In The News for April 14: Will the PM’s chief of staff have any surprises today?

Previous witnesses in recent months — including the head of Canada’s spy agency and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly — have revealed little, citing national security laws that limit what they can say.

The Conservatives have been working to get Telford to answer questions for weeks, with MP Michael Cooper saying calling her the second most powerful person in the Liberal government.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s had many conversations with Telford about foreign interference over many years, because it’s an issue that needs to be taken seriously.

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Also this …

There were complaints that Mounties were not doing enough at the Canada-U.S. border-crossing in Coutts, Alta., when protests erupted over COVID-19 pandemic policies.

There were others saying the same police force was doing too much and betraying the country.

Almost 260 pages of emails detailing complaints made to the watchdog agency that investigates Mounties show many people were angry with the police response to trucker protests that blocked Alberta’s main border crossing for more than two weeks in early 2022.

“The RCMP have become nothing more than political hit men ‘just doing their job’ and will watch democracy crumble before them in the name of ‘public health,'” said a complaint to the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP in February 2022.

Partially redacted documents obtained under freedom of information laws include many of the complaints received by the commission during the protest in the community of about 245 people. The commission is an independent agency that is mandated to receive complaints about the conduct of RCMP members, investigate and report the findings.

The commission received 131 complaints about the protests from January to the end of February 2022, it said in an email. Only seven the of the complaints were processed, two of which were later terminated. It was concluded one didn’t involve the Mounties and the other was “third party,” meaning the incident did not involve the person making the complaint.

The complaints that were investigated included allegations of improper use of force and improper attitude, the commission said.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

American Conservative mega-donor Harlan Crow purchased three properties belonging to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his family, in a transaction worth more than $100,000 that Thomas never reported, according to the non-profit investigative journalism organization ProPublica.

The 2014 real estate deal shines a new light on Thomas’s decades old relationship with Crow, a real estate magnate and longtime financier for conservative causes. That relationship and the material benefits received by Thomas have fueled calls for an official ethics investigation.

ProPublica previously revealed that Thomas and his wife Ginni were gifted with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of annual vacations and trips by Crow for decades — including international cruises on his mega-yacht, private jet flights and stays at Crow’s invitation-only resort in the Adirondacks. But the 2014 real estate deal is the first public evidence of a direct financial transaction between the pair.

Citing state tax documents and property deeds, ProPublica reported that one of Crow’s companies paid $133,363 for the home in Savannah, Georgia where Thomas’ mother was living, along with two nearby vacant lots that belonged to Thomas’ family members. Thomas mother remained living in the home, which soon underwent tens of thousands of dollars in renovations.

U.S. Federal officials, including Supreme Court justices, are required to disclose the details of most real estate transactions with a value of over $1,000. Thomas would not be required to report the purchase if the property was his or his spouse’s primary personal residence, but this stipulation does not apply to this purchase, which Thomas did not report.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

An exchange of more than 800 prisoners from Yemen’s war held by the Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition battling them began Friday, the International Committee for the Red Cross said. The United Nations-brokered deal, in the works for months, comes amid concerted diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

The three-day exchange will see flights transport prisoners between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, long held by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, said Majed Fadail, a deputy minister for human rights for Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

Other flights will bring prisoners between Sanaa and other Yemeni cities controlled by the internationally recognized government, he said. The Red Cross said that on Friday, there would be two rounds of simultaneous flights between Aden and Sanaa to transfer prisoners.

The three-day operation is the most significant prisoner exchange in Yemen since both sides freed more than 1,000 detainees in October 2020. Thousands of people are believed to be held as prisoners of war by all sides since the war erupted.

Yemen’s conflict began in 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of the country’s north. Yemen’s internationally recognized government fled to the south and then into exile in Saudi Arabia.

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On this day in 1865 …

American President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while watching a play at a Washington theatre. Lincoln, who had just led the Union side to victory in the U.S. Civil War, died the next day. He was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson.

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In entertainment …

Clement Virgo’s deeply personal film about Black boyhood dominated the Canadian Screen Awards Thursday as members of the entertainment scene gathered for the first in-person festivities in four years.

“Brother,” a Scarborough, Ont.-set coming-of-age tale, nabbed a record 12 awards, including three with Virgo’s name on them: best motion picture, best-adapted screenplay, and achievement in directing.

The veteran filmmaker said he rushed to the awards ceremony after a day of working on a Netflix series called “The Madness” and was looking forward to celebrating with his cast and crew.

“I ran from set, had a quick shower at a gym up the street, and ran down here,” a beaming Virgo said on the red carpet before the show, dressed in a sharp black suit and tie.

The adaptation of David Chariandy’s novel of the same name, which dives into societal challenges facing two Jamaican-Canadian brothers in the 1990s, debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and made TIFF’s Top Ten list for 2022.

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Did you see this?

Some flights out of northern British Columbia are cancelled due to ash from a Russian volcano that erupted thousands of kilometres away.

Air Canada says it is monitoring the ash cloud from the Shiveluch Volcano, which caused the cancellation of some of its regional flights to and from Prince Rupert and Terrace on Thursday.

It says in an email that more schedule adjustments could occur depending on the direction of the ash cloud.

The volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, about 4,300 kilometres west of Terrace, erupted Tuesday and sent up an ash cloud 10 kilometres high.

Alaska Airlines also cancelled more than two dozen flights in the state, citing safety concerns as volcanic ash can cause a jet engine to shut down.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2023

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In The News for April 14: Will the PM’s chief of staff have any surprises today?

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