Government commemorates 'sombre anniversary' 10 years after southern Alberta floods

Story by The Canadian Press • Yesterday 



CALGARY — Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz says it's a "sombre anniversary" for many Albertans.

It has been 10 years since the floods in southern Alberta.

Schulz says in a statement that the floods changed the way the province prepares for severe weather events and suggests Alberta is better prepared than ever.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek adds that, while it was a trying time for many, the response to those floods cast a light on the city as a kind and caring community and led to many infrastructure improvements.

The 2013 floods left five people dead and damaged thousands of homes and businesses across southern Alberta.

Total damage was estimated at more than $5 billion, making it one of the costliest floods in Canadian history.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Monument to residential school survivors, victims to be built on Parliament Hill

OTTAWA — A survivor-led steering committee announced Tuesday that a tribute to survivors and victims of residential schools will be built on the west side of Parliament Hill.

Ottawa appointed the committee in April 2022 to select a site for a national residential schools monument in keeping with one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action.

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, Canada's first Indigenous governor general, said at a ceremony Tuesday morning that the monument is a "significant" step towards reconciliation..

"While reconciliation and healing has no end date, and it doesn't involve just one act or project, I would like you to remember every act is important. And this act is significant," Simon said in her speech at the ceremony.

"The site selection on Parliament Hill allows as many Canadians as possible the opportunity to see this monument. It represents our history," she said.

"So near to the House of Commons, it will serve as a constant reminder to parliamentarians that the policies and laws they create, debate, legislate and enforce have consequences."

The steering committee said it worked in collaboration with the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation and residential school survivors to determine a location for the monument.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez both attended the ceremony.

Jimmy Durocher, a Métis residential school survivor and member of the steering committee, said it was important that the monument encapsulate the effects residential schools have had on Canada's past, present and future.

"This is not finished," Durocher said during the ceremony.

"This business of finding unmarked graves is not done."

Durocher said Canadians need to acknowledge the history of residential schools and know the truth.

"The truth is sometimes very, very difficult. I know it's hard for me. I'm an elder. I'm 83 years old, and I find it very difficult to imagine something like this could happen to us here in Canada. But it happened. But you want to know the positive side of it? We're still here."

The last remaining residential school closed in 1996.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which launched in 2008 and delivered its final reports in 2015, called the Canadian residential school system a government-supported form of "cultural genocide."

The commission estimated that more than 4,000 Indigenous children went missing from the schools across Canada.

Murray Sinclair, the former judge and senator who chaired the commission, has said he believes that figure was an underestimate and suggested the missing children could number "well beyond" 10,000.

Kimberly Murray, Canada's special interlocutor on unmarked graves, raised concerns in an interim report this week about increasing attacks from "denialists" who challenge communities when they announce the discovery of possible unmarked graves.

The Liberal government created her role as it looked for ways to respond to First Nations from across Western Canada and in parts of Ontario using ground-penetrating radar to search former residential school sites for possible unmarked graves.

Murray's final report is due next year and is expected to contain recommendations on how the federal government can help communities search for the children who died and disappeared.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2023.

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

Liam Fox, The Canadian Press

Three in 10 still say Biden won because of voter fraud: survey

Story by Julia Mueller •  The Hill

Nearly three in 10 Americans in a new survey report believing President Biden only won the White House due to voter fraud, indicating that the concerns persist as the 2024 race revs up.

A Monmouth University poll found 30 percent think Biden won because of voter fraud, a result that “has been a nearly constant percentage” in the polling since the presidential election in November 2020. That figure includes 68 percent of Republicans.

Nearly six in 10 Americans, on the other hand, said they think Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square.” Another 10 percent said they don’t know.

There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, despite unfounded claims to the contrary from former President Trump and his allies.

The poll also found that Republicans’ views on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol — amid the certification of the 2020 results — has changed in the two years since.

In June 2021, 62 percent of Republicans called the Capitol attack a “riot,” but that’s down to 44 percent in the latest poll.

And just 15 percent of Republicans say the incident is an “insurrection,” down from 33 percent two years ago. Democrats and independents have been “fairly consistent” in their descriptions of Jan. 6, the poll said.

“You basically start out with a majority of the Republican Party saying there were legitimate gripes about the 2020 election outcome, but two years ago most felt the violence of January 6 was taking things too far, even if it did not rise to the level of an insurrection in their minds. Now, that view has changed, which raises the question of what actions are acceptable when you are unhappy with a political outcome,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a release.

Trump, who lost his reelection bid to Biden and is running for another presidential term in 2024, has continued to tout debunked claims of fraud and a rigged election. As recently as a Monday interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, Trump said he won the 2020 race “by a lot.”

Biden is also running for another four years in the White House, setting them up for a possible rematch.

Conducted May 18 to 23 among 981 U.S. adults, the Monmouth University Polling Institute results have a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 percentage points.

Jury rules Quebec man ran 20-year mail fraud scheme that stole US$175 million

MONTREAL — A United States federal jury has convicted a Quebec man of running a 20-year mail fraud scheme that stole more than US$175 million.

Patrice Runner, 57, was convicted in a New York District Court last week on 14 charges, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

U.S. prosecutors say Runner and his co-conspirators mailed fraudulent letters supposedly from psychics to millions of Americans.

The letters promised recipients that the psychic would help them achieve wealth and happiness for a fee.

In reality, the letters were mass produced and payments would only lead to more letters asking for money.

Four people have pleaded guilty to charges related to their involvement in the scheme, which was run through a Montreal-based company between 1994 and 2014.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2023.

TELUS VS TESLA

Telus and Aussie EV charger Jolt to build up to 5,000 charging stations across Canada

VANCOUVER — Telus has signed a partnership with an Australian electric vehicle charging company, announcing plans to install up to 5,000 EV charging stations across Canada.

The companies expect to begin installing the network of stations which will include Telus's public Wi-Fi capability later this year.

They say in a press release that electric vehicle drivers will be able to use their Jolt app to access seven kilowatt-hours of free charging per day.

The companies say the free charging works out to 40 to 50 kilometres of range and 15 to 20 minutes of charge time, depending on the vehicle.

A report last year said Canada will need to have around 200,000 publicly accessible chargers by 2030.

Telus says its partnership with Jolt accelerates the development of critical infrastructure to meet that demand.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:T)

As far right party surges, Germany's intelligence agency warns of growing extremism


BERLIN (AP) — The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency warned on Tuesday of a growing threat of extremism, particularly from the far right, with the number of politically motivated crimes carried out by extremists reaching a record high last year.

Thomas Haldenwang, who heads the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, said that his agency had come to the “sad conclusion” that extremism of all shades is on the rise in Germany. His comments come as polls show growing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party in recent weeks.

The party has come under scrutiny from the BfV for its links to extremists and also its ties to Russia. Of the 38,800 far-right extremists counted by the agency last year, more than 10,000 are members of the party, known by its acronym AfD.

“We see a very strong current of people within this party who are opposed to our constitution,” Haldenwang told The Associated Press. “We see a lot of hatred and agitation against minorities of all kinds there.”

Alternative for Germany first entered the national parliament in 2017, after campaigning strongly against migration in the wake of an influx of refugees to Europe during the preceding years.

Despite being largely shunned by mainstream parties, AfD has established itself as a powerful force — particularly in the east, where it stands a strong chance of winning state elections next year.

Lately it has come out against German support for Ukraine, echoing some of Russia's arguments for its attack against Kyiv last year.

Haldenwang said some members of Alternative for Germany have “very intensive contacts” with Moscow and had met with Russian officials in Germany, though that doesn't apply to the party as a whole.

Asked about possible attempts by Moscow to support the party, Haldenwang said that “it is certainly in the interest of Russian policy" to sow discord among Germans.

“Wherever there are opportunities to divide society, Russia will take measures to support this,” he said, adding that this applies for far-right and far-left parties alike.

Presenting his agency's annual report in Berlin, Haldenwang declined to say whether the BfV is monitoring any of the party's active lawmakers, a move for which there are legal obstacles.

Asked about possible extremists within the security agencies and the potential for AfD to interfere with its work if it gains power at the regional or state level, Haldenwang said he was not worried about far-right infiltration of his agency.

Authorities are working to ensure that police forces in Germany prevent and recognize potential extremism within their own ranks, he said.

“These are all measures that will ensure Germany security agencies are resilient against such forms of extremism over the very, very long term,” said Haldenwang.

Figures published by the BfV agency show that there were almost 2,000 more extremist crimes of all political shades — 35,452 in 2022, compared to 33,476 in 2021. The number of crimes classified as violent crimes dipped by just over 140 — to 2,847 last year, from 2,994 the year before.

Haldenwang made clear that his agency doesn't currently see any extremist tendencies among climate activists from the group Last Generation, who have drawn strong criticism in recent months for blocking roads and throwing food at artworks in protest at the lack of action to curb global warming.

“Extremism assumes a threat to the free democratic order,” he said. “We don't see that yet in the Last Generation.”

Frank Jordans, The Associated Press

US sanctions South Sudanese officials over conflict-related rapes of hundreds of women and girls

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a South Sudanese military officer and governor accused in connection with the rapes of hundreds of women and girls. They are the first U.S. sanctions issued with a dedicated focus on conflict-related sexual violence, the Treasury Department said.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated James Nando, a major general in the South Sudanese army, who is accused of overseeing forces that raped hundreds of women and girls between 2018 and 2021.

Treasury said Nando was aware of the abuses and did not prevent or punish fighters responsible for sexual violence when it happened under his watch.

Alfred Futuyo, governor of Western Equatoria, is also named in the sanctions documents. Affiliated with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, an opposition group, Futuyo is accused of carrying out numerous attacks in his state that resulted in abductions and gang rapes of hundreds of civilians.

Among other things, the sanctions deny Nando and Futuyo access to any property or financial assets held in the U.S. and prevent U.S. companies and citizens from doing business with them.

“The United States rejects all forms of sexual violence — which women and children bear the brunt of — in armed conflict,” said Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo in a written statement. “We remain committed to holding perpetrators and enablers of conflict-related sexual violence accountable so long as this scourge exists.”

In November, President Joe Biden signed a presidential memorandum to give additional support to the U.N. special representative to the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict and to survivors of sexual violence in conflict settings.

Fatima Hussein, The Associated Press

OUCH!

Brian Mulroney praises Trudeau's leadership, omits any mention of Tory leader

MULRONEY IS A 'PROGRESSIVE' CONSERVATIVE


ANTIGONISH, N.S. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is basking in the praise of Brian Mulroney today after the former prime minister said "trash" talk against the Liberal leader will be forgotten in light of historic achievements.

The former Progressive Conservative prime minister made the comments on Monday night to delegates attending the Atlantic Economic Forum, at St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, N.S.

Mulroney said during his speech that history will not be concerned with the trivia and trash or with the rumours and gossip that are heard in Parliament.

Rather, Mulroney — who was prime minister from 1984 to 1993 — said Trudeau will be remembered for handling the pandemic as well as any other world leader, and for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with former U.S. president Donald Trump.

Mulroney, who advised Trudeau's cabinet during the trade talks, said Trudeau showed vision and a steady hand during negotiations and helped preserve the country's economy.

The former prime minister's speech didn't mention Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, and instead referred to the achievements of the federal Liberals.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2023.

The Canadian Press

WORKERS CAPITAL

Brookfield, Canadian pension fund to buy Compass Datacenters

(Reuters) - Privately held Compass Datacenters will be sold to a consortium led by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP and existing investor Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for an undisclosed sum, the data center operator said on Tuesday.

The deal has an enterprise value of about $5.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Reuters reported last month that Brookfield and DigitalBridge Group Inc were battling it out in the auction for Compass, whose owners also include RedBird Capital Partners and the Azrieli Group.

Dealmaking in the data center sector has spiked in recent years as rapid growth fueled by cloud computing has attracted large infrastructure investors, while the fragmented nature of the industry has driven consolidation.

In April, Brookfield snapped up a majority stake in Data4 in a deal that valued the data center operator at close to 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) including debt, Reuters reported.

"The need for data storage continues to grow at an exponential rate across the globe, and Compass complements our existing platforms in South America, Europe and Asia Pacific," said Sam Pollock, CEO of Brookfield Infrastructure.

Compass founder and CEO Chris Crosby, along with the current management team, will continue to lead the company after the deal's expected close by 2023-end.

Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities advised Compass and RedBird. BMO Capital Markets and Scotiabank advised Brookfield Infrastructure, while TD Securities was the advisor to Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

Paris 2024 Olympics HQ searched in third consecutive Summer Games scandal

IOC IS THE VESTIGIAL REMAINS 

OF THE ARISTOCRACY

PARIS (AP) — French investigators searched the Paris Olympic organizers’ headquarters on Tuesday as part of corruption investigations into contracts linked to the Games, according to officials, the third straight time graft allegations have dogged a Summer Olympics.

The Paris organizing committee said in a statement that a search was underway at their headquarters in the suburb of Saint-Denis, and said it was cooperating. It would not comment further.

Tuesday's search and other related raids were linked to two preliminary investigations of the Paris Olympics that had not previously been made public, according to an official with the financial prosecutor’s office, who was not authorized to be publicly named according to office policy. One probe was opened in 2017 — the year Paris was picked by the International Olympic Committee as the 2024 host — and the other began last year.

Corruption allegations have hung over the world's biggest sporting event many times — from accusations surrounding how the Games were awarded in the first place to how contracts for construction, sponsorship and team services were handed out.

Accusations of vote buying linked to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the Tokyo Games in 2021 led to the removal of several members of the IOC.

Those scandals revived memories of ones surrounding the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games that led to reforms that limited IOC members' contact with candidate countries, though did not entirely remove the scope for corruption.

But Paris 2024 had gone to lengths to prove it would be different. The biggest event France is hosting in decades, the Games are being billed as a celebration of openness after two Olympics closed off by the COVID-19 pandemic, and as an example of democratic celebration after two World Cups tainted by human rights concerns in Qatar and Russia.

The organizers and Paris city hall have stressed a spirit of transparency and social justice — including planning an opening ceremony outdoors along the Seine that will be free for up to half a million people. The Games are scheduled for July 26-Aug. 11, 2024.

Saccage 2024, an anti-Olympics group that argues that the Games cause widespread ecological and social damage, said it was “very pleased” the raids took place.

“For us, an event of Olympic proportions cannot be held without corruption,” the group said in a statement. “It’s the size of the event that makes it necessary, whatever the country.”

The probe opened in 2017 is looking into suspected embezzlement of public funds and favoritism, and concerns about an unspecified contract reached by Paris organizers, the prosecutor’s office said.

The 2022 one followed an audit by the French Anti-corruption Agency. The prosecutor’s office said that case targets suspected conflict of interest and favoritism involving several contracts reached by the organizing committee and Solideo, the public body in charge of Olympic infrastructure.


That body's offices were also searched, prosecutors said. According to Le Monde newspaper, raids also took place at the headquarters of several companies and consultants linked to the organization of the Games.

Solideo oversees construction and renovation of more than 60 projects for the multibillion-dollar Olympics — including the athletes' village in the Saint-Denis neighborhood that is set to provide about 2,000 housing units after the games.

The IOC said in a statement that it was informed by the organizers that they are cooperating with authorities. It did not comment further.

The raids unfolded as the IOC executive board began a two-day meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.

IOC president Thomas Bach told reporters early Monday the meeting "of course will be about Paris, where we have some good news after the visit of the coordination mission and after my visit to France, to President Macron, and also the organizing committee.”

Paris was awarded its Olympics six years ago — and at the same time the IOC also rewarded its only remaining bid rival, Los Angeles, with the 2028 Summer Games.

Avoiding a contested vote removed the scope for vote-trading and bribery in a process that has since changed again to effectively shut down public campaigning. Brisbane was picked two years ago as the 2032 Summer Games host after being pre-selected by the IOC to get exclusive negotiating rights.

With the IOC hugely sensitive about cost overruns and potential white-elephant venues, Paris bid leaders insisted during their campaign for hosting rights that their project was in line with the IOC’s recommendations encouraging bidding cities to promote maximizing the use of existing facilities and infrastructure to save money.

More than 70% of the proposed venues in the Paris bid were existing facilities, with a further 25% being temporary structures. But the overall budget for the Games, including the cost of building and renovating venues, is about 8 billion euros ($8.2 billion) and has already gone up from its original estimate, in part because of high inflation.

The runup to the 2024 Games has seen turmoil in French sports.

Just last month, the president of the French Olympic Committee resigned following a period of intense infighting, prompting calls from Paris organizers for sports leaders to set differences aside and focus on delivering the Games.

Also, Noël Le Graët resigned as president of the French soccer federation in February after a government audit found he no longer had the legitimacy to lead because of his behavior toward women and his management style. Bernard Laporte resigned as president of the French Rugby Federation in January after he was convicted of corruption and illegally acquiring assets and handed a suspended prison sentence.

Last October, Claude Atcher was fired as chief executive of the Rugby World Cup. That event opens in France in September, and also will serve as a test of France’s security preparations for the Olympics. Atcher’s removal followed an investigation by French labor inspectors into his workplace conduct.

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Dunbar contributed from Geneva. AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin reported from Brussels.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Angela Charlton And Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press

Paris Olympics could join a longer list of Games marred by scandal

The news that French law enforcement officials are looking into possible corruption in awarding contracts for the Paris Olympics threatens to place those Games on the ever-growing list of Olympics that have been tarnished by scandals. A look at notable bidding scandals of the 21st century:

SALT LAKE CITY, 2002 — Possibly the most wide-ranging bidding scandal of all time resulted in the removal of 10 members of the International Olympic Committee and a complete overhaul of the bidding process. The first whiff of scandal came in 1998 when a letter emerged suggesting the Salt Lake City bid committee was paying college tuition for the child of an IOC member. Payments totaling more than $1 million in cash, gifts, trips and scholarships were later discovered. The U.S. Department of Justice opened a case alleging 15 counts of bribery and fraud, though it was later thrown out. One major change is that IOC members were no longer allowed to visit bid cities.

RIO DE JANEIRO, 2016 — The investigation started in 2017, the year after the Olympics were over, when French newspaper Le Monde reported that IOC members had been bribed three days before the vote in 2009. The head of Brazil's Olympic Committee, IOC member Carlos Nuzman, received a sentence of nearly 31 years in jail for the vote-buying scheme. Nuzman and others were found to have bribed the then-president of the global track federation, Lamine Diack, and his son, Papa Massata Diack, for their votes. The Diacks have been sentenced to jail for corruption in his role at the track federation.

TOKYO, 2020 — Several Japanese companies have been charged with rigging bids for lucrative contracts for the Tokyo Olympics. One of Japan's largest advertisers, Dentsu, which played a big role in helping Tokyo land the Games, was their chief marketing arm. The company raised a record $3.3 billion in local sponsorships. These cases are still winding through the Japanese courts. A Japanese consulting firm also made payments to Papa Massata Diack at around the time the Games were awarded, though Diack has denied the payments were related to the bid.


BEST OF THE REST — Most other 21st-century Olympics have been tarnished by scandals that haven't grabbed as many headlines. Among them were payments from Australia's Olympic chief to African Olympic committees. ... There was a dust-up over a purchase of security system s at the Athens Games in 2004. ... Though there was no overt bidding scandal for the 2014 Sochi Games, Russia spent more than $50 billion to stage them and many believe that played into the IOC's treatment of the country after a wide-ranging doping scandal emerged from those Games. ... The IOC has been criticized for turning a blind eye to human rights issues in China while holding two Olympics there, in 2008 and 2022.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Eddie Pells, The Associated Press