Trudeau defends Iraq mission secrecy
OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government’s clampdown on information about Canada’s mission in Iraq is necessary to protect Canadian soldiers on the ground.
But interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose says the government is trying to hide the fact the troops are engaged in combat with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The heated exchange in the House of Commons came after military officers revealed recently that Canadian soldiers are spending more time on the front lines and engaging in more firefights with ISIS. Specific details were not provided.
Ambrose said the military held more briefings and provided more information about Canada’s role in the fight against ISIS under the previous government.
But Trudeau said that unlike the previous government, the Liberals would not endanger soldiers for a communications exercise.
Info from accused nurse led to probe into alleged murders: Source
TORONTO—The Canadian Press has learned that the investigation into the alleged murders of eight long-term care home residents was launched after police received a tip from a psychiatric hospital in Toronto.
A police source familiar with the investigation said officials from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health alerted the Toronto police that Elizabeth Wettlaufer, a nurse from Woodstock, Ont., had provided information to hospital staff that caused them concern.
Wettlaufer, 49, was charged on Oct. 25 with eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of elderly residents at two nursing homes in Woodstock, Ont., and London, Ont.
Above and beyond: Winnipeg bus driver stops to carry groceries for senior
WINNIPEG— Raminder Chahal, a Winnipeg transit driver who stopped during the afternoon rush hour to help a senior with her groceries, is receiving kudos from hundreds of people on social media.
Passenger Amber Therrien noticed what Chahal did and posted a photo on Facebook.
Therrien said she watched as the driver carried the senior’s groceries from the bus all the way to the front door of her apartment. She said she didn’t know how the woman, who used a cane and was a slow walker, would have managed otherwise.
Therrien said she has seen bus drivers do nice things before, but never to this extent. She feels Chahal went above and beyond his job. “I love that he’s being recognized,” she said.
Sunflower sea star nearly wiped out by virus in BC, Washington waters
VANCOUVER—There was once a galaxy of sunflower sea stars in the Salish Sea off the B.C. and Washington state coasts, but a new study says the animal’s near disappearance from the ocean floor should be of special concern.
The study from researchers at the University of California, Davis, says the wasting disease that impacted many star fish from Alaska to Mexico, was devastating for the sunflower sea star.
Joseph Gaydose, one of the report’s authors, says the large, colourful star fish are voracious predators and losing them could throw the area’s ecosystem off kilter.
The wasting disease has been linked to a virus, and the study says it’s the largest such disease epidemic known in the marine world.
Trudeau greeted by heckles and jeers at youth labour forum
OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was heckled and jeered as he took questions at a youth labour forum in Ottawa on Oct. 25.
Several dozen delegates at the young workers’ summit turned their backs on Trudeau as he spoke while many others held signs reading “Keep the Promise.”
Many of the delegates criticized the Liberal government for considering signing onto the Trans Pacific trade deal and complained about the effects of so-called precarious work on their lives. Trudeau was booed when he responded that precarious work—including jobs with no pensions—is now a fact of life.
The prime minister said that’s why his government pushed so hard to improve the Canada Pension Plan.
With files from The Canadian Press
