The Friday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Highlights from the news file for Friday, Dec. 16

BC CORONER ISSUES WARNING TO DRUG USERS:  The British Columbia coroners’ service has issued an urgent warning to illicit drug users after an unprecedented number of fatalities on Thursday. Vancouver Police say there were nine overdose deaths in the city on Thursday night alone.

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TRUDEAU GOVERNMENT REJECTS PROVINCIAL HEALTH FUNDING DEMANDS: Finance Minister Bill Morneau says provincial demands for increased funding for health care are beyond anything the governing Liberals would consider. Morneau, who meets his provincial counterparts next week, says the federal government won’t agree to keep the annual increases in transfers — the health “escalator” — above three per cent or the yearly level of growth in nominal gross domestic product. Morneau says he also won’t entertain calls to raise the federal share of spending to 25 per cent of provincial health budgets.

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Ekweskeet Healing Lodge

Province announces new detox spaces at Onion Lake Cree Nation

3h ago

Leaving a Legacy

Remembering Ray Mitsuing: A CPCA legend on and off the track

6h ago

Removing barriers

Breaking down systemic racism involves long-term work

Apr 30, 2024

MINISTER APPROVES MILLION DOLLAR OFFICE RENO: Government documents show that Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu gave the OK to a $1.1-million price tag for offices for her and her staff this year. Documents obtained through an access-to-information request show that Hajdu wanted her new office to be in the same building as the rest of the organization in Gatineau, Que., and that senior management fast-tracked the renovation project before they knew how they would pay for it. The documents show that Hajdu chose to have the office built instead of renovating a space at the nearby building that would have cost about $400,000.

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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOESN’T TRACK FIRE DEATHS ON FIRST NATIONS: Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett says the federal government doesn’t know how many people die in fires on First Nations because it no longer collects such data.  She says collecting those figures was halted several years ago to ease the “reporting burden” on First Nations. The issue has taken on new relevance following a southern Ontario house fire Thursday that is believed to have killed four young children and their father.

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PM SAYS BOMBARDIER TALKS POSITIVE:  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says negotiations with Bombardier Inc. are very positive, but he wouldn’t hint if the federal government is close to reaching a deal with the transportation giant. Trudeau was asked about Bombardier in Montreal on Friday when he made an unrelated funding announcement with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard in Montreal. The company wants US$1 billion from Ottawa. Chief executive Alain Bellemare told investors the request made a year ago would add financial flexibility to manage unexpected risks or to develop its next aircraft program.

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AMBROSE SAYS POLITICAL CHANGES IN U.S. WILL THROW WRENCH IN TRUDEAU PLANS: Opposition leader Rona Ambrose says the dramatically different political landscape in the U.S. border is going to throw a wrench in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plans.  She says she doesn’t think Trudeau has a plan to deal with a number of issues that will be affected by the presidency of Donald Trump, ranging from softwood lumber to a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Conservatives and New Democrats both pick new leaders next year and strategists for both parties hope electoral prospects will improve.

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MOTHERS ACCUSED OF LEAVING CHILDREN IN COLD:  Charges failing to provide the necessaries of life have been laid against two Alberta mothers. Lethbridge police say they found two children shivering in a car in frigid temperatures.  Police say the suspects were found in a nearby bar Thursday night.  Officers had to break a window to rescue a three-year-old girl and four-year-old boy.

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MORE WOMEN ARE AMONG CANADA’S TOP EARNERS: Statistics Canada says 22 per cent of the top one per cent of tax filers were women in 2014, compared to 10 per cent in the early 1980’s.  The survey found that Canada had 268,500 tax filers in the top one per cent in 2014 earning at least $225,100. Statistics Canada says the growth came as more women entered the workplace, graduated from universities and experienced a shrinking gender wage gap.

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RIOT-BOUND SASK PRISON HAD MOST COMPLAINTS: Canada’s outgoing prisoner’s ombudsman says the Saskatchewan prison where a major riot took place this week had the most complaints of any penitentiaries in the country last year. Howard Sapers says there were 413 complaints involving the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert. The complaints included food, health care, family visits and access to parole hearings.  One inmate was killed during the Wednesday’s riot.

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OBAMA CONDEMNS THOSE INVOLVED IN BLOODSHED IN ALEPPO: U.S. President Barack Obama says Syria, Russia and Iran have blood on their hands for what’s happened in the Syrian city of Aleppo. He says the world is “united in horror” at the assault on rebel-held areas of Aleppo. At a news conference Friday, Obama accused the Syrian government and its two powerful allies of deliberately “surrounding, besieging and starving innocent civilians,” and targeting aid workers and medical personnel.

The Canadian Press