Canada's federal government's approval of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 megaproject ignores warnings that it would negatively impact endangered southern resident killer whales and threatened Chinook salmon. The 112-hectare artificial island will be built in one of the largest estuaries on the West Coast of North America, a critical ecosystem for marine biodiversity. The decision seems to contradict recent commitments made by the Canadian government to protect biodiversity and was made despite opposition from local governments and community members.
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has called China the “biggest long-term threat” to Britain while warning of its growing political and economic influence. Truss is the first former UK prime minister to visit self-ruled Taiwan since Margaret Thatcher's visit in 1990. She hailed the country as “an enduring rebuke to totalitarianism” whose fate was a “core interest” to Europe. China’s relations with Britain and other Western democracies remain in decline, as they dispute issues such as human rights, trade technology, China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea and its crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong.
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to dub China a “threat” to UK national security during a trip to Taiwan, making her the first former prime minister to visit Taiwan since Margaret Thatcher. Truss drew parallels between the tensions between China and Taiwan, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and urged the West not to collaborate with China, accusing totalitarian regimes of “not telling the truth”. During the Conservative Party leadership contest, Truss claimed that she would take a firm stance against the Chinese government and wished to classify it as a threat to UK national security. Her plans were never enacted after her short-lived time in No 10. Sunak labelled China as “the biggest long-term threat to Britain” during his leadership and pledged to close Beijing’s Confucius Institutes in the UK. The UK government is expected to guarantee that it will stop funding Mandarin teaching in the institutes. Despite this pledge, Truss prompted Sunak to deliver on the pledges to clamp down on China he made last summer. China described Truss’s visit to Taiwan as a “dangerous political stunt” that would harm the UK.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will hold talks with executives from Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics to discuss the investment in Japan and the opening of new chip plants in the country. The meeting is part of Kishida's efforts to strengthen Japan's semiconductor supply chains and enhance economic security.
Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has confirmed the Quad Summit, involving the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the US, will not go ahead without President Joe Biden. The leaders will instead meet at the Group of Seven meeting this weekend in Japan, following Biden's decision to withdraw from the Sydney summit to focus on domestic politics. Albanese said the Quad is an important organisation and expressed his disappointment at the lack of summit. He suggested Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, should still visit Sydney next week because he would be a very welcome guest.
Australia's wine exports to China may take years to fully recover from the steep tariffs imposed last year, according to Tim Ford, CEO of Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates. Despite recent signs that relations between the two countries are improving, Ford warned that "this isn't going to be a big tap that gets turned on overnight for us". Australian winemakers have sought new markets in the US and UK following the loss of their most lucrative market.
Deputy energy minister in the German economy ministry, Patrick Graichen, is leaving his post after a scandal involving nepotism emerged. Graichen had helped his best man get a job as the head of the German Energy Agency, leading to scrutiny of his relationship with Economy Minister Robert Habeck. Since then, irregularities in tender processes have been discovered at the economy ministry, leading to Graichen's departure.
Indonesian cabinet minister Johnny G. Plate has been arrested on corruption charges related to the procurement of equipment for building communications towers, which had been intended to bring internet to thousands of villages. The charges against Plate have led to a total of five ministers in President Joko Widodo's administration being charged with corruption. The alleged corruption has caused losses of $544m to the state, according to the Attorney General's Office. The Transparency International 2020 Corruption Perception Index saw Indonesia drop four points last year, placing it at 110 out of 180 countries.
The Canadian government has converted its delayed Africa strategy into a framework, arguing the change helps better reflect the policy’s original purpose. The Liberal Party had promised a strategy since last year to formulate the national approach to African countries, and take advantage of opportunities to engage with the African Continental Free Trade Area, a tariff project operating across 45 nations. Critics regard the recasting of the policy as evidence that Canada is treating Africa less seriously than it does other areas of the world. A formal approach to Africa is now expected to be presented to cabinet by autumn 2023.
During his first official visit to South Korea, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warns that authoritarianism is gaining ground and "antagonistic countries" are taking advantage of economic interdependence to their own geopolitical advantage. He adds that Canada and South Korea can be partners in addressing climate change, which is also a way to safeguard against geopolitical instability and build more resilient economies. The visit comes as both countries try to strengthen economic and military ties to counterbalance the influence of China.
Canadian democracy may have too many unwritten rules
CBC
23-05-17 08:00
Canada's basic democratic principles should be put in writing, according to a motion tabled by NDP MP Daniel Blaikie. While the tenets of the country's democratic system are widely understood, many of the issues surrounding issues such as confidence conventions are not set down in law or regulations. Blaikie's motion proposes a set of reforms that will clarify various aspects of the Canadian political system, in particular the confidence convention, which is at the heart of the country's parliamentary democracy. Key changes envisaged under the motion include making the budget a matter of confidence, creating a mechanism for no-confidence votes against the government, as well as requiring a government to seek an explicit vote of confidence immediately before, or after, prorogation. The motion is aimed at providing clarity and certainty around key aspects of the country's democratic system.
Vauxhall’s parent firm has warned that the UK car industry faces a severe threat, compromising thousands of jobs, without changes to post-Brexit trade arrangements with the European Union. Stellantis said it would be unable to meet the commitment to make electric vehicles in the UK without alterations to the Trade and Co-operation Agreement with the EU. Mhairi Black, the SNP’s Westminster deputy leader, accused both Labour and the Tories of ignoring the economic damage from Brexit: “Brexit Britain faces higher food prices, a lack of workers, a shrinking economy and a decline in living standards. Why is he happy to ignore those facts?” she said.
Talks between the Netherlands, UK, Denmark and Belgium on the possible delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine have yet to yield a solution, according to Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier said he had agreed with his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, to support the provision of fighter jets to Ukraine as part of an international coalition. Rutte had earlier stated that discussions about donating F-16 jets to Ukraine were progressing during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The UK government has been criticized for reversing its decision to close 30 Chinese Confucius Institutes, with such a move being described as “disproportionate”. The decision to cease funding such institutes was confirmed by the government, although it was argued that such action was not fully justified. Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith described the decision as “fundamentally wrong,” appearing to liken the move to the TV comedy Yes Minister in which policymakers vacillated on policy changes.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, scheduled to take place on Sunday, has been cancelled due to severe flooding in the region. The organisers decided that it would be irresponsible to hold an event of this size with stretched local emergency services. Although the circuit is not expected to be waterlogged, teams have quickly fallen behind on setting up the paddock. The situation became severe on Tuesday evening, prompting the evacuation of teams to which some of Alpine’s advanced team were forced to evacuate their hotel due to bad weather conditions. The decision was made following discussions between Formula 1, the FIA, the competent authorities, the Automobile Club of Italy, the president of Emilia Romagna Region, and others, which resulted in a unanimous decision to abandon the event.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden has labelled the leader and deputy of the UK Labour Party, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, the “Phil and Holly of British politics”. The comparison was made after Rayner criticised the Conservative government over its performance on issues including child poverty and the NHS during Prime Minister’s Questions. Last week, British television hosts Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, who work together on the show This Morning, were subject to rumours of a disagreement.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has expressed his desire to cut taxes before the next election as he claimed that the nation’s economy was bouncing back more quickly than analysts had anticipated. Sunak argued it was important to drive down inflation first before cutting taxes, but added that he was a “low tax Conservative" and wanted to cut people’s taxes. Sunak’s comments come after the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) claimed that one in five British workers would be paying the higher rate of income tax by 2027. The IFS also argued the tax burden is unlikely to return to 2020 levels for many years.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he is considering following President Biden's lead and restricting domestic companies from investing in critical industries in China. Sunak said he was "engaged in a dialogue" with the US and that UK authorities are carrying out "policy thinking on that particular area". Biden has indicated he is considering issuing an executive order to create a screening mechanism for outbound US technology investment, making it harder for China to obtain cutting-edge technology. Sunak said that a joint action over tougher controls on western investments in China was a "work in progress and would not be agreed at the G7 summit".
The Council of Europe is creating a 'register of damages' to record Russia's destruction of Ukraine over the past few years for future compensation. It will be lodged at the Hague and aimed to record the costs that Russia has exacted on Ukraine since the war began, not just morally, but financially. The action aims to hold Moscow accountable long-term for the situation in Ukraine. Germany’s government has said it is looking into further mechanisms to secure war damages, including the possibility of using frozen Russian assets as compensation.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak will not ban Chinese cultural organisation Confucius Institutes, despite pledging to. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also promised last summer to close the country’s 30 institutes, which provide culture and language classes to international students. Critics allege they could be used by the Chinese Communist Party for espionage. However, a Downing Street spokesman said banning the institutes would be disproportionate, and that official concerns about their activities would be reassessed. The institutes have been prohibited in Sweden and funding restricted by the US.
