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☆ Canada Fast-Tracks 10.4 Billion Dollar Military Purchase
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-02 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The estimated program cost is 10.4 billion Canadian dollars, of which just under 6 billion dollars is the purchase price of the planes. (The program cost includes weapons, training simulators, spare parts and renovations at the Air Force bases in British Columbia and Nova Scotia where the planes will be stationed.) As with the 1980s vintage CP-140 Aurora planes they will replace, the main duty of the newcomers will be tracking submarines. But, as is the case now, they will most likely perform a number of other tasks ranging from tracking drug smuggling in the Caribbean to monitoring pollution in Canada. In particular, they wanted it to consider a proposed marine surveillance plane from Montreal-based Bombardier.

Persons: —, François, Doug Ford of, François Blanchet Organizations: Boeing, Air Force, Titan, Yves, Bloc, Bombardier Locations: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Caribbean, Canada, United States, Britain, Germany, Norway, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Quebec, Doug Ford of Ontario, Montreal

☆ Once a Homeless Addict, a Mayor Takes On Housing and Drug Crises
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

There are politicians — almost all of them — who try to put the best possible shine on their professional résumés and past lives. Then there is Dan Carter. “For 17 years, I was an absolutely horrible individual,” said Mr. Carter, the mayor of Oshawa, Ontario. “Horrible individual. Or at least his story positioned him as someone who could bring his personal experience to bear on the city’s most pressing problems.

Persons: —, Dan Carter, “, ”, Carter Locations: Oshawa , Ontario, Oshawa

☆ For an N.B.A. Star, a Dream House Became a Nightmare
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The six bedroom, 10,000 square-foot house on Lake Ontario that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a star player with the Oklahoma City Thunder, bought for just over 8.4 million Canadian dollars, or $6.1 million, should have been a dream home. But in May, two days after Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander, 25, moved into the house, near Toronto, with his partner, it became a nightmare, according to a lawsuit seeking to nullify the sale. A menacing visitor appeared looking for a previous occupant. player’s house, described in the real estate listing as an “elegant, resort-like estate,” had been the home of Aiden Pleterski, a self-styled “crypto king” who declared bankruptcy in 2022, while owing just under 13 million Canadian dollars to more than 150 investment clients. Court records show that the home received a steady stream of angry visitors seeking to talk to Mr. Pleterski while he was living there and after he moved out.

Persons: Shai Gilgeous, Alexander, Gilgeous, haven’t, ”, Aiden Pleterski, Pleterski Organizations: Oklahoma City Thunder Locations: Lake Ontario, Toronto

☆ Nazis in Canada? A Secret List With Answers May Soon Be Released.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For 37 years, Canada has kept close guard on an explosive roster of names. Canada’s strong privacy laws and government secrecy have kept the report confidential, but a recent political blunder may crack it open. Now, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is discussing whether the time has come to unseal the report. The deliberations began before the celebration of Mr. Hunka, said Anthony Housefather, a member of Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party caucus who has been the primary political proponent of declassification. But the episode has increased pressure on the government to finally act.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Yaroslav Hunka, Justin Trudeau’s, Hunka, Anthony Housefather Organizations: Nazi Waffen, Trudeau’s Liberal Party Locations: Canada, Ukraine, Ukrainian Canadian

☆ Canada Pulls 41 Diplomats as India Threatens to Revoke Their Immunity
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Canada has withdrawn two-thirds of its diplomats based in India after that country said it would revoke their diplomatic immunity this Friday, further ratcheting up tension between the two countries. India and Canada have been at increasingly bitter odds since the assertion last month by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Indian government agents had played a role in the killing in British Columbia of a Sikh separatist who was a Canadian citizen. Mélanie Joly, the Canadian foreign minister, told reporters on Thursday that India had offered “no good reason” for revoking the diplomats’ immunity, which she called a violation of international law. Canada had been in talks with India to avert the effective expulsion. Ms. Joly declined to discuss the status of those negotiations as she condemned India’s decision as a blow to the global agreement that ensures the safety of diplomats.

Persons: Justin Trudeau, Mélanie Joly, Ms, Joly, India’s Locations: Canada, India, Indian, British Columbia, Canadian

The Sikh temple leader wanted as a terrorist by India walked toward his pickup truck late one Sunday last June after a long day at his place of worship. He and an associate discussed some upcoming programs while making their way across the large parking lot behind the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple near Vancouver. It was Father’s Day and, once inside his gray Dodge Ram, the leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, called his family and said he was heading right home. Then, witnesses say, they heard a burst of automatic gunfire and saw two hooded men running away from Mr. Nijjar’s immobilized pickup. Running, Mr. Singh was the first to reach the Dodge Ram, where he found a still-buckled Mr. Nijjar slumped over the center console, his right arm stretched out toward the passenger seat.

Persons: Nanak, Dodge Ram, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, ”, Bhupinder Jit Singh, Singh, Nijjar Locations: India, Vancouver

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada on Tuesday firmly rejected the Indian government’s denial of any involvement in the assassination of a Sikh dissident in Canada, calling on India to take his country’s allegations seriously. “We are not looking to provoke or escalate,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “We are simply laying out the facts as we understand them and we want to work with the government of India.”On Monday, the prime minister stunned Canadians when he told the House of Commons that “agents of the Indian government” had been behind the shooting in June of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader and a Canadian citizen, near a Sikh temple in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia.

Persons: Justin Trudeau of, Mr, Trudeau, ”, Hardeep Singh Nijjar Organizations: Justin Trudeau of Canada, of Locations: Canada, India, Ottawa, Canadian, Vancouver, British Columbia

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of a Sikh community leader in British Columbia last June. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr. Trudeau said that he raised India’s involvement in the shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Group of 20 summit meeting earlier this month “in no uncertain terms.” He said the allegation was based on intelligence gathered by the Canadian government. “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Mr. Trudeau told lawmakers. He said Canada would pressure India to cooperate with the investigation into the killing. Mélanie Joly, the foreign minister, later announced that Canada had expelled an Indian diplomat whom she described as “the head” of Indian intelligence in Canada.

Persons: Justin Trudeau, ”, Trudeau, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Narendra Modi, ” Mr, Mélanie Joly Organizations: British Columbia, Group, Canadian Locations: British, Canada, India, Indian

☆ After 3 Weeks of Wildfire Exile, a City of 20,000 Returns
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Twenty-two days after they were evacuated from the capital of the Northwest Territories in the face of a racing wildfire, the roughly 20,000 residents of Yellowknife began returning home on Wednesday to refrigerators filled with spoiled food to restart their lives in a city that averted disaster. Cars and trucks bearing the territory’s distinctive polar-bear-shaped license plate took to the road after officials declared on Monday that it would most likely be safe to return on Wednesday. The last highway roadblock impeding access was lifted at 11 a.m. local time, earlier than expected, and scheduled airline flights resumed on Wednesday. The first two of a series of evacuee flights on chartered and military aircraft from the Alberta cities of Edmonton and Calgary, which both hosted thousands of Yellowknife residents, arrived on Wednesday. (To drive from Edmonton, the closest major city, takes about 24 hours.)

Organizations: Northwest Locations: Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, Alberta, Edmonton, Calgary

☆ Canada Tries Leaders of Anti-Vaccine Protest That Jammed Ottawa
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A criminal trial opened on Tuesday for two Canadians who were key organizers of the trucker convoy that paralyzed the country’s capital, Ottawa, for nearly a month in early 2022, upturning the lives of many residents and creating economic hardship for local businesses and workers. The 22-day protest, which began in response to mandatory vaccinations for cross-border truck drivers, blocked major roads around the Canadian Parliament and was among the longest and most costly anti-vaccine protests in the world. It prompted copycat demonstrations along Canada’s border with the United States, including a blockade that disrupted billions of dollars in trade, and inspired similar protests in France and around the world. The Canadian protests expanded to include a wide range of grievances, sharply dividing the country over whether it was permissible speech or unlawful assembly. In order to clear the streets, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked federal emergency laws for the first time in over 50 years, a step his critics charged was excessive and unjustified.

Persons: Justin Trudeau Locations: Ottawa, United States, France

☆ Canada Cautions L.G.B.T.Q. Citizens Visiting U.S. Over State Laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Canadian government is warning L.G.B.T.Q. travelers to the United States that they may be affected by a series of recently enacted state laws that restrict transgender and other gay people. Global Affairs Canada, the foreign affairs department, added a brief notice on Tuesday to a long list of travel warnings involving the United States that had already included cautions about gun violence and terrorism. “Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons,” the notice reads. “Check relevant state and local laws.” (The beginning of the Canadian government’s acronym, “2S,” represents two-spirit, an Indigenous term for someone with a masculine and a feminine spirit.)

Persons: Jérémie Organizations: Global Affairs Canada Locations: United States, U.S

☆ At Least 50 Buildings Have Burned in British Columbia Wildfires
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

At least 50 buildings were consumed by wildfires in and around Kelowna, British Columbia, over the past few days, officials said on Monday, warning that the final tally will be higher as their survey of the damage continues. “We’re not done yet, and the most damaged neighborhoods are still to come,” Jason Brolund, the chief of the fire service in West Kelowna, the suburban community most ravaged by fire, said at a news conference on Monday. Attempts by crews to assess the extent of the destruction have been slowed by melted street signs, destroyed address markers on houses and impassable roads, as well as by felled power lines and trees, Chief Brolund said. But since Saturday, he said, a variety of factors have lessened the intensity of the fire, making it easier for fire crews to keep the flames away from buildings. None have been destroyed by the fire for the past 24 hours.

Persons: “ We’re, Jason Brolund, Brolund Locations: Kelowna, British Columbia, West Kelowna

☆ British Columbia Wildfire in Photos: ‘A Long-Lasting Scar’
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The fire-ravaged Canadian province of British Columbia was under a state of emergency for the second day, as a wildfire in and around the resort city of Kelowna continued to consume houses. The fire is one of two in Canada that have led thousands to evacuate their homes in the last week. Hundreds of miles away from Kelowna, a wildfire converging on the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, led officials to order a mass evacuation of the entire town. Officials rated the risk of that wildfire to be extreme on Saturday and Sunday and high on Monday. Rebecca Alty, the mayor of Yellowknife, a city of about 20,000, said an estimated 1,600 residents were defying evacuation orders and remained in the city.

Persons: Rebecca Alty Organizations: British Columbia, Firefighters Locations: Canadian, British, Kelowna, Canada, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Canada’s wildfire plague widened on Friday, with Yellowknife’s 20,000 residents rushing to meet a deadline to evacuate, while blazes hundreds of miles away threatened Kelowna, a much larger city in British Columbia. The mass migration from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, was the biggest mandatory evacuation so far in Canada’s summer of wildfire disasters. By midday, it remained unclear how many of Yellowknife’s residents had heeded the order as an encroaching fire loomed, but parts of the city appeared empty and most stores appeared closed. In Kelowna, a major resort area, homes on its suburban fringes were on fire and orders to evacuate were decreed in a community where several homes were destroyed on Thursday night and others were burning on Friday.

Locations: Kelowna, British Columbia, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

☆ As Wildfire Nears, Entire Canadian City Is Ordered to Evacuate
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Ian Austen | More About Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The remarkable order was yet another reminder of the disruption wrought by Canada’s worst wildfire season on record. So far this year, the fires have burned an area 91 times as large as last year’s entire fire season. At times, smoke has traveled as far south as Georgia and as far east as Europe. Evacuation flights on commercial airlines and Royal Canadian Air Force planes are scheduled to begin on Thursday. An official notice posted by the territorial government on Wednesday said that no reception centers had been set up for evacuees.

Organizations: Escort, Officials, Royal Canadian Air Force Locations: Georgia, Europe, Alberta, Yellowknife

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