By Canadian Press

Cigarette packaging and Bill 21; In-The-News for Oct. 28

Oct 28, 2019 | 5:34 AM

In-The-News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Oct. 15.

What we are watching in Canada …

OTTAWA — Smokers will soon see their cigarette packs stripped of logos and distinctive designs as federal rules make drab brown the default colour for tobacco brands.

Plain-packaged cigarettes have started to pop up on shelves as the tobacco industry prepares for Health Canada’s regulations to take effect on Nov. 9, after which retailers will have a 90-day window to offload their remaining inventory.

All packaging will feature the same brown base colour, basic grey text and minimalist layout under the new requirements. The measures will also standardize the size and appearance of cigarettes, cigars and other products inside the packages.

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Health experts and advocates say the policy positions Canada at the forefront of a global push to curb the appeal of cigarette brands, particularly among youth, and eliminate packages as pocket-sized promotions for Big Tobacco.

Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society, lauded Canada’s plain-packaging regulations as “the best in the world,” having learned from the examples of at least 13 other countries that have adopted similar measures.

Cunningham adds that Canada is leading the charge in eliminating extra-long and “slim” cigarettes, which tend to be marketed to women.

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Also this …

MONTREAL — Protesters against Quebec’s secularism law say they aren’t giving up the fight to overturn Bill 21.

About 200 of them braved a cold rain and gathered in Montreal’s Parc-Extension neighbourhood on Sunday to march against the law and systemic racism.

The legislation passed earlier this year prohibits some government employees, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols while on the job.

The Quebec government says the law helps to ensure the state is secular, but its opponents say it discriminates against minorities and especially Muslim women. 

Ichrak Nourel Hak, a teaching student who wears a hijab, said at the protests that the law has emboldened those who are racist and caused an increase in islamophobic incidents.

“With this law, the government opened Pandora’s Box and gave Islamophobes the liberty to spit on an entire religious community,” she said.

Hak, along with the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, have filed legal challenges against the legislation.

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What you may have missed …

CALGARY — A hockey player paralyzed in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash is to  depart on a 12-thousand-kilometre journey to Thailand later this week for surgery that could help restore some of his movement.

And the one thing Ryan Straschnitzki is determined to take with him is his hockey sled.

Straschnitzki says he’ll be gone for five weeks and doesn’t want to get rusty since he hopes to make the national sledge hockey team.

He was paralyzed from the chest down in the bus crash that killed 16 people and injured 12 others in April 2018.

Ryan hopes the surgery will help bring back certain functions that most people with spinal injuries don’t have, including muscle movement and bladder control.

An implant is to be placed in his back, and a small device like a remote control will send electrical currents to the spinal cord to try to stimulate nerves and move limbs.

Straschnitzki is to leave on Saturday and is due to return to Canada in early December.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

WASHINGTON — Eliminating the Islamic State’s elusive leader gives President Donald Trump a new argument for leaving Syria. But the U.S. military campaign against extremists is far from finished.

The extremist group has ambitions to rebuild, and it remains a dangerous threat in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.

That means U.S. forces, perhaps in reduced numbers, will continue hunting and attacking key IS targets, even as Trump says he’s committed to a 2016 campaign pledge to bring them home and end “endless wars.”

U.S. analysts say the Islamic State group has been dealt a blow, at least symbolically.

However, its extremist ideology that has formed the foundation of its support in parts of the Middle East lives on.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

BEIJING — China says it hopes the U.K. can quickly identify the 39 people who were found dead in the back of a sealed truck in southeastern England.

Police initially believed the victims were Chinese, but dozens of Vietnamese families have since reported missing relatives whom they suspect to be among the dead.

China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong is calling on the international community to work together against illegal immigration.

Chen says the case “needs to be jointly dealt with and properly resolved by all parties concerned so that we can prevent a tragedy like this from repeating in the future.”

British authorities have charged the 25-year-old truck driver with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.  He’s expected in court today.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 28, 2019.

The Canadian Press