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Canada has imposed sanctions on 14 more Russians with close ties to President Vladimir Putin, including his two adult daughters.
Maria Vorontsova, 36, and her 35-year-old sister Katerina Tikhonova are named on the list released Tuesday. The sanctions also target Russian oligarchs and their family members.
In a tweet Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the sanctions and said Canada “will not relent in holding people accountable for their complicity in Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.”
Canada follows in the footsteps of the U.S., which targeted Mr. Putin’s daughters with sanctions earlier this month.
More on the story here.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
FAMILIES OF WORKERS KILLED IN 2019 DERAILMENT URGE OTTAWA TO IMPLEMENT RAIL-SAFETY REGULATIONS - Family members of railway workers who were killed in a derailment in 2019 and opposition MPs are pushing Ottawa to act quickly to adopt recommendations from the Transportation Safety Board’s recent investigation into the crash. The TSB report urged Ottawa to improve testing requirements for brakes on freight cars that operate in cold and steep conditions. It said CP Rail should install automatic parking brakes on freight cars, and demonstrate that its safety management system identifies and mitigates risks. Story here.
WEARING A MASK ON PLANES, TRAINS STILL REQUIRED IN CANADA AS U.S. DROPS MANDATE: ALGHABRA - Canada’s Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says masking is still required on public transportation, as the U.S. moves to drop its national mandate. Story here from CTVNews.ca.
OTTAWA CONVOY PROTEST LEADER PAT KING CHARGED WITH PERJURY, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE - Ottawa convoy protest organizer Pat King is now facing perjury and obstruction of justice charges as he tries to secure his release from jail. Story here from The Canadian Press.
USE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING OR LOSE IT, OTTAWA WARNS HESITANT PROVINCES - The Liberal government is giving premiers a use it or lose it style ultimatum for billions in infrastructure money, pushing provinces to decide at least where and how they will spend $7.3-billion in federal cash. Story here from The National Post.
TRUDEAU’S FACEBOOK PAGE MUST BE BILINGUAL FOR LIVE EVENTS: LANGUAGE COMMISSIONER - Events broadcast live on the Prime Minister’s Facebook page must be accessible in French and English, according to the commissioner of official languages, who said the Privy Council Office failed to meet its obligations under Canada’s language laws. Story here from The Canadian Press.
FORMER ALBERTA JUSTICE MINISTER, EX-LAW PARTNER ACCUSED OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN KAMIKAZE CAMPAIGN PROBE - Former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis and his ex-law partner Dale Fedorchuk have been accused of conflict of interest in connection with the Kamikaze campaign investigation — and of making one client “the scapegoat” for another: United Conservative Party heavyweight Jeff Callaway. The Callaway campaign would become known in Alberta as being set up to benefit now-Premier Jason Kenney’s bid for leadership of the newly united party. Story here from CBC.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
The newsletter reached out to the Conservatives leadership campaigns to see what they were up to on Tuesday.
Pierre Poilievre will hold a media availability about getting more homes built in the Greater Toronto Area, followed by a meet and greet with supporters Tuesday evening.
Roman Baber will also meet supporters in Winnipeg Tuesday evening.
Jean Charest and Leslyn Lewis’s teams said the candidates don’t have any events Tuesday. The other campaigns did not reply.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – The House is adjourned until Monday, April 25, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. (EDT).
The Globe is pleased to announce that Marsha McLeod will join the Ottawa bureau on June 6 while parliamentary reporter Kristy Kirkup is on maternity leave. Ms. McLeod studied investigative reporting at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and was a Canadian Journalism Foundation Investigative Fellow at The Globe.
THE DECIBEL
On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, columnist Robyn Urback talks about why Mr. Poilievre’s messaging is finding its audience right now.
Mr. Poilievre has been known as the party’s attack dog. He’s often hyper-partisan in Parliament, not afraid to pander to the base and support controversial movements, like the truckers convoy that occupied Ottawa earlier this year. And yet the career politician has tapped into a populist vein and is gaining attention by talking about issues like housing, inflation and cryptocurrency. But is it enough to allow him to win the Conservative leadership race? And then, resonate with the wider public? The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
The Prime Minister starts his day in Ottawa by participating in a virtual meeting about the war in Ukraine, hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden. The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO will also join the meeting.
Mr. Trudeau will then travel to Dalhousie, N.B. to make a long-term care announcement alongside the province’s Social Development Minister Bruce Fitch. They will be joined by federal Ministers Dominic LeBlanc and Ginette Petitpas Taylor, and take questions from reporters after the announcement.
Mr. Trudeau will then visit a local daycare facility and meet with families to discuss early learning and child care.
LEADERS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is in Montreal today with Deputy Leader Alexandre Boulerice to discuss the housing crisis. They will also meet with the the National Council of Unemployed Workers and participate in an iftar (an evening meal at the end of the daily Ramadan fast) organized by the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet will meet with the mayor of Quebec City and speak with media after.
No other schedules released for party leaders.
PUBLIC OPINION
IMMIGRATION IS CHANGING THE COMPOSITION OF RELIGION IN CANADA, SURVEY FINDS - Growing immigration is changing the composition of religion in Canada, an in-depth survey shows, though not all communities of faith feel welcome. The Angus Reid Institute and Cardus survey is described as the first of its kind to take a comprehensive look at Canadians’ faith across a full religious spectrum. Story here.
ONE-QUARTER OF CANADIANS HAVE BEEN INFECTED WITH COVID-19, POLL SUGGESTS - Almost one in four Canadian respondents to a new online survey said they had been infected with COVID-19, while about three in four had not. The poll by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies offers a picture of how many people have been infected. Story here from The Canadian Press.
BLACK CANADIANS TWICE AS LIKELY TO TRUST THE GOVERNMENT — BUT LESS LIKELY TO TRUST POLICE: SURVEY - Black Canadians are twice as likely to trust the government, according to a new report, while faith in local law enforcement or police among those surveyed was lower compared to the general population. Canadian public relations firm Proof Strategies created a specific sample set of Black Canadians for the first time as part of its annual CanTrust Index. Story here from CBC.
OPINION
Michael Bociurkiw (contributed to The Globe and Mail, from Kyiv) on how Canada’s Ukrainian embassy staff should return to work in Ukraine: “But with the war now in its 54th day, with no end in sight, it’s time for Canadian embassy staff to leave Poland and return to their desks in Kyiv. There’s plenty of work to do here, not least of which is to assist in the enormous reconstruction and rehabilitation effort to come. Canada has world-class experience in sectors that are needed in the capital, from telecommunications and aviation to major infrastructure and humanitarian aid.”
Tom Mulcair (CTVNews.ca) on how Trudeau’s hopeless performance on environment is not unique: “We have a prime minister who, now in his seventh year in office, has been a total failure when it comes to meeting our international obligations to fight climate change. He knows the secret handshake, attends international conferences, says all the right things, then approves mammoth new petroleum projects like the Bay du Nord offshore oil scheme.”
John Ivison (The National Post) on how Canada hesitates on heavy weapons in Ukraine’s moment of desperation: “Canada’s response has been listless. In a letter to Defence Minister Anita Anand late last week, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress expressed its gratitude for the $500-million of military aid announced in the budget but said it was concerned the deployment of the money will take time as the budget winds its way through the legislative process, in the form of the budget implementation act. ‘This is time the Ukrainian people do not have,’ the letter said.”
Keith Baldrey (Glacier Media) on how Poilievre sounds like Trump: “While party leadership races can often feature bruising, bitter internal battles, the leadership contest the Conservatives are mired in seems particularly nasty. It’s been filled with the kind of heated rhetoric that makes one wonder whether some of the main contestants (and their supporters) can stand to be in the same room.
The most divisive figure is Ontario MP Pierre Poilievre, whose hard-right, populist and ideological campaign seems to be taking pages out of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign book.”
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