News roundup, 4 Dec 2024

- At Justin Trudeau's meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago this past Friday, the incoming president quipped that Canada should join the US if we can't handle the 25% tariffs being slapped on imports. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc insists that Trump was joking, but he has previously expressed interest in our water, and as anyone who's read Richard Rohmer's novel Ultimatum or seen the miniseries H₂O knows, these things should not be taken lightly.

- South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is facing possible impeachment following the short-lived imposition of martial law overnight. Yoon says his move was necessitated by "North Korea-sympathizing anti-state forces" and accuses the opposition of "attempting to overthrow the liberal democratic system through legislative dictatorship", but the fact that he's facing serious corruption allegations that were being investigated by the opposition is probably the real reason.

- French prime minister Michel Barnier, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron only 90 days ago, is facing a motion of non-confidence, after using executive powers to push a budget through without parliamentary support.

- The Auto Trader website forecasts that the number of gasoline-powered cars in the UK will fall by over 40% over the next decade.

- Several businesses in Winnipeg are no longer accepting cash, apparently to deter robberies. This has become somewhat common elsewhere as well, and has raised concerns. Some are calling for legislation to limit this, since it discriminates against people who don't have a bank account or credit card, and from a certain point of view this could be seen as discrimination on the grounds of "social condition", which is prohibited in some jurisdictions. Some cities and states in the US have adopted or are considering such legislation.

- More than six weeks after a BC man, Jim Barnes, went missing on a hunting trip, a dog believed to be his has been found alive. The dog is not tattooed or microchipped, but appeared to recognize Barnes' partner and other people that it would have been familiar with.

News roundup, 3 Dec 2024

- The US has promised another $725 million in aid to the Ukrainian military before the end of Biden's administration in January. Unfortunately at this point it's not so much about saving Ukraine as about making Russia's probable victory more costly to them.

- It now appears that Donald Trump didn't quite win a majority of the popular vote nationally, not that it matters to the outcome. With 96% of the votes now counted, Trump has 49.97% and Harris 48.36%. This remains, however, the highest percentage of the vote that Trump has received. Turnout was about 63.8%, slightly lower than in 2020 but still the second highest in a century.

- In most provinces it is prosecutors, not police, who make the decision to lay criminal charges. In Ontario this is not the case; as a result, the backlog in their courts is considerable. The justice ministry is looking to change this, but not surprisingly the police don't want to give up that power.

- The Manitoba government is considering a ban on disinformation about election workers and the electoral system. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe cites the rise in "deepfakes" and similar AI-driven techniques that have been quite effective in weakening democracy elsewhere. Of course this is double edged (there are grey areas about what constitutes disinformation, not to mention when someone should be assumed to be "knowingly" circulating it), but it should be noted that the provincial Elections Act already has similar prohibitions regarding disinformation about candidates, so maybe a similar prohibition regarding election officials isn't a big step.

- A long-term care home in Windsor, Ontario has barred a man from visiting his mother at the facility; he says that this occurred after he expressed concerns about how his mother was being cared for. The management of the facility claim that this is justified because he had "demonstrated anger" and behaved in a "threatening and abusive manner". Without knowing the specific nature of his conduct it's hard to say if he was actually threatening or abusive. I don't doubt that he demonstrated anger, but that by itself doesn't seem like enough reason. This isn't the first time something like this has happened, either.

- Manitoba has recorded 323 overdose deaths in the first 7 months of 2024, including 105 in June and July alone.

- A woman in Fannin County, Georgia was arrested on a reckless endangerment charge after her 10 year old son walked to a nearby dollar store unaccompanied.

News roundup, 2 Dec 2024

- The International Court of Justice is opening two weeks of hearings into the obligations of the international community towards countries vulnerable to climate change. The plaintiffs, including several island nations that face annihilation due to rising sea levels, are calling on the court to rule that they are being unlawfully subjected to harm and to specify what actions are required. Any ruling will be non-binding, however.

- The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a section of BC's Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act (ORA), which allows the province to sue manufacturers and distributors of opioids, is legal. The companies had argued that the section was unconstitutional due to interprovincial jurisdiction issues.

- Vancouver's city council has voted to retain a rule that prohibits natural gas heating in new construction in the city, after three councillors from the dominant ABC party broke ranks and voted with the opposition.

- Siloam Mission, a Winnipeg homeless shelter, reports an increasing number of seniors accessing their services. Other organizations, such as the seniors' advocacy group CanAge, also say that there has been a sharp rise in homelessness in that demographic.

- The Public Works Committee of Winnipeg City Council has voted to move ahead with a reduction of the speed limit on Wellington Crescent between River Avenue and Academy Road following the fatality earlier this year. If passed by council as a whole, the speed limit will be reduced from 50 to 30 km/h until protected bike lanes can be installed.

- The town of Gravenhurst in Ontario's Muskoka Region has declared a state of emergency after receiving around 140 centimetres of snow over the weekend.

- Searchers at the Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg have narrowed down the part of the landfill most likely to contain the remains of two of Jeremy Skibicki's victims, and this week the debris will be sifted for the remains.

- A mall in Montreal is playing the rather grating children's song "Baby Shark" in its emergency exit stairwells in order to discourage homeless people from loitering there.