By Canadian Press

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

Jan 5, 2017 | 1:45 PM

Highlights from the news file for Thursday, Jan. 5

CANADA COULD BE HEADING TOWARD DECADES OF DEFICITS, SAYS REPORT: Federal numbers released quietly by the government late last month are painting a bleak picture of Canada’s financial future — one filled with decades of deficits. The report, published on the Finance Department website two days before Christmas, predicts that barring any policy changes the federal government could be on track to run annual shortfalls until at least 2050-51. The document says that if such a scenario plays out, the federal debt could climb past $1.5 trillion by that same year — more than double its current level. To help explain the prediction, the report points to the major economic challenge caused by the gradual retirement of baby boomers. The demographic shift is expected to shrink work-force participation, erode labour productivity and drive up expenditures for things like elderly benefits.

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‘I WILL FIX IT,’ FORMER SOLDIER SAID BEFORE DEATHS IN NOVA SCOTIA: A clearer picture is emerging of the former soldier involved in an apparent murder-suicide in Nova Scotia, with his own words on social media revealing a man struggling with PTSD who was trying to get his life back. “I’m truly sorry for freaking out at my wife/daughter and people who know me …. I’m not getting a lawyer. I’m getting my life back,” Lionel Desmond wrote in a Dec. 3 Facebook post that did not elaborate. “I apologize for anything out (of) my control. I will fix it, if not I’ll live with it.” Desmond, 33, was found dead Tuesday night in a home in Upper Big Tracadie from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, RCMP say. His wife Shanna Desmond, 31, their 10-year-old daughter Aaliyah and his mother Brenda Desmond, 52, also died of apparent gunshot wounds. Friends and family say Desmond was a kind and funny person, who changed after a tour in Afghanistan in 2007.

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sentenced

Woman pleads guilty & sentenced for downtown Nanaimo stabbing

3h ago

needed housing

Additional complex care units slated for Nanaimo

16h ago

superstar

VIDEO: Nanaimo singer returns to American Idol stage

21h ago

CHINESE REFUGEE CLAIM MAY HINGE ON SECRETS: The federal government is trying to throw a shroud of secrecy over information a Chinese refugee claimant in British Columbia says could be crucial to his case. A Federal Court judge will hear the government’s plea Friday to shield portions of two Canada Border Services Agency documents from disclosure in the case of Shiyuan Shen, who is wanted in China on allegations of fraud. Shen, who runs a kitchen-cabinet business in Richmond, B.C., arrived in Canada 10 years ago. The border services agency arrested him for suspected involvement in illegal activities in China related to the steel trade, based on an outstanding warrant issued by the Public Security Bureau in Shanghai. In 2011, Shen applied for refugee protection in Canada, saying the Chinese had targeted him for political reasons.

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U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS RUSSIA UNDOUBTEDLY MEDDLED IN U.S. ELECTION: America’s top intelligence official said Thursday that Russia undoubtedly interfered in America’s 2016 presidential election but stopped short of using the explosive description “an act of war,” telling lawmakers such a call isn’t within the purview of the U.S. intelligence community. In a joint report that roiled the presidential campaign last fall, the Homeland Security Department and the intelligence community said the U.S. was confident of foreign meddling, including Russian government hacking of Democratic emails. In its assessment, the intelligence community has said Moscow interfered to help Republican Donald Trump win. “We stand actually more resolutely on the strength of that statement than we did on the 7th of October,” James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told the GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee.

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TORONTO HOME SALES HIT NEW HIGH IN 2016: Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area hit another record high last year as the average selling price for 2016 jumped to just under $730,000. The Toronto Real Estate Board says that’s up 17.3 per cent from 2015. Sales for the year were up 11.8 per cent to 113,133 through the Multiple Listings System — even though the number of new listings was down by almost four per cent. The board says the lack of supply is one of the reasons the market remains red hot — but also credits a relatively strong regional economy, low unemployment and very low borrowing costs. For the first time, the real estate board commissioned research firm Ipsos to conduct a survey on the activity by foreign buyers in the Toronto market. The results of the online survey of 3,518 realtors, conducted between Oct. 6 and 21, suggested that 4.9 per cent of transactions in the Greater Toronto Area were with a foreign buyer.

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TALKS UNDERWAY TO BRING CANADIAN KILLED BY ISIL HOME: Negotiations are underway to recover the body of a Canadian man killed while fighting Islamic State militants in Syria, a leader of Toronto’s Kurdish community said Thursday. Nazzareno Tassone, 24, was killed in the city of Raqqa on Dec. 21 while fighting alongside Kurdish forces, according to the Kurdish People’s Defense Units, a U.S.-backed group also known as the YPG. His family only learned of his death this week when a letter from the YPG was delivered to their Niagara Falls, Ont., home by police and members of the Toronto Kurdish Community Centre. Co-president Ihsan Kaya said the YPG was also negotiating to recover the bodies of other fighters killed in combat on the same day as Nazzareno Tassone, including a British volunteer fighter named Ryan Lock.

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CASE OF SOLDIER WITH PTSD TO BE REVIEWED: A Federal Court has ruled the case of a Canadian Armed Forces soldier who was denied a promotion because of his post-traumatic stress disorder should be re-evaluated. Cpl. Joel Mousseau challenged what he called his “unwarranted demotion” from the rank of acting master corporal, which he held for four years before his condition led to his medical release from the military. The military said that in order to keep the title, Mousseau had to take a course involving armoured vehicles and explosives, which the soldier said triggered his PTSD. The court disagreed that Mousseau had been given fair consideration for his condition, but could not award him damages or a reinstatement of rank.

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CANADIAN JAILED IN TURKEY OVER FACEBOOK POST: A Canadian woman has been arrested in Turkey for allegedly insulting the country’s president in comments posted on Facebook, her Turkish lawyer said Thursday. Ece Heper, 50, was arrested in the city of Kars in northeastern Turkey, and charged on Dec. 30, Sertac Celikkaleli told The Canadian Press. Heper, a dual Canadian-Turkish citizen, had been in the country since mid-November, according to her friends. At issue, her friends and lawyer said, are several recent Facebook posts about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In one posted on Dec. 28, Heper accused Erdogan of jailing journalists who suggest there is evidence Turkey is supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Global Affairs Canada said they are aware of a Canadian citizen detained in Turkey and are providing consular assistance, but wouldn’t divulge further information, citing privacy laws.

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ALLEGED IMPAIRED PILOT’S CASE PUT OVER: The case of a Sunwing Airlines pilot charged with being impaired in the cockpit has been put over until Jan. 25. Miroslav Gronych, a 37-year-old Slovakian national, is accused of having care and control of an aircraft while impaired and with having a blood-alcohol level above .08. Gronych did not appear in Calgary court Thursday, but the matter was addressed by a lawyer on his behalf. His legal counsel did not respond to requests for comment. The Sunwing flight was scheduled to leave Calgary early Saturday with stops in Regina and Winnipeg before continuing on to Cancun, Mexico. Police allege Gronych, the captain, was found slumped over in his seat and then escorted off the plane. Gronych was released on $1,000 bail and was ordered to turn in his passport. He was also prohibited from flying a plane in Canada while on bail.

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20 VENOMOUS SNAKES SEIZED FROM TORONTO HOME: Officials say 20 prohibited venomous snakes have been seized from a north Toronto home. Toronto Municipal Licensing and Standards says it removed 20 live and 18 dead snakes from a home. City officials say they received information from the Canada Border Services Agency that venomous snakes had been imported from Asia and were destined for a Toronto address and obtained a search warrant. The snakes, which include a variety of vipers, puff adders, hundred pacers, cobras and rattlesnakes, are now in the custody of Toronto Animal Services. The fate of the reptiles will be decided through the judicial process. One person has been charged with 20 counts of keeping prohibited animals and is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 27.

The Canadian Press