In The News for Jan. 18: The federal New Democrats gather for day one of retreat

Caucus chair Jenny Kwan says those will include holding Liberals to their word on advancing pharmacare and supporting energy workers who may be affected by federal environmental policies.

Both are part of the confidence-and-supply agreement the two parties signed last March, in which the NDP agreed to support the minority government in key votes until 2025.

In 2020, the NDP’s House leader, Peter Julian, had proposed a private members’ bill outlining a universal pharmacare program. It was defeated in the House of Commons in February 2021, with the vast majority of Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Québécois voting against.

Kwan is hopeful that such a bill will have more support a second time around.

Still, she says pulling out of the agreement is an option if the Liberals don’t deliver.

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Also this …

A new report by an advocacy group says some of Canada’s major pension funds have made significant improvements in responding to the climate crisis, but overall are still falling short.

The report by Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health shows a high level of inconsistency among the 11 pension funds evaluated, and finds they’re lacking compared with some international peers.

Adam Scott, executive director of Shift, says major pension funds need to do more to safeguard their portfolios against climate-related risk, and to take action to lessen the crisis.

He says action by pension funds is important because the retirement plans of millions of Canadians depend on them, and because of the financial sway the funds hold.

The report on the 11 funds, which manage over $2 trillion in assets, found that some have made commitments aligned with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, while even fewer have credible plans to get there, and only one has committed to phasing out fossil fuel funding.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

The top U.S. military officer, Army Gen. Mark Milley, travelled to a site near the Ukraine-Poland border on Tuesday and talked with his Ukrainian counterpart face to face for the first time – a meeting underscoring the growing ties between the two militaries and coming at a critical time as Russia’s war with Ukraine nears the one-year mark.

Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a couple of hours with Ukraine’s chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in southeastern Poland. The two leaders have talked frequently about Ukraine’s military needs and the state of the war over the past year but had never met.

The meeting comes as the international community ramps up the military assistance to Ukraine, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the U.S. and the provision of a Patriot missile battery, tanks and increased air defence and other weapons systems by the U.S. and a coalition of European and other nations.

It also marks a key time in the war. Ukraine’s troops face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where Russian forces — supplemented by thousands of private Wagner Group contractors — seek to turn the tide after a series of battlefield setbacks in recent months.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

A helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb Wednesday killed 18 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and three children, Ukrainian authorities said.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych were among those killed, according to Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine’s National Police. Monastyrskyi is the most senior Ukrainian official to have died since the start of the war with Russia almost 11 months ago.

Nine of those killed were aboard the emergency services helicopter that crashed in Brovary, an eastern suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Klymenko said.

Kyiv Regional Governor Oleksii Kuleba said three children were also killed. Earlier, officials and media reports said the helicopter crashed near a kindergarten.

A total of 29 people were injured, including 15 children, the regional governor said.

There was no immediate word on whether the crash was an accident or a result of the war with Russia. No fighting has been reported recently in the Kyiv area.

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On this day in 1904 …

Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier delivered perhaps the most misquoted speech in Canadian history.

Laurier told the Canadian Club of Ottawa the 19th century was the century of the United States, then added, “I think we can claim that it is Canada that shall fill the 20th century.”

To this day, Laurier is often quoted — erroneously — as saying, “the 20th century belongs to Canada.”

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In entertainment …

Jeremy Renner says he’s out of the hospital and watching himself on T-V.

Renner tweets in response to a post about his Paramount Plus series “Mayor of Kingstown,” “Outside my brain fog in recovery, I was very excited to watch episode 201 with my family at home.”

Renner suffered major chest trauma and other injuries when his snow tractor ran over him as he was trying to dig out a relative’s vehicle on New Year’s Day near Lake Tahoe in Nevada.

Authorities have said there are no signs Renner was impaired and no signs of foul play, and the investigation is continuing.

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Did you see this?

Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov cited his Russian Orthodox religion as the reason he did not participate in pregame warmups when the team wore Pride-themed jerseys and used sticks wrapped in rainbow Pride tape.

The 26-year-old Provorov boycotted the pregame skate with his teammates before Tuesday night’s game against Anaheim as the Flyers celebrated their annual Pride night in celebration and support of the LGBTQ+ community. He played nearly 23 minutes in Philadelphia’s 5-2 victory.

“I respect everybody’s choices,” Provorov said after the game. “My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion. That’s all I’m going to say.”

Provorov declined to answer follow-up questions about his decision.

Flyers coach John Tortorella said Provorov “was true to himself and to his religion.”

“It’s one thing I respect about Provy, he’s always true to himself,” Tortorella said.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, leader of Russia’s dominant religious group, sent a strong signal last March justifying his country’s invasion of Ukraine — describing the conflict as part of a struggle against sin and pressure from liberal foreigners to hold “gay parades” as the price of admission to their ranks.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2023

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In The News for Jan. 18: The federal New Democrats gather for day one of retreat

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