Apr 12 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Conservative leadership candidate Patrick Brown says he will “lift the ban” on a designated terrorist organization known as the Tamil Tigers, open up immigration to “any Tamil family that wants to come to Canada” and, as prime minister, would apologize for Canada’s failure to help Tamil refugees as it has Ukrainians or the Vietnamese boat […]
Apr 3 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Russia’s war on Ukraine was fully underway three weeks ago when the leaders of Canada, Latvia and Spain and the head of NATO stood overlooking a muddy brown field in Latvia strewn with light armoured vehicles. Standing a few hundred kilometres from the Russian border, gun-toting soldiers of 10 different NATO countries had paused a […]
Mar 13 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — In international diplomacy, what you see in public — the speeches and photo ops — is a smoothly polished version of rough-and-tumble conversations that rarely spill out in the open. But this week, at a critical moment in modern history with the world still in a pandemic, the reverse was often true.
Mar 9 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Canada and European leaders condemned Russia’s bombing of a Ukrainian maternity hospital as an atrocity. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Russian President Vladimir Putin would be held accountable by the International Criminal Court for “war crimes he’s committed in Ukraine.” Trudeau made the comment after delivering a foreign policy speech in Berlin on the […]
Mar 1 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Canada’s opposition lawmakers are backing the Liberal government’s response to the crisis in Ukraine, for now, but their calls for further action hint at political fault lines that could crack that united front. Conservative Interim Leader Candice Bergen told the Commons during a parliamentary debate Monday night that the Official Opposition “fully supports the actions […]
Feb 18 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — An Ottawa judge has frozen the bank accounts and digital “wallets” of convoy leaders believed to hold more than $1 million in bitcoin and cryptocurrency after an extraordinary secret hearing. Late Thursday, Ontario Superior Court Justice Calum MacLeod granted an injunction to a private citizens’ effort to stanch the flow of money that was a […]
Feb 13 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — The Ottawa Police Service has no detailed plan for how it would use the 1,600 reinforcements it is seeking and exactly how Chief Peter Sloly intends to end the protest, the Star has learned. That’s the reason why the force has not yet received the massive extra officers, on top of the “hundreds” that it […]
Jan 26 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — The Liberal government is expected to extend Canada’s support to Ukraine by re-committing to the military training mission in Ukraine, but sources say a final decision has not yet been made, even as Ottawa orders family members of Canadian embassy personnel in that country to leave. “The safety and security of Canadians, our personnel and […]
Jan 21 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — As international talks to quell Russia-Ukraine tensions ended Friday with no clear shift away from looming conflict, Ukraine made clear it wants the Canadian government to do more, including send weapons and more military personnel, even as it accepted a $120-million loan offered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau told reporters he is looking at […]
Jan 18 2022 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has condemned Quebec’s plan to slap a charge or tax on unvaccinated persons, calling it a threat to basic principle of universal access to health care in Canada. In his first news conference of the new year ahead of a caucus retreat, Singh told reporters he opposes what’s been called an […]
Dec 18 2021 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — A ban on non-essential travel by foreign nationals to Canada is still under consideration by the federal government, the Star has learned. The idea of shutting Canada’s borders to non-essential traffic in the face of the onset of the COVID-19’s Omicron variant was among four options that the federal cabinet considered Tuesday morning and that […]
Dec 13 2021 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he won’t immediately intervene in Quebec’s debate over Bill 21 because he doesn’t want the Quebec government to politically weaponize any federal intervention. At a news conference in Ottawa, Trudeau offered the first clear explanation about why his Liberal government has adopted a hands-off approach to a provincial law that […]
Dec 7 2021 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Canada’s outgoing ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, was running on about three hours’ sleep when he finally climbed aboard a plane in Tianjin. It was Saturday morning in China, still Friday night in Canada. On board were the “two Michaels” — Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — free at last and en route home — […]
Nov 30 2021 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Canada is adding Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt to the list of African countries from which it is banning travellers amid concerns about the spread of COVID-19’s Omicron variant. The Star has confirmed the latest additions to the previous list of seven countries from which travellers will not be admitted to Canada, which was announced on […]
Nov 30 2021 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Canada’s doctors say the COVID-19 pandemic took a staggering toll on the health of Canadians, including those who didn’t contract it, with delayed surgeries and procedures costing thousands of lives and continuing to ravage people’s health. In a new report prepared by Deloitte for the Canadian Medical Association, researchers said it would cost at least […]