In The News for June 13 : Canada experiencing worst wildfire season of 21st century

One of those continues to threaten the Alberta community of Edson, where 8,400 residents remain under an evacuation order issued Friday.

Hundreds of people in B.C. have either been forced from their homes or are under an evacuation alert as the 4,660-square-kilometre Donnie Creek blaze continues to rage, having grown to be the second largest ever recorded wildfire in the province.

A massive fire in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, remains out of control, although officials say the 235-square-kilometre Barrington Lake wildfire is no longer growing.

Teams with the province’s Department of Natural Resources will be flying over the fire in southwest Nova Scotia this week and will use infrared scanners to detect areas where firefighters should be dispatched.

About 5,000 firefighting personnel from multiple countries have been deployed across Canada to help battle the flames, and hundreds more are expected to arrive from Chile, Costa Rica, Spain and Portugal in the coming days.

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Also this …

If members of Parliament do not avoid the dangers of “performance politics” and chasing “likes” on social media, future Canadians will look back on the current moment as the start of the country’s decline, Erin O’Toole warned Monday.

The former Conservative leader and Ontario MP used his last address to the House of Commons to issue a call to colleagues to focus on what he said should be figuring out the country’s national purpose.

Instead of debating that he said, “too many of us are often chasing algorithms down a sinkhole of diversion and division.”

“We are becoming elected officials who judge our self-worth by how many ‘likes’ we get on social media, but now not how many lives we change in the real world.”

“Performance politics is fuelling polarization. Virtue-signalling is replacing discussion and far too often we’re just using this Chamber to generate clips, not to start national debates.”

O’Toole is retiring from federal politics at the end of the month after first being elected in a byelection in 2012. From there, the lawyer and former Royal Canadian Air Force member served as parliamentary secretary to Ed Fast, then-trade minister in the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper.

Before the Conservatives lost government in 2015, O’Toole was appointed to serve as minister for veterans affairs at a troubling time for the portfolio, as the country was adjusting to the return of soldiers who fought in Afghanistan.

After the Tories lost power, O’Toole set his sights on leadership of the party, placing third in its 2017 leadership contest to replace Harper. He ultimately won its 2020 race, but was faced with leading it through the height of COVID-19-related lockdowns.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre _ whom the party elected after its MPs voted O’Toole out in early 2022 following months of internal strife and losing the 2021 federal election _ told the Commons on Monday that O’Toole “remains a statesman in our party” and thanked him for his public service.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

MIAMI _ Donald Trump was set to make his first court appearance Tuesday in a historic criminal case charging the former president with hoarding top secret government documents, boastfully displaying them to visitors and trying to hide them from investigators who demanded them back.

Trump approached his Miami court date with characteristic bravado, insisting as he has done through years of legal woes that he has done nothing wrong and was being persecuted for political purposes. But the gravity of the moment is unmistakable as he answers to 37 felony counts that accuse him of wilfully retaining classified records that prosecutors say could have jeopardized national security if exposed.

The case is laden with political implications for Trump, who currently holds the dominant spot in the early days of the 2024 Republican presidential primary. But it also poses profound legal consequences given the prospect of a years-long prison sentence.

Even for a defendant whose post-presidential life has been dominated by investigations, the documents probe has stood out for both the apparent volume of evidence amassed by prosecutors and the severity of the allegations.

It’s also a watershed moment for a Justice Department that until last week had never before brought charges against a former president. Attorney General Merrick Garland, an appointee of President Joe Biden, sought to insulate the department from political attacks by handing ownership of the case last year to a special counsel Jack Smith, who on Friday declared, “We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.”

The arraignment, though largely procedural in nature, is the latest in an unprecedented public reckoning this year for Trump, who faces charges in New York arising from hush money payments during his 2016 presidential campaign as well as ongoing investigations in Washington and Atlanta into efforts to undo the results of the 2020 race. He’s sought to project confidence in the face of unmistakable legal peril, attacking Smith as “deranged,” pledging to stay in the race and scheduling a speech and fundraiser for Tuesday night at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.

“They’re using this because they can’t win the election fairly and squarely,” Trump said Monday in an interview with Americano Media.

The court appearance is also unfolding against the backdrop of potential protests and unrest. Some high-profile backers have used barbed rhetoric to voice support. Trump himself has encouraged supporters to join a planned protest Tuesday at the Miami courthouse, where he is expected to surrender to authorities.

Some Trump supporters were also planning to load buses to head to Miami from other parts of Florida, raising concerns for law enforcement officials who are preparing for the potential of unrest around the courthouse. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the city would be ready, and police chief Manuel A. Morales said downtown could see anywhere from a few thousand up to 50,000 protesters. He said the city would divert traffic and possibly block streets depending on crowd size.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

KYIV, Ukraine _ A regional governor says at least three people were killed and 25 wounded after missiles hit civilian buildings in an overnight attack in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.

Gov. Serhiy Lysak of the Dnipropetrovsk region said the strike involving cruise missiles hit a five-story residential building early Tuesday and the area was engulfed in fire. He said in a Telegram post that people were trapped under the rubble and rescue operations were ongoing.

The mayor of Kryvyi Rih, Oleksandr Vilkul, also reported that seven people were feared trapped under the rubble with rescue efforts ongoing. He later raised the death toll in the attack to at least six people killed in a message shared on Telegram.

The devastation in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown is the latest bloodshed in Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in its 16th month, as Ukrainian forces are mounting counteroffensive operations using Western-supplied firepower to try to drive out the Russians.

Images from the scene relayed by Zelenskyy on his Telegram channel showed firefighters battling the blaze as pockets of fire poked through multiple broken windows of a building. Charred and damaged vehicles littered the nearby ground.

“More terrorist missiles,” he wrote on the social app. “Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people.”

The aerial assault was the latest barrage of strikes by Russian forces that targeted various parts of Ukraine overnight.

The Kyiv military administration reported that the capital came under fire as well on Tuesday, but the incoming missiles were destroyed by air defences and there were no immediate reports of any casualties there.

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On this day in 1993 …

Kim Campbell was chosen to succeed Brian Mulroney as federal Conservative leader and prime minister. The rookie Vancouver MP had held several cabinet portfolios, including Justice and Defence. But on Oct. 25th, four months to the day after she was sworn in as Canada’s first woman PM, Campbell and the Tories were humiliated in a general election. They went from a substantial majority to just two seats in the Commons. Campbell resigned as party leader on Dec. 13th after exactly six months in the job. She later served as Canada’s consul-general in Los Angeles.

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In entertainment …

DORSET, Vt. _ Actor Treat Williams, whose nearly 50-year career included starring roles in the TV series “Everwood” and the movie “Hair,” died Monday after a motorcycle crash in Vermont, state police said. He was 71.

Shortly before 5 p.m., a Honda SUV was turning left into a parking lot when it collided with Williams’ motorcycle in the town of Dorset, according to a statement from Vermont State Police.

“Williams was unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle. He suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, where he was pronounced dead,” according to the statement.

Williams was wearing a helmet, police said.

The SUV’s driver received minor injuries and wasn’t hospitalized. He had signalled the turn and wasn’t immediately detained although the crash investigation continued, police said.

The Connecticut-born Williams made his movie debut in 1975 as a police officer in the movie “Deadly Hero” and went on to appear in more than 120 TV and film roles, including the movies “The Eagle Has Landed,” “Prince of the City” and “Once Upon a Time in America.”

He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role as hippie leader George Berger in the 1979 movie version of the hit musical “Hair.”

He appeared in dozens of television shows but was perhaps best known for his starring role from 2002 to 2006 in “Everwood” as Dr. Andrew Brown, a widowed brain surgeon from Manhattan who moves with his two children to the Colorado mountain town of that name.

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Did you see this?

The Montreal Trudeau International Airport is trying to discourage people from bringing food to a plane-spotting park along its runway.

Airport spokeswoman Anne-Sophie Hamel says the garbage left behind by picnickers is attracting birds, which could collide in the air with planes.

Hamel says the park has become increasingly popular — leading to more trash on the ground and a bigger risk for bird strikes.

She says an ongoing awareness campaign is improving the situation, but she warns that if it worsens, the airport may have to close the park.

The risk from birds is highest during takeoff and landing, making the park’s location along the runway particularly dangerous.

Bird strikes have been linked to several crashes in Canada, including a 2020 collision that killed a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds demonstration team.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2023

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In The News for June 13 : Canada experiencing worst wildfire season of 21st century

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