Many Republicans are rallying around Trump's false claim 

that infrastructure deal is 'fake'

Ben Werschkul

·Senior Producer and Writer

Mon., September 27, 2021

As the House of Representatives prepares to vote Thursday on the bipartisan infrastructure deal, many House Republicans who have lined up against it argue that the bill is not about infrastructure at all.

“I've got serious reservations about the fact that, depending on whose numbers you believe, only 10% to 20% of that $1.1 trillion truly goes to infrastructure,” Rep. Buddy Carter (R., Ga.) told Yahoo Finance last week.

The language echoes an argument from former President Donald Trump. It's a “fake infrastructure deal” composed of “11% infrastructure and even that's not real infrastructure,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business on Aug. 31.

But by any measure, the numbers from Trump and Carter, a Trump ally who voted to overturn the 2016 election even after a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol, don’t add up.

Nevertheless, it has been repeated often, especially by Trump-aligned House Republicans. Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said Friday that “House Republicans remain unified in opposition to this fake infrastructure bill.” Banks had been selected by House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) to be the top Republican on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, but was rejected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) for his actions on that day, including his vote to overturn the election after the violence.

What's in the bill

The 2,702-page infrastructure bill contains about $550 billion in new spending. It was summarized by the White House and backed up by multiple independent analyses and is largely clear as to its major provisions.

• About 20% of the new money goes to fund roads, bridges, and other surface transportation programs ($110 billion)

• Just under 20% is allocated for public transit and passenger and freight rail ($105 billion)

• Just under 8% is for seaports and airports ($42 billion)

• About 12% is for improving broadband access ($65 billion)

• Another 10% goes to improve the water system and replace lead pipes ($55 billion)

• 28% goes toward an array of provisions related to energy, the environment, and climate change, from upgrading the electric grid to a new fleet of electric vehicle charging stations to cleaning up Superfund sites.

The legislation agreed to in the Senate authorizes $550 billion in new spending. Some lawmakers like to refer to the bill as a $1.1 trillion or $1.2 trillion package because it also includes funding for highways and other projects that are allotted every year.

In the end, 19 Republican senators voted in favor of the package, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), along with all 50 Democrats. 

In his conversation with Yahoo Finance, Carter listed the areas where “I think all of us would agree" are infrastructure: roads, bridges, airports, seaports, broadband, high-speed internet.

Those provisions alone account for almost 60% of the new spending in the bill.

Repeated requests to Rep. Carter asking how he arrived at his calculation yielded no answer beyond “Mr. Carter is sad that only a small portion of the bill is devoted to traditional types of infrastructure.”

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) appeared with Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), left, and Mary Miller (R-Ill.) in June. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

"Carter believes the issues should be debated and not thrown on a bill that should be about true infrastructure," a spokesperson said, declining to define the issue further.

'I don’t view it as a vote for infrastructure'

Trump has likewise avoided explaining why he views the current infrastructure bill as "fake," but he supported infrastructure efforts throughout his time in office. In 2019, before the talks dissolved in acrimony, Trump agreed to spend $2 trillion on infrastructure – roads, bridges, airports, rail lines, waterways and broadband internet access. He called for a $2 trillion infrastructure spending plan again in 2020.

Then in a series of statements this August, Trump claimed "[t]here is very little on infrastructure in all of those pages," but cited only a small provision to fund a national test program that would allow the government to collect drivers’ data to charge them per-mile travel fees to back up his criticism.

Trump also attacked McConnell for his yes vote: "If it can’t be killed in the Senate, maybe it dies in the House!" he said.

The claims this month are related to similar ones levied against President Biden’s early infrastructure plans. In March, Biden unveiled a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that was met with disapproval because some said it didn’t have enough infrastructure in it.

A criticism then, which was described by fact checkers as pushed to “misleading extremes,” was that only 5% to 7% of the plan is for "real infrastructure."

Since then, bipartisan negotiators have cut down the plan significantly and removed provisions – like $400 billion to expand home-care services, which many lawmakers had questioned.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) arrives for a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 23. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In a recent press conference, McCarthy said he would be encouraging all his fellow Republicans in the House to oppose the bill, adding that he didn’t view the bill as bipartisan “any longer.”

McCarthy didn't call the infrastructure bill "fake," but reasoned that a vote for the bipartisan package is essentially a vote for the larger multitrillion-dollar budget reconciliation package being backed by Democrats only. “I don’t view it as a vote for infrastructure,” McCarthy said.

Over the weekend, Pelosi announced the House would debate the infrastructure framework all week with a final vote – which is expected to be close – set for Sept. 30.

Ben Werschkul is a writer and producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.

Alberta Real Canadian Superstore union members serve Loblaws strike notice

Real Canadian Superstore

CTV News Edmonton
Updated Sept. 26, 2021 

EDMONTON -

The union representing Real Canadian Superstore employees served the Canadian company strike notice after members voted 97 per cent in favour of job action.

In a statement released Friday, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 401 said it hopes Loblaws – the parent company of Superstore – is ready to listen to their employees.

Workers from across the province cast their ballots from Sept. 21 to Sept. 23.

The union plans to continue bargaining this week in “good faith” to push the grocery chain to improve its offer.

“Ironically, the point of taking a strike vote is to attempt to avoid a strike,” said Richelle Stewart, secretary treasurer. “A strike vote is a tool to tell the Company that unless they bargain fairly, employees could withdraw their labour.”

Before an actual strike occurs, the union said every Superstore union member will have the chance to vote on the company’s final offer before deciding whether to take job action.

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton, Loblaws public relations said it does not comment during bargaining.

Rio Tinto and Canadian union reach labour deal for British Columbia ops

KITIMAT STRIKE BEGAN IN JULY

Sun., September 26, 2021, 

FILE PHOTO: A sign adorns the building where mining company Rio Tinto has their office in Perth, Western Australia

(Reuters)  Rio Tinto and Canadian union Unifor have reached a labour agreement in principle for the global miner's operations in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the company said on Sunday.

The agreement comes after weeks of second-round talks between the two parties after the first round of negotiations over proposed changes to workers' retirement benefits and unresolved grievances had failed to go through in July.

Unifor, which represents about 900 workers at the miner's aluminium smelting plant in Kitimat and power generating facility in Kemano, had started a strike action at BC Works in July after the failed first round of talks.

"Both parties are satisfied that the proposed agreement will provide a foundation for respect in the workplace and underpin a competitive and sustainable future for BC Works," Rio Tinto said in a statement on its website on Sunday.

Both parties, however, refrained from revealing the details of the agreement until Unifor presented the proposed deal to its members and sought a ratification vote, which is expected to be conducted in the coming days, Rio added.

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

EXPLAINER: Why coffee could cost more at groceries, cafes

Mon., September 27, 2021, 

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — As if a cup of coffee wasn’t expensive enough, a confluence of factors is driving up farmers' costs to grow the beans and it could begin filtering down to your local cafe before the end of the year.

After hovering for years near $1 per pound, coffee futures — the price large-volume buyers agree to pay for coffee upon delivery months down the road — doubled in late July, reaching heights not seen since 2014. Though prices have eased a bit, they remain elevated at about $1.90 per pound.

Coffee lovers already paying $8 or more for a bag in the supermarket or up to $5 for a cup may despair over even-higher prices, but a spike in coffee prices on the international futures market doesn't always trickle down to the consumer.

Here’s a look at some factors that could determine whether Americans will be paying more for their morning jolt in the near future.

WHAT HAPPENED?

A sustained drought followed by two July frosts blew a hole in Brazil’s coffee output, immediately sending wholesale prices for the popular Arabica bean to more than $2 per pound. The frost will significantly affect the 2022-23 harvest, said Carlos Mera, who analyzes the coffee markets at Rabobank.

The Brazil frosts followed COVID-related supply chain snarls, a dearth of shipping containers, labor shortages and other production hiccups. Add in rising costs for virtually everything and you have a bitter cup brewing for coffee drinkers.

“This is unprecedented,” said Alexis Rubinstein, the managing editor of Coffee & Cocoa for commodities brokerage StoneX Group. “It’s never been this perfect storm before. It’s usually just been a supply-and-demand scenario.

“We’ve never been dealing with a supply and demand issue on top of a logistics issue, on top of labor issues, on top of a global pandemic.”

WHY MIGHT RETAIL PRICES RISE?

While it’s difficult to determine the size of the crop loss in Brazil, Mera said estimates vary between 2 million and 6 million fewer bags of coffee. That's about 12% of the output from the world’s largest producer of Arabica, the bean used for most coffee sold around the world. Lower supplies almost always mean higher prices.

Grace Wood, an industry analyst for market research firm IBISWorld, said if consumers don’t see coffee prices rise by the end of this year, they almost certainly will in 2022, as per capita demand is expected to increase.

“That is just going to contribute to more demand that is going to further disrupt operations and make it more difficult for operators who are already experiencing supply issues,” Wood said.

Mera said people who buy coffee beans in the grocery store will likely see a more noticeable increase in prices because about half the cost of that bag on the shelf comes solely from the bean itself. However, in large coffee shops, he added, the cost of the bean only represents about 5% of your cup of hot coffee, so roasters “may not need to carry over the increases right away.”

IS IT A CERTAINTY THAT RETAIL PRICES WILL RISE?

It seems likely, although higher coffee prices on the international future market is not a guarantee that prices at your favorite roaster will go up. The damaged crop in Brazil is still more than a year from harvest, plenty of time for many factors to reverse course.

Rubinstein said higher prices on the international market can often stimulate production — farmers will have more money to invest in their crop — and if there’s more coffee on the market, prices will retreat. But that will also depend on whether the big roasters have enough beans hoarded to get them through however long prices remain elevated.

Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee retailer, suggested that it won’t need to raise its prices because of Brazil’s lower output. On a call with investors at the height of the Arabica price spike, the Seattle-based coffee chain’s President and CEO Kevin Johnson said his company has 14 months of supply, which he says will get it through 2021 and most of fiscal 2022.

WHAT ABOUT MY LOCAL ROASTER?

Even smaller, independent specialty roasters sign contracts to buy their beans well in advance, enough so that when shortages like the ones in Brazil happen, it doesn’t paralyze them. They also source from countries all around the world, so gaps from one place can often be filled by another.

Chris Vigilante, co-owner of Vigilante Coffee with stores in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., said most specialty roasters don’t buy beans on the same international commodities market with the big players like Nestle and Keurig Dr. Pepper. “So we’re not as impacted by (Brazil), but we will feel the pressure of it," Vigilante said.

Vigilante said he pays between $3.50 and $5.50 per pound for most of his beans, which are higher quality and produced by smaller farms. He has no plans to raise prices, but if other small shops raise theirs, he said it's likely because the cost for other essentials have risen.

“I’ve seen other specialty coffee roasters talking about raising their prices, but I think that’s more not because of the cost of coffee, but maybe because the cost of some of our other supplies, like cups and equipment,” Vigilante said.

——-

Marcelo Silva de Sousa contributed to this report from Brazil.

Matt Ott, The Associated Press

Former long-time NDP MLA Belanger won't return after federal campaign bid

Sun., September 26, 2021,

Former Opposition NDP MLA Buckley Belanger won't return to the provincial legislature after placing second in his bid for a federal riding in northern Saskatchewan. 

(Matt Duguid/CBC - image credit)

After resigning from the Saskatchewan NDP Caucus in early August, Buckley Belanger fell short in his federal campaign bid seeking a seat in Ottawa for the Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River riding.

Despite that, the former long-time MLA says he doesn't plan on returning to the provincial legislature.

Belanger resigned from the NDP Caucus' electoral district of Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan in August 2021 after a 26-year stint with the party.

"I've moved on from the provincial perspective of politics," Belanger told CBC News' Olivier Daoust.

"To use a hockey analogy … I played on one team and now I got traded to the other team," he said.

Belanger said when he departed from the provincial party, there was a "mutual respect," and said he'll be working closely with the successful candidate filling his role.

"We're sorry to see Mr. Belanger leave our caucus and are grateful for his service as Saskatchewan's longest-serving Indigenous MLA," the Saskatchewan NDP said in a statement on Aug. 10.

"Our focus now will be making sure there is a strong voice for Northwest Saskatchewan in the legislature."

'We should not have a Conservative MP'

Belanger said he was disappointed by his federal loss, but is trying to take it in stride "like a champion" as he says his northern constituents would want.

He does strongly believe that northern Saskatchewan doesn't want a Conservative MP, and insisted that he wasn't making excuses when he pointed to the voter turnout in the nation's 44th election.

DESPITE THESE FINAL NUMBERS THE RACE WAS TOO CLOSE TO CALL FOR MOST OF THE ELECTION NIGHT AS IT WENT BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE TWO CANDIDATES

There were 20,654 votes cast in the riding, according to CBC's interactive vote tracker. The riding makes up the northern half of the province as the geographically third-largest federal riding in the provinces (more than 340,000 square kilometres).

Belanger received 27 per cent of the vote, topped by Conservative incumbent Gary Vidal who received 49 per cent.

There were 27,257 votes cast in the region in the 2019 election, according to statistics from Elections Canada.

"We should not have a Conservative MP … Indigenous people do not vote for Conservative," Belanger said, noting the region's population is two-thirds Indigenous. "Just because more Conservatives showed up to vote for a variety of reasons doesn't make it so," he said.

Belanger also argued that the northern riding should be split into two ridings to better serve the northern communities' unique needs.

HE IS GOING TO RUN AGAIN

Edmonton's NDP candidates hope a surge of support builds into a new orange wave

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Federal party saw an average 11 percentage increase in vote share across city

Stephen David Cook · CBC News · Posted: Sep 27, 2021 

Edmonton Centre's NDP candidate Heather MacKenzie came in a close third in last week's federal election, seeing a boost in vote share common to orange campaigns across all Edmonton ridings. (Craig Ryan/CBC)

The results of Monday's federal election seemed to be a repeat of the last throughout the blue sea of Alberta — with few notable exceptions.

NDP candidate Blake Desjarlais hopes he is starting a new political future in Edmonton Griesbach, where his win flipped a riding that has been Conservative in one form or another for decades.

"I think that we stand a good shot the next election at not only retaining this seat but expanding across Alberta, particularly in Edmonton and Calgary," he said.

Desjarlais' win was part of an overall trend that saw a big bump in the NDP's share of votes compared to 2019 across all of Edmonton's 11 ridings. The rise was a stark contrast to the other two major parties: Conservatives on average saw a 13.8-point drop while Liberals stagnated at a loss of around 0.1 points.

Percentage point increases of vote share by the federal NDP in Edmonton ridings. (CBC News)

Liberal candidate Randy Boissonnault barely clinched the Edmonton Centre riding from incumbent Conservative James Cumming but hard on their heels was the NDP's Heather MacKenzie.

"The NDP in Edmonton Centre have never shown better," she said last week. "This is a historic campaign for us — we had a higher percentage of the vote than ever before."

MacKenzie's campaign finished about 4.9 per cent — around 2,000 ballots — behind the winner, and she predicts the next cycle will draw in more supporters and more resources, topping the approximately $50,000 she estimated was raised during her campaign.

"I think everybody knows we could take it in the next election," she said.

The impact of COVID-19

The province's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic likely played a part in pushing voters away from Erin O'Toole's Conservatives but the NDP, led by Jagmeet Singh, did not win all the gains, said political analyst John Brennan.

The People's Party of Canada (PPC) also saw a small bump.

But overall, Brennan believes that the federal NDP candidates were beneficiaries of the harsh criticism levelled at Alberta's UCP government by the province's NDP Opposition party.

"I really think it drove down support for the federal Conservatives in Edmonton," Brennan said.

Percentage point differences in vote share since 2019 in Edmonton ridings. (CBC News)

Brennan pointed out that the NDP is not a stranger to Edmonton's electorate — in the 2019 provincial election, 20 of 21 electoral districts in the city went to the party.

But it's too early to count on an orange wave next go-around, he said.

Right now, he said, the federal NDP has a safe seat in Strathcona and a fighting chance in Centre and Griesbach. "The rest of the ridings, we'll wait and see."

• 'Kenney effect' hurt federal Conservatives on Alberta election night, experts say

• Conservative support sags as Albertans add Liberal, NDP MPs

There's not even a guarantee that the NDP's gains from this election will carry over into the long term, he said.

"This particular election was a unique one," Brennan said.

PPC support grew across Edmonton as it did throughout much of Alberta. In Edmonton Griesbach, the NDP victory came by around 1,500 votes — less than the 2,600 garnered by the PPC.

Whenever the next election comes, Brennan says the pandemic could be a distant memory, along with the anti-restrictions campaigning that may have seen some conservative voters go from blue to purple.

"The national election will probably be fought on entirely different issues."

The NDP campaign in Edmonton Riverbend, led by candidate Shawn Gray, outperformed both its 2015 and 2019 results. (Submitted by Shawn Gray)

In Edmonton Riverbend, NDP candidate Shawn Gray is optimistic the results signal a shift in the electorate.

"People are starting to understand that the NDP is the progressive option when stacked against the Conservatives," he said.

In his riding, the party saw a vote share increase of around 10 percentage points over both the 2015 and 2019 elections. The Conservative campaign saw around a 12-point drop since 2019 but still won with 45 per cent of the total vote.

Gray ran a COVID-conscious campaign from home, estimating he had under $10,000 in expenditures. Outreach events were cancelled, including a planned "Drag Out the Vote" drag show featuring local performers.

He hopes to take another crack at running and — bolstered by this election's results — see even more support from the party.

"I would love for Jagmeet to come to a drag event next time."

Liberals were unprepared for volatile emotions on campaign trail, misread enthusiasm for an election

An August poll showed a five-point national lead on the Conservatives and 'behind the scenes most of us were pushing for an election,' a Liberal MP said

Author of the article: Ryan Tumilty, Christopher Nardi
Publishing date: Sep 27, 2021 • 

Protesters shout as Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau arrives to campaign in Nobleton, Ont., on August 27. PHOTO BY CARLOS OSORIO/REUTERS

OTTAWA – Liberal insiders and MPs believe outside events more than internal mistakes shaped the election campaign and that Justin Trudeau’s future as leader is entirely in his hands.

The Liberals have 159 seats in Parliament, up just two from where they were, and they are 11 seats shy of the majority government Trudeau hoped for when he went to Rideau Hall.

The decision to call an election in the fourth wave of a pandemic dogged Trudeau in the campaign, but insiders who spoke to the National Post on the condition of anonymity, said there was little dissent on the timing of the campaign.

One senior campaign official said the prime minister made the final call, but the spring sitting of the House of Commons had been a grind, with opposition parties filibustering legislation and voting against the government dozens of times and there was no desire for a similar fall sitting.

A Leger poll done the weekend the election was called, showed the party had a five-point national lead on the Conservatives and solid leads in most regions of the country.

One Liberal MP said with those numbers most people inside the party wanted to go as soon as possible.

“Behind the scenes most of us were pushing for an election.”

All of the sources who spoke with the National Post said after the election was called, it was clear they had misread the public’s enthusiasm for an election.

It was like nothing we've seen before, those angry people screaming at us

On the campaign trail, Trudeau said the decision to run was about giving Canadians a say on the major changes that the pandemic had brought and the path forward. They also felt there was a risk moving forward without a mandate.

“You could overplay your hand in the long run.”

They said the polls looked good, but they also fully expected a close race.

“We felt confident with our position, but by no means was it a slam dunk.”

The slam dunk definitely failed to materialize in the first two weeks of the campaign, as the crisis in Afghanistan dominated headlines and Trudeau continued to face questions about why the campaign was necessary.

Unlike opposition leaders, Trudeau wears two hats during a campaign; Liberal leader and prime minister. One source close to Trudeau said early on the public and media’s focus was strictly on Afghanistan, which made it difficult to talk about Liberal policy and promises.

One insider said the Liberals wanted this to be a campaign about who Canadians trusted to end the pandemic and manage the recovery, but instead it focused on what critics described as an “unnecessary election.”

“The ballot question could have been clearer,” a senior Liberal said with a sigh. “Emotions (were) much more volatile. So you had everything in the cards to have a very polarizing debate. And that’s something that we underestimated.”

Trudeau was also dogged by anti-vaccine protests, especially in the early weeks. He was forced to cancel one event and had gravel thrown at him at another.

Protestors wait for an election campaign visit by Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, which was cancelled citing security concerns, in Bolton, Ontario, August 27, 2021. 

PHOTO BY CARLOS OSORIO/REUTERS

Trudeau deals with protesters regularly, mostly on climate change and reconciliation, but one Liberal source said this was much different.

“It was like nothing we’ve seen before, those angry people screaming at us.”

Another campaign official said the protesters were mostly aligned with the People’s Party of Canada, but it enforced the Liberals pandemic message, because Canadians saw they were protesting Trudeau’s events and not the Conservatives.

Several Liberal campaign sources said the Conservative campaign was impressive, softening Erin O’Toole’s image and introducing him to the public. An event where O’Toole hung out with rescue dogs and promised tougher animal cruelty laws, was particularly well done, one Liberal said.

The first direct contest of the election was TVA’s French language debate. Trudeau went hard in the debate on O’Toole’s gun control stance hoping to create a wedge.

O’Toole raised eyebrows when he said he would not repeal a ban on assault weapons and Trudeau pounced, repeatedly citing the page of the Conservative platform that said the opposite.

“The PM opened a door for us on the gun issues and we drove a bus through it,” said one senior campaign advisor.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair held five press conferences to highlight O’Toole’s inconsistencies on the gun file, but the campaign also wanted to highlight other areas where O’Toole seemed to have more than one opinion.

O’Toole ran on a platform promising to secure employee pensions in bankruptcy cases, but had previously spoken out against such a measure. The Liberals also pointed out O’Toole was saying he was pro-choice, but his caucus had voted in favour of a law that would prevent abortion for sex-selection purposes.

“We were trying to demonstrate to Canadians that Erin O’Toole would say anything,” said one source.

The Conservative momentum largely stalled under those attacks, working better than the Liberal imagined.

“We wanted to put the contrast there. We just didn’t think it would take six days for him to get to his position,” said one source

.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole take part in the federal election English-language Leaders debate in Gatineau, Quebec, Sept. 9, 2021. 

PHOTO BY ADRIAN WYLD/POOL VIA REUTERS

The TVA debate helped the Liberals, but debates can both giveth and taketh away.

Up to that point in Quebec, the Liberals’ campaign was going swimmingly. By the beginning of week four, the Liberals were polling at 34 per cent in the province, a seven-point lead over the Bloc opponents.

“In Quebec, we made no mistakes. We had the best campaign in the country,” a senior Liberal said. “There were no errors. No ministers screwed up, even Infoman couldn’t find anything to run on our candidates,” they added, referring to a popular Quebec news and politics satire show.

But then came the final English debate and a controversial question from moderator Shachi Kurl.

Within the first minutes, she asked Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet to explain why he denied Quebec has a problem with racism in light of two pieces of provincial legislation she described as “discriminatory”.

At a debate viewing party in Montreal hosted by Liberal minister Steven Guilbeault, candidates, staffers and volunteers gasped when they heard the question. A single, f*** was heard around the room.

“Because of the English debate’s stupid question and Quebec bashing, we lost eight points during that (final) week,” one source said.

The following day, Trudeau (and all other major party leaders) came out against Kurl’s question, describing it as “offensive.”

But the damage was already done. The question gave life to the Bloc Québécois, who had thus far unsuccessfully tried to bring identity issues — which fuelled the party’s success in the 2019 election — back to the forefront.

Quebec Premier François Legault fuelled that fire, with regular outings to denounce the question and the moderator, keeping the issue alive for days, giving the Bloc a purpose and Quebeckers a reason to vote for them.

“Once the Bloc does well in Quebec it is hard for any government, Liberal or Conservative, to get a majority,” said one senior Liberal.

The Liberals’ Quebec campaign took another unexpected turn in the later weeks of the election when Legault invited Quebecers not to vote for the party (and the NDP and Greens) because he considered their “centralizing” platforms to be “dangerous.”

But one Quebec source says instead of hurting the party, that outing galvanized and motivated the Liberal base.

All sources agree that a “strong ground game” was an essential factor in ensuring they stay in government.

“A lot of ridings were won by one or two per cent because of the fact we had fantastic candidates that had very strong (campaign) machines. We were able to …do the right investments in these ridings based on the data that candidates were providing through their voter identification,” one senior Liberal source said.

They added that their efforts on the ground reaped “four more seats” in target ridings in British Columbia, something they said hadn’t happened in “a long, long time.”

In Quebec, sources say the Liberals’ organization allowed them to dream of winning “five to ten” more seats, and then to keep the same number of seats from falling to the Bloc during its late-election surge.

“We were able to stay in government because of these local machines,” one source said. Another pointed out the fact that the party won 20 of the 26 closest races in the country and said it’s all because of a well built and well maintained volunteer effort.

“The single most impactful day of the campaign is pretty much solely in the hands of local volunteers,” said one campaign official.

In the campaign’s final week, several Liberals said Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s apology and reversal on COVID measures was another turning point, putting the Conservative campaign even more on the defensive.

“That helped us move the dial in B.C. in particular,” one senior source noted.

Many expressed surprise at how O’Toole handled the issue, doing few press conferences or events, effectively ceding the campaign’s final days to Trudeau who held multiple events across the country each day.

As they hit election day, most say they expected to have somewhere in the range of 140 to 150 seats, not the 159 they ultimately ended with. “We were pleasantly surprised,” said one campaign official.

Trudeau has now fought three consecutive elections for the party; no prime minister has ever won four consecutive campaigns. That includes Trudeau’s father who lost to Joe Clark in his fourth election, only to run again in 1980 and win in a fifth campaign

Liberals all say that this Trudeau is unlikely to face any internal pressure to leave, even after the election that failed to return a majority.

Most of Trudeau’s MPs were elected in 2015, when he brought the party from third place to a majority government. One senior campaign official said there is no chance he will be pushed out anytime soon.

“He has the confidence of the cabinet, the caucus and the party for sure.”

One MP said Trudeau’s ability to draw a crowd, to draw a few hundred supporters with little notice to hear him speak for less than 30 minutes, is an under appreciated skill, one that would be difficult to replace.

Despite everything that went wrong for the party in the election, they said a majority was fairly close at hand and it would be a different narrative.

“A couple more points across the country and he is a political genius.”

• Email: cnardi@postmedia.com | Twitter: ChrisGNardi

• Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com | Twitter: ryantumilty

Canadian Hurricane Centre Watching Possible Track of Hurricane Sam

Sep 27, 2021 | 7:12 AM

(Photo via Canadian Hurricane Centre Twitter.)

Newfoundland and Labrador could find itself in the crosshairs of yet another hurricane next week, but forecasters are warning that it is still far too early to make any determinations about the storm’s path.

With the damage caused by Hurricane Larry still fresh in mind, social media was abuzz over the weekend after the Canadian Hurricane Centre posted a graphic showing this province in the possible track for Hurricane Sam.

Sam is currently a category four storm in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Though Newfoundland is in the potential track, the Canadian Hurricane Centre notes that there is a “very broad range” in terms of possible tracks at this time, which show that the storm could hit the island or stay well out in the Atlantic.

Environment Canada meteorologist Mike Vandenberg says there’s still “significant uncertainty” in the hurricane’s guidance.

He says it’s not outside the realm of possibility for Sam to hit us, but it is still far too early to tell.

In the storm’s immediate future, Vandenberg says the storm will arc towards Bermuda as the week progresses.

Sam holds onto major hurricane status, eyeing potential Canadian impact

Monday, September 27th 2021, 9:28 am - The Canadian Hurricane Centre is monitoring Hurricane Sam for any potential impacts to Canada late this weekend and into early next week.

Hurricane Sam continues to rage over the open Atlantic waters as a major hurricane, with the Canadian Hurricane Centre now keeping a close eye on its track and potential impacts on the East Coast over the next week.

As of the Monday morning update, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the hurricane was about 1,290 km east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands and moving toward the northwest near 13 km/h.

"This general motion is expected to continue for the next several days, with an increase in forward speed beginning on Thursday," the NHC says.

On Saturday, Sam became a major hurricane when it crossed the Category 3 threshold, then reached Category 4 later that day. Sam remains a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 215 km/h and even higher gusts. Little change in strength is expected during the next day or so and Sam is expected to remain as a major hurricane for several days.

At this point, it looks like Bermuda will be spared from hurricane conditions as Sam is expected to track well to the east of the island. However, heavy rain and tropical storm force winds are still expected across Bermuda on Friday night and into Saturday

Forecasters are also keeping a close eye on Sam for potential Canadian impacts, though it is much too early to know whether Atlantic Canada will be threatened by the hurricane. Still, with the damage recently caused by Hurricane Larry, the region remains on edge to possibly be in line for more tropical trouble.

"The most likely scenario is that Sam will recurve and stay out to sea and not be a major threat to Atlantic Canada. However, this is still nearly a week away and it is possible that Sam will track further to the north and west and have a significant impact on southern and eastern parts of the region, with the highest risk being southeastern Newfoundland Sunday or Monday of next week," says Dr. Doug Gillham, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.

In addition to Sam, forecasters are closely watching two more systems – one in the east central Atlantic and another that is just coming off the coast of Africa as well. Both systems are expected to become tropical storms later this week and would be named Victor and Wanda.

"These storms will take a more southerly track across the Atlantic and will have to be closely watched over the next 10-14 days," Gillham adds.

Sam is the seventh hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic season. Hurricane season traditionally runs from June 1st to Nov. 30, with substantial flexibility on either side of that range.

Be sure to check back for the latest updates on the Atlantic hurricane season.

COVID-19 vaccine exemptions: Where do different religions stand on vaccinations?

September 27, 2021
By Rajesh Khanna


(NEXSTAR/WSYR) – As significant numbers of Americans seek religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates, many faith leaders are saying: Not with our endorsement.

Leaders of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said last week that while some people may have medical reasons for not receiving the vaccine, “there is no exemption in the Orthodox Church for Her faithful from any vaccination for religious reasons.”

What are other religious leaders saying about the COVID-19 vaccines?

Catholicism

The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has urged people to get the COVID-19 vaccine and said that getting the shot is an “act of love”.

“Thanks to God’s grace and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19,” the pope said in the video below. He continued on to say that vaccines “bring hope to end the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we collaborate with one another.”

Pope Francis received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine back in January, according to The Vatican.

There was some controversy as to whether the vaccines’ development made them morally permissible according to the church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement clearing up the confusion:

Neither the Pfizer nor the Moderna vaccine involved the use of cell lines that originated in fetal tissue taken from the body of an aborted baby at any level of design, development, or production. They are not completely free from any connection to abortion, however, as both Pfizer and Moderna made use of a tainted cell line for one of the confirmatory lab tests of their products. There is thus a connection, but it is relatively remote.

Some are asserting that if a vaccine is connected in any way with tainted cell lines then it is immoral to be vaccinated with them. This is an inaccurate portrayal of Catholic moral teaching.

In March of 2021, the organization questioned the moral permissibility of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, however, was developed, tested and is produced with abortion-derived cell lines raising additional moral concerns. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has judged that ‘when ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines are not available … it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.’[1] However, if one can choose among equally safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccine with the least connection to abortion-derived cell lines should be chosen. Therefore, if one has the ability to choose a vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines should be chosen over Johnson & Johnson’s.

Judaism

Mitzvah is one of the Torah’s 613 Divine commandments; a good deed or religious precept, according to Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin. Rabbi Shurpin writes “guarding your own health doesn’t only make sense, it’s actually a mitzvah. That means that even if you don’t want to do it, for whatever reason, you are still obligated to do so.”

The three major branches of modern Judaism include Reform, Orthodox, and Conservative. Organizations and leaders across the three branches have released statements in support of vaccinations.

The Union for Reform Judaism adopted the Resolution on Mandatory Immunization laws in 2015. The resolution supports mandatory immunization laws and urges congregations to educate members on the “scientific evidence and Jewish values in support of mandatory vaccinations.”

The Orthodox Union also released a statement in support of COVID-19 vaccinations:
Tempted to take expired medicines? Here’s what you need to know

Islam

The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America said in a statement that there is no way to stop the pandemic besides reaching herd immunity. Herd immunity requires a certain percentage of a population have immunity to a virus. The AMJA says this can happen one of two ways:
Allowing the infection to spread among the people without curtailing it
Vaccinating people against the virus

The first way does not conform with the Sharia, because it risks the lives of people, particularly the weak, which is in direct conflict with the intent of the legislator with regard to preserving all human lives. …

The second way is through vaccination, which is congruent with the Sharia and reason.

Many Muslims who practice Islam avoid pork. The National Muslim COVID-19 Task Force shared in December 2020 that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines “contain fat, salts/buffer agents, and sugar (sucrose). The fat is not made from pork products.”

Buddhism

Buddhism has no central authority that determines doctrine, but the Dalai Lama received his COVID-19 vaccine in India in March.

After receiving his shot, the Dalai Lama said, “Those other patients also should take this injection for greater benefit,” calling the shot “very, very helpful”.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The First Presidency, the governing body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, urged Latter-day Saints to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in August, saying, “To provide personal protection from such severe infections, we urge individuals to be vaccinated. Available vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective.”

Christian Science

A small branch of Christianity, Christian Science released a statement on vaccinations and public health.

According to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, “One of the basic teachings of this denomination is that disease can be cured or prevented by focused prayer and members will often request exemptions when available. However, there are no strict rules against vaccination and members can receive required vaccinations.”

For more than a century, our denomination has counseled respect for public health authorities and conscientious obedience to the laws of the land, including those requiring vaccination. Christian Scientists report suspected communicable disease, obey quarantines, and strive to cooperate with measures considered necessary by public health officials. We see this as a matter of basic Golden Rule ethics and New Testament love. …

Most of our church members normally rely on prayer for healing. It’s a deeply considered spiritual practice and way of life that has meant a lot to us over the years. So we’ve appreciated vaccination exemptions and sought to use them conscientiously and responsibly, when they have been granted.

On the other hand, our practice isn’t a dogmatic thing. Church members are free to make their own choices on all life-decisions, in obedience to the law, including whether or not to vaccinate. These aren’t decisions imposed by their church.

A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE ON VACCINATION AND PUBLIC HEALTH

Christianity

As there are many Christian denominations, not all were broken down in this article. According to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the following Christian denominations have no theological objection to vaccination:
Roman Catholicism
Eastern Orthodox
Oriental Orthodox
Amish
Anglican
Baptist
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints​ (Mormon)
Congregational
Episcopalian
Jehovah’s Witness (Note: This denomination originally denounced vaccination, but revised this doctrine in 1952. An article in a recent issue of the church’s newsletter promotes vaccination to avoid infectious diseases.)
Lutheran
Mennonite
Methodist (including African Methodist Episcopal)
Quaker
Pentecostal
Presbyterian
Seventh-Day Adventist
Unitarian-Universalist

Vanderbilt University Medical Center says the following denominations do have a theological objection to vaccination:

Dutch Reformed Congregations – This denomination has a tradition of declining immunizations. Some members decline vaccination on the basis that it interferes with divine providence. However, others within the faith accept immunization as a gift from God to be used with gratitude.
Faith healing denominations including:
Faith Tabernacle
Church of the First Born
Faith Assembly
End Time Ministrie
Church of Christ, Scientist