Coastal GasLink pipeline to go 'significantly' over budget, says TC Energy


CALGARY — The company behind the Coastal GasLink pipeline continues to expect to go "significantly" over budget for the project and will also deliver a delayed completion date

© Provided by The Canadian PressCoastal GasLink pipeline to go 'significantly' over budget, says TC Energy

However, TC Energy Corp. said Tuesday it still expects the pipeline to be finished ahead of LNG Canada's export terminal at Kitimat, B.C., which is also currently under construction.

Calgary-based TC Energy was selected by LNG Canada in 2011 to design, build, own and operate Coastal GasLink. Construction began in 2019, with an originally anticipated completion date of 2023.

TC Energy said as part of its fourth quarter earnings report Tuesday that construction of the pipeline is now approximately 60 per cent complete. The 670-kilometre project is intended to move 2.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of natural gas to LNG Canada's terminal, where it will be converted into a liquified state for export to global markets.

But head of corporate development Bevin Wirzba acknowledged in a conference call with analysts that TC Energy remains at odds with LNG Canada over projected cost increases and schedule delays. The company has previously blamed permit delays and the impacts of COVID-19 for the issues.

Wirzba declined to put a dollar value on the project's cost overruns, though he said TC Energy is engaged in a "constructive dialogue" with LNG Canada right now to resolve the dispute. He said no suspension of construction is expected while talks take place.

"What is really clear to us is that the fundamentals that underpin the need for Coastal GasLink and the LNG Canada facility (and) the needs for those projects have never been more robust," he said.

"Our shared objective with our customers is to deliver the pipeline safely and get it ahead of the LNG plant that's being constructed right now."

TC Energy has committed to providing up to $3.3 billion in additional temporary bridge financing to cover cost overruns related to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project.

The $40-billion LNG Canada export facility at Kitimat — which the federal government said in 2018 would be the single largest private sector investment in Canadian history — is now more than 50 per cent complete, according the LNG Canada website.

LNG Canada is a joint venture comprised of subsidiaries of Royal Dutch Shell plc, Petronas, PetroChina Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Corp. and Korea Gas Corp.

In an emailed statement, LNG Canada's vice-president for corporate affairs Denita McKnight said the company remains concerned about Coastal GasLink's cost and schedule performance, but is working towards a "mutually agreeable solution."

"We remain fully committed to delivering this critical infrastructure that will connect Canadian natural gas to growing global markets, and to shipping our first LNG cargo by the middle of this decade," McKnight said.

Also on Tuesday, TC Energy raised its dividend as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.1 billion.

The pipeline company said it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 90 cents per share, up from 87 cents per share.

The increased payment to shareholders came as TC Energy said its fourth-quarter profit amounted to $1.14 per share compared with a profit of $1.1 billion or $1.20 per share a year earlier when the company had fewer shares outstanding.

Revenue totalled nearly $3.6 billion, up from nearly $3.3 billion in the last three months of 2020.

TC Energy said its adjusted earnings for fourth quarter 2021 amounted to $1.06 per share compared with $1.15 per share in 2020.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $1.07 per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Singh says NDP will back Emergencies Act

Canadian Press

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with premiers about using the Emergencies Act to quell demonstrations that have paralyzed Ottawa's downtown core and several border crossings, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he would support the legislation if it is tabled. Singh says borders need to be reopened immediately and the "seige" on Ottawa needs to end.

IN 1970 THE NDP FACING POTENTIAL JAIL TIME OPPOSED THE WAR MEASURES ACT 

THE ONLY PARTY IN THE HOUSE TO DO SO.

BIG BROTHER INC.
Meta agrees to pay $90 million to settle a lawsuit alleging Facebook kept tracking users after they logged off

sjackson@insider.com (Sarah Jackson) - 

© Provided by Business InsiderMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Meta will pay $90 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it kept tracking users after they logged off.
The 2012 suit said Facebook used plug-ins and cookies to track visits to third-party websites containing "like" buttons.
If approved, this would be one of the 10 biggest data privacy class action settlements ever.

Meta has agreed to pay $90 million to settle a decade-old lawsuit alleging Facebook kept tracking users' internet activity after they'd logged off of the platform.

The proposed settlement was filed late Monday and still requires court approval. If approved, it would be one of the 10 biggest data-privacy class-action settlements ever, according to the document.

The 2012 lawsuit alleges that, between April 2010 and September 2011, Facebook violated privacy and wiretapping laws by using plug-ins to store cookies tracking users' visits to third-party websites that contained "like" buttons. The social media site had users' permission to track them while they were logged in but promised to stop when they logged out.

Besides the $90 million sum, which would be distributed among affected users, the settlement would require that Facebook delete data improperly collected on users through the use of this practice.

Meta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but a spokesperson told Variety, "Reaching a settlement in this case, which is more than a decade old, is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders and we're glad to move past this issue." As part of the settlement, Meta denies any wrongdoing.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2017 when a federal judge said the plaintiffs failed to show they had a reasonable expectation of privacy or that they suffered economic harm. In 2020, a federal appeals court revived the case, saying there is economic harm in such a situation. Facebook tried to have the Supreme Court take up the case, but it declined, allowing the federal appeals court's decision to stand.

Last year, Facebook agreed to pay $650 million to settle a separate privacy lawsuit, this one alleging the company's tagging feature violated an Illinois law prohibiting the collection of biometric data without prior notification and written consent. On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the state is suing Meta over Facebook's now-defunct facial recognition program.

WHITE COLLAR WORKERS
It's no longer about the virus — remote workers simply don't want to return to the office

insider@insider.com (Madison Hoff) 

© Provided by Business InsiderWestend61/Getty Images

A Pew Research Center report shows why people are deciding to work from home rather than return to offices.

Even with fewer concerns about COVID-19, people who often work from home just prefer this work model.

The number of people citing pandemic closures as a major reason for working from home has been declining.

Although businesses haven't really reduced office space in the pandemic and some companies may be expecting workers to return soon, plenty of employees have become hooked on the work-from-home life.

While the pandemic is far from over, it looks like COVID-19 concerns are becoming less of a major reason for people to work from home. Instead, many are choosing this work model just because they like teleworking.

"Among those who have a workplace outside of their home, 61% now say they are choosing not to go into their workplace, while 38% say they're working from home because their workplace is closed or unavailable to them," according to a new report from Pew Research Center. "Earlier in the pandemic, just the opposite was true: 64% said they were working from home because their office was closed, and 36% said they were choosing to work from home."

Pew's analysis is based on survey results of 5,889 employed US adults who have one primary job. The broader January survey includes results from 10,237 US adults from January 24 to January 30, 2022.

Additionally, 76% of workers with offices already open reported their "major reason" for working remotely from home all or most of the time was just due to the fact that they prefer this work style. In October 2020, 60% said this. Less than half (42%) cited concerns of exposure to coronavirus as a reason for working from home in the January 2022 survey — a smaller share than the 57% in October 2020.

Fewer workers with kids under 18 said childcare was a factor compared to October 2020, but it's still relevant for some — 45% in 2020 versus 32% in 2022.

"What we're seeing is that working from home has worked for people," Juliana Horowitz, associate director of research at Pew Research Center and a co-author of the new report, told Insider. "We saw this even in 2020 when it'd been a quick shift to remote work, and we saw that for the most part people thought it was easy for them to have what they needed to work from home and to continue to meet deadlines and to be productive."

"We continue to see that today, and people see telework and remote work as something that can help them balance things in terms of work and family, and it's something that people would like to continue doing after the pandemic is over," Horowitz added.
Like working in an office, remote working has its perks

According to the report, 59% of US workers who are capable of doing their job from home reported they were working from home most or all of the time in the January 2022 survey, less than the 71% in October 2020. Working from home may be ideal for parents who are juggling childcare duties or for people who want to save on commuting. Survey responses from Pew Research highlight some other positives of teleworking.

Sixty-four percent said working from home has made it easier to balance work and personal life, with 16% working from home at least some of the time saying this kind of telework has made it harder. This balance may be good news for workers who have been trying to manage the line between work and life as Horowitz said based on other research from Pew Research, "we know that flexibility and being able to balance work and personal life is very much a priority for workers even before the pandemic."

And people newly working remotely at least some of the time are feeling productive — 44% responded to it's "easier for you to get your work done and meet deadlines," but 10% said it's harder. As noted by FlexJobs, fewer interruptions and a quieter space add to remote productivity.

However, 60% said they're feeling less connected to their colleagues due to work from home, and only 4% said they felt more connected. Horowitz noted Pew didn't ask what respondents meant by "connected" — whether they interpreted that question as personal connections with coworkers or something else. Other negatives outside of the survey results may be burnout or micromanaging from managers.

Regardless of some negatives that come with telework, this and other surveys suggest that remote workers want to continue this flexible arrangement and continue to reap its associated benefits.

"Given what [workers] told us in the survey," Horowitz said, "in terms of preferences for the future, as long as employers allow telework it seems clear that that's something that employees have seen the benefits of."

Truckers unfazed by Emergencies Act that compares the blockades to terrorism

Ryan Tumilty - National Post

OTTAWA – A day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to give his government exceptional powers to end protests across the country, truckers remain parked just off Parliament Hill and it is still unclear when the blockades will come to an end.


© Provided by National PostTruck drivers and their supporters block streets during an anti vaccine mandate protest near the Parliament Buildings on February 15, 2022 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Security experts are also split on whether the act, which has not been invoked since it was drafted in 1988, was necessary to end the crisis.

The government published the order in council to implement the act Tuesday morning. It says the emergency in this instance is the “blockades by both persons and motor vehicles that is occurring at various locations throughout Canada and the continuing threats to oppose measures to remove the blockades, including by force.”

It also argues the blockades and the potential for violence is “for the purpose of achieving a political or ideological objective within Canada,” a key sentence that mirrors the language around terrorism in the criminal code.

Ryan Alford, a professor with Lakehead University, said comparing the protests on Parliament Hill to terrorism is an overreach by the government. He said the protest, however inconvenient and illegal, has not included widespread violence.

“When we’re looking at Parliament Hill, we’re seeing bouncy castles. We’re not seeing attempts to storm Parliament,” he said.

Alford said using such a heavy measure risks further inflaming the protesters.

“Their grievance is that there has been unconstitutional infringement of their constitutional rights. And now, this response, a highly incendiary response, is being criticized by leading civil libertarians,” he said.

Wesley Wark, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said invoking the act was the right call. He said the protests were clearly beyond the scope of what local governments could handle.

“The inability of the Ottawa authorities to deal with the protest. The inability of the OPP and the Ontario government to deal with it, really left us in Canada with the federal government as the only player,” he said.

He said the government needed the tools the act offers and is using them surgically to put an end to disruptive events. He said mirroring the language around terrorism was the best fit the government had and could ultimately bring an end to the crisis.

“From my perspective, I think the ends justify the means to be honest,” he said.

The act will give new powers to police to end the protest, as well bring a suite of potential financial tools to crack down on crowdfunding sites that have been used to fuel the protests.

The order in council specifies the act will be used to potentially restrict protest from certain areas and in a background briefing senior officials said one way it could be used is to prevent children from protest sites, which has been a concern in Ottawa.

As of press time, the government had not tabled a motion in Parliament, as the act requires it to do within seven days. Government House Leader Mark Holland said he was talking with opposition parties and the motion would be tabled “imminently,” though he didn’t specify what that meant.

The act requires a parliamentary committee be set up to review how the government is using the act and a public inquiry be struck after the emergency is over to review its use.

Chris Selley: A draconian Emergencies Act is no substitute for proper policing

RCMP and OPP set up command centre in Ottawa as police chief Peter Sloly resigns

Border crossings in Surrey, British Columbia, and Coutts, Alberta are both now reopened, and police say they have negotiated with protesters at Emmerson, Manitoba. None required the tools in the Emergencies Act.

Several premiers have said they don’t want the tools the Trudeau government is offering, but the act applies across the country whether premiers want the tools or not.

The protesters on Ottawa’s streets were unfazed by the Emergencies Act declaration and are still parked on downtown streets in large numbers.

The new policing tools will be going to a new chief in Ottawa, as police chief Peter Sloly announced his resignation on Tuesday. Sloly faced repeated criticism for how he handled the protests.

In a statement posted online he said he was doing his best to protect people during an enormous crisis.

“Since the onset of this demonstration, I have done everything possible to keep the city safe and put an end to this unprecedented and unforeseeable crisis,” he said. “I’m confident the Ottawa police services is now better positioned to end this occupation.”

The RCMP, OPP and Ottawa Police are now working together under an integrated command structure.

Ottawa councillor Dianne Deans, who is also chair of the police services board, said she was glad to see the RCMP and OPP as part of the command, because Ottawa Police have not been able to handle the protest.

“The OPS has been unable to adequately enforce our laws,” she said. “Like other residents in Ottawa, I have watched in disbelief as the carnival of chaos has been allowed to continue.”

Deputy chief Steve Bell told police service board members Tuesday that he believes an end to the blockade is in sight.

“I believe we now have the resources and partners to bring a safe end to this occupation,” he said. “I deeply feel for the strain and stress that has been placed on our city’s residents, They need to know that we are working with our in ourselves and with our partners to put a timely and effective end to this.”

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the federal government had nothing to do with Sloly’s resignation. He said the government invoked the act to give police more tools to end the crisis.

“We are going to continue to work around the clock until we get that job done and we obviously depend on our law enforcement to now enforce the laws that the government has written.”

Twitter: RyanTumilty

Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com

END AUSTERITY NOW!

Alberta's finances set to flip back 

to black as oil surges, helping premier

By Nia Williams - 
© Reuters/TODD KOROL


CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's main oil-producing province of Alberta looks set to return to a budget surplus this coming fiscal year, ending seven years of deficit, as surging oil prices swell provincial royalty revenues and provide a boost to Premier Jason Kenney ahead of a spring leadership review.

The oil and gas sector accounts for around 17% of Alberta's GDP, and a rally in U.S. crude to seven-year highs above $90 a barrel is super-charging the royalties that producers pay to extract the province's vast fossil fuel reserves.

Some analysts say the windfall, which could exceed the province's previous oil royalties record of C$10.8 billion ($8.52 billion), will allow Alberta to balance its books and return to a surplus in the 2022-23 fiscal year. The government unveils its budget on Feb. 24.

Last year, Alberta slashed its 2021-22 deficit forecast from C$18.2 billion to C$5.8 billion and since then oil prices have rocketed even higher.

No other Canadian province is expecting a surplus in 2022-23, according to an RBC report released in November.

The expected bonanza is well-timed for United Conservative Party leader Kenney, who slumped in public opinion polls due to what critics describe as his mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. He faces a leadership review in April after members of his party called for his resignation.

"He is banking on positive economic news that will hold sway over all the other problems he is facing," said Duane Bratt, a politics professor at Calgary's Mount Royal University.

Cost of lumber soars, disrupts housing market

While a balanced budget may help burnish Kenney's reputation, Alberta still faces economic headwinds. The province has the highest rates of long-term unemployment in Canada, according to a Business Council of Alberta report, and capital investment in the oil and gas sector remains more than 50% below a 2014 peak.

Bratt said he expects Kenney to survive the leadership review - which entails party members voting on whether to retain him as leader - but the premier may face a backlash in next year's provincial election.

An Alberta government spokesperson said the province is still finalizing calculations on how exactly oil and gas royalty revenue will impact the budget.

BORROWING COSTS IMPROVE

The improved fiscal outlook has already helped improve borrowing costs. The gap between Alberta's 10-year yield and the yield on the equivalent bond issued by Ontario, Canada's most populous province, has narrowed from nearly 40 basis points in April 2020 to about 5 basis points.

The previous high point for Alberta royalty revenue was in 2005/06 when the government raked in C$10.8 billion. Since then a prolonged downturn in oil prices starting in 2014 has weighed on Alberta's finances and prompted many international oil majors to cut their investments in the province.

Now, Alberta is benefiting from changes to the royalty rate formula made in 2017, which translate to higher rates as prices rise. Production from the oil sands are at a record high and a number of major projects have hit "post-payout" in the last year - the point at which a project's cumulative revenue surpasses the initial investment - and switched to a higher royalty rate.

"We have never in Alberta's history seen a change this quick or large (in the budget balance)," said Trevor Tombe, an economics professor at the University of Calgary.

"We may very well see royalty revenues higher than any point in Alberta's history."

($1 = 1.2726 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary; Additional reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Kenney, Moe, join U.S. governors urging end to trucker COVID-19 vaccination rules

 by The Canadian Press


EDMONTON — The premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan have joined more than a dozen U.S. governors in calling for an end to mandated COVID-19 vaccines for cross-border truckers.

Alberta’s Jason Kenney and Scott Moe of Saskatchewan have signed a public letter urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden to reverse the decision.

The premiers say getting vaccinated is important, but the mandate will force out thousands from the trucking industry and aggravate existing supply chain problems.

The decision to end vaccine and quarantine exemptions for cross-border truckers sparked blockades and protest demonstrations at Canadian border points and cities, including in Ottawa.

Sixteen U.S. governors of states ranging from Georgia to Alaska have also signed the letter.

Kenney says he expects more leaders to sign in the coming days.

"I got the ball rolling on this letter during my trip to the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C., in late January," Kenney wrote Wednesday on Twitter.

"The trucker vax mandate has no credible public health benefit, but has caused predictable disruption." BULLSHIT

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2022.

The Canadian Press

'A perfect solution': Manitoba border blockade ends as RCMP escort protesters away

Darren Bernhardt - cbc.ca

The last of the protesters involved in the weeklong Canada-U.S. border blockade at Emerson, Man., have been escorted away by RCMP and all lanes were reopened to traffic as of early Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm feeling real relief because it's been a long week and a lot of our businesses have suffered here," said Dave Carlson, reeve for the municipality of Emerson-Franklin.

"[I'm] relieved that they're going to be back in business and also relieved that this has been done peacefully."

Up to 75 vehicles — including semi-trailer trucks, pickup trucks, farm and construction machinery and even snowplows — had blocked the border crossing since Feb. 10.

Some trucks started pulling out Tuesday, when the Mounties said they had reached a resolution and were co-ordinating an end to the blockade with those protesters still there.

"We didn't want to rush in" and issue tickets or make arrests, RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre said Wednesday morning during a news conference on Highway 75 near the U.S. border.

"Communication resulted in what we have today. To me it was the best course of action," he said when asked why it took a week to deal with an issue that Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has said affected $73 million in trade a day.

The situation has been resolved without injuries, arrests, charges or anything being towed, he said.

"It's a perfect solution."

A different situation in a different province might call for swifter action and perhaps have a different outcome, Manaigre said.

"But we felt, like I say, the way the situation was developing here, we needed to take a prudent and safe measure."

The promise of no arrests in exchange for a peaceful departure was part of the dialogue the RCMP had with the protesters over the past few days, he said.

"They wanted to get their message across, which I believe they have, and we wanted to make sure they understood where we were coming from."


© Cameron MacIntosh/CBCAn RCMP pickup truck escorts protest vehicles from the Emerson border crossing on Wednesday.

The discussions over the past week were good but the fear of violence erupting or the presence of weapons is always in the back of the RCMP's mind, Manaigre said.

"There's been no information to suggest that was a possibility but it's part of the planning, part of our contingencies, " he said. "We have to be prepared for it."

Earlier this week, RCMP in Alberta arrested a number of people who were part of a protest near a U.S. border crossing in that province. A cache of firearms and ammunition was found in three trailers, police said.

While all lanes heading to U.S. customs were blockaded at Emerson for the past several days, protesters allowed some cargo, such as medical supplies and livestock, to pass through.

Manaigre said there has been no assurance the border protesters will not return in the future or conduct temporary measures like last month's slow parade of vehicles driving loops on Highway 75 to cause traffic backups.

"We're not aware of anything at this moment [but] there's always situations that can develop," he said.

"Right now, we'll focus on today and learn from [that]."

Another protest on Broadway, in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building in downtown Winnipeg, has been going on for about two weeks and remains in place.

Both are part of a number of demonstrations in cities and border crossings across Canada by people who oppose COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and a federal vaccine mandate for truckers.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act Monday, for the first in time in Canada's history, to give the federal government extra powers to handle ongoing protests against pandemic restrictions.

Emerson typically sees about 1,000 trucks cross the border each day, Carlson said.

"We have a great relationship with our friends and neighbours across the [border] here and we look forward to being able to see them again, visit with them and do business with them."
Reopening reaction

In an email statement on Wednesday, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum told CBC News he is grateful for the work of the RCMP, Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson and other provincial officials to resolve the border situation peacefully and resume cross-border traffic.

As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations decrease, he is urging the federal governments in both Canada and the U.S. to consider reinstating vaccine exemptions for cross-border truck drivers.


© Radio-Canada/CBCJenn Froese says the blockades and protests

 have united Canadians and reignited a dormant patriotism.

Jenn Froese, one of the protesters at the Emerson border, said she does not feel the demonstrators' efforts failed, but rather emboldened a lost patriotism for Canadians.

While generally, Americans have tended to display flags outside their homes and on vehicles more than Canadians, that's now changed, she suggested.

"That's what this is doing, it's bringing us together," she said.

"I feel that we need to show the government that we need to be heard. I think the battle is … we need to show our Canadian flag and show our support for the side of the government that's fighting for us."


© Cameron MacIntosh/CBCA protester leaving the Emerson border

 blockade displays an upside down Canadian flag and a number of messages.

A group representing Canadian manufacturers issued a release saying it applauds the end of the blockade, but wants all levels of government "to develop tailored solutions" for each border crossing in Canada to prevent future disruptions.

"The [Emerson] crossing is Manitoba's most important connection to its largest market — the United States," said Ron Koslowsky, vice-president of the Manitoba division of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, in the release.

"Canada's trade and transportation infrastructure, which is crucial to the lives of Canadians and their livelihoods, must be protected.

"The right to protest is an enshrined right which we wholeheartedly support but it's never acceptable to hold the jobs and livelihoods of Manitobans at ransom."

Arrests as RCMP clear protest near Pacific Highway border crossing in B.C.

VANCOUVER — Traffic was moving again Tuesday through the main commercial truck crossing between British Columbia and Washington state, hours after RCMP made numerous arrests and ordered an end to a demonstration against COVID-19 mandates.

Officers ordered demonstrators out of the area just north of the border crossing at Pacific Highway late Monday, said Surrey RCMP Const. Sarbjit Sangha.

A statement released by RCMP says 12 people had been arrested, adding to the four taken into custody for mischief on Sunday.

Those arrested began blocking routes leading to the truck crossing last week, but police said there were concerns that some people may try to stay until all pandemic-related mandates were lifted.

"The public can expect to see a continued police presence in the area in the days ahead, with ongoing assessments of the situation," the RCMP statement says.

Sangha said Mounties were monitoring southbound traffic at the crossing 50 kilometres south of Vancouver and are allowing commercial trucks to pass but will question drivers of private cars to ensure they plan to enter the United States.

Surrey RCMP took action after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, which would give the federal government temporary and extraordinary powers to deal with protests that have clogged Ottawa's downtown core and shut down several border crossings this month.

Trudeau also said Canadians could be reassured that the Canada Border Services Agency was turning back non-Canadians trying to enter Canada to participate in blockades at several ports of entry across the country.

The agency had already turned back several people hoping to join the B.C. protest, a spokesman said in an emailed statement.

"By exercising existing enforcement authorities, the CBSA has directed some foreign nationals back to the United States and in other cases, travellers chose to leave Canada voluntarily," Patrick Mahaffy said.

"Throughout the public order emergency, the mere intention to engage in unlawful demonstrations will, by itself, form a basis for the CBSA to deny entry to travellers," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Wangersky: Carrying a flag doesn't instantly make you a patriot
Russell Wangersky -Leader Post

© Provided by Leader PostSupporters of a convoy of truck protesters

 against Covid mandates gather on Feb. 11, 2022 in Ottawa.

I’m here in Saskatoon and I can do very little. Things feel far away and out of control. I can help push out a couple of cars out of the street-side axle-deep slush when a sudden thaw comes along. I can make sure there’s traction sand on the icy spots on the sidewalk when the hard freeze inevitably comes back. I can try and be extra-neighbourly here in this time of hardening attitudes and distrust

Sunday, a dark blue pickup truck tooled down my street with “F—k Trudeau” signs in the windows and a big Canadian flag on a stick in the back. A little bit of the convoy protest cruising along the boulevard.

It made me remarkably angry — this is what is supposed to pass as patriotism?

If you want to express your feelings for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, go right ahead. But don’t wrap yourself in our flag.

This is our country’s flag, a flag for all of us, not some cheap form of justification for bad — or even illegal — behaviour.

A retired police officer in Ottawa put it more directly: “The most tragic part of this protest is the fact that the Canadian flag, a symbol of democracy and decency, is now affiliated with hostility and fascism! We can no longer display or wear it for fear of being mistaken for the #carnivalofmisfits.”

I’m not sure I would go that far — I wouldn’t say that every convoy display of the flag is instantly connected to fascism (though some of those elements seem to have found a home deep within the convoy without any effective pushback from other protestors).

But I would say that the co-opting of our flag and our national anthem — the regular singing of which is somehow supposed to put the gloss of justification on everything from blockades to truck-horns to suggestions that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be hung without trial — is both discouraging and insulting.

Let me be clear about one thing.

Protesters are absolutely within their rights to peacefully protest, as long as those protests are within the established laws of our nation. And I know there are people who honestly believe, for whatever reason, that the convoy protesters are not only on the side of the good, but that the public relations display of bouncy-castles and free hotdogs are a more accurate portrayal of the events in Ottawa, Windsor and Coutts than blockades you can see on television news or the weapons the RCMP have seized from a small faction inside the protests.

I understand there are those who think it’s all been nothing more than a party.

And sure, it’s been a great party for some, but it’s a party that has cost, and will continue to cost, hundreds of millions of dollars. Canadians will pay for it, too, out of our own pockets, and for long after the protests are over.

Carrying a nation’s flag — whether right-side-up or upside-down, in pristine condition or scrawled with slogans — doesn’t make you the good guy. Nor does the mere fact that you know the words and the tune of the national anthem represent inviolable proof of good intentions.

And this is not just a protest.

Remember: there are those amongst these “patriots” who have argued they should be able to topple a democratically-elected government — a government elected just months ago — and replace it with a coalition including their own sweet unelected selves. People who insist they will not stop the expensive disruption of trade and commerce in this country until their demands are met.

No number of anthems sung or flags waved can justify the sheer insult of that concept.

In a democracy, patriots meet at the ballot box, not under threats and blackmail.

But who am I? Just one patriotic Canadian among many, shovelling the snow so that my neighbours and other passers-by can walk safely, a Canadian who now feels a troubling discomfort with the idea of publicly displaying the flag of our nation.

Think about that for a minute.

Our flag.

Not your flag.

Ours.

Russell Wangersky is the editor in chief of the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. He can be reached at rwangersky@postmedia.com

Justin Trudeau's emergency law not the same as the one his father invoked in 1970s



MONTREAL — The similarities between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act on Monday and his father's use of a previous emergency law more than 50 years ago wasn't lost on Quebec Premier François Legault.

"Of course I thought about that, what happened with the father in 1970," Legault told reporters this week.

Then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act on Oct. 16, 1970, at the request of premier Robert Bourassa and Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau, after British diplomat James Cross and Quebec deputy premier Pierre Laporte were abducted by the Front de libération du Québec, a militant group that wasn't shy about using violence to establish a Quebec state.

In 2020, Legault called on Justin Trudeau to apologize for the measures his father took by deploying the military in the province and arresting hundreds of Quebecers.

On Monday, Justin Trudeau said his government needed the Emergencies Act's extraordinary powers to end blockades that are threatening Canada's supply chains, economic security and trading relationships. It was the first time the law has been used since it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988.

While a prime minister named Trudeau using emergency powers may bring back memories of the October Crisis, experts say the Emergencies Act and the War Measures Act are separate laws used in different contexts.

The use of the War Measures Act led to the arrest of nearly 500 people — the vast majority were never charged with any crime — and to thousands of warrantless searches in Quebec

Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, said that period of history is "still perceived as a wound, as a source of collective trauma. Most Quebecers find that all these arrests and searches were abuses of power."

The Emergencies Act grants the federal government temporary powers, including the right to prohibit certain public assemblies such as blockades, the ability to prohibit the use of money to support the blockades, and the ability to impose fines or imprisonment for contravening any of the measures declared under the public order emergency.

The act, however, doesn't give the government sweeping powers in the same way the War Measures Act did, Béland said, adding that Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms didn't exist in 1970. The Charter still applies to actions taken under the new emergency law, he explained.

"What we have here is a different constitutional and legal framework than we had in 1970," Béland said.

There's another big difference, he added.

"The military, at least so far, is not involved in what Trudeau is doing now. It was front and centre in October 1970 in Quebec."

Patrick Taillon, a law professor at Université Laval, said that while the Emergencies Act has more checks and balances than the War Measures Act, it still gives the government broad powers. Parliament must approve the use of the Emergencies Act within seven days, which will require a debate in the House of Commons, and the law requires that provinces be consulted before it is used, he said.

Taillon said it's not clear that the bar for invoking the Emergencies Act has been met. That law, he said, can be invoked when provinces are unable to solve an emergency and the normal laws of the country are insufficient to address the problem.

And while Trudeau's decision to use the emergencies law will open him up to political criticism, the courts will likely side with the government because they have generally ruled that it's up to politicians to decide what constitutes an emergency, Taillon added.

Ian McKay, chair of the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University, said Canada has never really grappled with the legacy of the War Measures Act and he worries about the use of the Emergencies Act.

The use of the War Measures Act was supported by most Canadians, McKay said. After it was lifted, he added, the RCMP continued to target Quebec nationalists, burning down a barn, engaging in illegal wiretaps and committing other civil liberties violations.

"I think there's a strong tendency in Canada to allow the state to do this sort of thing and never fully account for it," McKay said. "And then, maybe, after a half-century, we issue some formal apologies."

"There's a real reluctance in Canada to face this history of the state acting in an exceptional situation."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press