Highlights from the news file for Monday, Aug. 22
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CANADA BASKING IN OLYMPIC ACHIEVEMENTS: The chef de mission of the Canadian Olympic team believes there was a Pan Am effect at work. Curt Harnett says the host team’s 217 medals, which put Canada second behind the United States in Toronto, was a psychological slingshot for the athletes into Rio. Meanwhile, the party planning is on as athletes head to their Canadian hometowns after the Rio Olympics. The first of them are expected to arrive bright and early Tuesday morning, including decorated swimmer Penny Oleksiak — the country’s youngest gold medal winner.
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ELIZABETH MAY STAYING ON AS GREEN PARTY LEADER: Elizabeth May will stay at her post as leader of the Green Party. May considered stepping down amid controversy centred on a resolution supporting a movement to boycott Israel, an issue she says will be revisited, along with any other recent policy decisions that lacked genuine consensus. In the meantime, May says her focus will be on her work to remodel Canada’s electoral system as a member of the parliamentary committee studying that issue.
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DOCUMENTS: PHILPOTT PAID $520 TO ACCESS AIRPORT LOUNGES: The federal Conservatives are raising new questions about Health Minister Jane Philpott’s travel expenses. A receipt obtained by the official Opposition shows she billed taxpayers $520 for a year’s membership to Air Canada’s executive airport lounges in North America and Europe. Conservative health critic Colin Carrie wants Philpott to pay back the money, calling it another example of the minister’s lack of judgment.
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TRUDEAU, MINISTERS WRAP UP LIBERAL CABINET RETREAT: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet have wrapped up their cabinet retreat in Sudbury, Ont., ahead of what’s expected to be a gruelling fall session of Parliament. Trudeau says the government’s immediate priorities surround the rebuilding of relationships — especially with indigenous people. Trudeau says his cabinet recognizes the relationship between Ottawa and Canada’s First Nations must be a priority moving forward.
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CANADA ‘MISSED THE BOAT’ ON CLIMATE-CHANGE ECONOMY: A leading expert on climate change says Canada “missed the boat” on developing renewable energy sources that would mitigate the impact of global warming on human health. Dr. James Orbinski at the University of Toronto says the rate of temperature increases in Canada is two times higher than the global average. Orbinski says climate change is the biggest health threat worldwide of the 21st century, and urged doctors to get involved locally in climate-change policies.
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STUDY SAYS EXTREMIST BOOKS FILL MOSQUE LIBRARIES: A new study says many mosques and Islamic schools in Canada are placing young people at risk by espousing — or at least not condemning — extremist teachings. Co-authors Thomas Quiggin, a former intelligence analyst with the Privy Council Office, and Saied Shoaaib, a journalist originally from Egypt, base their findings on research conducted quietly in mosque libraries and Islamic schools. The study says what worried them was not the presence of extremist literature, but that they found nothing but such writings in several libraries. The study says Canadian Muslims with humanist and modernist outlooks are being drowned out by those with extreme views.
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WILDFIRE FORCES EVACUATION NEAR WEST KELOWNA, B.C.: Fire crews are fighting a large blaze near Kelowna, B.C., that has led to the evacuation of more than 150 properties. The fire, which just broke out last night near Bear Creek Provincial Park, is 25 hectares in size. Wildfires are also burning in nearby Washington state, as well as parts of California and Wyoming.
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MAYORS CHALLENGE GREAT LAKES DIVERSION: A group of mayors from Canada and the United States want a hearing to challenge a recent decision allowing an American city to draw water from the Great Lakes. The request from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative has been submitted to eight states. The Wisconsin city of Waukesha got the green light to divert water from Lake Michigan, the first exception to an agreement banning diversions of water.
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ROYALS RELEASE MORE DETAILS ON CANADIAN VISIT: More details have been released about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s upcoming visit to Canada. Kensington Palace tweeted Monday morning that Prince William and his wife, Kate, will visit Vancouver, Victoria, Bella Bella, Haida Gwaii and Kelowna in British Columbia as well as Whitehorse and Carcross in Yukon. It says the trip will take place between Sept. 24 and Oct. 1.This will be the royal couple’s second visit to Canada.
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GARNEAU SAYS HE’LL ACT FAST ON LATEST DERAILMENT: Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau is promising swift action if it’s determined safety lapses caused a Toronto train derailment Sunday. Part of a Canadian Pacific freight train derailed in the city’s mid-town, but rail officials say the incident posed no threat to public safety. CP Rail says there was a small diesel leak when the two locomotives struck another CP freight train.
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STILL NO VERDICT IN ELECTION-NIGHT SHOOTING TRIAL: It’s Day 10 and so far there is no verdict in the case of the man charged with murder in the Quebec election night shooting. Also, for a second straight day, there were no questions or messages from the jurors deliberating the fate of Richard Henry Bain. The 65-year-old faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of stagehand Denis Blanchette in Montreal in September of 2012. He’s also charged with three counts of attempted murder.
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‘LAND OF RAPE AND HONEY’ SLOGAN CHANGED: The town of Tisdale in northern Saskatchewan is no longer using the slogan “Land of Rape and Honey.” The community has revealed a new logo with the catchphrase “Opportunity Grows Here.” Town council voted last fall in favour of a rebrand after a survey found a majority of Tisdale’s 3,200 residents wanted to drop the town’s nearly 60-year-old motto.Rape refers to the bright-yellow rapeseed plant that was a precursor to modern canola and was a key crop in the area. But some were concerned the word offended people who thought it referred to sexual assault.
