Reuters: Right-wing party wins power in Canada’s oil region, attacks Trudeau on environment. A right-of-center party swept to power in Canada’s main oil-producing province of Alberta on Tuesday and attacked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s efforts to fight climate change, raising tension just months ahead of a federal election. The United Conservative Party (UCP) of Jason Kenney, which had led in the polls for months, crushed the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) government of Rachel Notley amid frustration over the economy and a beleaguered energy industry. Kenney’s victory means governments in five of the 10 provinces now oppose Trudeau’s plans to combat global warming, which look set to be a major theme of the October election.
New York Times: What’s a feminist government? Canada, and Trudeau, grapple with the question. (…) Try as he might, Mr. Trudeau can’t seem to move past the controversy that has sucked up most of the air in Canada since February, when the country’s first Indigenous female attorney general quit after accusing the prime minister’s office of inappropriately pressuring her to consider a civil rather than criminal penalty for a company accused of corruption. The episode has propelled Canada into an agonized, bad-tempered and occasionally hairsplitting argument about the rule of law, the exigencies of party loyalty and the role of women, Indigenous people and feminism in political life. By Sarah Lyall.
Bloomberg: Canadian exporters continue to struggle even with rising oil. Canada recorded smaller trade deficits than expected in the first two months of 2019 on a rally in oil prices, but figures released Wednesday show the nation’s exporters are still struggling. The nation posted a smaller-than-expected C$2.9 billion ($2.2 billion) deficit in February, and Statistics Canada revised down its initial deficit forecast for January by C$1 billion. Yet, the improved trade balance reflected stronger crude prices and masked what seems to be a deteriorating outlook in just about every other sector.
Bloomberg: Canada take note: Canola shipments to China will keep shrinking. Canadian farmers shouldn’t look to China for any recovery in canola sales as more stringent quality checks by the Asian country are set to take a heavy toll on imports in coming months. Overseas purchases by China, the North American country’s top buyer, will drop “significantly” after it stepped up quality inspections on cargoes from Canada, Tang Ke, a department director at the Agriculture Ministry, said on Wednesday.
NBC News: Shooter in custody after four dead in ‘targeted’ killings in Canada. Canadian police say a 60-year-old man is in custody after four targeted shootings that killed two men and two women in the city of Penticton, British Columbia. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Supt. Ted De Jager says the suspect and the four victims knew each other but gave no details.”Police have determined four people are deceased at three locations within a 5 km (3.1 mile) radius,” the RCMP said in a statement.
BBC: Canada group sues government over Google’s Sidewalk Labs. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is suing three levels of government over a Google-backed plan to build a smart neighbourhood in Toronto. The association says the project is “invalid and needs to be reset”. It is run by the publicly funded Waterfront Toronto and Google-affiliated Sidewalk Labs. Privacy advocates are concerned the project will increase surveillance and outsource government responsibilities to a private corporation.
Middle East Monitor: Syria refugee, 9, commits suicide after being bullied in Canada. A Syrian family who fled to Canada have spoken out about the death of their nine-year-old daughter after she committed suicide last month as a result of being bullied at school. Amal Alshteiwi’s body was found by her mother on 6 March in their home in Calgary; in the weeks leading up to her death she had consistently complained of being physically and verbally abused by fellow classmates. The bullying continued despite changing schools, leaving Amal distraught.
Al Rai Media – Kuwait: Kuwait straightens relations with public and private sectors in Canada: Kuwaiti Minister of Finance. On the sidelines of the inaugural Kuwait-Canada Economic Forum in Toronto, the Minister said the Kuwait-Canada relations date back to 1965 when diplomatic relations between the two nations commenced, and cooperation in energy, health, and education has been remarkable. The Forum aimed to create a platform to promote bilateral trade and investment, and included dialogue sessions on sectors of mutual interest. Several topics were discussed, including Kuwait’s Vision 2035, monetary policy, money markets and trade, innovation, and oil and gas and petrochemical industries. The Forum also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
4 May – Yemen: Feminist Compassion Association [sic] in Canada supports a Psychiatric and Neurological Hospital in Aden, Yemen. The Association granted the hospital a number of beds and mattresses through the Yemeni Southern Women’s Block. The President of the hospital lauded the humanitarian gesture by the Association, while the Chair of the Block stated that the initiative is a first instance of cooperation between the Block and the Canadian Association, hoping for continued cooperation to the service of the needy.
Al Anbat News – Jordan: Canada confirms commitment to security in Jordan. The Canadian Minister of Defense, Harjit Sajjan, and the Jordanian Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have attended the ground-breaking ceremony of a year-long project for the construction and maintenance of a militarily strategic 63 km road at the border with Syria. The Canadian Government had approved in 2017 CAD $60 million in capacity building aid to the Governments of Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon to combat ISIS in the Middle East. This aid is part of a comprehensive strategy by the Government of Canada for the Middle East, backed by CAD $2.1 billion, which has been partially implemented through operation IMPACT and as part of an international coalition against ISIS. The ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of Canada to Jordan, Peter McDougall, and the Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations, Lt. Gen Michael Rouleau.
Palestine News Network – Palestine: Promoting entrepreneurship is a government priority: Palestinian Minister of National Economy. The Minister attended the inauguration ceremony of a project, financed by the Government of Canada for CAD $8 million, that aims to empower young women entrepreneurs in agriculture. The project is implemented by Save the Children, MA’AN Development Center, and the Palestinian Agricultural Development Association, and extends over four years and three phases, namely She Learns, She Communicates, and She Leads. The Minister said that the project aims to identify entry barriers to the agriculture sector to women, and work toward positive transformation in societal norms and systems to incentive and diversify entrepreneurship projects. On his part, the First Secretary at the Representative Office of Canada to the Palestinian Authority, Christopher [sic] Dugoud, said that the project is consistent with Canada’s gender-based international development policy which focuses on economic empowerment of women and girls.
Akher Al Akhbar – Egypt: Minister of Environment receives Canada’s Ambassador, invited to Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal. The Egyptian Minister discussed instruments of cooperation on biological diversity and climate change, and received the invitation to attend the Montreal’s conference in her capacity as the current Chair of the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 14). The Minister demanded coordination with her Canadian counterpart to discuss the goals of the Montreal conference, and affirmed that Egypt is exerting efforts toward putting a road map for biological diversity goals in 2050 through different interventions in various international forums. On his part, the Ambassador of Canada to Egypt, Jesse Dutton, said that Canada looks forward to Egypt’s participation in the G7 Summit in France, and to the Egyptian initiative on merging three United Nations conventions on climate change, desertification, and biological diversity to be discussed at the Summit.
Shems FM – Tunisia: Tunisia-Canada Business Forum concludes. The Forum, held in Montreal, was attended by a Tunisian delegation of several Tunisian private companies in the ICT sector in Sousse. The delegation visited public and private institutions in the ICT sector in each of Montreal and Quebec City, as well as the National Research Council in Quebec and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Quebec. The Forum was organized by Optimum Group – a private entity which had previously organized the first edition of the Forum in Montreal and lead to business partnerships between Canadian and Tunisian companies.
