Online harms bill on hold
BC boosts milk production
Baby lives after stroller hit
Plastic treaty talks underway
UN workers charged 
Trudeau in Saskatoon 
U.S. reporter remains jailed
$620 million for Ukraine 
5 die crossing channel
PepsiCo beats Q1 forecasts
Equifax testing rental data 
Tourism operators struggle 
Leafs even series
Cristall gets pro look
Warriors even series in OT
Seinfeld: movie biz is 'over'
A Knight's Tale sequel axed
Rudolph: I'm no nepo baby
- Plastic treaty talks underway
Ottawa 11:25am - 579 views - UN workers charged Montreal 6:44am - 7,337 views
- Trudeau in Saskatoon Canada 5:44am - 4,061 views
- Doctors protest tax change Canada 5:43am - 7,629 views
- Caribou herds growing Canada 5:40am - 3,092 views
- Inquiry into B.C. port strike Canada Apr 22 - 3,365 views
- Is decaf coffee bad for you? Canada Apr 22 - 9,728 views
- Ex-cop tries to quash charge Canada Apr 22 - 6,796 views
Canada
Plastic treaty talks in Ottawa get underway with pleas for high ambition, flexibility
Plastic treaty talks underway
The Ecuadorean diplomat tasked with shepherding the fourth round of talks for a global plastic treaty in Ottawa this week says the world cannot wait much longer for governments to get it right.
Luis Vayas Valdivieso was tapped last fall to be the lead negotiator for the treaty negotiations which got underway in Ottawa this morning.
It is the fourth of five planned rounds aimed at having an agreement by the end of this year to chart a course towards ending plastic waste by 2040.
Valdivieso says the Ottawa talks are a "crucial moment" in the process while acknowledging it is not an easy task.
There is widespread support for the idea of ending plastic waste but far less agreement on how to do it.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says the consensus has to be a commitment to ending the "disposable consumer culture" that results in so much waste.
RCMP alleges two former UN workers in Montreal sold weapons, drones to Libya
UN workers charged
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police says two former United Nations employees in Montreal have been charged after they allegedly took part in a conspiracy to illegally sell Chinese-made drones and other military equipment to Libya.
The RCMP says Fathi Ben Ahmed Mhaouek, who is 61 and lives in the Montreal suburb of Sainte-Catherine, Que., has been arrested and is expected to appear in a Montreal court today.
Police say his alleged accomplice, Mahmud Mohamed Elsuwaye Sayeh, 37, remains on the run and INTERPOL has issued an alert to police around the world.
The Mounties say the two men were employed by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency headquartered in Montreal, when the alleged offences took place.
They say the two men allegedly violated UN sanctions on Libya.
Investigators say they believe the scheme also involved the illegal sale of Libyan oil to China.
Trudeau in Saskatoon today highlighting budget's youth, education and health measures
Trudeau in Saskatoon
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Saskatoon today.
An itinerary released by his office says he will make an announcement this morning to highlight measures focused on youth, education, and health that were contained in last week's budget.
Trudeau will be joined at the event by Dan Vandal, minister for northern affairs and Prairie economic development, as well as Women and Gender Equality and Youth Minister Marci Ien.
The budget included a renewed investment of $60-million over five years in Futurpreneur Canada, which provides young adults with access to loans, mentorship and resources to create businesses.
Trudeau has faced conflict with Saskatchewan's government, and its leader Scott Moe, over the federal Liberal government's carbon tax.
Moe is among a majority of provincial leaders, including lone Liberal Premier Andrew Furey of Newfoundland and Labrador, who are asking Trudeau to convene a meeting to discuss alternatives to the consumer carbon price.
Doctors ask Liberal government to reconsider capital gains tax change
Doctors protest tax change
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
Kathleen Ross, the association's president, says many doctors incorporate their medical practices and invest for retirement inside their corporations.
The proposed changes would increase taxes on those investments, something the association says will add "financial strain" for doctors who do not have a pension to rely on.
Ross argues the change could also affect recruitment and retention of physicians in Canada.
Doctors are the latest group to come out against the tax change, which is expected to largely affect wealthier Canadians and businesses.
The federal budget presented last week proposes taxing two-thirds rather than one-half of capital gains, or profit made on the sale of assets.
The increase in the so-called inclusion rate would apply to capital gains above $250,000 for individuals, and all capital gains realized by corporations.
"We have seen this portrayed by the government as tax fairness for every generation. But realistically, there are certain members of the population that are going to be more impacted," Ross said in an interview.
The Liberal government has argued that the tax change is about levelling the playing field between those who earn income through capital gains versus employment.
They're also selling the change as a way to make the wealthy pay more to support things like housing and health care for all Canadians.
But Ross pointed out that doctors would not be eligible for the $250,000 exemption to the higher inclusion rate, since the investments they make are largely inside corporations.
Physicians can still invest in a Registered Retirement Savings Plan — which is tax-advantaged — so long as they pay themselves a salary out of their corporation.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the federal government is changing the capital gains inclusion rate "because it's unfair that a nurse pays a higher marginal tax rate than a multi-millionaire."
"These changes are in addition to the $200 billion we are investing in health care and the enhanced forgiveness of student loans for doctors and nurses wanting to work in rural and remote areas," Katherine Cuplinskas said.
Large study shows caribou herds in Alberta, B.C., growing from wolf culls, cow pens
Caribou herds growing
Fresh research suggests western Canada's once-dwindling caribou numbers are finally growing.
But the same paper concludes the biggest reason for the rebound is the slaughter of hundreds of wolves, a policy that will likely have to go on for decades.
"If we don't shoot wolves, given the state of the habitat that industry and government have allowed, we will lose caribou," said Clayton Lamb, one of 34 co-authors of a newly published study in the journal Ecological Applications.
"It's not the wolves' fault."
Caribou conservation is considered one of the toughest wildlife management problems on the continent.
The animals, printed on the back of the Canadian quarter since 1937, require undisturbed stretches of hard-to-reach old-growth boreal forest. Those same forests tend to be logged or drilled, creating roads and cutlines that invite in deer and moose -- along with the wolves that eat anything with hooves.
Between 1991 and 2023, caribou populations dropped by half. More than a third of the herds disappeared.
Governments, scientists and First Nations have been trying for years to find ways to bring them back. Lamb and his colleagues looked at 40 herds in British Columbia and Alberta to see if anything has worked.
The paper suggests caribou numbers have risen by 52 per cent since about 2020 compared with what they would have occurred if nothing had been done. There are now 4,500 in the two provinces, about 1,500 more than there would have been.
"There could be some actual good news," Lamb said. "It was surprising, in a good way."
The ranges of some herds are nearly 90 per cent disturbed by industry, and habitat restoration is the preferred solution. But it takes decades for a clear-cut or a cutline to return to anything like old-growth status, so various stopgaps have been used.
Because different measures were used on different herds, the researchers could link population trends to interventions.
Wolf sterilization didn't work because it couldn't be done on enough of the predators.
Same with reducing the moose and deer populations that draw wolves into caribou habitat. Nearly all those populations would have to be killed, an unpopular move in rural and First Nations communities where hunting is both a pastime and necessity.
"Moose reduction is incredibly controversial," said Lamb.
Moving animals from large herds to small helped only for a season or two.
What worked was killing wolves.
"Wolf reductions alone increased the growth rate of southern mountain caribou subpopulations by (about) 11 per cent," the report states.
That growth rate increased when wolf culls were combined with other measures such as feeding and penning and protecting pregnant cows.
"Wolf reduction was the only recovery action that consistently increased population growth when applied in isolation," says the report. "Combinations of wolf reductions with maternal penning or supplemental feeding provided rapid growth."
The finding puts wildlife managers in a tough spot, Lamb said.
"Shooting wolves to save another species is an incredibly difficult decision."
In 2020 and 2021, Alberta culled 824 wolves.
Some caribou ranges have been protected. In B.C., an agreement between the province and a First Nation has conserved 8,000 square kilometres -- an area bigger than Banff National Park.
Alberta has protected some habitat, but undisturbed ranges continue to shrink under forestry and energy industry pressure.
A recent study found human disturbance increased in 23 out of 28 Alberta caribou subranges between 2018 and 2021. Development permits were approved for 700 square kilometres of caribou range.
Until those trends reverse, heavy-handed tactics such as wolf culls will be the price of caribou herds, said Lamb.
"Every year we delay in getting trees growing, that's one more year of having to implement these interventions. I think we're talking about many years of supporting caribou."
Labour minister announces inquiry into costly 2023 port strike in B.C.
Inquiry into B.C. port strike
Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan says he has appointed an Industrial Inquiry Commission to dig deeper into the underlying causes of B.C.'s port strike last summer.
The federal government says in a statement the port strike was a single labour dispute that caused a major "economic disruption" as longshore workers walked picket lines for just under two weeks last July.
O'Regan says the commission will be headed by veteran mediator Vince Ready, who was tapped during the strike to mediate a deal between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the BC Maritime Employers Association.
The statement says the government "believes in collective bargaining" as a means of delivering "certainty" to the country's supply chains.
The labour ministry says the inquiry's goal is to provide "stability," and that Canada's credibility and reliability as an international trading partner is at stake when supply chains are disrupted.
O'Regan says workers and businesses need "long-term solutions" and the inquiry commission will present its findings next spring.
Is decaf coffee bad for your health? Here’s what to know
Is decaf coffee bad for you?
If you enjoy the taste of coffee but don’t want caffeine’s side effects, decaffeinated coffee with 97 per cent of the stimulant removed is an alternative for your morning brew.
Recent new stories, however, may have left you concerned about the safety of decaf coffee.
Health advocacy groups in the U.S. recently petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the use of methylene chloride in the decaffeination process owing to cancer concerns.
Here’s an explainer about methylene chloride, where Health Canada stands on the chemical, plus tips on how to avoid it when opting for decaf.
What is methylene chloride?
Methylene chloride (also called dichloromethane) is a colourless synthetic chemical that’s used as a solvent in paint and furniture stripping products and a component in aerosol products and other industrial applications.
When it comes to food, methylene chloride is used as a solvent to remove caffeine from coffee beans and tea leaves.
There are several ways to remove caffeine from coffee beans. The most common of those, called the direct method or the European method, involves steaming green unroasted coffee beans to open their pores and make caffeine accessible. The beans are then rinsed with methylene chloride or ethyl acetate to extract the caffeine. Once the caffeine is removed, the beans are washed, dried and roasted.
Methylene chloride is used predominantly in Europe. According to data from the U.S. International Trade Commission, the top source of decaffeinated coffee beans in the U.S. is Germany, followed by Italy and Switzerland.
In 2023, Canada imported 30 per cent of its coffee from the U.S., 12 per cent from Switzerland and 3.5 per cent from Italy.
Methylene chloride is also used to process spices and create extracts used as food ingredients, including hops extract for beer.
Health risks of methylene chloride
When inhaled, methylene chloride can cause wheezing, shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, nausea and memory loss.
Exposure to high levels of the chemical can cause serious harms to health, even death.
Owing to its toxicity, in 2019 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned the chemical from being manufactured and sold as a paint remover.
In 2023, the agency proposed a ban on all consumer uses and most industrial and commercial uses of methylene chloride.
Animal studies have demonstrated that inhaling methylene chloride causes liver and lung cancer.
As such, methylene chloride is classified as a Group 2A probable carcinogen to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency of the World Health Organization.
This means there is strong evidence that methylene chloride can cause cancer in humans, but at present it’s not conclusive.
What about methylene chloride in decaf coffee?
Both the Canadian and U.S. governments strictly limit residues of methylene chloride to no more than 10 parts per million (0.001 per cent) in decaffeinated roasted coffee beans, decaffeinated instant coffee and decaffeinated tea leaves.
According to Health Canada, data indicate actual levels of methylene chloride in dry decaffeinated coffee (and tea) are much lower than the permitted limit.
What’s more, the amount in coffee and tea will be even less when hot water is used to make the beverages since methylene chloride vaporizes at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. (Boiling water is 100 degrees Celsius.)
There is no evidence that drinking coffee that’s been decaffeinated using the European Method poses health risks.
Rather, many studies have linked drinking decaf (and regular) coffee every day – compared to not drinking coffee – with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and all-cause mortality.
Current petition to ban methylene chloride
Last November, the U.S.-based Environmental Defense Fund, along with its partners, sent a petition to the FDA to revoke its approval for four carcinogenic chemicals approved for use in food. One was methylene chloride.
The health advocacy groups argue that the U.S. government has been disregarding the Delaney Clause, part of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act since 1958.
The clause requires the FDA to ban additives that are found to cause or induce cancer in humans or animals as indicated by testing.
The FDA filed the petition for consideration in December and accepted public comments until March 11. The petition is currently being reviewed.
What does Health Canada say?
Methylene chloride was assessed in Canada in 1993 and was classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans” based on available evidence at the time.
Since then, the government has continued to collect information about methylene chloride and has recently prioritized it for further assessment.
Data on potential health effects and emerging science will be considered in determining whether methylene chloride is toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
If so, the government will take action to protect Canadians, including, if needed, no longer allowing the chemical to be used in the production of foods such as decaf coffee and tea.
What to do
If you’re concerned about methylene chloride, you can avoid it without giving up your decaf.
Look for decaf coffee products made using the “Swiss Water Process,” a method that does not use chemical solvents to extract caffeine. Decaf coffee served at Tim Hortons and Second Cup comes from beans processed this way. (Starbucks uses the European method to decaffeinate its beans.)
You can also choose products labelled certified organic, solvent-free or naturally decaffeinated with carbon dioxide.
Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based private practice dietitian, is director of food and nutrition at Medcan. Follow her on Twitter @LeslieBeckRD
Ex-RCMP officer charged in Quebec with foreign interference seeks to quash charges
Ex-cop tries to quash charge
A retired RCMP officer charged with helping China conduct foreign interference asked a Quebec court judge on Monday to quash an indictment against him because it was filed in the wrong province.
Lawyers for William Majcher argued in a courtroom in Longueuil, Que., on Montreal's South Shore, that the charges should have been filed in British Columbia or Ontario.
"Those are two place in Canada where the offences are alleged to have been committed," said Louis Belleau, a Montreal-based attorney representing Majcher, who attended Monday's hearing by video conference.
"Nothing connects the case to Longueuil."
If the application is granted to quash, it would put an end to the Quebec proceedings.
Majcher, 61, is charged under the Security of Information Act with conspiracy and with committing preparatory acts for the benefit of a foreign entity. Authorities allege Majcher, a resident of Hong Kong, used his network of Canadian contacts to obtain intelligence or services that benefited the People’s Republic of China. His charge sheet says he committed the crimes in Vancouver, Toronto, Hong Kong, and other unnamed places in Canada, China and "elsewhere in the world."
His lawyers say a prosecution must be initiated in a jurisdiction with specific connection to the crime, the offence or the offender.
"Clearly, we're not seeking a stay of proceedings or any other type of order that would put an end to the prosecution of Mr. Majcher," Belleau said.
"The Crown will remain free to lay a charge where we believe the charge should have been laid in the first place."
Belleau told the court the defence asked the Crown to stay the Quebec case and charge Majcher in B.C., but he said prosecutors denied that request.
For its part, the Crown says a judge from any jurisdiction in Canada can hear cases involving the Security of Information Act.
Majcher was employed by the RCMP from 1985 until 2007. He later worked in investment banking in Hong Kong at EMIDR Limited, a company he co-founded, providing expertise on money laundering and financial crime risk.
The Quebec branch of the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team began investigating Majcher in the fall of 2021, and federal prosecutors based in the province mounted the legal case against him.
"Our pretension is that the Security of Information Act gives territorial jurisdiction to Quebec judges to all of Canada, just like it gives Ontario judges jurisdiction all over Canada or it gives British Columbia judges jurisdiction all over Canada," prosecutor Philippe Legault told reporters Monday outside the courtroom.
Majcher was arrested in Vancouver in July 2023 and appeared before a judge in Longueuil, who granted him bail. He has not yet entered a plea, but his lawyer has told the court his client intends to plead not guilty to both charges.
In an interview with CTV News last month, Majcher told the network he is a "patriot" and not a "traitor" and was ready to challenge the charges.
Quebec court Judge Sacha Blais will rule on Majcher's request next month, ahead of scheduled trial dates in October.
Singh noncommittal on keeping scheduled increases to Liberals' carbon price in place
Singh noncommittal on tax
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is raising eyebrows anew over his carbon pricing stance, refusing to say today whether or not he would keep scheduled increases in place if he becomes prime minister.
The federal carbon price is set to rise to $170 per tonne of carbon dioxide or equivalent by 2030.
Singh says his party will be putting forward its own plan.
But he isn't saying whether that includes maintaining the current system.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has made repealing carbon price a focal point of his campaigning, saying it's contributing to the cost of living.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government's carbon price puts back more money into most people's pockets, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
As both leaders remain firm in their positions, Singh has refused to explicitly say whether or not he supports the current carbon price framework, despite running on it in the 2019 election.
On Monday, he deflected questions about the carbon price by attacking Poilievre, accusing him of having no environmental plan.
"What we've said, our plan that we will put forward is one that is fair for working people, takes on the big polluters, and lowers our emissions," Singh said.
Consciousness a 'realistic possibility' in birds, fish, squid and bees, scholars say
Consciousness in birds, fish?
Biologists, cognitive scientists and philosophers across the globe say there is a reasonable possibility the vast majority of creatures on Earth are sentient in some way.
The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness was released Friday with 39 signatories from universities from Canada to Australia who say there is "at least a realistic possibility" that all vertebrates and many invertebrates have consciousness.
The declaration rests on recent studies that show garter snakes can recognize their own scent, crows can report what they see, octopi can avoid pain and fruit flies can sleep — and they sleep best when they're with other fruit flies.
Kristin Andrews, a philosophy professor at York University, says scientific evidence supports the assumption that it "feels like something" for a fish to be caught with a hook, but it's not yet clear if that something is pain or distress.
She says the evidence shows it is reasonable to treat these creatures accordingly, by adopting harvesting methods that kill fish quickly or by abandoning the practice of boiling lobsters alive.
Andrews was one of three main organizers of the declaration and says a better understanding of sentience in crayfish or crabs helps scholars understand consciousness in more complex animals like humans.
Feds don't 'care if they die,' says lawyer helping Canadian children held in Syria
Feds don't 'care if they die'
Five Canadian children are languishing in a squalid detention camp in northeastern Syria after Ottawa denied their mothers permission to come to Canada, says a lawyer fighting in court on behalf of the families.
The development is the latest setback for Canadians among the many foreign nationals in ramshackle centres set up after the war-ravaged region was wrested from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Lawyer Asiya Hirji said she sought temporary resident permits in February last year for two women with Canadian children in al-Roj camp, and heard last month they had been refused on security grounds.
One of the mothers has a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. The other mother has a nine-year-old girl and boys aged seven and five. Her oldest boy has a serious eye condition that requires medical treatment.
Neither mother is a Canadian citizen. The Canadian fathers of the children are no longer in the families' lives.
Hirji, supervising lawyer at the University of Toronto law faculty's legal clinic, said the women signed confessions under duress in Syria — information Canada should not rely on.
She is now pursuing a Federal Court review of Canada's permit denial decision.
"In all security cases, they are very careful about what they are disclosing to the applicants," she said. "And so it results in a very protracted process."
A civil society delegation that visited Syrian prison camps last August called on Ottawa to provide immediate consular assistance to Canadian detainees and to swiftly repatriate all citizens wishing to return to Canada.
Delegation members, including Sen. Kim Pate and former Amnesty International Canada head Alex Neve, also urged the government to issue temporary permits to ensure that non-Canadian mothers and siblings of Canadian children can travel to Canada.
The delegation said Canada is complicit in a serious international human-rights failure through a policy of essentially warehousing thousands of foreign nationals, more than half of them children.
A recent Amnesty International report said men, women and children in the detention facilities endure inhumane conditions, in some cases including beatings, gender-based violence and torture.
An estimated 11,500 men, 14,500 women, and 30,000 children are held in at least 27 detention facilities and the al-Roj and al-Hol camps, the report said.
Hirji said she has repeatedly asked Global Affairs Canada to facilitate medical treatment for the five Canadian children she is trying to help, without success.
"I do not think that they care if they die," Hirji said.
"It's just heartwrenching that we're just letting this happen. Kids don't ask to be born. And so we have a responsibility to do what's in the best interests of children."
Non-Canadian parents of Canadian children may ask that their children be repatriated to Canada without them, and the federal government evaluates these requests on a case-by-case basis, said Global Affairs spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod.
Canadian consular officials remain "actively engaged" with Syrian Kurdish authorities and international organizations operating in the region, as well as civil society groups for information on and assistance to Canadian citizens in the camps, MacLeod said.
"Due to privacy considerations, we cannot comment on specific cases or potential future actions."
Hirji said that for the Canadian mothers, sending their children to Canada alone amounts to an impossible choice.
"Do they commit their children to a lifetime of emotional trauma? Or do they keep them with them and try to protect their emotional health at the detriment of their physical health?"
Canada has arranged for the repatriation of several other Canadian women and children from detention in Syria.
One Canadian woman from Quebec was denied help from Ottawa to return to Canada on security grounds, but has since managed to leave al-Roj camp. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
The woman's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, says Ottawa has agreed to help her six young children, who are also citizens, come to Canada.
"I have very definite instructions from her to bring her children home as quickly as possible, and it looks like Global Affairs is moving in that direction," Greenspon said.
A specialized clinic in Montreal is "ready to step in" to assist the children once they return, he added.
As for the mother, Greenspon said "the hope is that she will be able to find her way to a Canadian consulate and eventually find her way home."
Greenspon is also one of the lawyers behind a court effort to secure the repatriation of four Canadian men being held in Syria.
In November, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the men's challenge of a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that said Ottawa is not obligated under the law to help them return.
The top court is being asked to reconsider its decision.
Wrong body returned from Cuba to Quebec family after father dies on vacation
Wrong body returned home
A Montreal-area woman is asking Canadian authorities to help locate her father's body in Cuba after a devastating mix-up that saw her family receive a stranger's remains instead.
Miriam Jarjour says she was swimming with her 68-year-old father in the ocean near Varadero on March 22 when he suddenly had a heart attack and died.
She says she followed the directions given to her by the Canadian consulate, and paid $10,000 to have the body returned home to the family in Laval, Que.
However, the casket that arrived late last week contained the body of a Russian man who was at least 20 years younger than Faraj Allah Jarjour and, unlike him, had a full head of hair and tattoos.
Jarjour says the stranger's body has been sent to his country, but she and her family are no closer to knowing where her father is.
Global Affairs Canada says consular officials are working with Cuban authorities and the family to resolve the issue, but Jarjour says she doesn't feel she is getting the answers she needs.
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