In the news today: Parliament set to break after turbulent fall

By The Canadian Press on December 17, 2024.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Parliament set to break after turbulent fall

Members of Parliament are set to begin their holiday break later today, capping off a tumultuous fall sitting filled with non-confidence votes, filibusters, stalled legislation, a growing deficit and the finance minister’s resignation.

After Chrystia Freeland’s bombshell departure from cabinet Monday morning, several Liberal MPs called for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step aside as well.

Ontario MP Chad Collins left an evening caucus meeting telling reporters the Liberal caucus is divided and that the party needs a leadership race.

Dominic LeBlanc was sworn in as the new finance minister Monday, minutes after the government’s fall economic statement was released.

The economic update shows the deficit has grown to nearly $62 billion, far beyond the $40-billion target Freeland set earlier this year.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Canada Post employees head back to work

Canada Post is resuming operations after a month-long strike by more than 55,000 postal workers left letters and parcels in limbo.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered postal workers back on the job after holding hearings over the weekend to determine whether they were too far apart to reach a deal by the end of 2024.

The hearings came after a directive from Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, who said Friday he was giving the two sides a “timeout” as negotiations seemed to have stalled.

However, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is challenging the intervention into the strike, and says the labour board is set to hear its challenges mid-January.

The government is already facing legal challenges to its similar interventions in other recent high-profile labour disputes.

Federal Conservatives win B.C. byelection

The federal Conservatives won a byelection in the British Columbia riding of Cloverdale-Langley City, the latest blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.

Tamara Jansen is returning to Ottawa as MP for the riding which she last represented from 2019 to 2021.

Jansen won the byelection Monday on the same day Trudeau was in Ottawa facing calls to resign after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland stepped down from cabinet on the day she was to deliver a fall economic statement.

Jansen defeated five other people on the ballot including Liberal candidate Madison Fleischer and Vanessa Sharma, who was representing the NDP.

The byelection in the Liberal-held riding was a third test for the Trudeau government that lost two long-held seats in byelections elsewhere in Canada earlier this year.

Past hydro blunder looms over N.L., Quebec deal

Some in Newfoundland and Labrador are urging the province to take a sober second look at the massive energy partnership with Quebec announced last week.

Historian Jerry Bannister worries the province will repeat the mistakes it made with the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam, which inched over the finish line in 2023 after years of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns.

The associate professor at Dalhousie University says politicians promised Muskrat Falls would usher in a new dawn for Newfoundland and Labrador – just as Liberal Premier Andrew Furey did last week when he announced a tentative agreement with Quebec.

Bannister says the government must commit to robust oversight of any new hydroelectric installations in the deal – a step the province did not seek for Muskrat Falls.

The Inuit Nunatsiavut government in Labrador is also warning of mistakes made with Muskrat Falls, and urging the government to take precautions so the land and hunting grounds around the projects are not contaminated.

Fatal fight linked to company cited in U.K. death

A mixed martial arts organizer being questioned by police about an Alberta fighter’s death is linked to a company earlier cited for safety concerns after a novice boxer died in the United Kingdom.

A senior coroner in Worcestershire, England, urges in a report that U.K.-based Ultra Events Ltd. improve its safety standards following the 2022 death of fighter Dominic Chapman. The company’s website promotes MMA and boxing fights, comedy shows and adventure trips.

Almost six months later near Edmonton, on Nov. 25, amateur MMA fighter Trokon Dousuah died of injuries he sustained two days earlier in a charity fight. The match was organized by Ultra MMA, which Ultra Events Ltd. says in an email is one of its brands.

The fight took place at a community centre on Enoch Cree Nation.

Mounties said they are interviewing Ultra MMA organizers and witnesses to determine the circumstances of Dousuah’s death.