Washington Post: Canada’s response to Jamal Khashoggi’s death is a test for Trudeau. Canada is grappling with how to respond to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, apparently torn between a desire to stand up to Saudi Arabia and breaking an arms deal at a steep cost. Since Saudi Arabia admitted, after weeks of denial, that Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has faced calls to cancel a 2014 contract for the sale of light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, Trudeau told reporters that his government is undertaking a review of export permits to the Kingdom. “We will continue to work with our allies around the world in order to get better answers on this incident and talk about the consequences”, Trudeau said in Ottawa.

DefenseNews.com: With Russia in its crosshairs, Canada moves to buy a sub hunter. The Royal Canadian Navy is moving toward Britain’s Type 26 frigate design, a multimission ship designed to cut through the water quietly, hunt submarines, and defend against hostile missiles and aircraft. The Canadian government announced mid-October that a team led by Lockheed Martin Canada had been selected as the “preferred designer.” That team was offering up British defense firm BAE Systems’ Type 26 design. To some, the selection of the Type 26 design was a surprise given that Britain only just began cutting steel for the first one last summer, and as with any new ship and design, there is a high potential for cost overruns and delays. But the Arctic nation’s selection of a ship that is a purpose-built sub hunter could be a sign that it is willing to accept those risks because of the strategic threat Russia poses to Canada’s interests at the rapidly thawing top of the world.

AP: Three Asian nations warn citizens not to use marijuana in Canada. Marijuana may be legal now in Canada but at least three Asian governments are warning their citizens to avoid it, including the specter of possible arrest for Japanese and South Koreans. China, the latest to weigh in, didn’t go that far. Its consulate in Toronto issued a statement dated Friday reminding Chinese in its jurisdiction — and students in particular — “to avoid contact with and use of marijuana for the sake of ensuring your own physical and mental health.” Canada legalized the sale of recreational marijuana on Oct. 17.

Vox.com: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is betting his reelection on a carbon tax. Climate policy has taken a remarkable turn up in Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is effectively betting his reelection on the political salability of a nationwide carbon tax. (I can’t believe I just wrote those words.) Back in 2015, when he was first running for prime minister, Trudeau pledged that under his leadership, the federal government would implement a nationwide carbon price — and would impose such a price on any province that did not develop its own. By David Roberts.

The Guardian: Canada passed a carbon tax that will give most Canadians more money. Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, Canada will implement a revenue-neutral carbon tax starting in 2019, fulfilling a campaign pledge he made in 2015. The federal carbon pollution price will start low at $20 per ton in 2019, rising at $10 per ton per year until reaching $50 per ton in 2022. The carbon tax will stay at that level unless the legislation is revisited and revised. This is a somewhat modest carbon tax – after all, the social cost of carbon is many times higher – but it’s a higher carbon price than has been implemented in most countries. Moreover, a carbon tax doesn’t necessarily have to reflect the social cost of carbon. The question is whether it will be sufficiently high to meet the country’s climate targets.

The Guardian: ‘We’ve never seen this’: massive Canadian glaciers shrinking rapidly. Scientists in Canada have warned that massive glaciers in the Yukon territory are shrinking even faster than would be expected from a warming climate – and bringing dramatic changes to the region. After a string of recent reports chronicling the demise of the ice fields, researchers hope that greater awareness will help the public better understand the rapid pace of climate change. The rate of warming in the north is double that of the average global temperature increase, concluded the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its annual Arctic Report Card, which called the warming “unprecedented”.

Channel 1, Los Angeles: Canada congratulates Brazil’s president-elect following election victory. The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued the following statement on the presidential election in Brazil: “Canada congratulates the tens of millions of Brazilians who exercised their democratic rights by casting votes in the presidential election on October 28. Their participation is a testament to the strong democratic convictions of the people of Brazil. Canada and Brazil enjoy a deep relationship. This is evidenced by the third Canada-Brazil Strategic Partnership Dialogue that took place in Ottawa on October 23, 2018; numerous relationships between people and businesses; as well as by our close cooperation on security and defence, agriculture, education, technology and innovation.”

NewsR, India: Canada issues terse statement after far-right candidate elected president of Brazil. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland offered no words of praise today for Brazil’s new president-elect — far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro — choosing instead to congratulate Brazilians on exercising their right to vote in a contentious election in South America’s largest country.

Russia Today: Weed is bad, m’kay? Dutch PM warns Canadians against sparking up. Canadians had barely enjoyed legal marijuana for even a fortnight when they received high-level advice against using it, from the unlikeliest of people: the prime minister of the Netherlands. Mark Rutte’s warnings came on his Thursday visit to Canada, just over a week after its much-anticipated cannabis legalization. He and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau were talking pot use in front of a young audience in Ottawa. “The best policy on drugs for yourself is ‘no first use. It sounds conservative, but I would urge you: Don’t try at all.” That, coming from the prime minister of a country where buying and using marijuana in designated spaces has been legal for over 40 years. Many of Amsterdam’s five million annual tourists specifically flock to its “coffee shops” to spark up or eat pot edibles without fearing the long arm of the law.

Mawazin – Iraq: Canada ready for women empowerment support in Iraq. The Canadian Ambassador to Iraq, Paul Gibbard, has met with the Leader of the National Wisdom Movement, and affirmed his country’s willingness to support Iraq in the empowerment of women, strengthen economic and political cooperation, and to share its experience in decentralized administration. In a statement, the Leader expressed his appreciation of having a residing Ambassador of Canada in Baghdad, hoping that such move will strengthen bilateral relations, expand economic partnerships, and transfer Canadian skill in decentralized administration to Iraq.

Panet – Palestine: Prime Minister thanks Canada for supporting UNRWA. The Palestinian Prime Minister has received the Representative of Canada to the Palestinian Authority, Douglas Scott Proudfoot, in his office in Ramallah, and thanked Canada for announcing an emergency financial aid of $60 million, paid over a period of two years, to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The UNRWA has been financially strapped since the US administration has stopped its funding commitment to the agency. The Prime Minister lauded Canada’s support to Palestine in several sectors, particularly that of justice administration.

El Mihwar – Algeria: Canada rejects 51% of immigration visa applications from Algeria. According to the Canadian Ministry of Immigration, 8,992 out of 17,545 visa applications submitted by Algerians were rejected in the period between January and June of the current year. Rejection rates for 2013 and 2017 were at 25% and 39%, respectively. In general, the number of rejection incidents for Canadian immigration visa has increased for all countries in the period between 2013 and 2017 from 17% to 25%. These figures come in contrary to statements made by the Canadian Ambassador to Algeria, Patricia McCullagh, in which she said that her country’s immigration policy includes attracting the largest number of Algerian immigrants.

 

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