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The Tuesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Sep 27, 2016 | 2:45 PM

Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, Sept. 27

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CANADA TO REGULATE VAPING PRODUCTS TO HELP SHIELD YOUNG PEOPLE: The Liberal government says it will introduce legislation this fall to regulate vaping. Health Canada says the move will balance the need to protect young people from nicotine addiction while allowing adult smokers to legally buy vaping products and e-cigarettes to help quit smoking or as a potentially less harmful alternative to tobacco. The department says it is also renewing the federal tobacco control strategy for one year, giving the government time to develop a new long-term plan. The strategy was introduced in 2001 and last renewed four years ago.

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VANCOUVER TOPS HOUSING BUBBLE RISK REPORT: Swiss bank UBS says Vancouver faces the greatest risk of experiencing a sudden downward correction in home prices when compared to 17 other cities around the world. Researchers at the bank have written a report that says the city’s house prices have risen to levels unjustified by local economic factors. The report says Vancouver’s risk of a housing bubble is greater than other high-priced housing markets such as London, Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia. The research was compiled before a 15 per cent tax was introduced last month for foreign buyers of homes in Metro Vancouver.

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ROYALS TOUR OKANAGAN VINEYARD AND UNIVERSITY: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in Kelowna on Tuesday for a tour of the city that includes a visit to a local university campus and a chance to sample British Columbia’s culinary scene. Prince William and Kate began the next leg of their eight-day tour with a stop at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, where they unveiled a plaque marking the 10th anniversary of the campus. The couple will head to the Mission Hill Family Estate to view the vineyard and learn about the province’s agrifood sector at the Taste of British Columbia Festival. They finish their itinerary on Tuesday in Whitehorse as they spend Wednesday in Yukon.

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CANADIAN MILITARY SETS UP SEX-CRIMES UNIT: The Canadian military is creating a special team of investigators to handle sexual crimes. The move comes in response to concerns, highlighted in a scathing report last year, that military police don’t have the skills and experience necessary to deal with such offences. The new 18-member team is being deployed to six locations across Canada, and will be called upon to respond whenever and wherever an alleged sexual offence takes place. Military officials say team members have been given specialized training to better investigate crimes and support victims.Military police investigated 280 alleged sexual crimes in 2015 and during the first six months of 2016, and laid 49 charges.

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CANADA STALLS ON LETHAL AID FOR KURDS: The Liberal government’s plan to provide weapons to Kurdish forces in Iraq is being held up amid fears the equipment could be used for purposes other than fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The government said in February that Canada would provide small arms, ammunition and optical sights to the Kurds, but eight months later that so-called lethal aid has not been delivered. National Defence spokeswoman Ashley Lemire says Canada needs to get “Iraqi diplomatic assurances” that the equipment will be used in accordance with international laws.

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PATRICK BRAZEAU RETAKES SENATE SEAT: More than three years after the beginning of his long legal saga, Sen. Patrick Brazeau has retaken his seat in the upper chamber. The Quebec senator was cleared to return back in July, when the RCMP opted not to pursue criminal charges of fraud and breach of trust based on his housing expense claims. Brazeau likened his first day back in the Senate to a rookie hockey player on the first day of training camp, but called it a good day for him and his family. He was one of a handful of prominent senators who were caught up in the Senate spending scandal, and long maintained his innocence even as his fellow senators voted in support of a suspension that lasted until last year.

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TRUMP DIGS IN AFTER DEBATE: Donald Trump gave Hillary Clinton plenty of fresh material for the next phase of her presidential campaign on Tuesday, choosing to publicly reopen some her most damaging attacks. The day after his first general election debate, Trump blamed the moderator, a bad microphone and anyone but himself for his performance. Next time, he threatened, he might get more personal and make a bigger political issue of former President Bill Clinton’s marital infidelities. Things are already getting personal. On Monday, Trump brushed off Clinton’s debate claim that he’d once shamed a former Miss Universe winner for her weight. But then he dug deeper the next day — extending the controversy over what was one of his most negative debate night moments. “She gained a massive amount of weight. It was a real problem,” Trump told “Fox and Friends” about Alicia Machado, the 1996 winner of the pageant he once owned.

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ASSESS PRIVACY OF C-51 INFO-SHARING, WATCHDOG SAYS: Canada’s privacy commissioner says the government hasn’t done enough to protect the privacy of “law-abiding Canadians” from new information-sharing powers in the omnibus security legislation known as C-51. Daniel Therrien is recommending agencies carry out formal privacy impact assessments. Therrien says C-51 is broadly worded and gives agencies a lot of discretion to define what sort of activities undermine security — adding the scale of information-sharing that could occur “is unprecedented.” 

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SCHEER SET TO ENTER TORY LEADERSHIP RACE: Conservative MP Andrew Scheer will soon join the race to succeed Stephen Harper as leader of the party. The former Speaker of the House plans to file his paperwork and then launch his leadership bid in Ottawa tomorrow. Scheer will be the sixth official candidate vying to lead the party, along with fellow M-Ps Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong, Tony Clement, Kellie Leitch and Deepak Obhrai. Conservatives will elect their new leader May 27.

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CO-OPERATION ON ACCORD AT RISK, B.C. MINISTER SAYS: British Columbia’s health minister says negotiations on a long-term health funding agreement with the provinces and territories will be in danger if the federal government doesn’t bring more cash to the table. Terry Lake says he is troubled by recent signals from Health Minister Jane Philpott that the federal Liberals plan to limit annual increases to three per cent — down from the six per cent increase set out in the last health accord. Philpott is set to sit down with her provincial and territorial counterparts in Toronto in October.

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MONTREAL ADOPTS CONTROVERSIAL PIT BULL BAN: Montreal has adopted its controversial pit bull ban following a heated debate among local politicians. City council voted 37-23 this afternoon in favour of adopting the bylaw, which includes a ban on new pit bull-type dogs and restrictions on those currently in the city. They must be sterilized and also be muzzled when in public. Mayor Denis Coderre says the law was drafted with safety in mind following several attacks, including one last June that resulted in the death of a 55-year-old woman in her backyard.

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The Canadian Press