Heat warnings across Canada, BoC inflation lessons : In The News for July 21

The weather agency reminds people that hot and humid air can also bring deteriorating air quality, and encourages them to watch for the effects of heat illness, which includes swelling, rash, cramps, fainting, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

British Columbia’s Public Safety Ministry is also alerting people to be ready for a heat wave, releasing a statement that while an extreme heat emergency is not expected, heat warnings are possible in some areas, beginning as early as Saturday and continuing into next week.

Environment Canada says heat in the mid- to high 20s should reach the south coast and parts of the northern Interior by next week, while the Okanagan, central and southeastern B.C. could see temperatures nudging the high 30s over the same period.

The ministry says a heat plan is “critical” and people should identify cool zones in their homes and at nearby community centres or libraries.

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Also this …

Soaring prices in Canada have sparked comparisons between today’s challenges and high inflation of the 1970s and ’80s, but economists say a major difference is the Bank of Canada’s role in combating inflation.

Canada suffered through years of high inflation after global events in the 1970s caused a surge in food and energy prices.

Looking back, economists say the Bank of Canada was slow to raise interest rates, causing inflation to persist and leading the economy into an eventual recession.

Western University economics professor Stephen Williamson says the Bank of Canada has learned from that experience and is now equipped with a mandate to maintain an inflation target that came into effect in 1991.

Canada’s annual inflation rate in June was 8.1 per cent, the highest its been in nearly 40 years.

The Bank of Canada recently raised its key interest rate by a full percentage point and economists expect another supersized rate hike in September.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

WASHINGTON _ Matthew Pottinger was a journalist in China, concerned about the country’s drift toward authoritarianism, when he decided _ at age 31 _ to enlist in the U.S. Marines after the invasion of Iraq.

“Our form of government is not inevitable,” Pottinger recalled thinking during an interview two years ago with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. “And it shouldn’t be taken for granted. But it’s a form of government very much worth fighting for.”

Pottinger had no way of knowing when he put on his military uniform for the first time how close to home that battle for democracy would get. He became deputy national security adviser to President Donald Trump, and he resigned after the Jan. 6 attack that tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power to President Joe Biden.

On Thursday, he’ll be one of the key witnesses at a prime-time hearing of the select House committee investigating the attack. The other is Sarah Matthews, who resigned from her position as a deputy press secretary the same day.

Pottinger and Matthews will join Cassidy Hutchinson, a former assistant to Mark Meadows, Trump’s final chief of staff, in the exclusive club of Trump White House insiders who have appeared publicly. Their appearances stand in blunt contrast to the cadre of Trump loyalists who have tried to defy the committee’s subpoenas, remained silent or continued to dismiss the investigation’s findings.

Any details on what Pottinger and Matthews will share on Thursday have been kept under wraps, but the hearing is expected to focus on what Trump did _ and didn’t do _ as his supporters swarmed the U.S. Capitol and interrupted the ceremonial certification of the election.

Roughly three hours elapsed between Trump’s speech at a rally near the White House and his release of a video calling the rioters “very special” but asking them to “go home now.”

Pottinger, 49, and Matthews, 27, may be able to illuminate what was happening behind the scenes as Trump resisted pleas from family, aides and Republicans to condemn the riot and urge people to leave the building.

As a member of the press office, Matthews was privy to debates over what the White House and Trump should say publicly during the riot and what other aides advised. And although Pottinger was focused on foreign policy, his position placed him at the crossroads of national security matters.

Whatever they saw that day, they decided to quit, helping to begin an exodus that included other White House staff and various Cabinet officials.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

BERLIN _ Natural gas started flowing through a major pipeline from Russia to Europe after a 10-day shutdown for maintenance, the operator said. But the gas flow was expected to fall well short of full capacity on Thursday and the outlook was uncertain.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Germany had been closed since July 11 for annual maintenance work. Amid growing tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, German officials had feared that the pipeline _ the country’s main source of Russian gas, which recently has accounted for around a third of Germany’s gas supplies _ might not reopen at all.

Operator Nord Stream AG said that gas started flowing again Thursday morning, and its network data showed gas beginning to arrive after the scheduled end of maintenance at 6 a.m.

Deliveries were expected to fall well below the pipeline’s full capacity. Nord Stream said a similar amount of gas was expected to that seen before maintenance, German news agency dpa reported. The head of Germany’s network regulator, Klaus Mueller, said on Twitter that Russia’s Gazprom had notified deliveries Thursday of only about 30 per cent of the pipeline’s capacity.

In mid-June, state-owned Gazprom cut the flow to 40 per cent of capacity. It cited alleged technical problems involving equipment that partner Siemens Energy sent to Canada for overhaul and couldn’t be returned because of sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Canadian government earlier this month gave permission for the turbine that powers a compressor station at the Russian end of the pipeline to be delivered to Germany.

The German government has rejected Gazprom’s technical explanation for the gas reduction, charging repeatedly that it was only a pretext for a political decision to sow uncertainty and further push up energy prices. It has said the turbine was a replacement that was only supposed to be installed in September, but that it’s doing everything to deprive Russia of the pretext to reduce supplies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Gazprom still hadn’t received the relevant documents for the turbine’s return _ a claim repeated Wednesday by Gazprom. Putin said that Gazprom was to shut another turbine for repairs in late July, and if the one that was sent to Canada wasn’t returned by then the flow of gas would decline even further.

The head of the European Union’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday that the turbine was “in transit” and there was “no pretext not to deliver” gas. The Commission proposed that member countries cut their gas use by 15 per cent over the coming months as the bloc braces for a possible full Russian cutoff of gas supplies.

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On this day in 1975 …

A bill creating a federal human rights commission with powers to stop discrimination by businesses under federal jurisdiction was introduced in the Canadian House of Commons. The bill outlawed discrimination by employers on grounds of race, sex, colour, religion, age or marital status.

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In entertainment …

SAN DIEGO _ The pop culture extravaganza that is Comic-Con International is back to its old extravagance. Stars, cosplayers and hordes of fans are filling the San Diego Convention Center in full force for the first time since 2019.

The pandemic necessitated virtual versions of Comic-Con in the summers of 2020 and 2021, and a scaled-back in-person version in November, but none were anything like the usual spectacle, with lovers of all things geeky descending from around the globe and arena-sized panels on films and TV shows that resemble sporting events.

It’s not clear whether the convention will draw the estimated 135,000 people who flooded San Diego before the pandemic. But when the doors of the Convention Center opened for Wednesday’s preview night, the fans came in droves, mobbing the convention floor. As required, nearly all wore masks _ the protective kind, not the supervillain kind, though there were plenty of those too _ and the excitement amid the crowd was palpable.

“Everybody’s just been cooped up for a while, and they’ve been anticipating this,” said Dinh Truong, 34, who came to Comic-Con for the second time from his hometown of Minneapolis. “It’s nice just to see everybody in the same atmosphere. I’m excited to see the program, see what’s going on, see everybody cosplaying and all that, and just getting back to what we used to be.”

Far bigger crowds are expected Thursday, when the events begin in earnest.

Comic-Con makes most of its news as a venue to show off trailers and footage from forthcoming films and TV shows during star-studded mega-panels held in Hall H, which holds some 6,000 people.

Announced panels include Warner Bros. and the DC Universe’s “Black Adam.” It will include Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who plays the titular anti-hero, director Jaume Collet-Serra, and the stars playing Hawkman, Dr. Fate, and other members of the Justice Society.

Marvel may hold back its best material for Disney’s forthcoming D23 Expo, but is expected to tease its next film, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and the Disney+ TV series “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.”

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Did you see this?

BOWDEN, ALBERTA _ The Parole Board of Canada has granted the trucker who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash day parole for six months.

Following an emotional, seven-hour hearing at Bowden Institution on Wednesday, the two-member board panel said Jaskirat Singh Sidhu will get full parole after those six months if he follows all conditions, including no contact with the families of the victims.

Sidhu was sentenced to eight years after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving charges for the 2018 crash that killed 16 and injured 13.

Sidhu went through a stop sign at a rural Saskatchewan intersection and drove into the path of the junior hockey team’s bus as it was on its way to a playoff game.

Family members of four of the Humboldt victims addressed the board, asking that they deny parole for Sidhu.

“Where is the faith where we hold people accountable to our laws? I’ve lost all faith in justice in our country to ensure we are safe on the roads,” said Shauna Nordstrom, whose son Logan Hunter died in the crash.

She had little sympathy for Sidhu and his wife, who is also from India.

“This couple wanted to start a life together, but if our rules are broken, there are consequences and your consequence is serving your sentence and then deportation. You really messed up your one chance,” she said.

“My son did not get a chance and we are serving a life sentence.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2022.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Heat warnings across Canada, BoC inflation lessons : In The News for July 21

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