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Ottawa’s failure to disclose the latest sexual-misconduct investigation into a senior military officer during the election campaign is sparking criticism from opposition parties and military observers that it is not being transparent on serious issues related to the Canadian Forces.
Acting chief of the defence staff General Wayne Eyre and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan were notified about the investigation on Sept. 5. At the time, neither the military nor the government disclosed publicly that Lieutenant-General Trevor Cadieu’s appointment to command the Army was being postponed or that he was subject to an investigation.
For the first time Wednesday, the Canadian Forces confirmed in a news report that Cadieu’s appointment was delayed while he is investigated for sexual misconduct. Cadieu denies the allegation but said in a statement that he asked Eyre to consider choosing a different leader for the army.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office would not say Thursday when he or any of his staff were first notified of the investigation.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attend a news conference for a campaign event in downtown Vancouver on Aug. 18.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
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BoC’s Tiff Macklem sticks to view that high inflation is ‘transitory’
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is sticking to his assertion that the high inflation Canada is experiencing is transitory, even as top Canadian bank executives continue to question that narrative and warn that price pressures could persist.
Macklem said on Thursday that high inflation will likely recede once global supply chains normalize. But supply bottlenecks “are looking to be more complicated, more persistent than we previously thought,” he told a news conference in Washington, where he is attending meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
One reason bank executives and central bankers disagree about the trajectory of inflation is they have different expectations about how rapidly economic activity will pick up as COVID-19 restrictions ease.
Explainer: How the surge affects you and what you can do about changing prices
Transportation investigators rule out trains as cause of Lytton, B.C., wildfire
The Transportation Safety Board says it found no evidence that a freight train was the spark that set off a wildfire that destroyed the town of Lytton, B.C., this summer, dismissing a prime suspect and leaving residents at a loss for answers.
During a record-breaking heat wave, a westbound Canadian Pacific freight train loaded with coal passed through Lytton at 4:30 p.m. local time on June 30. That was about 18 minutes before the fire that killed two people was reported. Investigators believe the fire originated within two metres of the centre of the railway track. The RCMP and BC Wildfire Service’s investigations are still continuing.
Kathy Fox, chair of the transportation agency, said the TSB won’t disclose who was interviewed for the probe, but confirmed that officials did not speak directly with residents about what they observed.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Supreme Court orders new trial in first test of self-defence law: Canada’s Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a rural resident who shot dead an Indigenous intruder in his driveway, in the first test of a 2013 federal self-defence law. In an 8-1 decision, the court ruled that the 2018 jury acquittal of Peter Khill must be thrown out over a judge’s faulty instruction to jurors regarding how to assess self-defence.
Buy-American concerns raised with Janet Yellen, Freeland says: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is suggesting that Canada isn’t ruling out retaliatory action against the U.S. if the Biden administration goes too far with a Buy-American approach to its postpandemic recovery plan. Freeland, who was in Washington for discussions with her counterparts in the G20 and International Monetary Fund, said she raised Canada’s concerns directly with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a meeting this week. She said U.S. companies do about $1-billion in business with the federal government each year – activity that could be at risk if the White House opts for an aggressive protectionist approach.
Key Democrat Sinema rejects vote on multitrillion-dollar Biden package before infrastructure, source says: Democratic U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a key moderate, told fellow House Democrats she will not vote for a multitrillion-dollar package before Congress approves a $1-trillion infrastructure bill, according to a source briefed on the meeting. In the 50-50 Senate, Sinema, along with moderate Senator Joe Manchin, has the power to stop legislation from advancing. Both have said they would not adhere to any deadlines set by leadership to force votes on the package.
Analysis: Political theorist David Shor’s thoughts on U.S. Democrats have caused an uproar in a fallow political season
For many first-time home buyers, the wealth of your parents can be a deal-breaker: Nearly one in five first-time home buyers is getting financial help from parents, with the average amount of such support pegged at $150,000. Housing is increasingly only accessible to well-off families, as the numbers drawn from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s client database suggest.
Set sights on saving Earth, not space travel, Prince William says: In a BBC interview that aired Thursday, Prince William appeared to direct his ire at billionaires swept up in a space tourism race, saying the world’s “greatest minds” should focus their attention on solving the environmental problems facing the Earth. With their rival ventures, Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk and Richard Branson have been vying to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel.
Listen to The Decibel: Prosecutors recently withdrew a terrorism hoax charge against a Burlington, Ont., man who allegedly claimed to multiple journalists that he had travelled to Syria and committed terrorist acts as an ISIS executioner. An RCMP investigation later found there was no evidence that Shehroze Chaudhry went to Syria, or joined the terrorist organization. Leah West, professor at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, discusses how the story of an ISIS fighter among us affected Canada’s approach to dealing with Canadians who did leave to fight overseas and are now being detained there.
MORNING MARKETS
Global markets rose on Friday, buoyed by stellar corporate earnings results, but strong oil prices and stalling car sales in Europe were a reminder of headwinds for the world economy. The STOXX index of 600 European shares was up 0.2% at three-week highs. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.1%, and was set for a 1.7% weekly gain, which would be its best weekly performance since early September, while Japan’s Nikkei surged 1.81%, led by tech stocks. The Canadian dollar was trading at 81.02 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
As I leave my job as Calgary’s mayor, I’m grappling with the crises we are facing
“In one way, the pandemic has been helpful (the only good thing about the pandemic) in that it has upended all of our expectations about how society works. Now it’s up to us to form something new. We are in a wet-clay moment; we must mould the future now before it sets.” - Naheed Nenshi
The fall of Joe Biden has been much exaggerated
“...That the mood of the country has turned sour is hardly his doing. Post-inauguration, the pandemic was supposed to fade, engendering brighter times. It returned in force. It returned in force in good part because of vaccine-refusers on the Republican right.” Lawrence Martin
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
How can I keep my hands from drying out when using hand sanitizer this winter?
Winter conditions can often be rough on the hands, and the situation can be made even worse with the frequent use of hand sanitizer. Dr. Ashley Sutherland, program director at Dalhousie University’s division of dermatology, said that’s because the amount of alcohol content in hand sanitizers can be very drying on the skin.
To prevent hands from becoming red, dry, cracked, itchy or painful this winter, the board-certified dermatologist recommends applying a thick cream to damp hands after washing and after the hand sanitizer has dried.
MOMENT IN TIME: Oct. 15, 1983
Saddledome opens in Calgary
The saddledome in downtown Calgary, Oct. 22, 1985.Pat Price
Calgary’s most recognizable landmark, the Saddledome, got off to a rough start. The Dome opened 38 years ago with the Calgary Flames hosting the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983-1984 NHL season opener. The arena, built for the 1988 Winter Olympics, was over budget. The provincial and municipal governments had each launched investigations into what went wrong. And then the Flames gave up the first goal in the building, eventually losing the game 4-3. But the $100-million arena, which could then seat 16,764 fans, emerged as a symbol of the city, even though the designers did not mean for its unusual concave roof to wink at western culture. It got its name thanks to a contest, with Bev Ritchie’s suggestion being pulled out of a hat populated with other saddle-themed ideas. A little more than two decades after it opened, the Calgary Flames organization mused about tearing it down. Then, just months before it turned 30, the Saddledome was trashed by the 2013 floods that swept southern Alberta. Now, the Saddledome is one of the oldest arenas in the NHL and slated to be replaced by a new complex. Carrie Tait
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