Alberta Premier Rachel Notley speaks to reporters at the McDougall Centre in Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, Oct. 4
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CARBON PLAN NEEDS SUPPORT FROM PROVINCES, SAYS NOTLEY: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says the Trudeau government will struggle to push through its climate plan without willing provincial partners. But she acknowledges Alberta has little legal leverage when it comes to getting a new oil pipeline in exchange for its supporting a national carbon tax. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday announced that provinces must either put a price on carbon that meets or exceeds a national minimum or put a cap-and-trade system in place. The federal plan calls for a $10-per-tonne floor price starting in 2018 that would eventually rise to $50 a tonne in 2022 — two-thirds higher than what Alberta's price will be in 2018.
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HURRICANE MATTHEW SLAMS HAITI, TAKES AIM AT U.S. COAST: Hurricane Matthew slammed into Haiti's southwestern tip with howling, 233 km/h winds Tuesday, tearing off roofs in the poor and largely rural area, uprooting trees and leaving rivers bloated and choked with debris. At least nine deaths were blamed on the storm. The storm — at one point the most powerful hurricane in the region in nearly a decade — unloaded heavy rain as it swirled on toward Cuba and the Bahamas. Forecasters said it could hit Florida toward the end of the week and push its way up the coast over the weekend.
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B.C. ADVOCATE SAYS SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CARE 'DISTURBING': B.C.'s representative for children and youth has released disturbing numbers about sexual violence against children in the care of the provincial government. A report from Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond shows that at least 121 children and youth experienced sexual violence between 2011 and 2014. Most of the victims are girls and 61 per cent are aboriginal, even though indigenous girls make up only about 25 per cent of all B.C. youngsters in care. Turpel-Lafond says the data is upsetting because, in many cases, the victims are already recovering from trauma and their protection is the responsibility of the government.
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METRO VANCOUVER HOME SALES PLUNGE NEARLY 33 PER CENT: Home sales in Metro Vancouver plunged by 32.6 per cent last month compared to the same month last year, the city's real estate board said Tuesday, a sign that one of the hottest real estate markets in the world may be rapidly cooling down. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said there were 2,253 homes sold last month, a steep drop from the 3,345 home sales recorded in September 2015. Last month was the second month that a 15 per cent tax applied to foreign buyers of property in the city.
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RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL LEGAL FEES QUESTIONED: The Canadian government says a law firm that represented thousands of residential school survivors should have to pay back legal fees because it inflated its billings. Arguments were made Tuesday in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, where lawyers for the Canada's attorney general accused the Merchant Law Group of fraud, deceit and fraudulent misrepresentation. The government says it wouldn't have entered into an agreement a decade ago to pay Merchant Law Group $25 million if it had known there were concerns about how much time the company spent working on residential school claims. Merchant's lawyer says the government knew there were concerns about billing and went into negotiations with its eyes wide open. Merchant's lawyer says previous courts, including the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, approved the payment.
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THINK-TANK SAYS OIL INDUSTRY HEADED FOR $10B LOSS: Canada's oil extraction industry will have to ride through $21 billion in losses before it returns to profitability some time in 2017, according to the latest estimate from the Conference Board of Canada. The Ottawa-based think-tank says the industry is headed for a $10-billion loss this year after a record-setting $11-billion loss last year, the first time on record it has failed to be profitable two years in a row. To recover going forward, the industry will need to keep a much tighter lid on costs and productivity, said Carlos Murillo, who authored the report released Tuesday.
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MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT WANT CENTRE FOR FIRST-RESPONDER TRAUMA: MPs are calling for new research centre devoted to the mental health of first responders and other public safety officers grappling with the often disturbing toll of their jobs. Estimates indicate that between 10 and 35 per cent of first responders — from paramedics to prison guards — will develop post-traumatic stress disorder, the House of Commons public safety committee says in a report tabled Tuesday. The committee urges setting up a Canadian Institute for Public Safety Officer Health Research that would collect data, devise a research strategy and generally recognize the particular challenges public safety officers face in their work.
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MOTHERS CALL ON LIBERALS TO END EI COURT BATTLE: A group of mothers who say they were wrongly denied sickness benefits are calling out the federal Liberal government for continuing to fight them in court despite a promise to end the legal feud months ago. The Liberals said during last year's election campaign that they would drop federal opposition to a class-action lawsuit involving thousands of Canadians who were denied benefits to which they were entitled while on maternity leave. The mothers and their lawyer had remained remained largely silent, hoping the government would acquiesce once a few months had passed and ministers were well-versed on their portfolios. Instead, the court case has limped along — a result, the women say, of the Liberals dragging their heels on the file.
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OTTAWA RESERVE TO GET WATER TREATMENT PLANT: The federal government is promising to build a new treatment plant at a First Nation in Cape Breton, where residents say their tap water is brown, thick and often smells. Valerie Hache, a spokeswoman with Indian and Northern Affairs, said in an email that design work on the plant at the Potlotek reserve is due to begin soon but offered no specifics on when it would be completed. She said the system will remove iron and manganese from the water, which are causing the discolouration in Potlotek and have been recorded at levels that exceed the Canadian drinking water guidelines.
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ASSAILANTS AT LARGE AFTER KARDASHIAN WEST ROBBED: Investigators in Paris have not yet found any suspects in connection with the high-profile armed robbery of Kim Kardashian West on the weekend. She was in the French capital to attend Fashion Week. Local authorities say five people forced their way into the private residence where the reality TV star was staying, held her at gunpoint, and locked her in a bathroom before escaping with more than $10 million worth of jewelry.
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