Highlights from the news file for Monday, Jan. 30
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QUEBEC CITY MUSLIMS MOURNING SHOOTING VICTIMS: The victims of a mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque were fathers, businessmen, a university professor and others who had gathered for evening prayers, a Muslim community leader said Monday as he recalled through tears the horror of the attack that killed six and injured 19 others. “It’s a very, very big tragedy for us,” said Mohamed Labidi, the vice-president of the Centre Culturel Islamique de Quebec, the mosque where the attack happened Sunday night. “We have a sadness we cannot express.” The shooting took place just before 8 p.m. Sunday. Witnesses described chaos as worshippers scrambled to find friends and loved ones, while police responding to the scene called for backup. Police initially said two suspects had been arrested shortly after the shooting. later on Monday, police said further investigation showed only one of them was a suspect, calling the other man a witness. Authorities said the six men killed in the shooting were between the ages of 39 and 60. Of the 19 people injured —also all men — two remained in critical condition on Monday, hospital officials said.
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TRUDEAU SAYS CANADIANS STAND WITH MUSLIM COMMUNITY: All of Canada is nursing a broken heart in solidarity with the country’s Muslim community following a deadly terrorist attack at a mosque in Quebec City, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday. First in French and then in English, a solemn Trudeau delivered a heartfelt statement in the House of Commons — shortly after Parliament resumed following the Christmas break — to address what he called “a despicable act of terror.” “To the more than one million Canadians who profess the Muslim faith, I want to say directly: we are with you; 36 million hearts are breaking with yours,” Trudeau said. The prime minister then delivered a message of inclusion that, given the broader context of U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly imposed immigration ban on people coming from Muslim-majority countries, took on a deeper meaning. “Know that we value you, that you enrich our shared country in immeasurable ways. It is your home,” he said.
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WHITE HOUSE WEIGHS IN ON QUEBEC KILLINGS: The White House is using the Quebec City mosque killings to make a political defence of President Donald Trump’s controversial national-security approach. Though the shooting involved exclusively Muslim victims, a spokesman for the U.S. president used the event to argue in favour of the plan limiting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. Sean Spicer began Monday’s daily White House briefing by saying the president called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, during which he offered prayers, condolences, and any law-enforcement help Canada might request. Spicer then made this point: “It’s a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant. And why the president is taking steps to be proactive, not reactive.” Later in the news conference, he made it clear he was talking about the executive order on travel.
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CANADIAN PROTESTERS DECRY TRUMP’S TRAVEL BAN: Hundreds of people gathered outside a shut-down U.S. consulate in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada on Monday to denounce the American entry ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, and to urge action from the Liberal government. The peaceful protesters, who also expressed sympathy for the victims of Sunday’s mosque massacre in Quebec City, blocked traffic, held placards, chanted, and marched a short distance to city hall and back to the consulate as Toronto police kept an eye on them. Word of the protest, organized via social media by groups such as No One is Illegal, prompted the U.S. consulate to announce on Sunday that it was essentially closing operations for the day. On Friday, Trump signed a 90-day executive order to stop citizens of seven Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Libya — from entering the U.S. and to bar asylum seekers. The move created chaos at airports across the U.S. over the weekend as confusion abounded over who was affected by the ban and to what extent.
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BANK WARNS OF DECLINING GDP GROWTH OVER TRUMP: A new bank report says the protectionist policies of Donald Trump’s U.S. administration could chop the rate of growth for Canada’s gross domestic product by as much as 1.5 percentage points. The analysis by the National Bank Financial Markets says Trump’s arrival could be good for Canada’s energy sector because of plans to revive the Keystone XL pipeline. But any benefits will likely be offset by big losses in exports, says the report, because of possible changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement and proposed new border taxes threatened by the new U.S. government. Meanwhile, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said Trump’s ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries entering America will hurt trade. Chen said in a statement that he is disheartened and does not agree with the sharpness of the executive order. He said BlackBerry hopes the U.S. administration will find better ways to handle such matters in the future. Chen, himself an immigrant, said more than half of BlackBerry’s executive team and many of the company’s employees are immigrants.
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U.K. SAYS TRUMP VISIT STILL ON AMID OUTCRY OVER TRAVEL BAN: U.S. President Donald Trump’s order barring U.S. entry to people from seven majority Muslim nations is “divisive, discriminatory and wrong,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Monday. But he rebuffed calls for the government to cancel Trump’s planned state visit to the U.K. because of the temporary ban. Johnson said he had told American officials that it’s wrong “to promulgate policies that stigmatize people on the basis of their nationality.” Britain’s three biggest opposition parties have all called on the government to revoke Trump’s state visit, planned for later this year. An online petition opposing the trip has more than 1.3 million signatures. Any petition with more than 100,000 signatures must be considered for a debate in Parliament, though not a binding vote.
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SAJJAN DOWNPLAYS THREAT TO TROOPS IN IRAQ: Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says he is not worried about the safety of Canadian troops in Iraq following U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The move has sparked anger inside Iraq, with the country’s parliament calling today for retaliatory measures. There are also fears that the order will create distrust between Iraqi and coalition forces on the ground and help the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other terrorist groups recruit new members. Federal officials say they are watching to see how the ban affects Canada’s mission in Iraq, where more than 200 Canadian soldiers are helping Kurdish forces fight ISIL. But Sajjan says defence officials do regular assessments to ensure Canadian troops are well looked after and that “there’s no concern for the security of our troops.” The minister says progress is being made in the fight against ISIL and that he looks forward to discussing the mission when he meets new U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis.
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MILITARY HELPS OUT NEW BRUNSWICK ICE STORM VICTIMS: Troops went door-to-door Monday, helping northeastern New Brunswick recover from a devastating ice storm that has been linked to two deaths and almost three dozen hospitalizations from carbon monoxide poisoning. The soldiers cleaned debris from streets, went door-to-door to check on residents and delivered needed items as the region recovers from a storm. Early in the day, dark green military vehicles from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown crossed a bridge onto Lameque island, where soldiers set up a base in a school and then fanned out to ice-coated communities where power crews are still attempting to restore electricity lost in Wednesday’s storm. Major Turmel Chiasson said the units have trained extensively for disaster scenarios, but for many of the younger soldiers it’s their first real-life experience responding to an ice storm. Meanwhile, hospitals continued to assist people who succumbed to carbon monoxide fumes as some residents resorted to generators or barbecues to supply power and heat. As of Sunday evening, 33 people had been treated for exposure to the gas.
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MANITOBA PREMIER SAYS HE’S NOT A RACIST: Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has told a Winnipeg newspaper that he used imprecise and possibly inflammatory language earlier this month when he told rural municipal politicians that tension surrounding night hunting is leading to a “race war.” Pallister was meeting with officials in Virden on Jan. 16 when he mentioned his concern about what he called indigenous people going out and shooting moose. His comments were recorded by a radio reporter and were widely condemned by indigenous leaders and the Opposition. In a Sunday night telephone interview with the Winnipeg Free Press, Pallister says he wishes he had used different language to broach the subject. Pallister says he is not a racist and has advocated for indigenous rights in the past. Pallister said his real concern is hunters firing weapons from the back of trucks using high-powered lights in areas where hunting is not permitted, including on or near highways and farm properties.
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WYNNE ACKNOWLEDGES TORY UNHAPPY OVER TOLLS: Cracks appeared Monday in the relationship between Ontario and its largest city amid a dispute over toll roads, and while the premier insisted it wasn’t broken, the mayor said it had definitely changed. Premier Kathleen Wynne and John Tory met Monday, just days after she denied his request for tolls, and the normally friendly air after their regular meetings turned a bit frostier. Wynne said while it’s clear Tory is not happy, their meeting was “perfectly collegial” and they continue to work together on a host of other issues. Wynne and Tory take media questions together in joint press conferences after their regular meetings, but Tory left the legislature immediately after their talk Monday and instead held his own news conference at city hall. The pair also usually let media into their meeting room at the end of their chats for pictures and video while they make small talk, but they did not on Monday, with Wynne seeing Tory off at her office door with a quick handshake. Tory remarked on Friday that he felt the province treated him like “a little boy going up to Queen’s Park in short pants.”
