Council votes to rename Vancouver street honouring architect of racist historical policies
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CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Hong Kong has issued a warrant for his arrest, but this Vancouverite isn't worried
Social Sharing Last week, Hong Kong issued arrest warrants for 19 overseas activists, all members of a group called Hong Kong Parliament, which promotes self-determination in Hong Kong and the establishment of a Hong Kong constitution. But Hong Kong alleges the group is using illegal means to overthrow institutions in China. Among the 19 is Victor Ho, a Canadian citizen and Vancouver-based journalist who works for the B.C. edition of Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily. It's not the first time he's been faced with an arrest warrant from Hong Kong, Ho said. A warrant was issued for Ho's arrest in 2021, and again in December 2024. Ho said this most recent arrest warrant was expected. He spoke with CBC's On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Victor, how did you hear about this warrant? I learned this message from social media last Thursday evening when I was attending a concert in downtown Vancouver. It's a bit of a strange feeling. How can a Canadian be wanted by the Hong Kong government three times? The first time is 2021. The second one is last December — the Hong Kong government gave one million Hong Kong dollar bounty for me. Are you concerned? Are you, are you afraid at all? No, because this is the third time. The Canadian government approached me many times after the first time I was wanted by the Hong Kong government, including Global Affairs Canada, including CSIS and including the RCMP. Even the public safety ministry, they approached me. They had various information for me about my personal safety, about my immediate danger. They have a lot of information to advise me not to go to the countries with extradition treaties with Hong Kong. They are trying to protect me and ask me what they can do to make me feel safe. WATCH | Victor Ho among those wanted in Hong Kong: Hong Kong police issue fresh wave of arrest warrants for 19 overseas activists 19 hours ago What about the accusations here? Police say that your group sought to overthrow the governments of China and Hong Kong by unlawful means. How do you respond to that? In my opinion, that is inappropriate. And this is not in proportion. We just express our willingness to organize a universal suffrage for Hong Kong people overseas and in Hong Kong proper. So me and a group of overseas Hong Kong people try to organize in a grassroot democracy style to say that the Hong Kong people have the right to self-determination, their sovereignty should be honoured. So we try to materialize these rights, democratic rights only. I don't think we have enough power to overthrow the government. What about your friends, even family in Hong Kong? What is life like for them there? Actually, I cut off all ties, all connections with my Hong Kong family members last year. This was my suggestion to cut off. I don't want to involve them. I don't want the police to come to their doorsteps and ask them a lot of questions. I just cut off all connection. Even telephone. I have a lot of relatives in Hong Kong. I have eight sisters and brothers. I haven't received any bad news from my family members in Hong Kong. So far so good. But I hope they can find no evidence from my relatives in Hong Kong because I left my original family in early 20s. For over 40 years, I don't have very close connections with them so they cannot find evidence to bother my relatives there. Why is it so many of them stay, in light of what you've described this afternoon? Why don't they leave like you have? There are various reasons: because of financial capacity, because of their ties with relatives in mainland China. Some of my elder brothers have wives from mainland China. So the cultural connection cannot be easily cut off on their standpoint. So I understand their situation. I immigrated to Canada because of my career. I know the sensitivity of my career to a communist regime. They don't like any journalists, so after a discussion with my wife, we decided to leave Hong Kong in 1997 to play it safe.
Cision Canada
2 hours ago
- Cision Canada
Readout - Prime Minister Carney speaks with Prime Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong Français
OTTAWA, ON, July 29, 2025 /CNW/ - Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, spoke with the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong. In the face of shifting global trade and economic uncertainty, the leaders acknowledged the 60-year diplomatic relationship between the two countries and discussed boosting co-operation, noting the growing opportunities through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The prime ministers discussed increasing trade and investment, particularly in the agri-food and nuclear energy sectors. Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Wong welcomed progress toward a Canada-ASEAN free trade agreement and look forward to meeting at the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia in October.
3 hours ago
Why Trump's deals with the EU, Japan may not be templates for Canada in trade talks
U.S. President Donald Trump's successive announcements of deals setting baseline tariffs on the European Union and Japan are prompting questions about whether they're a road map for Canada to follow in trade talks. Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the bones of an agreement (new window) on Sunday. It sets across-the-board tariffs of 15 per cent on most European Union exports to the United States, along with a commitment by Europe to invest $600 billion US in the American economy and spend $750 billion on U.S. energy products — although there's plenty of fine print still to come. That makes it broadly comparable to the deal Trump announced last week with Japan (new window) : a 15 per cent across-the-board tariff and a Japanese commitment to invest $550 billion in the U.S. Trump was threatening to hit Europe with 30 per cent baseline tariffs and Japan with 25 per cent on Aug. 1, so both trading blocs are selling the deals as wins. Because Canada is facing the threat of 35 per cent tariffs on some goods on the same date, does that mean Canada should be aiming for a similar agreement? Prime Minister Mark Carney certainly isn't saying so. Asked whether any forthcoming deal will be in the ballpark of those 15 per cent baseline tariffs, he emphasized the differences between Europe's and Canada's trading relationship with the U.S. We are in a different position, and that is why these negotiations ... are different, Carney said on Monday, citing Canada's geographical closeness and energy exports to the U.S. Europe, in that agreement yesterday, made commitments to buy American energy, he said at a news conference in Prince Edward Island. America needs Canadian energy. WATCH | Canada's trade talks with the U.S. are different from Europe's, Carney says: Across-the-board tariffs 'difficult for Canada to accept' There are plenty of reasons why a 15 per cent baseline tariff rate is not something for Canada to aspire to, given that its economy is proportionally far more dependent on the U.S. market than Europe's and Japan's are. Jonathan O'Hara, an international trade lawyer in the Ottawa law office of McMillan LLP, said Canada should set its sights on a better deal than the EU or Japan negotiated since it's already so tightly integrated with the American economy. On a broad level, having some kind of across-the-board tariffs, I think, would be very difficult for Canada to accept, O'Hara said in a weekend interview with CBC News. WATCH | Here's what's in Trump's tariff deal with the EU: Yet it appears that Canada doesn't actually face the prospect of tariffs that are truly across-the-board. That's because it has something that neither the European Union nor Japan have: an actual free-trade deal. Trump's fentanyl emergency tariffs, currently set at 25 per cent — which he's threatening to raise to 35 per cent on Friday — hit only those goods that don't comply with the rules of origin in the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). That means the vast bulk of Canada's exports to the U.S. (new window) are currently crossing the border tariff-free. Steel and aluminum tariffs a big question That may be why Carney's Liberal government does not feel the same sort of pressure as Europe and Japan to get a deal on Trump's timeline, said Drew Fagan, a professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Overall, the average tariff on Canadian goods going into the United States is about as low as any place in the world, he told CBC News. What's important for us is that the [CUSMA] free-trade agreement continues to hold. Whether it will in the future, of course, is a fundamental question. The biggest exceptions to Canada's mostly tariff-free access to the U.S. are steel and aluminum (new window) , hit by Trump's 50 per cent global rate as he tries to prop up that sector at home. Enlarge image (new window) A worker is shown welding at a steel manufacturing facility in Hamilton on July 16. The biggest exceptions to Canada's mostly tariff-free access to the U.S. are steel and aluminum, hit by Trump's 50 per cent global rate as he tries to prop up that sector at home. Photo: The Canadian Press / Chris Young In their deals reached with the U.S., neither the EU nor Japan are let off the hook from that tariff. While Canada is surely angling for something better on steel and aluminum — such as the U.K.'s 25 per cent tariff (new window) , potentially headed to zero — the European and Japanese agreements suggest that will be tough to achieve. Carlo Dade, director of international policy at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy, said Canada will likely face a tariff rate comparable to Europe's. U.S. and Canada might not reach trade deal, Trump says (new window) The Americans have decided to readjust the terms of trade, Dade said. The price of access to the U.S. market is going up globally. It appears everyone is going to have to pay an increased cost. There are plenty of signs to suggest that the prospects are slim for Canada to reach a deal by Trump's deadline of Friday: Carney said the talks are complex (new window) , his top trade negotiators are downplaying the importance of the deadline (new window) and Trump himself is saying there may not be a deal at all (new window) . Mike Crawley (new window) · CBC News · Senior reporter Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B. Follow Mike Crawley on Twitter (new window) With files from Natasha Fatah, Karen Pauls and Andrew Nichols
