Section: National Newswatch (Canada)
Harper wanted to pull out of Europe’s leading security organization: diplomats
Former prime minister Stephen Harper wanted to pull Canada out of one of Europe’s leading security organization four years ago but U.S. President Barack Obama convinced him to stay. Three European ambassadors are describing what happened in 2012 when Harper suggested Canada would withdraw from the Organization for Security and Cooperation...
Canada can’t agree to all allied requests in ISIL fight, Dion says
OTTAWA — Canada will have to say no to some of the requests that its allies are making in the fight against Islamic extremists, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said Thursday. But the minister wouldn’t say if some coalition members have asked Canada to keep its fighter jets in Iraq and Syria. “We cannot say yes to...
Dion to travel to Ukraine as Conservatives renew attacks on Russia policy
Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion is travelling to Ukraine this weekend to express Canada’s support for the eastern European country that lost the Crimean Peninsula to Russia in 2014. Dion announced the trip in the House of Commons today as he faced a barrage of criticism from Opposition Conservatives about his decision to engage...
First Nations might be OK with Wernick in top job
If you were to listen to Conservative attacks you’d think the Trudeau government was soft on Islamic State terrorism, indifferent to the economic travails of the oil and gas industry, too ready to make nice with nasty Iran, insufficiently friendly to Israel, and not as supportive of Ukraine vis-à-vis Russia as it should be. Conservatives...
Stephane Dion says Iran sanctions not good for Montreal’s Bombardier
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Dion says maintaining sanctions on Iran will only hurt Canadian companies such as Montreal-based airplane manufacturer Bombardier. Dion says Canada will lift a series of sanctions on Iran following its historic nuclear deal with six major western powers earlier this month. Iran is anxious to do business...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reaches out to Trudeau government
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reached out Tuesday to the new government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while decrying the the government of Trudeau’s predecessor Stephen Harper as “Russia-phobic.” Speaking during a wide-ranging annual foreign affairs news conference in Moscow, Lavrov said Russian President Vladimir Putin and...
NATO allies miffed over Canada’s failure to meet defence spending commitment
The British may form the world’s most orderly line-ups but they tend to lose patience when people don’t live up to their commitments. At the conclusion of the NATO summit in Wales two years ago, all countries signed a declaration reaffirming collective defence, after Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, and agreeing to increase...
Manager in deadly Toronto scaffolding collapse gets 3 1/2 years in prison
TORONTO — A Toronto project manager who oversaw a construction crew involved in a deadly scaffolding collapse in 2009 has been sentenced to three and a half years behind bars. Vadim Kazenelson was found guilty last June on four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. The judge...
Canadian trainers learn lessons of their own instructing hard-pressed Ukrainians
OTTAWA — A fresh batch of Canadian military trainers is about to deploy to eastern Europe, and the outgoing commander says his soldiers took a lot of their own notes in addition to handing out assignments to Ukrainian troops. Lt.-Col. Jason Guiney, who is about to end his five-month stint, says even though their training bases are 1,200...
Ukrainian immigrants to be celebrated throughout Saskatchewan in 2016
REGINA — The Saskatchewan government says 2016 will be marked as the Year of Ukrainians in the province. The declaration is to acknowledge the 125th anniversary of the first wave of Ukrainian immigration to Canada and Saskatchewan. Premier Brad Wall says more than 13 per cent of provincial residents trace their ancestry back to Ukraine. He says...
