B.C. coal mining company fined for more than 400 violations

CBC
Fri, June 14, 2024 

Conuma Resources Limited has received three penalties totaling $45,850 for violating environmental regulations at its Brule coal mine near Tumbler Ridge, B.C. (X/B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy - image credit)


A B.C. coal mining company in northeastern B.C. has been fined more than $45,000 for repeated violations of the province's environmental protection rules, including the failure to monitor mine waste into fish-bearing water and failure to limit particulate being put into the air.

Conuma Resources Limited is a metallurgical coal mining company operating in the Tumbler Ridge area in northeastern B.C., roughly 660 kilometres directly northeast of Vancouver.

It mines coal from to produce carbon used in steelmaking at three different sites in the region, employing approximately 900 people.


In documents posted online, the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change argued the company repeatedly and knowingly failed to comply with environmental regulations, limiting the amount of particulate put into the air by mining operations, and failed to monitor waste water put into local waterways on more than 400 separate occasions.

The violations were said to have occurred at the company's Brule Mine site between 2020 and 2023, after Conuma had already received several notices and warnings for previous violations, the report says.

The total penalties amount to $45,850 and must be paid within 30 days of receipt.

Air quality violations

On the issue of particulate, a report from the ministry says Conuma has failed to properly set up its operations to prevent excessive amounts of dust and discharge from entering the surrounding air, exceeding provincial limits on dozens of occasions over multiple years.

However, the company argued that wildfires in the region, as well as slash-burning from nearby forestry operations, were also contributing factors and it should not be held solely responsible.

The West Kiskatinaw River wildfire in northeast B.C. in a photo posted by the B.C. Wildfire Service.

Environmental Management Act director Jason Bourgeois ruled that while Conuma had failed to properly limit the amount of particulate being released into the airshed, wildfires played a contributing factor on some dates and the proposed penalty was reduced. (B.C. Wildfire Service)

Environmental Management Act director Jason Bourgeois agreed, and removed some of violations from the final ruling.

However, he did rule that Conuma did violate the rules on multiple other occasions, despite warnings, and ordered a total penalty for air quality violations of $4,750, down from the original $22,000 initially proposed by the ministry.

Water monitoring

Conuma was not as successful in reducing its penalty for its failure to comply with water monitoring, which was ruled to have occurred on 406 separate dates between Oct. 21, 2020 and Jan. 1 2023, for which Bourgeois applied a base penalty of $10,000.

Conuma discharges effluent from its operations into ponds that lead into creeks and a river that are home to several species of fish. As a result, it is supposed to sample toxin levels from its operations, have them be tested for compliance and regularly share that information with provincial officials.

The ministry reported and Bourgeois agreed that Conuma had failed to follow these rules multiple times over several years.

The researchers exposed rainbow trout to "sub-lethal" levels of fracking chemicals.

Rainbow trout are among several fish species living in waterways into which effluent from mining operations near Tumbler Ridge is discharged. (Fish World )

Bourgeois ruled that while Conuma has since taken some steps to comply with the rules, they had repeatedly failed to collect and test samples, despite knowing they were meant to do so. For this, he added an additional penalty of $3,000.

He also agreed with the ministry report that Conuma benefited economically from this, by not having to pay for the labour or shipping costs associated with the work. For this, he applied an additional penalty of $32,700.

Another $3,000 was deducted for the work Conuma has done since to address the violations, for a total of $42,700, adjusted down to the maximum penalty of $40,000 for water monitoring violations.

Bourgeois also noted that he could have applied a $40,000 fine to each of the violations but opted to lump them together as it was the first ruling against the company.

On top of the air quality and water monitoring fines, an additional $1,100 fine was issued for failure to submit monthly reports and upload data on water quality monitoring.

Singh won't break NDP pact with Liberals despite concern PM isn't protecting democracy

Mickey Djuric
Fri, June 14, 2024



OTTAWA — Federal New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh is not willing to break ranks with the minority Liberal government, even after criticizing the prime minister for failing to protect Canada's democracy.

Singh said the evidence from a recent spy watchdog report shows Justin Trudeau is willing to accept some level of foreign interference, which weakens democracy and undermines the confidence of Canadians.

He made those comments Thursday after reviewing a national security committee's unredacted report that said a number of MPs have knowingly provided help to foreign governments — information Trudeau has had for months.


"He may disagree with that intelligence, but I believe he has not taken the steps he should have to deal with this," Singh said. "He has sent the message that he is willing to accept some level of foreign interference."

The report drew from highly classified intelligence, which does not paint a full picture, and does not equate to proof.

If Singh really has concerns Trudeau is failing to protect democracy, he must pull his support from the Liberals and let them face Canadians in an election, a spokesperson for the Opposition Conservatives charged.

But Singh signalled his party will not walk away from the confidence-and-supply deal that is keeping the minority government in power.

"The suggestion that an election is a solution to election interference is, I think, a fallacy," Singh said.

Several investigations have found that foreign interference did not threaten Canada's ability to have free and fair elections in 2019 and 2021. That includes the interim report from a commission of inquiry that is currently examining allegations of foreign interference in the two votes.

Still, the intelligence community views Canada as a permissive environment for foreign actors to pursue their strategic interests.

The New Democrats will continue to use existing tools available to parliamentarians to find solutions to combat foreign interference, Singh said, but he did not specify what will be done.

The Liberal government has undertaken various measures to protect Canada's democracy from foreign interference, the National Security Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians found in its report last week.

But it concluded that those measures haven't been effective enough, and there is a persistent disconnect between the gravity of the threat in Canada and the efforts to counter it.

The committee said it believes that gap is why foreign governments — such as those of China and India — continue to view Canadian elections and institutions as easy targets to advance their agenda.

Singh was the second opposition party leader to view an unredacted version of the report, after the Green Party's Elizabeth May. The head of the Bloc Québécois said he would seek a briefing, while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declined to pursue the required security clearance.

"I was glad Mr. Singh accepted the government offer to read the report, I wish Mr. Poilievre would do the same thing," Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Friday in Moncton, N.B.

He said the best way to reassure Canadians about foreign interference allegations surrounding some unnamed parliamentarians is to allow the judge who is leading an independent inquiry to examine the intelligence.

Intelligence is a long way from proof, LeBlanc said, and added he thinks it's "very dangerous" to talk about naming names without having "a higher degree of reliability."

A wide-ranging government bill on foreign interference is before the Senate after passing in the House of Commons this week.

The legislation would introduce new criminal provisions against deceptive or surreptitious acts, establish a foreign influence transparency registry and allow for the sharing of sensitive information with businesses and others beyond government.

The government said it hopes the bill will pass before Parliament's summer break.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2024.

Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press



Trudeau still mum on whether Liberals among "witting" MPs who helped foreign states

The Canadian Press
Sat, June 15, 2024 


SAVELLETRI DI FASANO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would not say Saturday whether Liberal MPs are among those accused in a recent spy watchdog report of helping foreign states.

The refusal comes after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May have both offered new, though somewhat conflicting insight into the findings of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

The intelligence watchdog, composed of MPs and senators, said in a public report last week that some parliamentarians are "semi-witting or witting" participants in the efforts of foreign states to meddle in Canadian politics.

May says there is no suggestion that sitting MPs have put the interest of foreign states over Canada, but Singh says a number of members have provided help to foreign governments.

"I will allow Mr. Singh and Ms. May to speak for themselves," Trudeau said when asked why the prime minister could not shed similar light on the unredacted findings.

Singh said previously that if the full report showed any New Democrat MP knowingly took part in meddling, he would remove them from caucus. He indicated Thursday, after reading it, that he would not be taking such action.

Trudeau was asked about whether any members of his party are named in the report, but would only say that concerns raised in the report have been referred to a national inquiry into foreign interference.

"I think it's important that Canadians have confidence in our ability, collectively as a democracy, to defend the institutions and the processes around our elections and our democracy. That is why officials are engaging with the foreign interference inquiry to see how they can follow up on the NSICOP report," Trudeau said.

While Trudeau said he disagreed with the way the committee drew its conclusions, he took credit for his government's creation of the committee and said he welcomes the members' work.

"The National Security Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians exists so that parliamentarians from all parties can have full access to the work that our national security agencies are doing. That's an important step that wouldn't have happened if the Conservative Party had remained in power," he said.

Trudeau made the comments at the conclusion of the G7 summit in Italy, where leaders said they are more concerned than ever about foreign interference and plan to create a “collective response framework” to counter foreign threats to democracies.

The framework is expected by the end of the year and will include publicly exposing “foreign operations of information manipulation," the leaders said in a joint communique released Friday.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is the only federal political party leader who has not taken steps to acquire the security clearance needed to read the full report. The Conservatives have said if he were to read the report he would be sworn to secrecy about its contents, which would prevent the leader from taking any action.

Poilievre instead called on the government to publicly release the names of MPs accused in the report.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press

Stolen Titian painting found at London bus stop put up for auction

Maroosha Muzaffar
Fri, 14 June 2024 

Tim Moore, general manager of Lord Bath’s Longleat Estate, with the recovered Titian painting, which is now being put up for auction (Sean Dempsey/PA)

A renowned painting by Renaissance master Titian called Rest on the Flight into Egypt is being auctioned by Christie’s in London next month and is expected to fetch as much £15-£25m.

Made in 1508, the two-foot-wide wooden panel depicting the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus and Joseph was purchased by the 4th Marquess of Bath in 1878.

Titian, born Tiziano Vecellio, created the artwork at the beginning of his career in the early 1500s when he was in his “late teens or barely 20 years old”.

The painting has a storied past. It was looted by Napoleon’s soldiers and stolen from Longleat, only to later be found at a London bus stop.

Christie’s describes it as a cherished piece sought after by nobility and with a rich, ongoing journey through history.

“This is a painting, then, that has been coveted by aristocrats, archdukes and emperors alike: prized for its vividly coloured scene of familial affection within the natural world,” the auction house said in the statement.

“Like its subjects, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt has been on a long and eventful journey — a journey that’s far from over.”

The artwork has been stolen twice. First in 1809 by Napoleon’s troops from Belvedere Palace in Vienna and then in 1995 from Longleat House, Wiltshire.

After a seven-year search, it was found in a plastic bag at a London bus stop by Charles Hill, former head of Scotland Yard’s art and antiques unit.

Hill, who died in 2021, found the painting following a tip-off in exchange for a £100,000 reward. He was also known for recovering Edvard Munch’s The Scream after it was stolen in 1994.

Surrealism at 100: Giovanni Guida explores hidden depths with innovative grattage

Katy Dartford
Thu, 13 June 2024 


Surrealism at 100: Giovanni Guida explores hidden depths with innovative grattage

As the art world celebrates the centenary of Surrealism in 2024, one Italian artist has been making waves lately for his unique approach to painting that pays homage to the tradition, echoing the pioneering techniques of Max Ernst and Spanish surrealist painter, Remedios Varo.

Giovanni Guida, born in 1992 in Acerra near Naples, is the youngest artist to be included in major encyclopaedias for using the 'grattage' technique, a method of scratching a, still-wet, painting to reveal underlying layers. "The goal is to remove the chromatic pigment to make the primordial colour below resurface," Guida explains.

This method, first developed by Ernst, allows Guida to delve into the subconscious, revealing hidden emotions and memories. Guida first came across this method in 2005 when he was studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. His tutor Mariarosaria Castellano taught him to use his nails, almost like claws, to tear the "skin" of the painting, reaching its "bowels."

Guida innovated Ernst's use of brushes and spatulas to scrape, using new tools and everyday objects, such as scalpels, blades, wire brushes, stilettos and sponges, alongside his hands.

100 years of Surrealism

Born out of the earlier Dada movement, Surrealism was officially founded in 1924 in Paris by André Breton, who penned the Surrealist Manifesto that year. However, the term "Surrealist" was first used in 1903 by Guillaume Apollinaire in the preface to his play Les Mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias).

The Dada movement that emerged during World War I, was an avant-garde, anti-establishment artistic and literary movement that rejected traditional aesthetic standards and embraced chaos, irrationality, and absurdity. It was a form of protest against the societal and cultural norms that the artists believed had led to the war.

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Surrealists added to this Sigmund Freud’s theories of dreams and the unconscious aiming to liberate creativity from the constraints of logic and societal norms. They experimented with automatic writing and drawing to tap into the subconscious mind.

Max Ernst, a German Dadaist, was crucial to the emergence of Surrealism. Moving to Paris in 1922, Ernst brought with him his innovative collage work, which fueled Breton's imagination. Ernst's techniques, including frottage and grattage, involved using textured surfaces to create spontaneous art. His 1927 painting Forest and Dove exemplified these methods.

Although it waned as an organised movement, Surrealism's impact on painting, sculpture, literature, photography, and film has endured, influencing countless artists and movements that followed.

Ernst and Guida

Ernst's influence on Guida's work is profound. "Ernst was fundamental to my studies to free creative forces rich in suggestions and evocations, less theoretical and more unconscious and spontaneous," he says. His concept of art as a product of the unconscious mind resonates deeply with Guida, who also admires Remedios Varo for her unique style and themes of escape and rebellion. These inspirations can be seen in the surreal landscapes and mystical themes of Guida's paintings.

The artistic relationship between Ernst and the Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington has also deeply influenced Guida's use of grattage and frottage. "Their strong vital impulses translate into 'artistic sublimation' through pictorial gestures," he explains, seeing their work as a mystical elevation that informs his creative process.

Guida says he is inviting viewers to explore multiple levels of meaning, from reality to the unconscious and the sacred; "Dreams and reality, transcendence and immanence, rationality and fantasy in my paintings are always interconnected".

As the world marks the centenary of surrealism, Guida sees his work as part of this broader artistic legacy. "Imagination, unconsciousness, and automatic writing are words we must reflect in 2024," he says. He hopes this will deepen the understanding of surrealist techniques and their relevance today.

Tearing the Veil

Giovanni Guida grew up admiring frescoes and paintings in Neapolitan churches and the works of Caravaggio and Masaccio, an Italian Renaissance painter famous for The Crucifixion, Guida's faith also marks his art form, which has influenced his use of Christian iconography in his work.

He notes that his tactile and symbolic approach alludes to the tearing of the temple's veil in Jerusalem when Jesus died, "a metaphor for unveiling the sacred," he explains, and a symbol of the separation between humanity and God.

Some of Guida's most famous pieces include Dionysus (2017) Apotheosis (2015) And you will heal from all diseases... and I will take care of You, (2020) created during the Covid-19 pandemic. 'Apotheosis of Dante Alighieri in Florence: the Love that moves the sun and the other stars,' was created for the 700th anniversary of the Florentine poet's death.

The sacred is also stressed in his use of Lapis Lazuli blue, a “heavenly” Byzantine blue, that "carries a divine force that transcends the human,” explains the painter. The artist was not the first to use Lapis Lazuli; the pigment was also used by Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Guida's grattage technique is also influenced by Schopenhauer and Heidegger's philosophies, seeking to unveil the essence of things. "The veil falls forever and lets you see what is hiding," he says, invoking Heidegger's concept of alétheia, or truth as "not hidden."

Guida believes his art bridges tradition and innovation, resonating with both contemporary and traditional audiences. "Cultural references, tradition, and innovation marry thanks to a mind capable of 'thinking globally'," he explains, emphasising the fluidity of knowledge and art in our "liquid society."

Giovanni Guida with the pictorial cycle 'Temples of the soul' - Giovanni Guida

World Encyclopaedias

Being included in the world's encyclopaedias for his use of grattage is a milestone for Guida, as it cements his significance in the contemporary art scene. Of his recent mention in Deutsche Biographies, a German-language biographical dictionary, he says it "allows me to activate a metacognitive activity during the Ernst period in Germany," drawing parallels between Ernst's experiences and his artistic journey.

As well as the Deutsche Biographie, Guida's name appears in encyclopedias, such as the structured vocabulary of art and artists (Vocabulary Union List of Artist Names) of the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, the Italian Encyclopedia of Sciences, Letters, and Arts (La Treccani), the Encyclopedia Sapere (De Agostini), Encyklopedia PWN of Poland, and Nationalencyklopedin, the most comprehensive contemporary encyclopedia in Swedish. He also features in the records of major national libraries like the Library of Congress in Washington and the National Library of Paris.

Beyond grattage

Guida is also experimenting with other techniques like fumage, decalcomania, and aerosol art. These methods, he believes, reduce the artist's role to that of a spectator, enhancing the mind's hallucinations and allowing the artwork to emerge organically.

While Guida has upcoming exhibitions, he emphasises the importance of experiencing his art beyond the canvas. "I would like people to remember not to adhere to the present necessarily but to open up and live the 'distance'," he says, inviting viewers to go beyond conventional perspectives and embrace the totality of the experience.

Looking ahead, Guida aspires to transcend the art world's conventional boundaries: "Enter not into the world and systems of art, but into the truth of the mystery of art," he says. He envisions an art that goes beyond form, regenerating itself in relationships and social 

Canada sanctions Summit Series goalie Vladislav Tretiak

CBC
Thu, June 13, 2024 

1972 Team Canada's Paul Henderson is greeted by 1972 Soviet team goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak as he is inducted at the IIHF Hall of Fame at the world hockey championship in Stockholm, Sweden on Sunday, May 19, 2013. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Canada has levelled sanctions against an icon of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union.

Vladislav Tretiak — the goaltender for the Soviet Union in the 1972 series against Canada that captivated hockey fans in both countries — is among 11 people sanctioned by the federal government over Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office announced the new sanctions package on Thursday during the G7 summit in Italy. The war in Ukraine is a major topic on the G7 agenda.


The sanctions target 11 people and 16 entities who "supply key technology and electrical components in support of Russia's war of aggression," the Prime Minister's Office said in a news release.

The sanctions also target individuals and entities "implicated in disinformation and propaganda operations," the news release said.

"Today's newest sanctions reflect our long-standing efforts to disrupt [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's ability to wage Russia's illegal war, including by conducting gross disinformation campaigns," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a separate news release.

Tretiak, 72, is the president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. CBC News reached out to Global Affairs Canada on Thursday to ask why he was sanctioned.

On Friday afternoon, a Global Affairs spokesperson said that Tretiak was actually first sanctioned in February 2023 because he voted in Russia's lower house of parliament in favour of legislation related to the invasion of Ukraine. But he was listed with the wrong birth date.

He was re-listed on Thursday with the correct date of birth.

Canada has issued sanctions against hundreds of Russian individuals and entities since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tretiak gained international fame after Summit Series

Tretiak is regarded as one of hockey's greatest goalies. He was one of the most notable players in the 1972 Summit Series that saw Canada narrowly beat the Soviet Union. Canada won the series in the final game thanks to a last-minute goal by forward Paul Henderson.

Tretiak later went on to star for the Soviet Union in international play, winning two Olympic gold medals and playing in the 1976 Canada Cup.

Team Canada's Paul Henderson (left) shoots on Team USSR's Vladislav Tretiak while Gannady Tsygankov defends during the 1972 Summit tournament in Toronto on Sept. 4, 1972.

Team Canada's Paul Henderson (left) shoots on Team USSR's Vladislav Tretiak while Gannady Tsygankov defends during the 1972 Summit tournament in Toronto on Sept. 4, 1972. (Peter Bregg/The Canadian Press)

The Montreal Canadiens drafted Tretiak in 1983, but the Soviet government would not let him leave the country to play in the NHL.

After his retirement as a player, he worked for the Chicago Blackhawks as a part-time goaltending coach for 15 years. He also ran a goaltending school in Toronto.

Russia banned from international play

The International Ice Hockey Federation has barred Russia and Belarus from international competition over Russia's war on Ukraine.

Earlier this year, the organization renewed the ban through the 2024-25 season, saying "it is not yet safe to reincorporate the Russian and Belarusian teams back into IIHF competitions."

Ice hockey is a favourite sport of President Putin.

Trudeau to focus on return of stolen children at Ukraine peace talks

Nojoud Al Mallees
Sat, June 15, 2024 


OBERKIRCH — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to shine a spotlight on the plight of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and call for their safe return while attending a summit dedicated to establishing peace between the two countries.

G7 leaders wrapped up their summit in Italy on Saturday, where Canada was heavily involved in a U.S.-led push to use frozen Russian assets to secure a US$50-billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders.

Canada has pledged $5 billion toward that loan.

Trudeau arrived in Switzerland for the peace talks hours later, alongside delegations from about 90 countries, to discuss a path toward ending the war with Russia.

"We'll work with partners on a plan to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine," the prime minister said at a press conference in Italy at the end of the G7 summit.

The summit began with an opening plenary featuring remarks from 26 leaders.

"Of course, we are aware that there is a long path ahead of us. We are under no illusion that we will reach a conclusive understanding at this summit," said Swiss President Viola Amherd.

"But we can come closer to reaching such an understanding word by word, proposal by proposal step by step."

The conference on Saturday and Sunday is seen largely as a symbolic effort on the part of Kyiv to rally the international community to Ukraine's cause.

Russia and its key ally China will not attend the peace talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government didn’t want Russia involved, but the Swiss insist that Russia must be involved at some point, and hope it will join the process one day.

"We are all aware that the peace process without Russia is inconceivable. a lasting solution must involve both parties. As an international community, we can help to pave the way," said Amherd.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Russia's absence from the table during the opening plenary.

"Now, there is no Russia here. Why? Because if Russia was interested in peace, there would be no war," he said.

Zelenskyy said the international community must decide on what a "just peace" looks like, using the United Nations charter as its basis. Only then can Russia be brought into the process, he said.

When pressed on what impact the talks will have without Russia's participation, Trudeau said the summit is part of the process toward peace.

"We need to see peace and stability in Ukraine, as we need to see it around the world, and this is part of the effort that we all undertake to engage," he said.

"I'm going to be focusing in particular on the issue of children stolen from Ukraine by Russia who need to be returned."

At the request of Zelenskyy, Trudeau will co-chair a session on the human dimension of the war alongside Norway. The session is expected to touch on prisoners of war, civilian detainees and deported children.

Several families shared stories about their children's captivity and desperate bid to escape with the House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights last year, in hopes that Canadian parliamentarians would help rescue others.

It is unclear how many children have been taken to Russia or territories it controls in Ukraine, but Save the Children told the committee in November that Ukrainian and Russian estimates of that number in November ranged from 2,000 to 20,000.

Several teens told the committee about being separated from their families and forcibly taken from Ukraine to camps in Russia or Russian-occupied territories during their testimony by video conference from Ukraine.

G7 leaders focused heavily on Ukraine during their summit, but the host country, Italy, promised the Israel-Hamas war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip would be an equally significant topic of discussion.

The summit ended without any joint pledge to take specific action to address the situation in the Middle East.

"G7 leaders are united in wanting to see implementation of the US and UN peace plan, the immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages," Trudeau said.

"We underscored repeatedly the need to continue delivering humanitarian assistance, as we all are."

India, which has avoided criticizing Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is expected to take part in the peace talks this weekend. Trudeau had a brief conversation with the country's newly re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7, but wouldn't elaborate on their discussion.

It was the first time the two leaders have crossed paths since Trudeau publicly accused Modi's government of being involved in the killing of a Sikh activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia.

"There's important but sensitive issues that we need to follow up on, but this was a commitment to work together in the coming times to deal with some very important issues," Trudeau said.

Canada has been named the host for next year's G7 summit, which will be held in Kananaskis, Alta.

Trudeau would not say if he planned to invite Modi to those meetings.

The prime minister held a bilateral meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following the news conference on Saturday morning, hailing her leadership at the summit.

The tone of the meeting was much friendlier than the bilateral meeting the two leaders held at the G7 summit last year in Japan, where Trudeau called out the Italian government's stance on LGBTQ2S+ rights.

Meloni’s right-wing government this week worked to water down references to abortion in the final statement issued by all the G7 nations at the end of the summit, prompting a disagreement between nations over language in the final draft of their shared commitments.

That is according to two senior U.S. officials, a senior European Union official and two other officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to talk about the discussions over the statement that were not made public.

The final statement, released Friday, omits the word “abortion” but does reference the need to promote “reproductive health and rights.”

When asked how Trudeau could sign the communique without the explicit mention of abortion, given his government's advocacy on the issue, the prime minister said there were "clear commitments" in the communique for sexual and reproductive rights.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2024.

-- With files from The Associated Press and Laura Osman in Ottawa

Nojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press

Record 84 candidates on a near metre-long ballot in upcoming Toronto byelection

CBC
Fri, 14 June 2024 

Voters in the riding of Toronto-St. Paul's head to the polls on June 24. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press - image credit)


When voters in Toronto-St. Paul's go to the polls later this month, they might be wishing the ballot had a search function.

A record 84 people have put their names forward as candidates for the June 24 byelection, making it the longest ballot ever in a federal election.

Dozens of independent candidates have entered the race as part of an organized protest against Canada's first-past-the-post voting system.


"We need to highlight the fact that our voting system is a joke and it's producing results that are completely inaccurate and distorted," said Glen MacDonald, a candidate in Toronto-St. Paul's and a volunteer with the group Longest Ballot Committee.

MacDonald pointed to the last two elections, which the Liberals won despite losing the popular vote.

The Longest Ballot Committee has encouraged candidates to put their names forward in protest in two previous byelections — in the Ontario riding of Mississauga-Lakeshore in 2022 and last year in Winnipeg South Centre, which previously held the record for most candidates. For Toronto-St. Paul's, the group has roughly doubled the number of candidates on the ballot; the previous two campaigns had 40 and 48 candidates respectively.

Julie St-Amand, who has put her name on the ballot for all three of those byelections, said advocacy campaigns in the past haven't been effective and she hopes the high number of candidates is drawing attention to the electoral reform debate.

"By just getting more people aware and talking about it, we're hoping it just spreads like wildfire," she said.

Elections Canada has had to make a number of temporary changes to the Elections Act in order to accommodate the oversized ballots. (The law allows the head of Elections Canada to make short-term changes in the case of "an emergency, an unusual or unforeseen circumstance.")


The ballot for the Tronto-St.Paul's byelection — the longest in federal election history — will be almost a metre long, according to Elections Canada.

The ballot for the Toronto-St.Paul's byelection — the longest in federal election history — will be almost a metre long says Elections Canada. (Elections Canada)

The ballot will have two columns of candidates listed side-by-side, instead of the traditional single column. In addition, the circles where voters mark their preference will be listed on the right and left margins of the ballot. (The Elections Act states the circles should always be listed to the right of a candidate's name.)

Elections Canada says the ballot is 30 centimetres wide and 90 centimetres long.

A typical ballot box can contain 1,000 ballots. Elections Canada expects only 100 will fit in each ballot box on election night in Toronto St. Paul's.

Trudeau promised electoral reform in 2015

Under Canada's current voting system, a candidate can win a riding by simply winning the most votes, even if they fail to win 50 per cent support.

Both St-Amand and MacDonald said they would prefer some kind of proportional electoral system where the seats in the House of Commons reflect a party's national vote share.

During his first campaign as Liberal leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to make the 2015 election the last under the first-past-the-post voting system.

But once in government, Trudeau and the Liberals slowly backed away from that promise.

MacDonald said he was "appalled" by that decision.

"It added to a level of cynicism that a lot of people have with regards to politics and with regards to voting. Politicians promise one thing and as soon as they get into office they decide, 'Well, we didn't really mean that,'" he said.

But MacDonald pointed out that the Liberals aren't the only party that has abandoned the idea of electoral reform.

"It's a problem that we've been suffering through on both sides of the political spectrum," he said.

The NDP has long advocated for electoral reform. But no NDP provincial government has made a change to their jurisdiction's voting system.

Even Conservative Stephen Harper flirted with the idea of electoral reform before he became prime minister.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper answers a question during Question Period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. Prior to entering politics, former prime minister Stephen Harper suggested that right-centre parties should be pushing for electoral reform. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

In a 13-page paper he co-authored in 1997, Harper decried the split in the conservative vote between the Progressive Conservatives and Reform Party that he blamed for keeping the Liberals in government at the time.

"The two parties could begin by agreeing to advocate electoral reform through the run-off, preferential ballot, or mixed-member-proportional system, which would be in the interest of both parties," Harper and co-author Tom Flanagan wrote.

But Harper didn't push for a new voting system when he took the helm of the modern Conservative Party — which amalgamated the two parties he previously suggested should consider electoral reform — and eventually formed government.

"Once you win under first-past-the-post, why would you get rid of it and risk not winning again under any other type of structure?" St-Amand said.

Her comments echo a passage from Harper and Flanagan's 1997 paper.

"It is seldom in the short-term interest of the party in power to carry out electoral reform; by definition, the system worked admirably for those now in power and changing the system might benefit the opponents next time," the two wrote.

MacDonald said he hopes the massive ballot in Toronto St-Paul's draws attention to his concerns about the current voting system. He said he would be willing to put his name down on a ballot again.

"If we do decide to do another one of these longest ballots, I would certainly put my name forward and I would support any initiative that raises the issue of electoral reform," he said.


Advanced voting opens in Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection

CBC
Fri, 14 June 2024 


Advanced voting opens Friday in the Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection. (Peter Power/The Canadian Press - image credit)


Advanced voting has opened for a federal byelection in the Toronto-St. Paul's riding, a Liberal stronghold that could be up for grabs as the party struggles in the polls.

The Liberals have held the seat since 1997, represented by former cabinet minister Carolyn Bennet, who resigned her seat in January to become Canada's ambassador to Denmark.

Bennett won over half the vote in the 2021 federal election, but the polls suggest things will be much tighter this time around.

Polling expert Philippe Fournier of 338Canada told CBC's Power & Politics last week that the riding is a "toss-up." He says polling data suggests the Liberals are still expected to win, but only by a margin of four to eight points.

The Liberals have won all 25 Toronto ridings in the last three general elections.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and over a dozen cabinet ministers were campaigning in the riding this week on behalf of their new Liberal candidate, Leslie Church, a former political staffer.

The Conservatives have nominated financial services worker Don Stewart, the NDP candidate is non-profit director Amrit Parhar and the Green Party is represented by candidate Christian Cullis, a constituent co-ordinator for Toronto city councillor Dianne Saxe. The People's Party of Canada has nominated business consultant Dennis Wilson.

The choice doesn't end there though.

There are 84 candidates on the ballot, making it the longest in the history of federal politics, according to Elections Canada.

A debate is being held on Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church. Candidates from the Liberal, NDP, Conservative and Green parties have been invited.

Casa Loma and a view of downtown Toronto, as seen from the air.
Casa Loma in the riding of Toronto-St. Paul's, a traditional Liberal stronghold.

 (Patrick Morrell/CBC News)

The Midtown Toronto riding is home to nearly 117,000 people, according to the 2021 census. Its boundaries run roughly from Dupont Street in the south to Eglinton Avenue in the north, and Dufferin Street in the west to Mount Pleasant Road in the east.

Advance voting runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day from June 14 to June 17. Voters can cast their ballot during those times at their assigned advanced polling station. Voters can also cast an early ballot on June 18, before 6 p.m., at the riding's Elections Canada office.

Voters can register to vote by mail if they apply before 6 p.m. on June 18.

Election day is June 24. Voting will run from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS REDUX

US attack sub, Canada navy patrol ship arrive in Cuba on heels of Russian warships

WILL PUTIN BANG HIS SHOE

Fri, June 14, 2024 

US attack sub, Canada navy patrol ship arrive in Cuba on heels of Russian warships


By Dave Sherwood

HAVANA (Reuters) -A Canadian navy patrol ship sailed into Havana early on Friday, just hours after the United States announced a fast-attack submarine had docked at its Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, both vessels on the heels of Russian warships that arrived on the island earlier this week.

The confluence of Russian, Canadian and U.S. vessels in Cuba - a Communist-run island nation just 145 km (90 miles) south of Florida - was a reminder of old Cold War tensions and fraught ties between Russia and Western nations over the Ukraine war.


However, both the U.S. and Cuba have said the Russian warships pose no threat to the region. Russia has also characterized the arrival of its warships in allied Cuba as routine.

The Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, half submerged with its crew on deck, sailed into Havana harbor on Wednesday after conducting "high-precision missile weapons" training in the Atlantic Ocean, Russia's defence ministry said.

Canada`s Margaret Brooke patrol vessel began maneuvers early on Friday to enter Havana harbor, part of what the Canadian Joint Operations Command called "a port visit ... in recognition of the long-standing bilateral relationship between Canada and Cuba."

Hours earlier, the U.S. Southern Command said the fast-attack submarine Helena had arrived on a routine port visit to Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. naval base on the tip of the island around 850 km (530 miles) southeast of Havana.

"The vessel's location and transit were previously planned," Southern Command said on X.

Cuba`s foreign ministry said it had been informed of the arrival of the U.S. submarine but was not happy about it.

"Naval visits to a country are usually the result of an invitation, and this was not the case," said Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío.

"Obviously we do not like the presence in our territory (of a submarine) belonging to a power that maintains an official and practical policy that is hostile against Cuba."

A Canadian diplomat characterized the Margaret Brooke`s arrival as "routine and part of long-standing cooperation between our two countries", adding it was "unrelated to the presence of the Russian ships."

Russia and Cuba were close allies under the former Soviet Union, and tensions with Washington over communism in its "backyard" peaked with the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Moscow has maintained ties with Havana.

When asked what message Moscow was sending, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday the West never appeared to take notice when Russia sent signals through diplomatic channels.

"As soon as it comes to exercises or sea voyages, we immediately hear questions and a desire to know what these messages are about," Zakharova said. "Why do only signals related only to our army and navy reach the West?"

The Russian warships are expected to remain in Havana harbor until Monday.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Additional reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Frances Kerry and Cynthia Osterman)

Canadian warship sharing an anchorage with Russian vessels in Cuba

CBC
Sat, June 15, 2024 

Canadian navy patrol boat HMCS Margaret Brooke passes by Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine Kazan and frigate Admiral Gorshkov as it enters Havana's bay in Cuba on Friday. (Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters - image credit)


The Royal Canadian Navy now finds itself in the unusual position of both shadowing Russian warships as a threat in the Caribbean and sharing an anchorage with them as a guest in the port of Havana — because Canada accepted an invitation to send a patrol ship to Cuba while the Russian navy is in town.

And it's not clear just who in government or the military knew about the invitation from Cuba. The Caribbean nation has been a full-throated supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine and Cubans have been fighting alongside Russian soldiers in that country.

For several days, the frigate HMCS Ville de Québec has been tasked with shadowing the Russian ships, which conducted missile exercises during their Atlantic crossing using Moscow's new Zircon hypersonic missiles. The Ville de Québec is part of a three-ship group that tracked the Russians, along with the U.S. destroyer USS Truxton and U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGS Stone.

A Canadian CP-140 surveillance plane flying out of Jacksonville, Florida is also keeping a close eye on the Russians. The destroyer USS Donald Cook also appears to have joined the mission in the Caribbean, in addition to U.S. naval surveillance aircraft.

And yet on Friday, Canada's Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessel HMCS Margaret Brooke sailed into Havana as a guest of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, just hours after the Russian flotilla docked in the same harbour.

Cuba invited the Canadians to Havana to celebrate "the long-standing bilateral relationship between Canada and Cuba," according to a tweet by Canadian Joint Operations Command.

No Canadian naval vessel had visited Cuba for more than 50 years until Justin Trudeau came to power at the end of 2015.

In November 2016, he visited Havana hoping to meet the dying Fidel Castro. That didn't happen but Trudeau did publicly embrace Raul Castro and the Castro brothers' chosen successor, Miguel Diaz-Canel, and called Cuba an "ally" of Canada during a talk at the University of Havana.

Three days later, the frigate HMCS Fredericton set sail for Havana for a visit then-defence minister Harjit Sajjan said would celebrate the "strong, positive and productive relationship" between Cuba and Canada.

A beaming Miguel Diaz-Canel looks on as Canada's Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Raul Castro in Havana on Nov. 16, 2016. Castro introduced Trudeau to the man who would replace him as president two years later.

A beaming Miguel Diaz-Canel looks on as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Raul Castro in Havana on Nov. 16, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The Trudeau government's relationship with the Cuban Communist Party regime has frequently drawn criticism from Canada's Cuban community. When Cubans took to the streets to demand the end of the 62-year dictatorship on July 11, 2021, Cuban-Canadians accused the Trudeau government of downplaying their political demands and attempting to misrepresent Cubans' demands for democracy as mere gripes about shortages of food and medicines.

The Margaret Brooke is the first Canadian warship to visit Havana since the Fredericton, and the second to visit Cuba (HMCS Charlottetown stopped in Santiago de Cuba in 2018). Many in the Cuban-Canadian community say it's less appropriate than ever for Canada to appear to bolster the Cuban regime in the wake of a harsh crackdown on dissidents that has seen the return of decades-long sentences for political prisoners.

They also cite Cuba's new and far-reaching alliance with Putin's Russia. Moscow's footprint in Cuba — which includes the re-opened Lourdes spy base — is now bigger than it has been since the end of the Cold War.

Mixed messages from Canada

It was initially unclear who in the Canadian government authorized the Havana visit or who knew that the Margaret Brooke had been invited at the same time as the Russians.

However, a spokesperson for Defence Minister Bill Blair said on Saturday that the minister authorized the port visit "on the advice of the Navy and the Canadian Joint Operations Command."

"We believe that this marked an especially important time to show a Canadian presence in the region," Daniel Minden said in a statement.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence (DND) told CBC News that the department was aware the Russians would be in the Havana port on the same days as the Canadians.

But when asked about the visit on CBC's Power and Politics on Thursday evening, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told host David Cochrane she knew nothing about it.

"This is something I have to look more closely into," she said. "This is information that is news to me."

Four hours later, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson John Babcock suggested that the Cuba visit was part of a deliberate departmental strategy.

"Amidst global insecurity, Canada believes in pragmatic diplomacy to engage countries of different perspectives while we continue to uphold our values and interests and defend the international rules-based order," he told CBC News.

The friendly visit sends a confusing message about Canada's allegiances, said Russian political scientist Vladimir Rouvinski, director of the CIES Research Center at Icesi University in Colombia and an expert on Russia's presence in the Western hemisphere.

"I think it's a very unfortunate situation for Canada," he told CBC News. "It also shows that one has to be very careful when doing this kind of planning with Cuba" which, he said, "knew that Russians would come and Canada would come at the same time, of course."

Cuba has its own motives for wanting Canada to visit, said Rouvinski. "Cuba is interested in finding a way to pressure the Western countries to change their attitude towards Cuba," he said.

But by putting Canada in an embarrassing situation, he said, Cuba risks damaging its relationship with Ottawa.

The most obvious beneficiary of the situation is Russia, he said.

"There is a very important symbolic component in what is happening now in Havana Bay for Russia," he said. Russia, he argued, is sending NATO a message that if it's going to be in Russia's backyard, "Russia is capable of playing their own game in such a distant territory as the Western Hemisphere and the Caribbean."

Causing embarrassment to Canada, and creating the impression that western allies are divided over Russia, makes the symbolism even more valuable to Moscow, he added.

"It's also the message to be able to say who is controlling what," said Rouvinski.

Visit gives a boost to Communist Party

Eloy Viera is a Cuban independent journalist with the publication El Toque, a popular online publication on the island that annoys Cuban authorities by publishing black market exchange rates for dollars and euros.

He said the Communist Party will use the Canadian visit domestically to try to show the Cuban people the country is not diplomatically isolated.

"The image they want to send to the world is, 'We are with everyone, we are close to Russia, but at the same time we are also close to one of its adversaries, in this case Canada," he said.

A convertible American classic car drives by as people watch the Russia's Kazan nuclear-powered submarine arrive in the port of Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. A fleet of Russian warships arrived in Cuban waters Wednesday ahead of planned military exercises in the Caribbean.

A classic American convertible drives by as people watch Russia's Kazan nuclear-powered submarine arrive in the port of Havana on Wednesday. (Ariel Ley/The Associated Press)

Viera said Canada was unwise to accept the invitation.

"That's one of the main problems when a democratic government like Canada's deals with an autocratic regime like Cuba's — you are taking the risk to be manipulated by someone that is a master in manipulation," he said.

"Everything is part of the game that right now is being handled from Havana. It's not handled from Ottawa, it's handled from Havana."

The U.S. has made no comment on Canada's presence in Havana port but on Thursday, as the Russian nuclear submarine Kazan sailed into Havana, the U.S. nuclear-powered sub USS Helena slipped into the American base at Guantanamo Bay, a move Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodrgiuez called a "provocative escalation."

'Nothing happens by coincidence'

Juan Antonio Blanco Gil is a former Cuban diplomat and historian who lives in Miami and has written extensively about Cuba's foreign policy.

"Nothing happens by coincidence and the Russians were planning this with the Cubans," he told CBC News. Had the Cubans been interested in sparing the Canadians from an awkward cohabitation with the Russian flotilla, he said, "it would have been very easy to change the date a little bit before or after the event of the Russians.

"They didn't. So there was a point in trying to bring together these two forces in Havana."

The Russian ships are expected to leave Cuba on Monday and head for Venezuela, where the Nicolas Maduro government is another major backer of Putin and the war in Ukraine.

"The Canadian Armed Forces will continue to track the movements and activities of the Russian naval flotilla" after it departs Havana, Kened Sadiku of DND told CBC News.

People watch the Russian Navy Admiral Gorshkov frigate arrive at the port of Havana, Cuba on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. A fleet of Russian warships reached Cuban waters on Wednesday ahead of planned military exercises in the Caribbean.

People watch the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov frigate arrive at the port of Havana on Wednesday. A fleet of Russian warships reached Cuban waters on Wednesday ahead of planned military exercises in the Caribbean. (Ariel Ley/The Associated Press)

Blanco said both the Cuban and the Venezuelan regimes face a difficult summer and have reasons for wanting the Russian ships close by.

The Maduro regime agreed to hold elections this year as part of a deal to escape sanctions, although that deal fell apart in April. While Maduro has banned the main opposition candidate from running, and few expect a genuinely free vote, his United Socialist Party knows it faces a major challenge.

White House, Pentagon might have to think twice

"They want the Russians to show the flag in the Caribbean for two reasons. The Venezuelans, because they have a very difficult political crisis with the coming election, and the Cubans who are going through the worst economic, social, political crisis of the last 65 years," said Blanco.

"They are also asking this fleet to be there because if they have to eventually use lethal force to contain demonstrations ... they would like the Russians to be around to complicate decisions in the White House and the National Security Council."

Blanco said that if the U.S. wished to retaliate against either country for some crackdown, "they would have to think twice if they have Russians in the middle of the Caribbean Sea going around. I think that that is the calculation of the Cubans."

Although U.S. intelligence has assessed that neither the Zircon missiles on the Admiral Gorshkov nor the Kalibr missiles on the Kazan are fitted with nuclear warheads (though both are nuclear-capable), Blanco said he believes Havana would like to persuade the Kremlin to change that posture.

"What the Cubans are dreaming of, and what they're working for, is to inspire Putin into placing a continuous nuclear presence in Cuba through the fleet," he said.

Blanco points out that Russia has every right to send its ships fully-armed anywhere in international waters, and can even transit the Panama Canal with nuclear weapons aboard.

By simply rotating vessels such as the Gorshkov or the Kazan through the region, he said, Cuba could threaten the continental U.S. with more megatons of close-range missiles than it could have using all the land-based missiles it had in 1962.

"You don't need to re-enact the October (Cuban missile) crisis," he said.

Friendly feelings may be one-sided

Blanco said there continues to be a mismatch between Canada's friendly and trusting approach to the Cuban Communist Party and Havana's more pragmatic view of Canada.

"The Cubans have very clear in their mind who are their enemies — the United States and the West, and that includes Canada, like it or not," he said. "The Canadians have never really digested that they are seen in Havana as the enemy, as being part of the enemy because they're part of the West ... they're in an alliance with the United States."

Havana can use Canada's pride in its independent foreign policy on Cuba to drive a wedge between the two NATO allies at a time when both Russia and Cuba are moving closer because of the war in Ukraine, Blanco said.

"In the minds of the Cuban elite, Canada is not a friend, it's a country that they can — I don't want to use the word manipulate, but they can kind of dance around and make them act in ways that would not align totally with the main enemy, which obviously is the United States," he said.

"The Canadians, from their view, believe that all these gestures are going to be constructive and help to bring the Cuban elite to their senses and have them open up to a peaceful transition. I am positive that they believe so and I'm positive that they are wrong in that calculation, unfortunately.

"I would love them to be right, but unfortunately from my perspective, I don't think that they are."

U.S. debated canceling sub deployment to Cuba after learning of Russia’s warship plans

Michael Wilner
Fri, June 14, 2024 


Plans by the U.S. Navy to deploy a nuclear submarine to Cuba this week were considered so routine, little thought was given to the move within the U.S. government — until the Biden administration learned of Russia’s plans to dock one of its own in Havana at the same time.

The Navy had planned for weeks to deploy the USS Helena, a nuclear-powered, fast- attack submarine, to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base as “part of our routine naval activities,” one official with U.S. Southern Command, based in Doral, said.

But the discovery that Russia intended to send several combat vessels and the Kazan — one of its most advanced nuclear submarines — to the region for military exercises this week sparked a debate among Navy and administration officials whether to proceed with the Helena deployment, or to change or cancel it, two officials familiar with the matter told McClatchy and the Miami Herald.

“There was a discussion over whether to proceed,” one official familiar with the matter said.

Biden administration officials had already believed that Cuba approved Russia’s latest port call “at least in part because of Havana’s displeasure” over a similar event last year, in which a U.S. submarine visited the Guantanamo base, infuriating the Cuban government, one U.S. official said. Officials feared that a second visit, announced during the Russian exercises, could escalate tensions further.

Ultimately, the Navy argued that changing or canceling a U.S. military deployment to accommodate the movements of another power would set a bad precedent.

“We see no reason to alter previously planned, routine activity in response to Russian activity in the region,” said the Southcom official, who noted that Cuba was provided notice of Helena’s arrival.

The internal debate reflects sensitivities around a set of military maneuvers that would, in most other circumstances, be viewed as routine. The Cuban, Russian, and U.S. governments have all put out statements making clear that their actions are not intended to pose a threat to their adversaries.

Yet an increase in tensions between Moscow and Washington over U.S. support for Ukraine, and Russia’s decision to deploy naval combat vessels within 30 miles of U.S. shores, has contributed to the sense that these movements may be different.

Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security advisor, told reporters on Wednesday that the current Russian exercises were “distinct” due to the inclusion of the Kazan.

“They have a submarine associated with this port visit that they have not had before,” Sullivan said, “But fundamentally, the notion that Russia takes some of its Russian naval assets and does a port visit to Havana is something that we’ve seen before.”

“It’s something we watch closely, carefully,” he added. “We will see how this unfolds in the coming days.”

The Russian flotilla could move south through the Caribbean, down to Venezuela, as soon as next week.


US nuclear-powered submarine arrives in Guantanamo Bay a day after Russian Navy docks in Havana

Sam Simpson and Oren Liebermann, CNN
Fri, June 14, 2024 

The USS Helena, a fast-attack nuclear submarine, surfaced in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a day after Russian naval forces arrived in Havana to conduct drills with the island nation, a Russian ally.

In a statement posted on X, US Southern Command said, “The fast-attack submarine USS Helena is in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as part of a routine port visit as it transits the U.S. Southern Command geographic area of responsibility while conducting its global maritime security and national defense mission.”

The specific movements of Navy submarines are highly classified and are rarely disclosed publicly.

The Pentagon has reiterated the presence of the Russian flotilla, despite its being 90 miles from the coast of Florida, does not pose a threat to the security of the United States. Navy destroyers, as well as P-8 submarine hunting aircraft, tracked the movements of the Russian ships as they made their way south off the east coast of the United States.

People watch a ship belonging to the Russian Navy flotilla arrive at the port of Havana on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in Havana, Cuba. - Yander Zamora/Anadolu/Getty Images

“We’ve been tracking the Russians’ plans for this. This is not a surprise. We’ve seen them do this — these type of port calls before, and these are, you know, routine naval visits that we’ve seen under different administrations,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh.

She added, “We’re always, constantly going to monitor any foreign vessels operating near US territorial waters. We of course take it seriously, but these exercises don’t pose a threat to the United States.”

The Norfolk-based USS Helena is a Los Angeles-class, fast-attack, nuclear-powered submarine, first commissioned in the 1980s. It is designed to surveil and respond to threats globally.

The USS Pasadena, another Los-Angeles class fast attack submarine, stopped in Guantanamo Bay last July, sparking furor from the Cuban government, which called it an escalation. The Pentagon said the current visit of a Russian submarine to Cuba was “at least in part” a response to last year’s visit of a US submarine.


Russia says the US doesn't have any reason to worry about the nuclear submarine and the massive warship its navy has cruising off the coast of Cuba

Aditi Bharade
Thu, June 13, 2024 

The Kremlin has said that its navy vessels stationed off of Cuba pose no threat.


The submarine and navy frigate sailed there for military exercises in the Caribbean.


Russia's assurances come despite the fact that the vessels are some of Moscow's most lethal assets.

The arrival of powerful missile-capable naval assets in Cuban waters should not set off alarm bells, Russia said to the US.

A navy frigate and the nuclear-powered submarine pulled into Cuba's coast near Havana on Wednesday, ahead of air and military exercises in the Caribbean. Along with two other vessels, these Russian navy assets were scheduled to be stationed in Cuba for a five-day visit.

"This is a normal practice for all states, including such a large maritime power as Russia," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, per Reuters. "So we don't see any reason to worry in this case."

Russia's reassurances that the vessels in Cuba pose no harm come in spite of the fact that they are some of the Kremlin's most lethal military assets.

For one, the Kazan submarine currently near Havana is one of the new Severodvinsk class vessels. The submarines in this class are hard to detect and have a dangerous combination of stealth and striking power — and as such, have vexed the US and NATO for years.

Also in Cuba is the Admiral Gorshkov Russian frigate, which is armed to the teeth with Putin's prized Zircon scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missiles. The weapons, which the Kremlin claims are unbeatable, are relatively new in Moscow's arsenal.

The Cuban foreign ministry, for its part, echoed Russia's sentiments, saying that the vessels pose no threat, per Reuters.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said that the Department of Defense is monitoring the situation, but does not anticipate any threat from the warships.

"Again, I think what's important here is that what Russia is doing in these exercises, they don't pose a threat to the United States, but of course we're going to continue to monitor," she said.

The arrival of the ships is largely seen as a flex by Russia to compensate for its major losses in the Black Sea.

In April, Ukraine said that it used drones, missiles, and other weapons in its arsenal to destroy many Russian warships.

And while US officials may be quick to say there's no immediate threat, the Los Angeles-class USS Helena attack submarine US attack submarine sailed up to Guantanamo Bay — about 500 miles away from the Russian vessels on Thursday — shortly after Russia's Kazan sub showed up.

The US Southern Command said in a statement on X on Thursday that the sub was there as part of a routine port visit.

Representatives for the US Southern Command and Russian defense ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Ontario landlords who owe investors $144M 'misappropriated' funds for 'extravagant' expenses: court report

CBC
Fri, June 14, 2024 

Ryan Molony, Robby Clark, Dylan Suitor and Aruba Butt, left to right, bought hundreds of rental properties across Ontario under a web of corporations. (siddevelopments/Instagram, robbywclark1/Facebook, Dylan Suitor/Facebook, robbywclark1/Facebook - image credit)

As their real estate business was failing, a group of Ontario landlords spent millions of dollars of investors' money on "extravagant" expenses, ranging from renting a luxury vacation home in Hawaii, to footing a $5,000 Miami strip club bill to flying on private jets.

Those are among the findings of KSV Advisory, a court-appointed monitor given special powers by Superior Court to investigate the web of corporations linked to four landlords:

Former YTV actor Robbie Clark.


Hamilton-area real estate agent Dylan Suitor.


Burlington business owners Aruba Butt and Ryan Molony.

Their 11 corporations currently have bankruptcy protection from over 30 lawsuits after they failed to pay back over $144 million borrowed from investors.


In a 92-page report released this week, KSV said the landlords appear to have "diverted, misused or misappropriated funds that were borrowed from investors."

"Funds were improperly used for their personal benefits or extravagant expenses … without any discernible benefit to the business," it says.

CBC report detailed apparent spending

The landlords had used first and second mortgages and unsecured promissory notes from private lenders to buy up 800 properties, mostly in small Ontario cities, to renovate and rent out at a higher cost or sell them.

CBC Hamilton revealed in February that the landlords flaunted a lavish lifestyle throughout 2022, even as their business was running out of money, properties sat derelict and vacant, and contractors, utility bills and property taxes went unpaid.

The court agreed for KSV to conduct an investigation earlier this spring, following concerns raised by investors in the wake of the CBC report.

The KSV report reveals more details about how the landlords' spending unravelled the business, which the landlords, also known as the applicants, "vigorously dispute," as stated in a letter from their lawyer to investors on Wednesday.

Robby Clark and Aruba Butt are seen on a yacht.

Clark and Butt are seen on a yacht. (Instagram/billionaireclassy)

Parts of the KSV report published online have been redacted and information provided by the landlords wasn't included "without explanation," wrote Alex Payne, a lawyer with Bennett Jones.

"It appears that the monitor has either not reviewed, misunderstood, and/or ignored certain of the applicants' responses," Payne said in the letter.

He added they will work with the monitor to "dispel" concerns raised in the report.

Steven D'Amico, a spokesperson for the landlords, told CBC Hamilton in a statement that their business practices are lawful, allegations of "excessive luxury expenditures" are inaccurate — and that the purchases are related to company retreats and capital-raising activities, and a small portion of the companies' overall expenses.

D'Amico works in crisis communications for the Florida-based firm JConnelly.

Landlords due in court over bankruptcy protection

The landlords and investors are preparing to go to court in the coming days. Both sides will argue whether or not the bankruptcy protection — and protection from investors looking to recoup their money — should expire June 24.

The business was fuelled by over 1,300 loans, the vast majority of which came from Hamilton mortgage broker Claire Drage and her company, the Windrose Group, which closed down earlier this year.

KSV reviewed presentations Windrose made to convince people to invest with Suitor, Butt and Molony, and found them to be "misleading." The presentations didn't convey the amount of debt they'd taken on and how much they were paying to service that debt — which was substantial.

Investors were under the impression that when they lent their money to the landlords, it was being used to buy or renovate a specific property, the KSV report says. But the landlords transferred over $12 million to corporations linked to other properties without investors knowing.

During a call with investors in April 2024, KSV learned many people took "significant issue" with this practice of moving money to whatever company needed it, the report says.

Suitor gives financial advice in a video posted to his real estate business's Facebook page on June 13, 2024.

Suitor gives financial advice in a video posted to his real estate business's Facebook page on June 12. (Elevation Realty Network/Facebook)

And in at least once instance, Suitor renewed a loan for a Sault Ste. Marie property that had been sold without investors' knowledge, the report says. Suitor also renewed two other loans without telling investors the property, in Timmins, had burned down.

The landlords had also transferred over $21 million to their personal bank accounts, credit cards and unrelated corporations, KSV found.

The landlords failed to provide adequate financial records that tracked their spending, which has caused KSV "substantial concern," according to its report.

"However, even more concerning to the monitor is the timing of many of these transfers."

Millions transferred to personal accounts

When Windrose and other sources acting on behalf of investors deposited large amounts of money into the corporate accounts, most or all of it would be transferred to unrelated corporations within days or weeks, says the report.

Butt, for example, received a $400,000 transfer marked as "dividend" to her bank account in May 2022, as did a corporation owned by Drage's family members. In the months that followed, the business faced "severe liquidity issues" and missed interest payments, says the report.

In total, it says:

Butt transferred $2.7 million to her personal account.


Suitor transferred nearly $630,000 to his, with the majority going towards his credit cards.


Clark transferred close to $1 million and Molony nearly $460,000.

D'Amico, their spokesperson, said the vast majority of these payments are actually reimbursements for business expenses such as renovations and utilities.


Molony and Clark appear together in the 2021 video partying at a nightclub.

Molony and Clark appear together, partying at a nightclub, in a 2021 video. (billonaireclassy/Instagram)

The landlords also used the loans to pay for jewelry, appearances with social media influencers, a cut from a famous hairdresser, stays in luxury hotels, and expensive meals in Paris and New York City, the report says.

KSV spoke to Drage throughout the investigation and she said she had similar expectations as investors, didn't know the landlords were using the loans in this way and only became aware of their cash flow issues in late 2022 or early 2023. She is currently facing about 20 lawsuits filed by lenders across Ontario.

Drage did not respond to a request for comment through her lawyers.

By 2023, the landlords, through their companies, were borrowing money just to make interest payments and other debt obligations, the report says.

Even when it was clear the business was operating at a "significant loss" with no "exit strategy" and they wouldn't be able to pay back all investors, the landlords renewed loans. This practice continued into January 2024, shortly before they applied for bankruptcy protection.

Overall, KSV found investor funds were "mismanaged" to the benefit of the landlords.