National Identity
Every year, French caretakers spend hours preparing the grave markers at the American cemetery in Normandy — nearly 10,000 of them.
In the United States, citizens spend Memorial Day remembering and honoring the service members who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms and liberties the rest of us enjoy – but for those who never made it home, some of the host nations do what they can to honor the Americans who fell defending them.
In Normandy, for example, they routinely bring sand from D-Day’s most brutal landing site — Omaha Beach — and use it to darken the names and dates inscribed in the otherwise plain white marble crosses that cover the landscape.
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Read MoreNDP leader Jagmeet Singh put forward a motion on Monday asking David Johnston to step down from his role as special rapporteur, who is investigating foreign interference in Canada.
“We’ve tabled a motion … that will be debated tomorrow in the House,” Singh told reporters.
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Read MoreKEY POINTS
Jean-Noël Barrot says the EU ban is imminent if Twitter “repeatedly” refuses to follow bloc’s rules
Twitter has pulled out of the EU’s voluntary disinformation code
The EU law aims to limit the spread of illegal and harmful content online
France’s digital minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Monday lashed out against Elon Musk-owned Twitter, threatening to ban the social media platform in the European Union if it “repeatedly” refuses to abide by the bloc’s rules for digital platforms.
“Disinformation is one of the gravest threats weighing on our democracies. Twitter, if it repeatedly doesn’t follow our rules, will be banned from the EU,” Barrot told radio network France Info, according to a translation by Politico.
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Read MoreThe City of Calgary is reinstating its Canada Day fireworks display after widespread outrage over its decision to axe the show over apparent racist and climate impacts.
The backlash included a letter from Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel Garner and a petition launched by Common Sense Calgary.
“We have heard from many Calgarians as well as members of City Council that while the pilot program is valued, they would also appreciate an aerial fireworks display to celebrate on July 1,” said Calgary City Manager David Duckworth.
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Read MoreFormer Canadian prime ministers Stephen Harper and Kim Campbell are among more than 100 world leaders who’ve signed a letter calling for democratic reform in Iran and efforts to hold “regime officials accountable.”
The letter, sent to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, US President Joe Biden, and European Council President Charles Michel, was signed by 109 former heads of government and state, including former British prime minister Liz Truss and former American vice-president Mike Pence.
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Read MoreThe City of Toronto is reversing its decision to cancel the city’s popular Canada Day celebration after receiving enormous backlash from residents.
A number of Torontonians let their voices be heard on social media after news broke that the Canada Day fireworks display at Nathan Phillips Square was going to be cancelled this year due to a lack of funding.
A City of Toronto volunteer shared an email they had received from the city on Twitter, which outlined the rationale for cancelling Canada Day programming. The volunteers were told that the funds secured for the event at Nathan Phillips Square were inadequate and that the fiscal constraints requires a “very conservative approach to planning.”
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Read MoreCabinet’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into claims of illegal activities by Chinese agents was predictable, a Bloc Québécois MP yesterday told the House affairs committee. “The walls are closing in,” said MP Marie-Hélène Gaudreau (Laurentides-Labelle, Que.). “That’s enough.”
“Partisanship is winning out over the integrity of our democracy,” said Gaudreau. “I have said it before and I’ll say it again, we in the Bloc are not out to get power, we are out to get information. And to get information you need experts and there needs to be a public inquiry.”
The Commons on March 23 voted 172 to 149 to “launch a national public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in Canada’s democratic system.” The motion asked that the investigation be led by a judge selected by all House leaders with powers to compel testimony and subpoena documents. It followed a similar vote by Conservative, Bloc and New Democrat MPs in the House affairs committee on March 2.
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Read MorePrime Minister Justin Trudeau in a 2010 radio interview described David Johnston as a frequent dinner companion with whom he had “great conversations.” Johnston on Tuesday dismissed his “so-called friendship” with Trudeau as insignificant.
“We had great conversations around dinner tables around all sorts of things,” Trudeau told CBC Radio in an interview marking Johnston’s 2010 appointment as governor general. “I always respected him as a man who was very personable, very real and very, very smart,” Trudeau said at the time.
James Fitz-Morris, the CBC reporter who interviewed both Johnston and Justin Trudeau, said in his original broadcast: “Pierre Trudeau and Johnston were friends. The families often vacationed together, the three Trudeau boys and five Johnston girls.”
Fitz-Morris, now a political aide, yesterday said he could not recall the source of his report that the families vacationed together. “I remember the interview and the story,” said Fitz-Morris. “I don’t remember where that piece came from.”
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Read MoreTheir declaration comes just five weeks before more environmental regulations and taxes come into effect, as dictated by Trudeau’s climate czar – the CN Tower scaler himself – Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
The Clean Fuel Regulations and yet another carbon tax increase are set for July 1, which P.E.I Premier Dennis King said will cost citizens 17 cents extra per litre for home heating fuel.
“Consumers here have been hit hard with inflation and we can’t take any more cost at the pump, and to have a double whammy like this will impact our economy,” King said.
“And that’s going to be difficult for Islanders and for Atlantic Candians to absorb,” he added.
King further said that, on top of inflation hitting Atlantic provinces hard, “we don’t have a whole lot of options in terms of we have one major refinery that produces most of the fuel that we use for the region.”
The Atlantic Premiers met with climate change Minister Guilbeault virtually on Wednesday. They also expressed worry that the regulations would impact the cost of imported goods, and fuel prices and supplies.
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Read MorePrime Minister Justin Trudeau attempted to have a low-key visit to Woodstock Ontario to help a local candidate in a byelection — and got mouthed off by local residents who spotted him.
One protester called him a pedophile and accused the Prime Minister of killing people — presumably by his intense coercion of the COVID vaccine that ultimately killed some Canadians.
In a video released on social media of the incident, a crowd can be heard hurling insults at the Prime Minister while he was outside a local shop.
The regular “F&$# Trudeau” chant can be heard, while Trudeau just smiled and walked on by.
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