Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil has announced that he will be stepping down.
McNeil stated his intention to resign at a brief news conference after a cabinet meeting Thursday morning.
“Seventeen years is a long time,” McNeil told reporters.
“And it’s long enough.”
McNeil has been premier of Nova Scotia since 2013 and has been a member of the Nova Scotia Legislature since 2003.
McNeil said he had intended to resign earlier this year, but opted not to once the coronavirus pandemic entered the province.
“All of those plans were put on hold, and I gave this my all. I spent five weeks here without ever getting home to my own property and my own home. [I was] away from my family because I was working with Public Health and with our team to try to get control of it,” he said.
“We’re at a position right now where I felt the window for me to — I either had to say I was going, or I was too late.”
“I love this job. I’ve enjoyed every day of it, and every day I’m inspired by the people of this province. But this is not a lifelong career.”
As of Thursday, Nova Scotia had 1,071 cases of the coronavirus and 64 deaths. On Thursday Nova Scotia health officials report no new cases and only two active cases.
McNeil says he will stay on as premier until his replacement is selected, a process which he expects will take several months.
The coronavirus pandemic is changing the patterns of sexual exploitation and trafficking of minors, moving predominately online where victims are even more isolated and difficult to save.
This is according to a new report from the children’s charity Save the Children, which also has indicated that the pandemic has jeopardized escape routes that would usually be available to survivors. This included limiting the movement of victims, and the opportunity to meet other people – including teachers — who can help identify the signs of sexual abuse and trafficking and help them flee.
Troublingly, the report also revealed that one in twenty child victims of sexual exploitation are under the age of eight years old.
It is important to realize that online sexual exploitation and trafficking is happening right here in our own country, too.
In an interview last month, Stephen Sauer – the director of Cybertips.ca – a tip line to report the online sexual exploitation of children – noted that his organization saw an 81% spike over April, May and June in reports of people trying to sexually abuse children online.
“It seems to be an epidemic right now online.” he told CBC News.
How does this happen?
A lot of it stems from Canadian children spending more time online, and interacting with strangers on social media applications including Facebook and Twitter, along with online communities dedicated to children’s interests like video games and toys.
Parents should especially be wary if their children are using the free social media application Kik, which has a reputation for its poor protection of children. Predators often will lure users onto the application to communicate with them. For example, alleged predator Jessica Yaniv – who became infamous for making human rights tribunal suits against BC estheticians for declining to perform waxing services on her male genitalia – used the app allegedly to lure an underage girl.
Unfortunately, governments have been slow to respond to increased risks of sexual exploitation of children during the pandemic.
It is, however, on the radar of Paul Brandt – the Canadian country music star who leads the anti-trafficking organization #NotInMyCity and was recently appointed by Premier Jason Kenney to lead Alberta’s human trafficking task force.
“The fact that the online sexual exploitation of children has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic is extremely concerning, but not surprising to those who understand the dynamics of sexual exploitation and human trafficking,” Brandt told True North.
“We will be looking at online exploitation and its connections to trafficking as we prepare our recommendations for presentation to Premier Kenney and his government.”
Brandt thinks a key strategy to combat this issue is through open dialogue – even if difficult – with the public about the dark realities of child trafficking and exploitation, including to help parents recognize the issue.
“Awareness and education are key,” added Brandt.
“Providing parents and children with simple strategies to keep kids safe online is one effective measure. Parents should be aware of what their kids are doing online, who their children are communicating with, and they should have an open and honest dialogue with kids about online risks.”
In saying so, Brandt correctly identifies that this issue is more than just something that can be solved by governments alone – but is an issue with our community that requires public discourse.
“This is a community issue and requires a multi-pronged, cooperative approach. While government and authorities play a role, Canadians need to engage in public discussion about what kind of country we want to have in relation to this issue, and how we will invest in the safety of children.”
Thankfully, with people like Brandt leading Alberta’s Human Trafficking Task Force, Canada should see improved efforts to raise awareness about this issue, and ensure safer communities for our children – both online and off.
The company in charge of the Keystone XL pipeline project TC Energy Corp has achieved agreements with four major labour unions in the US in an effort to combat Joe Biden’s threats to rip up permits for the project if elected in 2020.
“The Keystone XL pipeline project will put thousands of Americans, including Teamsters, to work in good union jobs that will support working families,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said about the deal.
The agreements were announced on Tuesday. They will result in 2,000 unionized workers to begin constructing some of the 28 proposed pump stations to be built in the US.
According to TC Energy, construction on the Canadian portion of the pipeline has already begun and the pipeline is expected to begin shipping crude oil from Alberta by the year 2023.
The project, which is expected to bring 2,000 construction jobs into Alberta, has faced a number of obstacles prior to its approval by US President Donald Trump.
Earlier this year, Biden’s campaign announced that if elected, he would squash development on the pipeline.
“Biden strongly opposed the Keystone pipeline in the last administration, stood alongside President Obama and Secretary [John] Kerry to reject it in 2015, and will proudly stand in the Roosevelt Room again as President and stop it for good by rescinding the Keystone XL pipeline permit. Stopping Keystone was the right decision then and it’s still the right decision now,” said a statement by Biden’s policy director Stef Feldman.
In response to the statement, the chairman of the Business Council of Alberta Hal Kvisle said that if Biden follows through with his plans as president, his presidency could be faced with a “multibillion-dollar lawsuit.”
“This is all grandstanding and it doesn’t look good on the politicians,” said Kvisle.
“TC would have a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the U.S. government if they kill the project that’s already been approved.”
As the coronavirus restrictions begin to ease, there’s still a lot of uncertainty and pessimism coming from our politicians. They still don’t trust Canadians to responsibly and safely return to normal.
True North’s Anthony Furey says now more than ever, we need leadership to get out of the pandemic but unfortunately, we’re not getting it.
Canada’s coronavirus contact tracing app is not as foolproof as the federal government would like you to think.
According to the Office of Canada’s Privacy Commissioner (OCP), there is a small but real chance that the app could mistakenly identify somebody who has contracted the virus.
The claim is contrary to the federal government’s message on the application, which has been that the software is completely anonymous.
“Anonymous implies that there is no risk whatsoever that a person could be identified,” claimed the OCP.
“However, and although we all agreed that while there’s a very, very low risk that someone could be re-identified through the app, it isn’t necessarily zero.”
“Someone living in a remote area and only interacting with one or two other people could theoretically be identified by their neighbours if they received exposure notification alerts, for example.”
The privacy issue comes after the OCP conducted a review of the app’s security which flagged several problems with the application.
Among the issues raised by the review was that other companies could determine who has downloaded and used the app without the knowledge of users.
“These entities should not be permitted to monitor their customers’ use of the COVID Alert app,” claimed the review.
Despite a number of issues, the Commissioner found that the app could be useful in slowing the spread of the virus and did have extensive cryptographic and encryption capabilities.
In light of recent events such as the anti-racism protests and the WE Charity scandal, Canadians are beginning to notice the erosion of the rule of law.
When this happens, we lose trust in the government and society.
True North’s Sam Eskenasi says Canada must work hard to understand and preserve the rule of law.
Former ambassadors are suggesting that the Chinese government is preventing an experimental vaccine from getting to Canada.
In May, the federal government signed an accord with Chinese company CanSino Biologics to provide Canada with its vaccines so that Canadian scientists can perform safety trials.
According to the National Post, the drug shipments are now being held by Chinese customs for unspecified reasons, with no indication of when they will allow shipping.
Former Canadian ambassador to China David Mulroney suggests that the vaccine delay might have been purposefully done to punish Canada for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
“It’s likely that the shipment is being delayed as part of China’s retaliation against Canada over the Meng (Wanzhou) arrest,” Mulroney told the National Post.
“But it could also be due to the kind of sudden, unexplained delay that routinely happens when you’re dealing with China’s opaque and often uncooperative customs authorities. Either way, it raises the question of why the NRC thought it was a good idea to work with a Chinese partner on such a sensitive project.”
Under the accord, a phase 1 safety trial was supposed to be held at Canadian Centre for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University.
While Canada waits, CanSino has already finished trial phases 1 and 2 in China, published the results and entered into discussion to conduct phase 3 trials in Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Another former ambassador Guy Saint-Jacques also believes the vaccine delay “could well be part of the Chinese arsenal.”
While companies all around the world are working on possible vaccines and treatments for coronavirus, Canada seems committed to CanSino.
Canada has not pre-ordered any vaccines currently being researched and tested by other firms, unlike the United States and some European countries.
The Canada-CanSino deal was heavily criticized at the time, with many noting the fact that China lied about the spread of the coronavirus when it first started.
Last week U.S. firm Moderna began phase 3 trials of its own coronavirus vaccine. Results from phases 1 and 2 show similar results as CanSino’s vaccine.
Nearly half of Canadians believe there should be another election if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is found guilty of breaking ethics laws a third time.
According to the latest Leger online poll, 49% of Canadians think that an election should be called if Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion declares Trudeau broke the ethics code.
The poll also found that 49% of Canadians say that the WE Charity scandal has worsened their opinion of the prime minister.
“To me these are numbers that will certainly worry or concern the Liberals at this moment because even though it’s in the summer, this is raising a lot of eyebrows,” Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque told the Canadian Press.
The poll was conducted between July 31 to Aug 2, shortly after the prime minister and his Chief of Staff Katie Telford appeared before the Finance committee to testify regarding their involvement in the scandal.
During his testimony, Trudeau skirted responsibility for his actions, denying that he had sought to advance the interests of his family when awarding the charity a $900 million contract to oversee a federal student service grant.
“There was never any direction by or attempt to influence from me or my staff that the public service recommend WE Charity,” said Trudeau.
Several members of Trudeau’s family including his wife, brother and mother have financial and professional relations with WE Charity. Earlier testimony by WE co-founders Craig and Marc Keilburger revealed that Trudeau’s mother, Margaret Trudeau, had been compensated a whopping $479,944 by the group for various expenses and speaking engagements.
Among those also implicated in the scandal was Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who had apologized for accepting trips to Kenya and Ecuador on the WE’s dime.
He has since reimbursed the charity $41,366 in funds.
A Quebec firm was awarded a 10-year, $113 million contract by the Trudeau government to produce face masks despite having no factories in Canada.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, medical supplies company AMD Medicom was awarded the contract only days after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic.
Although the AMD Medicom headquarters are in Montreal, the masks are produced in China, the United States, Taiwan and France.
In 2019, AMD Medicom closed its last factory in Canada, located in Granby, Quebec. The factory was not reopened when the contract was signed.
According to Blacklock’s, Industry Canada staff testified in June 2020 that AMD Medicom was chosen as the face mask supplier without notice sent to competitors.
Since the deal went public, Canadian manufacturers have expressed their disappointment that firms with Canadian facilities did not have a chance to get the contract.
“As small and medium-sized businesses we want to know, does everybody have the same opportunity to produce personal protective equipment and sell it, or is the federal government picking winners and losers?” Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada President Jocelyn Bamford said to the Commons government operations committee.
AMD Medicom has since secured a $4 million loan from the province of Quebec to open a plant in Montreal. AMD Medicom hired SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. to construct the plant.
It is unclear whether the Montreal plant has started producing masks.
In the meantime, the AMD Medicom deal will keep Canada’s face mask supply in the hands of foreign factories, a situation that has already posed issues for Canada this year.
In May, Health Canada warned that masks produced in China may pose a “health and safety risk” due to their inferior quality.
In April, Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised to end the province’s dependence on foreign-made masks after the American government ordered one company to halt exports to Canada.
First responders in British Columbia have faced a record-breaking month of overdoses in July, statistics from BC Emergency Health Services show.
Paramedics arrived on the scene for 2,706 overdoses in the province – approximately 87 overdoses a day.
The quantity is the highest ever recorded since the opioid pandemic was first declared in 2016, breaking past the average 2,000 overdoses a month reported since.
“There have been devastating consequences for people who use substances during dual public health emergencies,” said BC’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Judy Darcy.
“Last month saw a record number of lives lost to overdose — all the more heartbreaking since before COVID-19, we had managed to bring deaths down for the first time.”
A month before that, in June, the province saw its highest number of deaths as a result of illicit drug use.
A startling 175 people died from fatal overdoses that month, beating the record of 171 deaths set in May.
Prior to those two months, the highest number of deaths was recorded in December 2016.
BC Premier John Horgan recently announced that he is in favour of decriminalizing illicit drugs for personal use.
“If not now, when?” said Horgan in July.
“We’re in the midst of a global pandemic when it comes to COVID-19. In British Columbia that is further complicated by an overdose crisis which saw last month the highest monthly number of deaths that we’ve seen in a good long time.”
In Ontario, there was a 25% increase in overdose deaths in March, April and May, compared to the previous year.
Support workers believe the Canada emergency response benefit program (CERB) is contributing to the increased use of illicit drug use and may contribute to overdose deaths.
The head of peer outreach services for Ottawa Inner City Health Anne Marie Hopkins told CBC that the CERB payments has led to deadly consequences for her clients.
