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Randall Palmer News

28 Nov 2015

Canada to Aid Developing Nations Fight Climate Change

Canada will provide aid to developing countries to combat climate change, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Friday ahead of talks on global warming, which he has promised will show the country is serious about tackling the issue. Canada will give C$2.65 billion ($1.98 billion) over the next five years, the newly elected Trudeau announced during a trip to Malta, where he was meeting the heads of Commonwealth countries. The funding will help support the transition to low-carbon economies and will target the poorest and most vulnerable countries. The contribution is part of an agreement Canada made in 2009 to work with developed countries to provide $100 billion a year by 2020 from various sources.

14 Nov 2015

Canada PM Tells Minister to Modernize Energy Regulator

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed his natural resources minister to "modernize" Canada's independent pipeline regulator, said a letter released on Friday that gave details on the newly elected leader's environmental plans. Trudeau asked Natural Resources Minister James Carr to ensure the Calgary-based National Energy Board (NEB) has a balanced representation from across the country, as well as sufficient expertise in environmental science, community development and indigenous traditional knowledge. The Liberal prime minister on Friday published all of the mandate letters sent to his cabinet ministers, which instructed several of them to restore environmental legislation that was changed by the previous Conservative government.

13 Nov 2015

Canada to Ban Oil Tankers on Northern BC Coast

Photo: Transport Canada

Canada will push ahead with a moratorium on oil tanker traffic along the northern coast of British Columbia, effectively slamming the door on a controversial pipeline project that was already facing massive development hurdles. In a letter released on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed Transport Minister Marc Garneau to work with numerous other ministries to "formalize" the ban on oil tanker traffic, a Liberal campaign promise ahead of the federal elections last month.

08 May 2015

Philippines Says Important to Uphold Rights Over South China Sea

Philippine President Benigno Aquino, in remarks that follow Chinese warnings against Philippine flights over the South China Sea, said on Friday it was important to uphold the right to fly in that area. "It is in our interest to uphold the freedom of navigation and overflight in South China Sea, a region that is of vital importance not only to Southeast Asia but also to the rest of the global community," Aquino, who was visiting Canada, said during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. A day earlier, a Philippine military commander said in Manila that China had warned Philippine air force and navy planes at least six times to leave areas around the disputed South China Sea.

16 Jan 2015

Canada Picks Irving to Build Arctic Patrol Ships

Image courtesy of Irving

Canada has picked Nova Scotia's Irving Shipbuilding Inc to build at least five Arctic patrol ships for the country's navy for C$2.3 billion ($1.9 billion) and has increased the overall program's budget, government officials said on Friday. The total budget for building the ships, part of the government's efforts to exert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, has increased by C$400 million to C$3.5 billion, with C$1.2 billion of that to be used for such things as infrastructure, ammunition, administrative costs and final operating capability.

11 Jan 2015

Quebec's Oil-by-rail Victims to Get $200 mln Settlement

Victims of the Lac-Megantic oil-by-rail disaster that killed 47 people in the Canadian province of Quebec in 2013 agreed to a nearly $200 million settlement from Montreal Maine and Atlantic Canada Co and its U.S.-based parent company, a lawyer for the victims said in a statement on Friday. The settlement must be approved by the courts. If approved, the funds will be split between the wrongful death claimants, including the victims and their families, personal injury claimants, property damage claimants, insurers and government. (Reporting by Julie Gordon in Vancouver, David Ljunggren and Randall Palmer in Ottawa, editing by G Crosse)

22 Apr 2014

Canada To Keep Keystone XL Issue Alive With White House

Far from giving up on the Keystone XL pipeline to the United States, Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Tuesday Canadawould keep the issue alive with the Obama administration despite a further delay of the U.S. decision on whether to approve it. Oliver, who promoted the TransCanada Corp crude oil line as natural resources minister before taking over at finance last month, told reporters that the U.S. delay would affect economic growth and jobs on both sides of the border. He also said it was an issue of national security, pointing out that Venezuela had threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States five times in five years, and the Russian/Ukraine crisis had shown the vulnerability of Europe to non-reliable sources of energy.

17 Apr 2014

NATO to bolster defence of E.European Allies

NATO is sending part of its naval rapid reaction force to the Baltic Sea as part of a drive to step up the defence of eastern European allies in response to the crisis in Ukraine, the military alliance said on Thursday. Separately, Canada said it had offered six CF-18 fighter planes as its contribution to NATO efforts to beef up its presence in eastern Europe and reassure nervous allies there that NATO would protect them in the event of any Russian aggression. The Pentagon said it would extend its own deployment of F-16 fighter jets to Poland through the end of the year, and encouraged other NATO allies to contribute to the detachment.