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Politics

    • Midterm stakes for Canadians are much the same as in U.S.

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    WASHINGTON -

    It's not every day that a Canadian prime minister gets name-checked in a political debate in the United States. But in a hyper-polarized midterm election season, it's not surprising it would happen to Justin Trudeau.

    It came during a heated, hyperbolic showdown between Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican challenger Tudor Dixon, who attacked her rival's yearlong bid to shut down the cross-border Line 5 pipeline.

    "Justin Trudeau, who I would say is the most radical environmentalist in the entire world, came out and invoked a 1977 treaty telling Gretchen Whitmer she could not shut down Line 5," Dixon said.

    "Line 5 has not been shut down, but that's not because Gretchen Whitmer hasn't tried."

    Whitmer's administration has been battling in court for the last year to shut down the pipeline, fearing an environmental disaster in the Straits of Mackinac, the ecologically sensitive corridor where Line 5 crosses the Great Lakes.

    Her Oct. 25 debate-night defence of the state's ongoing lawsuit against Line 5's owner and operator, Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., was hardly strident -- evidence of how vulnerable Democrats are feeling when it comes to energy prices.

    "First, let me clarify there has been no change in Line 5. No change," she said, noting that the company's plans to encase the twin gas line in an underground tunnel are moving forward and "all of the permits have been executed."

    She emphasized efforts in Michigan to build more sources of sustainable wind and solar energy, describing the state as topping the list of creating new clean energy jobs across the country.

    "We know that costs have gone up on everything. And that's why building out energy alternatives is really important -- giving you alternatives to help bring down the cost of energy," Whitmer said.

    "We are focused on building out alternatives -- ensuring our energy independence, protecting you from spikes and protecting our Great Lakes. It's not one or the other. We must do all of it."

    Like the ill-fated Keystone XL pipeline project before it, vetoed by U.S. President Joe Biden on his first day in the White House, Line 5 has become a literal and rhetorical symbol of the state of Canada-U.S. relations: economically vital but politically awkward.

    It was upstaged last year by evidence that U.S. protectionism is alive and well, crystallized with chilling clarity in Biden's original vision for encouraging Americans to buy electric vehicles: only U.S.-made, union-built cars and trucks need apply.

    That vision, framed by industry and Ottawa alike as an existential threat to Canada's auto sector, was replaced in August by the Inflation Reduction Act, a centrepiece Biden victory with EV incentives that now include Canada and Mexico.

    And while a Republican-controlled Congress would surely aim to undo the Democratic agenda, Biden's US$369-billion climate and energy spending measures are likely safe, considering a repeal would require a presidential signature.

    In a fall economic update released Thursday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland detailed some of how Canada plans to capitalize on the package, including plans for an investment program for EVs and battery-making, as well as tax incentives for the production of hydrogen fuels.

    Political observers in both countries are under no illusions about what Capitol Hill will be like over the next two years if the Republicans win control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

    Investigations into former president Donald Trump's role in the riots of Jan. 6, 2021, will no doubt come to a halt, and new ones will crop up, including into the FBI's search for top secret documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago sanctuary and the finances of Biden's son, Hunter.

    Republicans have also been threatening to block White House efforts to raise the debt ceiling, a periodic rite of passage that has become weaponized in recent years and is likely to be a major lever in GOP efforts to secure spending cuts, much as it was used against Barack Obama back in 2011.

    Democrats are discussing whether to use their remaining time in control of Congress -- the so-called lame-duck session -- to raise the debt limit pre-emptively in hopes of short-circuiting Republican tactics.

    It all adds up to legislative gridlock, a state of affairs that on balance wouldn't be such a bad thing for Canada after six turbulent years -- first Trump, then a Democratic president who proved more protectionist-minded than many expected.

    The bigger worry for Canadians is the same as it should be for Americans, say experts: the dangers that a newly empowered GOP would likely pose to the world's most powerful and enduring democracy.

    "It's frightening," said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics and chair of the political science department at Western University in London, Ont.

    He's talking about the most extreme voices in right-wing politics -- people like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar -- taking over control of all-important congressional committees.

    "It's not like democracy might start sliding. Democracy obviously has backslid a great amount in the U.S. And the prospects of getting back on the right trajectory are dim with those people in committee chairs."

    For Biden in particular, the health of American democracy is clearly top of mind, especially after last week's brutal attack on Paul Pelosi by a conspiracy theorist who was looking for his wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

    "I appeal to all Americans, regardless of party, to meet this moment of national and generational importance," Biden said.

    "We must vote, knowing what's at stake is not just the policy of the moment, but institutions that have held us together as we have sought a more perfect union. We must vote knowing who we have been, and what we're at risk of becoming."

    Canadians who tune in during the final throes of midterm season will also get a glimpse of some younger future leaders who might be the ones to decide the U.S. has to turn away from the abyss, said Chris Sands, head of the Canada Institute at the D.C.-based Wilson Center.

    "There's an opportunity in this election to see some of that coming up, because this time -- like so many past times -- we've been seeing older veteran politicians saying, 'I can't take it anymore, I'm gonna retire,' and I think they should," Sands said.

    "I think that's the natural change, that will be a sea change in the way that we practice politics, I hope for the better."

    This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2022.

    IN DEPTH

    Opinion

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    When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

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    Emotions boiled over after a judge acquitted two out of three defendants in a manslaughter case, while the third accused has since died.

    Political leaders are condemning what they describe as "hateful rhetoric" from a speaker at a pro-Palestinian rally in Vancouver who told the crowd that 'we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas.'

    On September 11, 80-year-old Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a theft in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.

    Canada

    • Elections BC is reissuing new 'where to vote' cards to some residents after an administrative error mistakenly recommended voting places that were farther from homes than necessary.

    • On September 11, 80-year-old Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a theft in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.

    • Political leaders are condemning what they describe as "hateful rhetoric" from a speaker at a pro-Palestinian rally in Vancouver who told the crowd that 'we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas.'

    • A British Columbia provincial court judge says a Boston Bar man who shot a teacup Chihuahua named Bear claiming it was menacing his chickens was not justified in killing the animal.

    • More than two weeks have passed since Hassan Ali walked out of a Toronto courtroom a free man, after prosecutors decided not to move forward with a first-degree murder trial against the local rapper.

    • The province鈥檚 consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.

    World

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    Health

    Sci-Tech

    • A British-Canadian researcher has won the Nobel Prize in physics for work developing the foundations of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The University of Toronto's Geoffrey Hinton was awarded the prize Tuesday morning, along with Princeton University researcher John Hopfield.

    • A device used by researchers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada appears to have been the victim of an attack by a great white shark 300 metres under water off the coast of Nova Scotia.

    Entertainment

    Business

    Lifestyle

    • A woman in Greater Sudbury, Ont., said "It doesn't get more Canadian than this" when she spotted a black bear dumpster diving at a Tim Hortons last month.

    • A Winnipeg baker is hanging up his apron permanently because he won the lottery.

    Sports

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    • Mercedes-Benz has partnered up with the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) and the provincial government to launch a new 鈥渋ncubator program鈥. One of the first three locations is Windsor, with the other two going to Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo.

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    A B.C. couple is getting desperate 鈥 and creative 鈥 in their search for their missing dog.

    Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.

    A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.

    Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.

    Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.

    Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

    Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.

    Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.

    A gargantuan gourd 鈥 affectionately named 鈥極rangina鈥 by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home 鈥 earned the massive honour of being named B.C.鈥檚 heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.

    • B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad has laid out his solutions for the toxic drug crisis in the province, which include cutting wait times for voluntary treatment, a virtual program to connect people with addiction specialists and building "regional recovery communities" that would allow for 12-month live-in treatment.

    • A British Columbia provincial court judge says a Boston Bar man who shot a teacup Chihuahua named Bear claiming it was menacing his chickens was not justified in killing the animal.

    • LIVE @ 6:30 P.M.

      LIVE @ 6:30 P.M.

      The leaders of B.C.'s three main political parties will be facing off Tuesday evening for their first and only televised debate ahead of the Oct. 19 election. Here's what viewers can expect.

    • More than two weeks have passed since Hassan Ali walked out of a Toronto courtroom a free man, after prosecutors decided not to move forward with a first-degree murder trial against the local rapper.

    • A youth has been charged with attempted murder after a woman was shot while driving a Lamborghini in Mississauga last month.

    • GRAPHIC VIDEO

      GRAPHIC VIDEO

      Calgary police are investigating after several shots were fired by a suspect into a truck in the northeast community of Saddle Ridge.

    • A Calgary officer's use of force in an August police-involved shooting has been deemed appropriate following an investigation.

    • WestJet has cancelled a number of flights as Hurricane Milton approaches Florida 鈥 including a couple of Calgary trips.

    • On September 11, 80-year-old Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a theft in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.

    • An Ottawa man who stabbed his estranged wife to death in an attack that also injured his daughter in Ottawa's west end has been found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder.

    • The federal government announced 14 new properties will be added to the Canada Public Land Bank, the list of federal properties that could be turned into new homes, including seven in Ottawa and two in Gatineau, Que.

    • Quebec coroner G茅hane Kamel will preside over a public enquiry into the deaths of L茅onor Geraudie, 43, and her seven-year-old daughter V茅rane, who were killed in a fire in a heritage building in Old Montreal on Oct. 4 that also left two people injured.

    • Montreal police (SPVM) arrested a 15-year-old in connection with an alleged arson in Saint-Leonard that occurred on the weekend.

    • Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt said on Tuesday that one of its entities had filed for bankruptcy with a Stockholm court due to its financial situation.

    • A 38-year-old Beaumont resident is dead after a crash involving a motorcycle over the weekend.

    • Edmonton's transit system is seeing record usage, with six million trips taken in September.

    • Police in New Brunswick are trying to track down a man they consider 鈥渁rmed and dangerous鈥 after he allegedly crashed a vehicle, waved a weapon at police, and fled in a stolen vehicle.

    • A device used by researchers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada appears to have been the victim of an attack by a great white shark 300 metres under water off the coast of Nova Scotia.

    • Todd Joseph Gallant pleaded not guilty to the murder of Byron Carr in a Prince Edward Island courtroom on Tuesday.

    • Manitoba RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service are launching Manitoba's Most Wanted website.

    • The Manitoba government has apologized in the legislature for clawing back federal benefit payments to kids in the child welfare system.

    • Manitoba health-care support workers will not be hitting the picket line on Tuesday morning.

    • A 35-year-old Regina man is facing multiple charges after police say he barricaded himself inside a basement suite and set fire to entryways.

    • The province鈥檚 consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.

    • Regina product and former Pats forward Jordan Eberle has been named captain of the NHL's Seattle Kraken.

    • Fire crews were called to respond to Mohawk Plaza shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday.

    • Police are advising the public that Wellington Road 35 between Gore Road and Concession 1 has been closed as of 4 p.m.

    • Police say they received a 911 call from the involved pilot around 11:20 a.m. after they had crash-landed in a farm field near Newry Road.

    • The province鈥檚 consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.

    • A Saskatoon mom is desperately fighting eviction after she discovered mould in her suite and reported it to her landlord.

    • IN PICTURES

      IN PICTURES

      Those in Saskatchewan gazing at the stars Monday night were treated to a brilliant display of northern lights 鈥 as a solar storm continues to bear down on the northern hemisphere.

    • BREAKING

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      A crash Tuesday afternoon on Highway 144 has closed the road north of Sudbury.

    • Police in Huntsville are investigating a deadly single-vehicle collision that happened Tuesday morning.

    • Drivers and businesses along Wellington Street in London鈥檚 downtown area continue to feel the pain as the city works on the downtown loop for the bus rapid transit project (BRT).

    • City hall鈥檚 restoration of the People and the City monument has been stalled since early 2022, and a plan to resume the project next spring requires more money.

    • A 20-year-old man who was behind the wheel of a speeding car that struck and killed an international student crossing Big Bay Point Road in Barrie last summer and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death will not spend time behind bars.

    • Police in Huntsville are investigating a deadly single-vehicle collision that happened Tuesday morning.

    • Police arrested a man accused of setting an animal on fire in Orillia, Ont. last month.

    • A Toronto couple pleaded guilty to involvement in a $13-million drug investigation that started in Windsor.

    • Several cars are being pulled out of the Detroit River in west Windsor.

    • Windsor police say they are looking for the driver who crashed into the Children鈥檚 Aid Society building.

    • B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad has laid out his solutions for the toxic drug crisis in the province, which include cutting wait times for voluntary treatment, a virtual program to connect people with addiction specialists and building "regional recovery communities" that would allow for 12-month live-in treatment.

    • A Vancouver Island man has been charged in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a teenager near Duncan, B.C., earlier this year.

    • A British Columbia provincial court judge says a Boston Bar man who shot a teacup Chihuahua named Bear claiming it was menacing his chickens was not justified in killing the animal.

    • Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.

    • NDP Leader David Eby is promising to offer a $75-million loan forgiveness program to entice doctors, nurses and heath professionals to expand health-care services in rural British Columbia.

    • Three young suspects have been arrested in connection with a swarming attack on a teenager in B.C.'s Okanagan last week 鈥 and authorities have asked the public to stop circulating disturbing videos of the incident.

    • Charges have been laid against a 44-year-old man following a traffic stop in Brocket, Piikani Nation RCMP said Tuesday.

    • A metal fabrication company west of Medicine Hat has been fined by Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) following a workplace fatality in 2023.

    • A Lethbridge police officer involved in a scandal involving former Lethbridge New Democrat MLA Shannon Phillips has been reprimanded.

    • A woman in Greater Sudbury, Ont., said "It doesn't get more Canadian than this" when she spotted a black bear dumpster diving at a Tim Hortons last month.

    • The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is the latest organization to call on the Doug Ford government to re-open dialogue with an airline service that transports lower-income Canadians to crucial medical care far from home.

    • For decades, Mississauga First Nation has known that human remains from their land were at the Canadian Museum of History.

    N.L.

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