By Canadian Press

In The News for Wednesday, June 21, 2023: What do Canadians think about wildfires?

Jun 21, 2023 | 6:51 AM

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Wednesday, June 21, 2023 …

What we are watching in Canada …

More than one in four Canadians told a polling firm this week that they have been affected by the record-setting wildfires that have rocked much of Canada over the spring, and more than three in four say they think there are more fires now than in the past.

But, 23 per cent of Americans said they have been directly or indirectly affected by fires this year.

In Alberta, where the fires have been particularly troublesome for two months, almost 40 per cent of respondents said they had been affected by the fires.

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The Leger poll surveyed 1,500 Canadians and 1,000 Americans online between June 16 and 19.

It comes just after Environment and Climate Change Canada issued an updated summer forecast that predicts the conditions that led to the spring wildfire catastrophe are not going to let up in July and August.

There have been more than 2,700 wildfires in Canada so far this year, which have burned 59,000 square kilometres of forest and other land. That’s a total area more than 10 times the size of Prince Edward Island.

On Tuesday, 409 fires were still burning, 202 of them out of control.

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Also this …

A Canadian aircraft has detected underwater noise during its search for a lost sub near the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the Canadian military plane’s detection of noise while looking for the missing submersible has caused search efforts to be relocated in an effort to find the source of the sound.

There is no word on exactly what the sounds detected could indicate, but rescuers are racing to find the vessel, carrying five people, before the air supply runs out, as early as Thursday morning.

The news has offered up a glimmer of hope that the sub and its crew can be rescued after losing contact days ago during its descent to the wreck of the ill-fated luxury liner, which sank in 1912.

The U.S. Coast Guard wrote on Twitter that the noises led searchers to move an underwater robot to the area to investigate. 

Those searches “have yielded negative results but continue,” the Coast Guard said.

“The data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans,” the Coast Guard said in the tweet.

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And this …

Doug Westhouse sits behind the wheel of a 12-passenger bus as he drives along a rural Manitoba highway waiting for the next call for a ride. 

Westhouse is a co-ordinator and driver for Grand Plains Handivan, which transports seniors and those with disabilities from Grandview and Gilbert Plains east to Dauphin for appointments, shopping and visits with family. 

He says minibus and handivan drivers have been thinking a lot about last week’s deadly crash that killed 15 people and sent 10 more to hospital.

A bus was carrying a group of seniors from Dauphin and the surrounding area to a casino when it went into the path of a semi-truck on the Trans-Canada Highway near the town of Carberry.

Ten others on the bus, including the driver, remain in hospital.

Five are in critical condition.

Westhouse says passenger vans drive differently than other vehicles, taking longer to accelerate and longer to slow down.

He says while bus drivers are devastated by the crash, they are continuing to do their trips because they provide an essential service in rural areas.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

U-S President Joe Biden had just six words to offer after his 53-year-old son Hunter pleaded guilty to federal tax offences in a deal that is also likely to spare him time behind bars on a weapons charge.

“I’m very proud of my son,” he said.

That pride has been accompanied by pain, and for the president’s family, both have been on public display. Republicans have worked to use Hunter Biden’s actions — and his acknowledged struggle with addiction — as an anchor to try to drag down his father.

A five-year criminal investigation was coming to a conclusion, with a plea deal announced Tuesday that resolves the probe into the taxes and foreign business dealings of the president’s second son. The agreement with the Justice Department means Hunter Biden will plead guilty to a misdemeanour tax offence, and he’ll avoid a more serious felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as he adheres to conditions agreed to in court.

As a president, Joe Biden has made of point of keeping his distance from the federal investigation into his son’s dealings.

But Republicans are hardly satisfied with the outcome, particularly as the Justice Department indicted former President Donald Trump in an unrelated case where he is accused of mishandling classified documents. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., compared the outcome of Hunter Biden’s case to the Trump documents case now heading toward federal court and said, “If you are the president’s son, you get a sweetheart deal.”

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

A seemingly curious alliance of druids, pagans, hippies, local residents and tourists gathered around a prehistoric stone circle on a plain in southern England to express their devotion to the sun, or to have some communal fun.

They stayed and celebrated at Stonehenge for the night and greeted sunrise on Wednesday, which will be the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere.

All over the U.K., optimism will reign supreme as summer officially starts. It’s no coincidence that the nearby Glastonbury Festival, one of the world’s biggest music events, opens its doors on Wednesday, too. Both Stonehenge and Glastonbury supposedly lie on ley lines — mystical energy connections across the U.K.

For the thousands making the pilgrimage to Stonehenge, approximately 128 kilometres southwest of London, it is more than looking forward to Elton John at Glastonbury or a few ciders in the sun.

For druids, modern-day spiritualists linked to the ancient Celtic religious order, Stonehenge has a centuries-long importance, and they will be there to perform dawn rituals around the solstice in their traditional white robes. It’s effectively all about the cycle of life, of death and rebirth.

This year, the summer solstice at Stonehenge started at 7 p.m. Tuesday and ran through 8 a.m. Wednesday. For this one night, worshippers are allowed to spend time inside the stone circle. Others chant or play their acoustic guitars. Alcohol is prohibited, as are sound systems. Bring a blanket, but no sleeping bags, please. And definitely, no climbing on the stones.

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On this day in 1957 …

John Diefenbaker was sworn in as Canada’s first Conservative prime minister in 22 years. The same day, 52-year-old Ellen Fairclough became Canada’s first female cabinet minister when she was sworn in as secretary of state. The Hamilton-born accountant also served as Immigration Minister and Postmaster General before she and the Tories were defeated in the 1963 election.

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In entertainment …

Tony Revolori remembers Jason Schwartzman pulling him aside during the filming of Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and telling him, “Your life is going to change in no way and every way.” 

Revolori, now 27, was 17 and played the “lobby boy” in that film. 

He says Anderson has become a “pseudo-father” to him. 

Schwartzman, now 42, started as a teen himself in an Anderson film, “Rushmore.” Both appear in Anderson’s new film, “Asteroid City,” which includes a new crop of young actors. Newcomer Grace Edwards says appearing in “Asteroid City” is “one of the most powerful learning experiences” she’s ever had.

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Did you see this?

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (PWAH’-lee-ehv) says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should make the first move and call a public inquiry into allegations of foreign meddling in Canadian affairs. 

Poilievre reiterated the call in a letter to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

LeBlanc has been tasked with helping devise a plan for what the next steps of the process to probe allegations of foreign meddling should look like.

That follows the high-profile and sudden departure of David Johnston, whom Trudeau had tasked with the job.

LeBlanc has said since that the government wants to hear from opposition leaders about what a public inquiry could look like, including who could lead such an endeavour and what its terms of reference might be.

Poilievre says the Conservatives are willing to bring ideas forward — but only once Trudeau commits to triggering a public inquiry.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2023

The Canadian Press