In the news today, Feb. 22

An environmental group says it expects the National Energy Board to again approve the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion when it releases results of its reconsideration of the project today. Sven Biggs, climate campaigner for Stand.earth, says the federal regulator’s track record is to approve pipelines, but he says that won’t stop opponents from launching legal challenges and street protests. The NEB’s 2016 approval of the project was set aside last summer by the Federal Court of Appeal, which found the regulator had not properly considered how southern resident killer whales would be affected by additional tanker traffic. The court also found there was insufficient consultation by the federal government with Indigenous communities.

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MISCONDUCT REVIEW FOR B.C. LEGISLATURE BRASS

Two top officials at British Columbia’s legislature are now facing an independent review of their conduct as well as an ongoing investigation by the RCMP. The legislature’s all-party Legislative Assembly Management Committee voted unanimously to undertake the independent review to determine if clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz breached their administrative duties. Speaker Darryl Plecas, the chairman of the committee, says he’s pleased the committee has found a path forward. Lenz and James have been suspended with pay since November after members of the legislature learned of an RCMP investigation and the appointment of two special prosecutors.

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LONG SOLITARY CONFINEMENTS FOR YOUTH MUST STOP: ADVOCATE

Manitoba’s children’s advocate is urging the province to stop lengthy solitary confinement of youth in custody. Daphne Penrose and provincial ombudsman Marc Cormier investigated the use of solitary confinement, segregation and pepper spray in youth jails. In one case, her review found one boy who was isolated for 400 straight days in a cell no bigger than a parking stall. Penrose says the province should immediately end solitary confinement longer than 24 hours for kids in custody. She also says the province should build a facility to help young offenders who have mental illnesses.

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STABBED B.C. COP CALLED A HERO BY POLICE CHIEF

An off-duty British Columbia police officer who was stabbed several times in the stomach while picking up his children outside an elementary school is being called a hero by his police chief. “I want to acknowledge the quick thinking and the bravery of acting Sgt. (John) Jasmins,” Delta Police Chief Neil Dubord told a news conference Thursday. He said Jasmins intervened in a domestic dispute by tackling a man who is also accused of stabbing his wife just as children were being released from school on Wednesday. The woman, who was picking up one child at the school, remains in hospital in serious condition.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS:

— SNC-Lavalin holds a conference call to discuss its fourth-quarter financial report, which will be released before markets open.

— Vice-admiral Mark Norman’s case is back in court for an update on proceedings.

— The murder trial of Dennis Oland continues today in Saint John, N.B.

— Representatives from the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, West Coast Environmental Law and Stand.earth will hold a news conference in response to the NEB’s announcement on the Trans Mountain pipeline.

— Statistics Canada will release its retail trade results and data on investment in building construction for December.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In the news today, Feb. 22

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