A victory parade and a perceived snub on tradespeople; In-The-News Nov. 26

It’s their first championship since a 50-11 win over Edmonton in the 1990 title game.

Fans packed Winnipeg’s major airport Monday to welcome home the Canadian Football League champions.

The crowd chanted and screamed as Bombers players walked out from a secure area to a stage set up to celebrate the end of the longest Cup-less streak in the league.

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Also this …

OTTAWA — Canadian farmers are descending to the nation’s capital to press for urgent action to end the Canadian National Railway Co. rail strike now entering its second week.

This afternoon, grain growers will hold a press conference to outline how the shutdown is affecting their industry, which is already struggling with a tough harvest.

And tomorrow, a group of farmers from across the country are expected in Ottawa to do the same.

About 3,200 CN workers, who have been without a contract since July 23, walked off the job on Nov. 19 over concerns about long hours, fatigue and dangerous working conditions.

The direct impact of the work stoppage is beginning to be felt across the industry. On Monday, fertilizer company Nutrien announced a two-week shutdown of its largest potash mine east of Regina because of the strike.

Agriculture groups, and the Opposition Conservatives, have been among those demanding that the Liberal government call the House of Commons back sooner than its Dec. 5 start date to legislate the employees back to work.

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ICYMI (In case you missed it) …

ANTIGONISH, N.S. — The president of St. Francis Xavier University has apologized to those offended by a plaque in the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government that includes a quote from the former prime minister’s father.

The quote, based on a conversation Mulroney had with his father Benedict in 1955, reads: “The only way out of a paper mill town is through a university door.”

At the time, a young Mulroney was planning to seek an apprenticeship at the mill in Baie-Comeau, Que., where his father worked as electrician — but the elder Mulroney was opposed to the idea and encouraged his son to attend St. FX.

One of the Nova Scotia university’s former students recently posted a message on Facebook, saying she was offended by the plaque because it appears to devalue tradespeople and creates the impression that mill towns are “impoverished and embarrassing.”

Kevin Wamsley, the president of the university, has issued a statement saying the university is proud of northern Nova Scotia’s rural heritage, and he stresses that the institution encourages students to take pride in working and residing in the area.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday ordered former White House counsel Donald McGahn to appear before Congress in a setback to U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to keep his top aides from testifying.

The outcome could lead to renewed efforts by House Democrats to compel testimony from other high-ranking officials, including former national security adviser John Bolton.

Not even the president’s closest aides who receive a subpoena from Congress can “ignore or defy congressional compulsory process, by order of the president or otherwise,” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in ruling on a lawsuit filed by the House Judiciary Committee.

McGahn was a star witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, and Democrats wanted to question McGahn about possible obstruction of justice by Trump. That was months before the House started an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s effort to get Ukraine to announce an investigation of former Vice-President Joe Biden.

The administration says it will appeal Jackson’s ruling.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

BEIJING — Newly revealed classified documents show that camps the Chinese government runs in the country’s far west are not for voluntary job training, as Beijing says, but for forced ideological and behavioural re-education.

The documents lay out the government’s deliberate strategy to lock up predominantly Muslim minorities to forcibly assimilate them and rewire their thinking.

They also show how Beijing is using a high-tech surveillance system to target people for detention, trying to predict who will commit a crime.

The documents were issued by a Communist Party body in charge of the security apparatus of China’s Xinjiang region and were leaked to a consortium of journalists.

Experts say they are the most significant description yet of how the detention camps and mass surveillance work in the words of the Chinese government itself.

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Weird and wild …

BERLIN — Thieves have broke into Dresden’s Green Vault, one of the world’s oldest museums, making off with three “priceless” sets of 18th century jewelry.

The treasury of Augustus the Strong of Saxony was established in 1723 and today contains around 4,000 objects of gold, precious stones and other materials on display in Dresden’s Royal Palace.

Authorities say it appears the thieves broken open only one glass case containing three sets of Baroque jewelry made up of dozens of gems each.

Police say they were alerted shortly before 5 a.m. by unarmed museum security guards who had spotted two burglars inside the downtown museum on video surveillance cameras.

The first officers arrived on the scene within minutes but the thieves had already fled in a waiting getaway car, which was later found burnt.

Investigators suspect that a fire at an electrical junction box near the museum, which took out the streetlights, was linked to the crime

Police say they have established a special investigation team to solve the case.

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On this day in 1939 …

Basketball inventor Canadian James Naismith died in Lawrence, Kan., at age 78. The Almonte, Ont.-native devised 13 rules for the game while teaching at Springfield College in Massachusetts in December 1891.

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Entertainment news …

TORONTO — Fans of the CBC/Netflix drama series “Anne with an E” are banding together online to try to save the coming-of-age series after its cancellation.

Shortly after creator/showrunner Moira Walley-Beckett wrote on Instagram that they’ve “reached the end of the red Green Gables road” after three seasons, the hashtags “Renew Anne with an E” and “Renew AWAE” were trending on social media.

Fans vented their frustration with its demise and expressed a deep passion for the show in various posts, showing a tenacity that would make the plucky protagonist proud.

Its third and final season finished airing on the CBC on Sunday and will hit Netflix on Jan. 3.

In a joint statement, the CBC and Netflix thanked Walley-Beckett, co-executive producer Miranda de Pencier, and the cast and crew “for their incredible work in sharing Anne’s story with a new generation.”

“We hope fans of the show love this final season as much as we do, and that it brings a satisfying conclusion to Anne’s journey.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2019.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

A victory parade and a perceived snub on tradespeople; In-The-News Nov. 26

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