NEWSBRIEFING
An at-a-glance survey of some top stories for Monday, Nov. 6:
CANADA SEEK CHANGES TO TPP IN 3 YEARS
Canadian negotiators are pushing for three key changes to the original TransPacific Partnership as leaders of the remaining countries interested in reviving the controversial treaty prepare to meet this week. A senior government official says Ottawa’s negotiating team is seeking modifications to the original TPP deal in many areas — but primarily in the intellectual-property provisions, its approach on cultural exemptions and Canada’s supply management system for dairy, poultry and eggs. The 11 remaining TPP economies have moved ahead with talks in recent months in an effort to resurrect the Pacific Rim deal after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew earlier this year.
NEW MONTREAL MAYOR WANTS TO GET GOING ON PROJECTS
Montreal’s new mayor says she wants to get going quickly on projects with the provincial and federal governments, including a 29-stop subway line.
“We can’t wait five, 10 years — the (infrastructure) money is there now,” Valerie Plante said Monday, a day after causing a major surprise by winning more than 51 per cent of the vote to defeat incumbent Denis Coderre.
Plante is promising open and transparent government and noted her leadership style is starkly different from Coderre’s.
Plante, 43, said she was “honoured” at becoming Montreal’s first female mayor.
Her campaign promises included improving public transit and lessening road congestion, as well as adding green spaces and social housing.
TEXAS CHURCH SHOOTING STEMMED FROM DOMESTIC
The gunman who opened fire in a small Texas church, killing 26 people during worship services, sent threatening text messages to his mother-in-law before the attack and had been confronted about domestic violence at least twice in the last five years, authorities said Monday.
The deadliest mass shooting in state history claimed multiple members of some families, with the dead ranging from 18 months to 77 years old, and tore gaping holes in a town with a population of 400.
The massacre, which happened Sunday morning, appeared to stem from a domestic situation and was not motivated by religion, Texas Department of Public Safety regional director Freeman Martin said.
ACTRESS’S LAWYERS CAN’T FIND HARVEY WEINSTEIN
A lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein alleging the Hollywood mogul sexually assaulted an Ontario actress nearly two decades ago is being allowed to proceed even though lawyers have not been able to track him down.
A Toronto court gave the woman’s lawyers permission to file a statement of claim Monday despite their failure to serve Weinstein and his former assistant, who is also named as a defendant, with legal documents.
Alex Smith, who represents the actress, said they tried and failed to serve Weinstein at his home in Westport, Conn., and believe he could also be in Phoenix or somewhere in Europe. The court issued an order Monday for substituted service, meaning lawyers can take other means to serve the defendants with the lawsuit instead of doing so in person.
CHRETIEN, BRONFMAN DENY OFFSHORE TAX HAVEN LINK:
A former Liberal prime minister and the party’s top fundraiser are firing back at reports that raise questions about their connections to offshore tax havens.
Former prime minister Jean Chretien and businessman Stephen Bronfman both say reports suggesting they were involved in any tax avoidance scheme are false.
The pair are among more than 3,000 Canadian individuals and entities whose names come up in a leak of some 13.4 million financial records, dubbed the Paradise Papers, that outline details of offshore accounts that could be used to avoid paying high tax rates.
Neither the CRA nor any court has determined the Canadians did anything wrong. Among the leaked records is a register of investors in Madagascar Oil, which lists Chretien as having received 100,000 stock options. Chretien says Madagascar Oil was a client of Heenan Blaikie, a nowdefunct Canadian law firm.
As a lawyer with the firm, Chretien said he did some work for Madagascar Oil, but all fees were billed by and paid to the law firm itself.
FAMILIES LOSING PATIENCE FOR NO-FLY KID WOES
A gaggle of young constituents — and their parents — descended on Parliament Hill on Monday to press politicians to resolve ongoing airport hassles children face due to security list snags.
Ten families from the group known as the No Fly List Kids planned to make their case to MPs and ministers with the aim of ensuring that funding for a new computer system to fix the problem is included in the 2018 federal budget.
Parents of children who have repeatedly endured nerve-wracking airport delays because a youngster’s name matches one on a no-fly list say federal security legislation now before Parliament will do nothing in the short term to ease their woes.
The government is proposing an amendment to the Secure Air Travel Act that would allow the public safety minister to tell parents that their child is not on the Canadian no-fly list, meaning the name simply matches that of someone who is actually listed.
The government says this would provide assurance to parents about their child’s status.