Tag: National Post

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“It does stretch credibility that Mr. Allan did not consider whether or not there may possibly be a conflict of interest in his engaging of Dentons as counsel for the inquiry,” wrote Trussler.

Allan could not be immediately reached for comment.

Allan’s report was due this week, but was extended by the government until Oct. 30. Also, an extra $1 million was added to the inquiry’s $2.5-million budget.

The inquiry has been the focus of critics, who say it is not fact finding but out to prove a pre-determined conclusion and, in doing so, is harming the reputations of people who legitimately and lawfully question the expansion of oil and gas operations.

Late last year, the environmental law firm Ecojustice launched legal action asking a court to strike down the inquiry, saying the process is politically motivated, prejudges conclusions and is outside provincial jurisdiction.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2020

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OTTAWA – The federal government claims it considered “various” organizations to administer its $900 million volunteer student grant before handing the contract to WE Charity, but refuses to disclose how many or who they are.

Since the government revealed nearly two weeks ago that the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG) would be administered by WE Charity  — an organization with close ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family — it has often repeated that the organization was the “best and only one” for the job.

Despite that claim, WE Charity pulled out of the deal last Friday after a week of controversy surrounding both how it received the CSSG contract and its management of the program. Trudeau then announced that the government would take over the grant program that will pay eligible volunteers between $1,000 and $5,000 for work done until October 31, 2020.

But the department responsible for the program, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), refuses to answer repeated questions from National Post about which other organizations were considered.

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McNeil said self-isolating travellers will be called each day, and after three unanswered calls, police will be notified.

One of the positive cases on Prince Edward Island is a woman who works at Whisperwood Villa, a seniors’ residence in Charlottetown. Morrison said so far, all staff and residents have tested negative.

“A small number of staff still need to be tested and we are working with Whisperwood Villa to arrange for this testing to occur. All staff and residents will be retested beginning July 8,” she said.

Morrison said the five infected people are doing well self-isolating at home and all their contacts have so far tested negative.

Both New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador reported no new cases of COVID-19 Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2020.

— By Kevin Bissett in Fredericton.

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It’s hardly glamorous, but I suppose that’s the attraction. After three months in lockdown, leaving our apartment for a period did seem restorative, even if the conditions were extreme. So I agreed to make a go of it. We started with an expedition to Canadian Tire, where we equipped ourselves with a small fortune’s worth of essentials: air mattress, sleeping bags, headlamps, hammock, folding stools, large plastic cooler. The tent, thank God, we could borrow from Dani and Ashley. Backcountry camping may be rugged. But it isn’t cheap.

The morning of the first day was spent mainly in the car. We drove first to the canoe rental place, where we heaved the ungainly vessels onto the roof and fixed them to the hood with straps. “Don’t drive too fast with these on the car,” the rental clerk, a skinny teenager, advised. “They’re not held in place on the front or the back, so they could slide off.” He charged a deposit to Ashley’s credit card cheerfully. We wondered if we’d get it back.

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In response to Rowling’s latest comments, model and trans activist Munroe Bergdorf said the writer was “dangerous” and a “threat to LGBT people.”

“J.K. Rowling is not a scientist. She is not a doctor. She is not an expert on gender. She is not a supporter of our community,” Bergdorf said on Twitter.

“She is a billionaire, cisgender, heterosexual, white woman who has decided that she knows what is best for us and our bodies. This is not her fight.”

Scott Leibowitz, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus Ohio, said Rowling’s comments sent a worrying message to trans youth, many of whom would have come into contact with the author through her books.

“For a trans young person wanting acceptance from family members, a statement like this can give skeptical parents a reason to reject this aspect of them, thinking they will ‘grow out of it’ because a famous person said so,” Leibowitz said.

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LONDON — Sitting on the Queen’s throne in Buckingham Palace, Ghislaine Maxwell gives a regal wave for the camera. Seated next to her in the place normally occupied by the Duke of Edinburgh is Kevin Spacey, the Hollywood actor accused but never convicted of multiple sexual offences.

The Daily Telegraph has been told the pair were invited into the throne room on a private tour of the Palace organized by the Duke of York, a close friend of Ms Maxwell’s. Obtained exclusively by The Telegraph, the photo was taken in 2002 and shows Maxwell in a mock royal pose with Spacey pretending to be Prince Philip.

They were larking about on the thrones, doing regal waves

Telegraph source

It is a far cry from Maxwell’s current predicament. Almost 18 years later, she has swapped the privilege and comfort of the Queen’s throne for a police cell in a New York “facility”.

After a year under investigation by the FBI, Maxwell was arrested on Thursday and charged with helping to recruit and groom underage girls for her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier, a friend of the Duke.

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OTTAWA — A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges authorities illegally strip searched Canadian federal prison inmates hundreds of thousands of times over almost three decades.

A statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court says the federal Corrections and Conditional Release Act limits suspicionless strip searches to instances when an inmate might have had access to drugs or other contraband.

It accuses federal authorities of conducting such searches when inmates leave a prison or a secure area, enter a family visitation area or undergo a transfer to another prison.

The statement says inmates were forced to remove all clothing, bend over, spread their buttocks, manipulate their genitalia, remove soiled tampons and squat naked while their bodily orifices were inspected.

The court action seeks an end to strip searches not authorized by federal law as well as compensation for the proposed class members.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s Abby Deshman, co-counsel for the class, says strip searches are incredible intrusions on individual liberty that must be clearly authorized and governed by law.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2020.