Canada’s pollution cap policy, border towns welcome tourists : In The News for Nov. 9

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In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Nov. 9 …

What we are watching in Canada …

A new poll following Canada’s announcement at the recent OP26 climate summit that it will cap and reduce pollution from the oil and gas sector toward net zero by 2050 finds 69 per cent of respondents support the plan.

Another 65 per cent of those responding to the online survey by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies also support the government’s new policy to stop exporting coal by 2030, a move which would end the trade abroad of about 36 million tonnes of the resource, currently 60 per cent of what the country produces.

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Despite general agreement on these issues, Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque says Canadians from fossil fuel-producing regions including Saskatchewan and Alberta tend to agree less on policies related to climate change because those changes directly affect their economies.

Meanwhile, respondents from Quebec led the other provinces in their support of Canada’s recent climate policy commitments, followed by British Columbia.

“In regions like B.C. or Quebec, we see that the level of agreement with reducing production and pollution is always higher because it doesn’t directly affect the economy,” said Bourque.

He added that one of the reasons why Quebec agrees more with these climate-related policies has to do with broad consensus in the province on reducing the use of fossil fuels.

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“There’s no opposition to that. There’s no voice that’s speaking on behalf of the industry that’s clearly being heard,” Bourque said.

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Also this …

Residents of a New York border town say they’re eager to welcome Canadians now that the United States has eased land border restrictions, but they worry that costly COVID-19 testing rules will keep many travellers away.

Several stores in Plattsburgh, N.Y., about an hour south of Montreal, are offering special discounts for Canadian shoppers, and are highlighting COVID-19 safety protocols.

On Monday, the United States reopened its land border with Canada to non-essential travel for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Several retail managers and residents who spoke to The Canadian Press said they welcomed the reopening but expressed concern about ongoing restrictions.

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The United States requires that travellers be fully vaccinated. But Canada also requires anyone entering or re-entering the country to show proof of a negative PCR test — which costs around $200 in Montreal private clinics.

Plattsburgh Mayor Christopher Rosenquest said Monday’s reopening will allow for the return of business travel, snowbirds passing through and people with homes or family in the area who are likely to stay longer — which he calls a “good first step.”

Rosenquest, however, called on the Canadian government to scrap the testing requirement, which he said would probably keep away the day trippers the city relied on in pre-pandemic times.

“We are looking forward to seeing those restrictions loosened up for more casual tourists that are coming to do some shopping or to get their oil change or do some travelling and hiking to the Adirondacks, things like that,” he said in a recent interview.

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“We miss our Canadian friends, we really do,” he said. “It’s such a pleasant cultural exchange to have Canadian travellers come and meet our friends, practise our French a little bit here and there. We really do miss it.”

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

PHOENIX — Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar was facing criticism after he tweeted a video that included altered animation showing him striking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword.

In a tweet Monday night, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., referred to Gosar as “a creepy member I work with” and said he “shared a fantasy video of him killing me.” She added that Gosar would face no consequences because Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “cheers him on with excuses.” She also said that institutions “don’t protect” women of colour.

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A fellow House Democrat, Ted Lieu of California, referred to Gosar’s tweet as “sick behaviour” and said in a tweet of his own: “In any workplace in America, if a coworker made an anime video killing another coworker, that person would be fired.”

Gosar, a Republican, posted the video Sunday afternoon with a note saying: “Any anime fans out there?”

The roughly 90-second video is an altered version of a Japanese anime series, interspersed with shots of border patrol officers and migrants at the southern U.S. border. During one roughly 10-second section of the video, animated characters whose faces have been replaced with Gosar and fellow Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado are seen fighting other animated characters.

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In one scene, Gosar’s character is seen striking the one made to look like Ocasio-Cortez in the neck with a sword.

Twitter later attached a warning to the tweet saying “it violated the Twitter Rules about hateful conduct. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”

Gosar is known as an ardent ally of former President Donald Trump. He was among the lawmakers whose phone or computer records a House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection asked social media and telecommunications companies to preserve as they were potentially involved with efforts to “challenge, delay or interfere” with the certification or otherwise try to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan on Tuesday said China is seeking to take control of the island by wearing down its military capabilities and influencing public opinion, while avoiding an all-out military conflict that could likely draw in the United States.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a biennial report that Beijing is employing “grey zone” tactics to ratchet up pressure on the self-governing island republic which China claims as its own territory.

China has been stepping up its threats to use force to against Taiwan by holding military exercises and sending planes close to the island.

During China’s National Day weekend in early October, China dispatched 149 military aircraft southwest of Taiwan in strike group formations, causing Taiwan to scramble aircraft and activate its air defense missile systems.

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The report said that reflects Beijing’s effort to degrade Taiwan’s air force through wear and tear and heavy requirements on its personnel. It said the strategy also includes cyberwarfare, propaganda and a campaign to isolate Taiwan internationally to force it to accept China’s terms without engaging in a shooting war.

China and Taiwan separated during a civil war in 1949. While the U.S. cut formal diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 in order to recognize Beijing, Washington is committed by law to ensure the island can defend itself and to treat all threats toward it as matters of grave concern.

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On this day in 1965 …

A failure of a relay device of Ontario Hydro’s Queenston generating station triggered a massive power failure. The outage extended from the Atlantic coast of the United States to Chicago, and from southern Ontario to Florida, lasting up to 12 hours. Officials attributed the blackout to a failure on a 345,000-volt line south of Niagara Falls, N.Y.

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In entertainment …

TORONTO — Kaya Usher is releasing an album later this month that she calls part of the “healing journey,” more than four years after her husband Gord Downie’s death.

The Toronto musician collaborated with two of her children and Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew to create “All This Is,” her 10-track debut set for release on Nov. 17.

Usher says the mostly instrumental record is shaped by the spiritual recovery that she embarked on after being diagnosed with breast cancer nearly a decade ago.

Kaya, who was born Laura Leigh Usher, saw the disease from a different perspective when Downie faced terminal brain cancer in late 2015. She says “All This Is” captures the love, connection and “real strength” that can be fostered after a significant loss.

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The album also makes an effort to realize what she says was a shared dream with Downie of one day forming a family band. Two of their four children play on the tracks, with their 21-year-old son Lou on keyboards and drums and their 26-year-old daughter Willo on harmonies.

“All This is” was produced earlier this year at the Tragically Hip’s famed Bathouse studio in Bath, Ont.

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ICYMI …

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Instead of a message in a bottle, it was the decals on a trash can that tell the story of a 5,600-kilometre voyage from South Carolina to Ireland.

Officials with Myrtle Beach say a waste barrel somehow floated away from their the coastal city and washed up in County Mayo, on Ireland’s northwestern coast.

The city says Keith McGreal wrote to them that he’d spotted a bright blue barrel with city stickers on it “and thought it would make a good news story.”

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“I wanted to share some images of a Blue Trash barrel that has been washed up on our local beach,” McGreal wrote, according to an exchange the city posted online.

City officials posted McGreal’s photos of the barrel, bearing shell encrustation and other signs of maritime immersion.

The city says the barrel likely got swept off the beach during a storm.

“We typically remove trash containers from the beach before a hurricane, but this one apparently had a mind of its own,” they said, adding that they’d “already had a city employee volunteer to come fetch it.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2021.