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☆ Biden, Trudeau Meeting to Focus on Ukraine, Canadian Defense Strategy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Ken Thomas | Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden will make his first official trip to Canada since his time as vice president at the end of the Obama administration. OTTAWA—President Biden will make his first visit to Canada as president Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that are expected to focus on the war in Ukraine and a U.S. push for Canada to bolster its northern defenses and spend more on its military. Mr. Biden’s first trip north of the U.S. border, typically an early stop for a new president, was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. White House officials said Mr. Biden is eager to discuss with Mr. Trudeau ways to strengthen the two nations’ joint defense of North American airspace through the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad. U.S. and Canadian senior officials said the agenda would also include climate-change policies, the supply of critical minerals, and migration across their shared border.

☆ Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul Violated Investor-Protection Laws by Touting Crypto, SEC Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—U.S. regulators clawed back money that actress Lindsay Lohan and boxer Jake Paul earned by promoting cryptocurrencies, continuing a campaign of making examples of celebrities who tout digital assets in violation of investor-protection laws. Ms. Lohan, Mr. Paul and four other celebrities agreed to pay a combined $400,000 to settle the SEC’s investigation of their role in the promotion of crypto assets TRX and BTT. The SEC also alleged that Justin Sun , whose companies sold those digital assets, artificially boosted TRX’s trading volume in 2018 and 2019 by having his own employees buy and sell the token.

☆ For First Time in More Than 50 Years, No Ice Skating on Ottawa’s Canal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Canada Follows U.S., Europe With TikTok Ban on Government Devices
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A TikTok representative said the company is disappointed by Canada’s decision. OTTAWA–Canada on Monday followed the lead of the U.S. and European Commission and banned the TikTok app from government-issued devices, citing an “unacceptable” level of risk to privacy and security. The prohibition in Canada, effective Tuesday, would add to a patchwork of bans affecting government employees in the U.S. and Europe, based over national-security concerns about TikTok’s owner, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd. Some U.S. and European lawmakers and officials have expressed concern that Beijing could force TikTok to hand over data on its users, or to influence the videos they view.

☆ Google Blocks News Results in Some Canadian Searches
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Vipal Monga | Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Google says the test affects less than 4% of randomly chosen users in Canada and will run for roughly five weeks. Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit is blocking news content on its search function in Canada for some of its users, as it tests ways to respond to proposed legislation that would force online platforms to pay media organizations for links to their stories. Google’s move comes as the legislation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ’s government is before the Canadian senate for debate. The bill, known as C-18, was approved by the lower house of parliament late last year. The legislation focused on online news links is part of Canada’s broader effort, championed by Mr. Trudeau, to regulate online content.

☆ Leaked messages show a high-profile Amazon VP trying to calm employees over the return-to-office mandate: 'Let's not grab our torches and pitchforks quite yet'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Paul Vixie, a high-profile Amazon VP, told employees to be patient and wait for more details about the new return-to-office mandate. Amazon employees are furious about the new mandate which requires them to be in the office three days a week starting in May. A high-profile Amazon executive joined an internal Slack conversation on Tuesday as employee angst over the sudden return-to-office mandate intensified. It also shows how Amazon's return-to-office mandate was not widely shared even among the highest-ranked employees prior to its announcement on Friday. Many employees in the Slack channel expressed frustration over the abruptness and vagueness of Jassy's announcement.

☆ Canada’s Use of Emergency Powers ‘Appropriate’ to Counter Freedom Convoy, Inquiry Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Justin Trudeau was the first prime minister to invoke powers in Canada’s Emergencies Act in an effort to end Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa. OTTAWA—Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was justified in invoking emergency powers last year to end a weekslong protest that paralyzed the capital and thwarted trade on key U.S.-Canada corridors, a judicial inquiry said Friday. The inquiry said Canada’s cabinet had information about a “threat of serious violence for a political or ideological purpose.” Furthermore, the inquiry said a series of policing mistakes by local authorities “contributed to a situation that spun out of control. Lawful protests descended into lawlessness, culminating in a national emergency.”

☆ On TikTok, Even Canadians Don’t Want to Be Labeled Canadian
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

OTTAWA—Canada is days away from passing a law to force digital platforms such as YouTube and TikTok to showcase more Canadian content. While that might sound like good news for Canadian artists and content producers, many see it as about as welcome as a polar vortex.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t describe the origin of the two latest crafts shot down over the U.S. and Canada. U.S. officials believe the two latest flying objects shot down over the U.S. and Canada in recent days were also balloons, although smaller than the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down Feb. 4, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday. Officials have publicly described the crafts shot down over Alaska Friday and over Canada Saturday as objects. Mr. Schumer was asked in a television interview Sunday if these were also balloons.

☆ U.S. Military Shoots Down Fourth High-Altitude Object Over North America
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Pentagon said it began tracking the latest object over Montana. WASHINGTON—The U.S. shot down a fourth flying object Sunday afternoon at 20,000 feet above Michigan’s Lake Huron, the Pentagon said, underscoring its stepped-up defense of North American airspace following the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon. An F-16 jet fighter shot down the object on orders of President Biden at 2:42 p.m., the Pentagon said, with the same kind of missile used in the previous three shootdowns, an AIM-9X Sidewinder.

‘Until a few months ago we didn’t know of these balloons,’ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. U.S. and Canadian officials were seeking Sunday to determine the origin and purpose of two objects shot down by military jet fighters over Alaska and Canada in the wake of increased aerial surveillance following the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon. U.S. officials said they had stepped up monitoring of high-altitude airspace following the discovery of the Chinese balloon. In two separate incidents this weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed off airspace to civilian operations—first over Montana, and later over Lake Michigan—to support Department of Defense operations.

☆ Flying Object Shot Down Over Canada on Orders of Biden and Trudeau
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Gordon Lubold | Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, shown in Ottawa earlier in the week, says the country’s forces would recover and analyze the wreckage of the downed object. A U.S. military jet shot down another unidentified airborne object, this time over Canada, on Saturday on orders of President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau . “Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of their militaries, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau authorized it to be taken down,” according to a statement from the U.S. National Security Council. “President Biden authorized U.S. fighter aircraft…to conduct the operation and a U.S. F-22 shot down the object in Canadian territory in close coordination with Canadian authorities.”

☆ Flying Object Shot Down Over Canada on Trudeau’s Orders
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Paul Vieira | Gordon Lubold | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Canada Pulls Back Proposed Rifle Ban From Gun-Control Measures
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Canada’s public safety minister called hunting a proud tradition and a way of life. OTTAWA—Canada’s Liberal government repealed on Friday elements of its gun-control legislation that proposed banning rifles and shotguns widely used by hunters, farmers and indigenous communities. The surprise decision emerged after the plan to target thousands of rifles and shotguns sparked widespread opposition from the governing Liberals’ political allies on gun control, indigenous leaders and gun-rights advocates.

☆ Bank of Canada Raises Rates, Declares Pause to Assess Economic Impact
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bank of Canada is one of the first central banks among major developed-world economies to declare that it is done for now raising interest rates. OTTAWA—The Bank of Canada raised interest rates on Wednesday by a quarter point and said it would now pause to assess the economic impact from sharply higher borrowing costs. The Bank of Canada increased its target for the overnight rate to 4.50% from 4.25%, or the highest level in over 15 years. More important, the Bank of Canada is one of the first central banks among major developed-world economies to declare that it is done for now raising interest rates in the quest to bring inflation down from historically high levels. Central banks are trying to balance the risks between raising rates too aggressively and triggering a deep recession, and raising rates at too tepid a pace and allowing inflation expectations to remain elevated.

Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng says the ruling reaffirms ‘our understanding of the negotiated outcome on the rules of origin for automotive products.’A trade panel ruled in favor of Mexico and Canada in a dispute with the U.S. over rules to calculate regional content required for tariff-free imports of vehicles under the U.S., Mexico, Canada Agreement, officials said Wednesday. Mexico and Canada had challenged the U.S. method for calculating the regional content required under the USMCA trade pact for cars to have tariff-free access to the U.S., and requested the panel early last year after failing to reach agreement during consultations.

☆ Canada, U.S. Agree to Workaround on Border-Security Dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

OTTAWA—The U.S. and Canada said Tuesday they have reached a partial resolution over a yearslong border-security dispute that has disrupted plans for business travelers and others who frequently cross the border. Details were released on the margins of the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City. In a joint statement, the U.S. and Canada said the measures to be implemented would help clear a backlog of applications—peaking last year at 330,000—related to the joint U.S.-Canada trusted traveler program called Nexus.

☆ Canada to Buy 88 F-35 Jet Fighters to Refurbish Aging Air Force
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Paul Vieira | Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An F-35 demonstration in 2019. Canada was one of eight original countries to partner in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, as a way to defray some of its costs. OTTAWA—Canada said Monday it would purchase 88 F-35 combat jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp., ending a protracted, politically-charged process to refurbish the country’s aging air force. The total cost is budgeted at 19 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of over $14 billion, with deliveries set to start in 2026 and all purchased aircraft expected to be in operation by 2034. Canada said the deal, struck with the Pentagon, provides the country with the best jet fighter to meet its obligations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and protect the country’s Arctic, which officials say face elevated threats from Russia and China.

☆ Canada’s Ruling Party Faces Pushback on Gun-Control Legislation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said hunters would be exempt from the proposed gun-control legislation. OTTAWA—Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ’s push to further tighten the country’s gun-control rules has stalled over a last-minute attempt to prohibit rifles and shotguns widely used by hunters. The legislation, rolled out following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May that killed 19 children and two teachers, would formally prohibit the purchase, sale or transfer of handguns, and introduce a mandatory buyback program for roughly 1,500 firearms banned in 2020 after the deadliest massacre in the country’s history, in the East Coast province of Nova Scotia.

☆ Former Pope Benedict dies aged 95
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to attend a mass for the beatification of former pope Paul VI in St. Peter's square at the Vatican October 19, 2014. REUTERS/Tony Gentile/File PhotoVATICAN CITY, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Former Pope Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to step down, died on Saturday aged 95 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican where he had lived since his resignation, a spokesman for the Holy See said. "With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Earlier this week, Pope Francis disclosed during his weekly general audience that his predecessor was "very sick", and asked for people to pray for him. Conservatives in the Church have looked to the former pope as their standard bearer and some ultra-traditionalists even refused to acknowledge Francis as a legitimate pontiff.

☆ Is the Catholic Church Rethinking Contraception?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some two dozen Catholic theologians, philosophers and other scholars gathered in Rome this month for a three-day conference dedicated to defending and explaining the implications of the Catholic Church’s prohibition of contraception, as set out in St. Paul VI ’s 1968 encyclical “Humanae Vitae.”The conference, whose speakers included the legal philosophers John Finnis of Notre Dame Law School and Robert George of Princeton University, was organized in response to what just a few years ago would have been an unlikely source of questioning on the topic: the Vatican.

☆ Rituals for Benedict's passing could be template for future ex popes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to attend a mass for the beatification of former pope Paul VI in St. Peter's square at the Vatican October 19, 2014. The Vatican has painstakingly elaborate rituals for what happens after a reigning pope dies but no publicly known ones for a former pope. They could be a template for other popes who choose to resign instead of ruling for life, including Pope Francis himself someday, Vatican sources say. The last pope to die, John Paul II, was buried on April 8, 2005, six days after he died. Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, presided at John Paul's funeral in 2005 in St. Peter's Square and Francis is expected to preside at Benedict's.

☆ Canada Shifts on China To Build Credibility With Allies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

OTTAWA—Canada has recently kicked out Chinese companies from its critical-mining sector, accused Beijing of meddling in its domestic affairs and publicly called China “a global, disruptive force.”The moves, which came in the past few weeks, mark an abrupt turnaround for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , who came to power promising closer economic and political ties with China.

☆ Five Killed at Canada Condo Shooting in ‘Horrendous Scene’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A police officer at the scene of a mass shooting at a condominium building in the Toronto suburb of Vaughan, Ontario. Five people were killed and one person was injured when a gunman opened fire at a condominium in Vaughan, Ontario, Sunday night, local police said. Police officers shot a suspected shooter while responding to a report of a male active shooter on Sunday night around 7:20 p.m. local time, the York Regional Police said in a statement Monday.

☆ Five People Dead, Gunman Killed, in Canada Condo Shooting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A police officer at the scene of a mass shooting at a condominium building in the Toronto suburb of Vaughan, Ontario. Five people were killed and one person was seriously injured after a gunman opened fire at a condominium building in Vaughan, Ontario, north of Toronto, Sunday night, local police said. The suspected shooter was killed by police. Officers were responding to a report of a male active shooter on Sunday night around 7:20 p.m. local time, the York Regional Police said.

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