Hello,
Today is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, an anniversary to mark the 1989 murders of 14 young women in Montreal who were killed because of their gender at École Polytechnique. The following are the names of the women who lost their lives on Dec. 6, 1989:
- Geneviève Bergeron, civil engineering student.
- Hélène Colgan, mechanical engineering student.
- Nathalie Croteau, mechanical engineering student.
- Barbara Daigneault, mechanical engineering student.
- Anne-Marie Edward, chemical engineering student.
- Maud Haviernick, materials engineering student.
- Maryse Laganière, budget clerk.
- Maryse Leclair, materials engineering student.
- Anne-Marie Lemay, mechanical engineering student.
- Sonia Pelletier, mechanical engineering student.
- Michèle Richard, materials engineering student.
- Annie St-Arneault, mechanical engineering student.
- Annie Turcotte, materials engineering student.
- Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, nursing student.
In the 30 years since the murders, women and girls continue to face violence because of who they are. And the gun used in the massacre continues to be legal, having dodged gun-control measures in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere. (The Liberal government said in the election campaign that it would ban military-style assault rifles, which could include the Mini-14.)
The House of Commons held a moment of silence this morning to mark the anniversary. Other events will be held across the country.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Yesterday’s Speech from the Throne – Governor-General Julie Payette’s first – featured a call for opposition parties to support the Liberal minority government’s agenda. Big emphasis was placed on climate change, reconciliation with Indigenous people and middle-class tax cuts, but less was said about Prairie provinces and their demands for help in the resources sector. The Bloc Québécois quickly said they would support votes on the Speech, ending speculation about whether the Liberal government would fall on this front. Ms. Payette, a former astronaut, put her own stamp on the Speech with a plea for parliamentarians to remember the space-time continuum.
The federal government has approved Alberta’s provincial carbon tax on industrial emitters, but a federal price on consumers is still set to kick in next year.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer says the Alberta government’s budget plan to cut taxes and cut spending may not be financially sustainable.
The Supreme Court says two Ontario companies are on the hook for paying the cleanup bill at a mercury-contaminated site at Grassy Narrows.
China’s ambassador to Canada says there will be retaliation if two senators go ahead with plans to push for sanctions against Chinese officials.
Statistics Canada’s monthly jobs report shows a drop in employment for November.
And Stephen Poloz says he is ready to call it a day. The Bank of Canada Governor announced this morning he would not seek a second term when his current one expires next June.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on the political calculations in yesterday’s Throne Speech: “The Prime Minister needs parliamentary support from the parties to his left on environmental issues, from the NDP, Bloc Québécois and Greens, and any explicit reference to pipelines in a Throne Speech might jeopardize that. And, in the next election, the Liberals will be counting on winning seats not in Alberta or Saskatchewan but in Quebec and B.C. where buying a pipeline was a liability.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on the finances: “To save its political skin, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government intends to cut taxes while ramping up spending on everything from electric-car subsidies to student loans. Bill Morneau – the Finance Minister who never says no – will preside over ballooning deficits and, if the economy goes awry, much worse. Pierre Trudeau, reduced to a minority government in 1972, spent his way back to a majority two years later. Like father, like son.”
Andrew MacDougall (Ottawa Citizen) on the Liberals working with other parties: “Trudeau met with the opposition leaders before his office put digits to keyboard but, other than a comma or perhaps a period, there doesn’t appear to be any sign of their influence on Liberal thinking.”
Doug Saunders (The Globe and Mail) on world leaders being slow to wake up to China: “A lot of those leaders were caught off-guard by how fast things changed, especially after Mr. Xi persuaded the party to change the constitution in 2017 to make “Xi Jinping Thought” the national ideology, to erase the line between the Party and the bureaucracy, and to extend his term of office indefinitely. China has changed quickly from an authoritarian state with multiple competing institutions of power into a totalitarian state with a single all-powerful leader.”
The Guardian editorial board, in PEI, on why Atlantic provinces should recruit Quebec public servants spurned by Bill 21: “Not to stoke the fire or anything, but Atlantic premiers should follow Manitoba’s example. After all, we respect diversity too, right? There are pockets of French speakers here, too, and heck, New Brunswick is bilingual. And we need new residents in Atlantic Canada more than ever, whether they’re from foreign countries or within our own, to help fight some tough demographic trends that are worrying policymakers whose job it is to figure out how to pay tomorrow’s bills.”
Elizabeth Renzetti (The Globe and Mail) on the anniversary of the Montreal massacre and its legacy of misogyny: “Sexism is not new, but virulent forms of radicalization are, and they appeal to men who feel marginalized in an unfair economic system and blame women, along with migrants, for their woes. These violent acts are intended to be sequential – one killer drawing inspiration from another – and yet lawmakers regard them as the crimes of an individual, not the consequences of an interconnected and poisonous ideology.”
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Chris Hannay