Carney should suspend federal loan to BC Ferries for purchase of Chinese ships
It gives the Carney government a bargaining chip to help negotiate an end to our trade dispute with China by suspending the ferry deal at least for now.
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Calgary Herald
an hour ago
- Calgary Herald
Seatless Poilievre rustles up leadership support among Stampede faithful
Article content He may have been rejected by voters in his own Ottawa riding but a Saturday evening Stampede week audience seemed ready to put Pierre Poilievre back in the Conservative leadership saddle. Article content The sold-out barbecue crowd courted by Poilievre at Heritage Park ended a day of political glad-handing among urban cowpokes by all the federal leaders and their provincial counterparts. Article content Article content Article content Article content In a campaign-style speech not unlike those he delivered last April ahead of the federal election lost by his Conservatives, Poilievre made his argument that he remains his party's best hope at the helm — and the 1,200 who gathered for beef and politics seemed receptive. Article content 'We don't back down and we don't run away when things get hard — we dust ourselves and get back in the saddle,' he told his supporters who delivered two standing ovations. Article content Poilievre wasted little time in taking shots at his nemesis, Prime Minister Mark Carney, by noting his shakiness earlier in the day flipping pancakes at a Stampede breakfast. Article content 'He couldn't figure out whether his elbows were up or down,' said Poilievre, digging on accusations Carney's decision to honour a demand by U.S. President Donald Trump that Canada drop a digital service tax. 'With his great talks with Trump, he's had much experience flip-flopping.' Article content Article content Poilievre avoided any words directly sympathetic to a separatist movement in Alberta but did suggest Albertans disillusioned with Ottawa have reason to be. Article content 'I'll use the platform of leader of the opposition to amplify the legitimate demands of western Canada to end the unfair treatment,' he said. Article content 'The era of Ottawa telling Alberta to pay up and shut up must end once and for all.' Article content Poilievre is bidding for a return to Parliament as he campaigns in a byelection in the solidly Tory seat of Battle River-Crowfoot, which will be held Aug. 18. Article content While he's expected to easily prevail there, his standing in the rest of the country is far less certain. Article content A Nanos Research poll conducted in late June suggests the ruling Liberals under new PM Carney lead the Conservatives by 14 percentage points. Article content Carney's lead as a preferred leader is even more pronounced in the survey with respondents choosing him over Poilievre by 29 points. Article content The knives among party operatives aren't yet out publicly for Poilievre but that could change if he continues to badly trail Carney in the fall, said Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt. Article content And the Alberta byelection widely considered a shoo-in to return Poilievre to the House of Commons promises to be a political minefield in a national context, he said. Article content The one-time Tory leader will be walking a tightrope where the path he navigates could alienate party supporters with separatist leanings in Alberta and elsewhere, said Bratt. Article content 'What matters is not so much the election result, it's going to be his campaign that's happening during a debate about Alberta's place in Canada,' he said. Article content 'How does he not hurt himself in the rest of the country, what's his views on greater taxation powers for Alberta, on immigration in Alberta and on constitutional change?' Article content Article content In effect Poilievre, he said, will be spending much of his summer campaigning for both a seat in Parliament and his own job as Conservative leader. Article content And his running in one of the safest Conservative seats in the country — won last April with 83 per cent of the vote by Tory Damien Kurek, who's since signed on with a government relations and lobbying firm — produce optics of weakness, said Bratt. Article content But some of those who attended the Conservative party barbecue fundraiser said they don't foresee Poilievre being replaced by anyone else. Article content 'I can't see the party dumping him — he's been successful in a strange political environment,' said former conservative radio talk-show host Dave Rutherford. Article content He noted that despite the electoral loss the party under Poilievre increased its vote count by 2.5 million and added 25 seats to its caucus. Article content But he agreed Poilievre will have to balance his required support for a united Canada with an often separatist-leaning Conservative base in Alberta. Article content Article content Article content On Saturday morning, Carney flipped flapjacks at a Stampede breakfast in the city's northeast and admitted his skills were rusty. Article content 'I'm here all day until I get it right,' said Carney. Article content Premier Danielle Smith also attended the breakfast and playfully chided Carney on his pancake-handling technique. Article content She also told him she would soon be signing a memo of understanding with Ontario Premier Doug Ford on energy, priorities and trade. Article content 'It'd be so great if we didn't have (carbon) net-zero rules,' she told the prime minister, who walked the Stampede grounds Friday evening.
Calgary Herald
4 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Calgary Stampede welcomes RCMP Musical Ride
Article content At precisely 2:30 p.m., 16 horses, dark and polished, canter into the arena at the Nutrien Westen Event Centre, their gait synchronized and demeanour calm. On each horse sits an RCMP soldier, each wielding a lance. Article content For the next 30 minutes, the horses and their riders perform a series of extravagant choreography, moving in tandem, criss-crossing seamlessly to the 'aahs' and 'oooohs' of an appreciative audience. Article content Article content Article content Saturday marked the second day of the RCMP's Musical Ride tour in Alberta. Article content Article content 'And in front of a sold-out crowd. It will certainly create good energy for the team.' Article content A tradition dating back to the 1800s, the RCMP Musical Ride has become a 'very big piece of Canadian identity and RCMP identity,' said Williamson. Article content Each year, selected RCMP members tour two provinces and put on a choreographed dance, to only Canadian music, of course, with horses specially bred by the RCMP and then trained for years. Article content This year, the troupe chose to tour Ontario and Alberta, beginning their tour at the Calgary Stampede, where they'll perform Sunday, and again from July 8-13. Article content The Musical Ride comes to the Stampede at a time when the RCMP's future in Alberta grows precarious. Article content Article content The Alberta government has mused about the creation of a provincial police force that would replace the RCMP. On Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith announced the launch of the Alberta's Sheriff Police Force, a provincial police agency to service municipalities. Article content Smith insisted the new force won't replace the RCMP but instead work alongside them, although municipalities would have the option to choose the new service as its primary police force once operational. Article content Dan Barron said he and his wife have seen the Musical Ride several times at rodeos in Alberta and Manitoba. Article content 'It's part of the experience of coming to a Stampede,' he said, describing the RCMP as 'Canadian history.' Article content The new provincial police force will add to the RCMP's presence, he said. Article content 'There'll just be more. Which sometimes is better.' Article content The choreography at Saturday's Musical Ride appears simple — at first. The horses prance across the Nutrien Western Event Centre ring in a line, curving away from each other at either end of the field. Horse and rider cross each other, marking the shape of an X — 'That's a very popular movement,' said Williamson.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘My life is destroyed'
Loved ones let their tears fall freely on Saturday morning during the unveiling of the first permanent memorial in Canada dedicated to the victims of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752. The catastrophe that claimed the lives of 176 people (including nine from Winnipeg) and an unborn child on Jan. 8, 2020, began when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — whom the Canadian government named a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code as of last year — shot down the aircraft near Tehran, Iran, shortly after takeoff. Saturday's commemoration at Scurfield Park in south Winnipeg marked day 2,000 since the lives of those connected to the victims were forever changed, including that of Azadeh Heydaripour, whose son was on Flight PS752. 'I cannot see any future in my life, because I've lost everything,' said Heydaripour. 'When you lose your only child, and you work so hard to grow him up to be a good human in this world, and lose him in just two minutes… My life is destroyed.' Heydaripour's son, Amir, was 21, studying at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., when his life was unexpectedly taken. She couldn't help but break into tears once she saw his name etched in stone with the other 175 victims. 'These are not just names. This means my son is here forever,' she said. 'Moms need a place to go to see, to cry, to love, and to remember them. Now, my home is the only place I can come to see him. He is here forever, and this will stick with me forever.' 'Justice is a common cause' was the phrase commonly used while members of the Iranian community shared their thoughts during the memoriam. Heydaripour said not a day has passed when justice hasn't been on her mind. 'Since the first day this happened, the only thing that has led me to continue this life is justice,' she said. 'We are fighting for it, and we are not going to step back until we get it for everyone.' Canada has been one of many nations — along with the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Ukraine — that have vowed to seek answers about the crash, holding the Iranian military accountable for their actions, which they are yet to claim accountability for. Maral Groginpour believes part of achieving justice is remembering those who were killed. 'They deserve to be remembered for who they were,' Groginpour said. 'As you can see on the stone, it's written that it's an open wound in the sky. That open wound means it is bleeding every day in our hearts for the loved ones we have lost.' Groginpour lost her husband, Fared Arasteh, just days after they had gotten married. Arasteh, 32, was a PhD student in biology at Ottawa's Carleton University. She felt mixed emotions as she gently tucked a bright rose under his name on the headstone. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 'I felt the anger of the injustice, the anger of how our lives were ruined, but at the same time, a closure that I can finally see him be remembered and have his name honoured,' Groginpour said. Building the memorial took around three and a half years, according to Kourosh Doustshenas, the co-project manager and spokesman of the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims. City councillors and legislative members, including Terry Duguid, David Pankratz, Obby Khan, and Janice Lukes, also came to show their support for the lives lost nearly six years ago. 'Their memories will live on, but it's not enough to have just the memories. The fight for justice must continue,' said Khan, leader of the official opposition.
