brison, he told a news conference on Thursday.

Brison announced Thursday morning that he will not seek re-election this fall because he wants to spend more time with his family. He said he will leave the ministry before that, because the government is best served by ministers who are running again.

Trudeau said he respects Brison's decision to spend time with his twin daughters.

"Obviously this will require some changes in our office, and this is something we are going to announce on Monday," he told reporters during a visit to a new building at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC.

Trudeau declined to wonder if he planned a small change just to replace Brison or a bigger one with multiple ministers changing wallets.

As chairman of the Treasury Board (and the minister in charge of digital government), Brison had the responsibility of caring for the public and overseeing the federal public service. The portfolio is not flashy but can cause major headaches for a government if it is poorly managed.

"His consideration, his ability to understand the best way to deliver programming, his ability to understand Canadians through his many and many years of service was extremely valuable around the cabinet desk," Trudeau said.

Brison has been the face of the liberal government in Nova Scotia where the party won all seats in 2015. But he has also been close to the story of Vice Admiral Mark Norman, who is facing a judgment for breach of trust related to allegations that he leaked secrets to promote a naval shipbuilding contract. Norman's case is to go to trial later this summer, just as the campaign for the Oct. 21 election is under way.

Brison was accused of pressuring the newly created Trudeau government in 2015 to suspend a $ 700 million plan to build a new supply vessel, a measure RCMP claims has led Norman to reveal secrets to Davie's shipbuilding in Quebec , to pressure the liberals by restarting the project.

Brison told the House of Commons that he simply did his job as chairman of the Treasury Board, the public treasurer, to make sure the taxpayers had good value for the ship's contract.

Brison denied the allegations made by Norman's lawyers and echoed by opposition parliamentarians who lobbied on behalf of Irving Shipbuilding, which wanted the Liberals to cancel the deal with Davie and hire Irving to fill the supply post.

The Canadian Press –
January 10, 2019 / 10.10 a.m. | Story:
246428

The extension agency handling refugee claims in Canada estimated that it would need twice as much money as it would receive to deal significantly with a large backlog of asylum claims, caused in part by the influx of irregular migrants.

Documents obtained under the access to information law show that the Immigration and Refugee Council prepared cost estimates in November 2017, showing that it would need $ 140 million per year, plus an additional $ 40 million to complete 36,000 extra cases. refugees every year.

This is the number of cases the board needs to complete to reduce the backlog and also meet the current influx of new asylum requests.

The government finally allocated $ 74 million to the IRB for two years in last year's federal budget to meet Canada's refugee reserve, which currently stands at more than 64,000.

The IRB says in the documents that the amount will not be sufficient to finalize outstanding claims within two years and that a long-term strategy is needed to solve the problem.

The documents also reveal that employees handling complaints have raised concerns about heavy workloads, problems with their payment due to Phoenix's payment system and have pressed management over when the flow of complaints will be considered a crisis.

The Canadian Press –
January 10, 2019 / 8:07 am | Story:
246415

The New Brunswick cannabis retailer is laying off workers, saying it has a better understanding of "operational needs" three months after the historic legalization of recreational marijuana.

Cannabis NB said most of the layoffs involved people on seasonal contracts, but some are employed part-time or part-time.

Spokeswoman Marie-Andree Bolduc said on Thursday that despite supply challenges, operations normalized in the 20 stores and now they understand the needs of each store.

She said the move is typical for new retail operations and in line with the need for "long-term fiscal responsibility."

Under the old liberal government, New Brunswick had seen cannabis legalized as green gold – a chance to increase profits and create production and retail jobs with a community college program developed for cannabis technicians.

In a statement, Bolduc did not immediately confirm the number of people fired.

"In preparation for the launch of the new legal marijuana industry, Cannabis NB wanted to ensure that a well-trained and skilled staff is large enough to set up retail locations, fill work schedules, and deliver the right customer experience. based on demand, "she said.

"The teams and functions have been structured to allow for flexibility in delivering the required customer experience and to manage expectations that store personnel can change after launch."

Bolduc says they will release quarterly sales figures at the end of January.

The Canadian Press –
January 10, 2019 / 07:00 | Story:
246411

Ti-Anna Wang had a passport stamp far from seeing her father arrested in a Chinese prison before his dream was destroyed again.

On Wednesday, the woman from Montreal arrived in southern China, where her father, Wang Bingzhang – considered the father of China's ill-fated international pro-democracy movement – has been arrested since Chinese agents kidnapped him in Vietnam in 2002 and took him back to the people. Republic.

Her 11-month-old daughter was tied up in her Papoose style body style and her husband was by her side. Wang's passport contained a new Chinese visa, something she had denied 10 years ago. But it was not enough.

Her daughter and husband were considered free to enter China. But she was not. So began a six-hour ordeal that would see Wang and his family locked up in an airport detention room before they could be sent to an island near South Korea on the next available flight.

"I can not really articulate the disappointment because it's so overwhelming," Wang said by telephone on the South Korean island of Jeju.

Wang said he knew of the risks associated with traveling to China after last month's arrest of Canadian colleagues Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who appeared to be retaliation for the high-ranking prison of Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou. But she was determined to make the trip because she could never get the chance to see her father again, and she thought the sight of her new granddaughter could boost her waning spirits.

For years, Wang has led the Canadian government to work to free his father. There is one problem: while she is a Canadian citizen, she is not, despite a strong historical connection with Canada.

Wang Bingzhang was one of the first generations of Chinese students to come to Canada and received his Ph.D. from McGill University. While in Montreal, he planted Canadian roots, which included having children who would become citizens. His exposure to democracy aroused the hope of importing him into his native country.

Ti-Anna was born in 1989, a year in which the Chinese military killed student protesters in the Tiananmen Square massacre, and he named her in honor of the dead.

His abduction and judgment widely mocked in China in 2002 earned him a place on a dubious list of 16 political prisoners that Amnesty International asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to advocate during his most recent trip to China in late 2017. The list includes Huseyin Celil, a supporter of the Uighur community persecuted by China, southern Ontario, who received a life sentence in 2007.

When Wang's father was arrested, she was a teenager. Now 30, she has become a human rights activist and was persecuted by Chinese authorities during a UN presentation. She got married and last February had her first child, a girl.

Wang said she gave up pressuring the Canadian government to do more for her father, then asked Global Affairs Canada to focus on something specific – pushing China to grant a visa, which her activism prevented her from achieving since 2009.

In August, she received the news that the visa would be granted. She does not know how or why, but was grateful for the government's efforts. With a new daughter and a husband studying at the university, they made a plan in November to travel in January.

Then the December 1 detention of Meng occurred and the prisons of Spavor and Kovrig followed.

"They (Global Affairs) said they would not tell us not to go, but they would only say that they think that I am someone who could be vulnerable in this situation," she said.

So she and her husband decided to keep the trip to China – only 48 hours – and Global Affairs said a diplomat would accompany them to China. Wang and her husband traveled to South Korea in early January to stay with their relatives before embarking for China.

They telephoned China's prisons department to tell them they were coming. They landed in Hangzhou, intending to travel to Guangzhou, where his father was arrested. Then they hit a wall.

"I realized they were waiting for me because the border agent was communicating with another agent and said something like" it's her "." "

She and her daughter were taken to a small room by the police, where they spent the next hour with the policemen always with them, before her husband joined them.

They spent six hours there before her husband could buy them on a night flight to Jeju.

Before leaving, her baby became restless, crying and crying and wanting to leave her mother. Police told her not to let her crawl on the grimy floor, but Wang had to let her vent. Her daughter's mood improved and she began to delight the police.

"I feel very bad about having her undergoing it. At the same time, I think she kept her mood very light.My daughter is very social and smiling."

These smiles, however, were made for Wang's father, who spent most of his time in solitary confinement with health problems, including strokes, asthma and inflammation in the legs.

Wang said it is distressing to think about what Kovrig and Spavor are enduring, but she has mixed feelings.

"Such cases make me a little sad because I know this means that my father's case can not be a priority," she said. "When the Canadian government is negotiating these issues with the Chinese, they can not ask for much each time."

The Canadian Press –
January 10, 2019 / 6:55 am | Story:
246408

UPDATE 7:45

Scott Brison is coming off a political career that loves spending more time with a beloved family that politics has made possible.

After 22 years representing Kings-Hants' Nova Scotia carmaker – initially as a progressive conservative parliamentarian before jumping to the liberals in 2003 – Brison told the Canadian press that it's time for a change. He decided not to seek re-election this fall.

He is not sure whether he will remain a liberal parliamentarian until the Oct. 21 vote, but will soon be resigning the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, where he is chairman of the Treasury Council.

"I told the prime minister that I am not running again, but I also told him that I want to relinquish my ministerial responsibilities in a timely manner and support the transition to a new minister," Brison said in an interview. "My personal opinion is that the prime minister and the government are better served by the ministers who will be running in the next elections."

He said he is announcing his decision now to give the liberals in their mount time for a nomination contest to choose who will carry the party's flag in the upcoming elections.

Brison's departure will trigger at least a small cabinet scramble, though there is speculation that Trudeau will make major changes to his front seat next week to put him in action for the Oct. 21 vote.

In a time of growing cynicism about politics, Brison is passionate about his ability to make a difference in people's lives.

"I believe now more than ever that government is important, that Members of Parliament are important and that politics is important. There is no work area where you can make more difference in people's lives," he said.

So why retire from the political quarrel he so evidently loves? He offered three reasons.

"They say life starts at age 50. Well, I'm 51 and ready for new challenges," he said, adding that he's probably going back to business, where he once worked as an investment banker.

---

ORIGINAL 6:55 AM

Scott Brison is resigning from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office after deciding he will not run for re-election this fall. After 22 years representing Kings-Hants' Nova Scotia carmaker, Brison says he's ready for a move and eager to spend more time with his four-year-old twins.

More coming

The Canadian Press –
January 9, 2019 / 15:23 | Story:
246363

A video of a South Alberta police officer repeatedly running over a wounded deer with his service vehicle triggered calls for his dismissal and an animal cruelty investigation.

Investigators say the disturbing video has brought a large number of complaints to police and animal welfare agencies, and there are reports that the policeman faces death threats.

Lethbridge police said the officer was trying to slaughter the animal on Saturday with his truck and ran over the deer several times while still alive.

The Toronto-based Animal Justice group is urging Alberta police to investigate whether the police officer should be charged with cruelty crimes against animals.

Lethbridge police said the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is reviewing what happened, along with Alberta Fish and Wildlife and Alberta SPCA.

A petition on the Change.org website asks the officer, who remains active, to be fired.

"This is inhuman and disgusting," the petition says. "This officer should no longer be part of the police department for his inappropriate actions!

"Sign this petition to make it clear to the police department that this officer should be fired!"

Attorney Camille Labchuk, the executive director of Animal Justice, said police are not above the law and animal abuse by a police officer should be taken seriously.

"There is little doubt that this poor deer suffered immensely while the officer repeatedly hit her with a heavy truck," Labchuk said on Wednesday.

"It's heart breaking to watch the video and hear her crying in pain when she's been hit by the vehicle several times."

Lethbridge police are asking anyone who witnessed or recorded what happened to contact the investigators.