#Monreal, #Bill21, #Manitoba Montreal, Nov 29 (Canadian-Media): Some Muslim women in Quebec, affected by the province's ban on religious symbols due to the political issue of Bill 21, were tempted by the offer to move to the Prairie province, a region in Western Canada including Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, media reports said. The ad campaign launched Thursday with an aim to free Quebecers from the limitations of the province's secularism law, which prohibits public servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols including include the hijab, skullcap and turban. The arguments of the civil rights group that this law caused an irreparable harm was heard in a Quebec Court of Appeal earlier this week. "People's lives are being ruined. People are being forced to leave their professions. People are being forced to leave this province," Catherine McKenzie, a lawyer representing the groups, told the court. Diverse population and plethora of provincial parks in the province of Manitoba were among 2i list of reasons which appealed to the Muslims in Quebec to move to Manitoba. "I think it's an interesting move from another province: They take something bad happening somewhere else and turn it into a good thing for them," Shahad Salman, a lawyer who runs a public relations firm in Montreal, said the message appealed to her as well. But she said that a better solution was "Not having Bill 21." Nour Farhat, a 28-year-old Montrealer who recently completed a master's in criminal law said her dream becoming a Crown prosecutor in Quebec had been thwarted by the Bill 21, is involved in one of the legal challenges. She was reported to say although the move to Manitoba appealed her, but she said she had no plans to leave. "Why can't I be this person here, where I was born and raised? Why do I have to go to the other side of the country to realize my dream?" she said. "This is why I won't go to any other province — because I want to be able to do this here in Quebec."
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#AndrewScheer; #MontrealMeeting; #RoughGreeting Quebec, Nov 26 (Canadian-Media): During a meeting in Montreal Monday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was met with rebuffs from failed Quebec Tory candidates some asking him to step aside to allow someone else to lead the party into the next election, media reports said. Andrew Scheer. Image credit: Twitter handle "Andrew Scheer isn't the man for the job. He lost the moral authority with his candidates, with Quebecers," said Maikel Mikhael, who ran for the party in Rivière-des-Mille-Îles. He spoke to Radio-Canada, CBC's French-language arm, outside the meeting. "He cannot win the next election in Quebec, I will not get involved in the riding if he stays," said François Desrochers, the party's former candidate in Mirabel. Although the party looked well-positioned to pick up seats in the province at the outset of the campaign, his two shaky performances in the French-language debates badly damaged his party's fortunes. While some failed Quebec candidates had a decidedly negative opinion of Scheer's leadership, others said they were prepared to give him a second chance. Yves Lévesque, the former mayor of Trois-Rivières said Scheer showed signs on Monday that he was ready to learn from past mistakes. #NDPLeaderJagmeetSingh; #TwoBCMPsAppointed; #HouseLeaderOfCaucus Victoria (BC), Nov 24 (Canadian-Media): An announcement was made by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh while speaking at the B.C. NDP convention in Victoria, British Columbia (B.C.) On Saturday, regarding the appointment of Peter Julian reappointed as the NDP House leader of caucus's behind-the-scenes negotiations to work in the House of Commons, and Rachel Blaney who will take on the role of party whip, media reports said. Jameet Singh. Image credit: Twitter handle Peter Julian as House leader, would be responsible for negotiating with other parties on how work will get done in the House of Commons, including on confidence votes, and this is an added significance in a minority Parliament. The whip is responsible for caucus discipline and plays a key role in the administrative functions of party MPs in the Commons. For the the Trudeau Liberals to avoid their government being toppled, they would have to work with at least one other party and those negotiations will be brokered between House leaders. Singh says he wanted steady hands to help lead his party's work in the minority Parliament. "Peter is among the most experienced and committed caucus members we have, and Rachel has earned the respect of people in and out of our caucus," Singh said. "I will be relying on both of them in these important leadership roles as New Democrats work to deliver for Canadians in this minority Parliament." #Canada; #Canada'sNewCabinetMinisters; #ChrystiaFreeland; #Canada'sDeputyPM Ottawa, Nov 21 (Canadian-Media): Chrystia Freeland is taking on new roles as deputy prime minister and intergovernmental affairs minister with great promises that she will work for Canadians' unity to counter global challenges and deep divisions at home over economic disparity, media reports said. Chrystia Freeland. Image credit: Twitter handle "I think Canadians appreciate that we face some big challenges at home, notably the challenge around being sure that we can act united as a country, united as a country facing the big threats in the world today, united as a country facing the existential challenge of climate change, united as a country facing the challenge of being sure that Canadians have great jobs and a strong social welfare net," Freeland said. After Trudeau named a deputy PM for the first time, he said having worked closely in the past with Freeland on files that are vital to the country, his work with Freeland would "touch on national unity...energy and the environment...relations with all provinces in all regions of this country." Freeland is the tenth deputy PM in Canadian history after Anne McLellan was appointed deputy PM under then-prime minister Paul Martin. Freeland said having worked closely with Trudeau in drafting a new trilateral trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico to replace NAFTA, it was time to shift her attention on solving challenges at home and work directly with Trudeau and other ministers not only on federal-provincial issues such as energy and environment, but also on health and infrastructure, and continue to oversee Canada-U.S. relations to finalise trilateral trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico. She has also been given responsibility to solve Alberta and Saskatchewan's issues of federal carbon tax and a lack of progress on building a new pipeline. #NewMembersOfTrudea'sCabinetAnnounced; #JustinTrudeau; #Canada; #NewCabinetMembers Ottawa, Nov 20 (Canadian-Media): Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced the members of Cabinet following the swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa and hoped this team will work to deliver real, positive change for all Canadians, media reports said. Justin Trudeau/Official photo “Today, I can introduce the strong, diverse, and experienced team that will work together to tackle the big issues that matter to people from coast to coast to coast. Whether it’s making life more affordable for the middle class, taking action on climate change, or keeping our communities safe we will continue working tirelessly for all Canadians,” said Trudeau. The members of the Cabinet are:
Pablo Rodriguez, said Trudeau, will be assuming the responsibility of Quebec Lieutenant. Under the leadership of Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez, the following team will work with all parties to make progress on the priorities that matter most to Canadians:
In keeping with the precedent set in the previous Ministry and 36 ministers of Trudeau's cabinet represent an equal number of women and men.
PassingOfLegislationInNextSessionOfParliament; NDPSupport Ottawa, Nov 14 (Canadian-Media): During the meeting of Trudeau and Singh Ottawa this morning behind closed doors, NDP party leader Jagmeet Singh argued that besides the NDP support, the Liberals need the support of a progressive and "national" caucus for getting legislation passed in the next session of Parliament, media reports said. Jagmeet Singh. Image credit: Twitter handle Before their closed-door meeting began, Trudeau said he and Singh share a number of policy priorities, including tackling climate change, addressing affordability issues, working on reconciliation with Indigenous communities and pursuing a pharmacare plan. Trudeau has been meeting with the opposition leaders prior to the new session of Parliament. He met with Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet earlier in the week and will meet with Elizabeth May of the Green Party on Friday. After Blanchet made it clear that his goal is not working on national programs that benefit all Canadians, Singh said that Trudeau is left with two choices, he can work with NDP or the Conservatives. Parliament is set to return Dec. 5 and the returning MPs will elect a House Speaker which would be followed by the Governor General's speech from the throne outlining the government's priorities for the session. In the event of the speech going to vote and if the throne speech loses the vote, it could trigger another election, or give the opposition Conservatives an opportunity to ask the Governor General for a shot at forming a government. When asked if his party — which has struggled with fundraising in recent years — is ready for another campaign, Singh said, "I'm ready. I'm ready any time." #Quebec; #SuspensionofProposedImmigrationReform; #FasttrackIimmigrationProgram, Quebec, Nov 9 (Canadian-Media): Quebec premier Francois Legault suspended the proposed changes his immigration minister made to a popular fast-track immigration program for foreign students and workers, after criticism from across the province, including from the business and university sectors, media reports said. Francois Legault. Image credit: Twitter handle At the beginning of the week, hundreds of foreign students and workers learned they could have found themselves forced to leave Quebec after Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tightened the rules. The decision of including in the new program only specific university and technical junior college programs in industries received severe criticism from across the province. After affected students' pleas at the legislature, and being criticized by the influential members of the business and university sectors, Legault pointed to the positive reviews his government's plan received on his Facebook page as justification for the changes. But he was scorned at on social media for the comment. On Friday night Government of Quebec announced the temporary suspension of modifications to the Quebec Experience Program. Barrette said he would collaborate with stakeholders to come up other proposals #Ottawa'sVotingPatternInGeneralAssembly; #Trudeau'sLateEntry Ottawa, Nov 4 (Canadian-Media): Ottawa's voting pattern in the General Assembly and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's late entry in the race causes Canada to face tough challenge to win a seat next June on the UN Security Council, media reports said. Canada Had put forward its candidacy in 2016, about a decade after Ireland and Norway announced they were running. "It's not seen as very nice to cut the line in that way," said one senior European diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. Some states already have made reciprocal agreements with the other two candidates, such as vote swapping, "and we cannot break those commitments," the diplomat said. Justin Trudeau. Official website There are five permanent veto-wielding members on the Security Council: the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia and China. The remaining 10 seats are distributed by region. Canada is vying for a two-year seat on the council beginning in 2021. According to one Middle Eastern diplomat, Canada lost some support for its bid when it abstained on a key General Assembly resolution in December 2017 that demanded the U.S. rescind its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. "It will affect the decision of many Arab countries." An overwhelming 128 of the 172 nations present on the day of the vote approved the non-binding resolution declaring Washington's move "null and void." Norway and Ireland, Canada's rivals for the Security Council seat, voted in favour of the resolution. #InternationalTradeExperts; #WesternProvinces'SplitFromCanada Calgary, Nov 3 (Canadian-Media): International trade experts say Western provinces' split from Canada would not solve the problem of getting their product to international markets. media reports said. Liberals secured a minority government in last week's federal election, but were shut out of Alberta and Saskatchewan. "You can imagine how that would play out up here if Alberta, Saskatchewan leave ... We've seen enough out of B.C. to know how that would play out," said Carlo Dade, director of the Trade and Investment Centre at the Canada West Foundation The British Columbia government has resisted, primarily through court actions, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion that would triple the amount of crude shipped between Alberta and the Lower Mainland. Add to that there is no real enforcement mechanism through the international court, said Dade #ConservativeLeaderAndrewScheer; #Scheer'sViewsOnAbortion&SameSexMarriage; #ConservativeParty; #Canada Ottawa, Nov 2 (Canadian-Media): Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer's attempt to reconcile his views on abortion and same-sex marriage may have cost him votes among progressive Canadians as well his support among social conservatives, media reports said. Andrew Scheer. Image credit: Twitter handle Throughout the 40-day campaign, Scheer's message on abortion and same-sex marriage weak and his anti-abortion voters were disappointed in Scheer's handling of the issue during the campaign. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, just over 94,000 abortions were reported in hospitals and clinics in 2017, the most recent year for which statistics are available. That number is down from nearly 98,000 in 2016 and more than 100,000 in 2015. A party convention and leadership review would be held in April and Scheer's fate would be decided then. At least for now, most MPs are showing a united front and publicly backing Scheer. |
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January 2021
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