Freeland set to table federal budget : In The News for Mar. 28

Predatory lending often involves short-term loans at sky-high high interest rates. Often marketed to people in financially precarious situations, they can create a cycle of debt tough to escape.

The Criminal Code currently caps the legal interest rate at 60 per cent effective annual interest, which has been the case since it was set in 1980 — a time when the key overnight rate set by the Bank of Canada was 21 per cent, compared to the 4.5 per cent it is today.

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Also this …

Almost three years after a man disguised as a Mountie started murdering people in Portapique, N.S., on the night of April 18, 2020, the senior RCMP officers and staff involved in the tragic case have all either retired or moved into new jobs.

Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University in Manitoba, says there’s no guarantee the inquiry’s findings will have much impact on the RCMP’s senior ranks.

“Police accountability is not easily realized, even in the most grave of circumstances,” said Schneider, who has published extensively on policing issues.

“Given how grave it was and how many people lost their lives … the RCMP could have, at the very least, demoted or meted out some sort of punishment to show the public that they were taking it seriously.”

The commission of inquiry, which started public hearings in February 2022, is scheduled to release its final reports and recommendations on Thursday.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

The former student who shot through the doors of a Christian elementary school in Nashville and killed three children and three adults had drawn a detailed map of the school, including potential entry points, and conducted surveillance of the building before carrying out the massacre.

Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake did not say exactly what drove the shooter to open fire Monday morning at The Covenant School before being killed by police. But he provided chilling examples of the shooter’s elaborate planning for the targeted attack, the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country that has grown increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.

“We have a manifesto, we have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident,” he told reporters. “We have a map drawn out of how this was all going to take place.”

He said in an interview with NBC News that investigators believe the shooter had “some resentment for having to go to that school.”

The victims included three 9-year-old children, the school’s top administrator, a substitute teacher and a custodian. Amid the chaos a familiar ritual played out: Panicked parents rushed to the school to see if their children were safe and tearfully hugged their kids, and a stunned community held vigils for the victims.

Police gave unclear information on the gender of the shooter. For hours, police identified the shooter as a 28-year-old woman and eventually identified the person as Audrey Elizabeth Hale. Then at a late afternoon press conference, the police chief said that Hale was transgender. After the news conference, police spokesperson Don Aaron declined to elaborate on how Hale currently identified.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

Russia’s Defense Ministry says Moscow has test-fired anti-ship missiles in the Sea of Japan.

The ministry said Tuesday that two boats launched a simulated missile attack on a mock enemy warship about 100 kilometres away. The ministry said the target was successfully hit by two Moskit cruise missiles.

The Moskit, whose NATO reporting name is the SS-N-22 Sunburn, is a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile that has conventional and nuclear warhead capacity. The Soviet-built cruise missile is capable of flying at a speed three times the speed of sound and has a range of up to 250 kilometres.

It said the exercise, which included other warships and naval aircraft, took place in the Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan but did not give more precise coordinates. The gulf borders the Russian Pacific Fleet headquarters at Fokino and is about 700 kilometres from Japan’s northern Hokkaido Island.

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Japan reacted calmly to the missile exercise, which was conducted near Vladivostok, rather than directly into the waters between the two countries. Tokyo does not plan to lodge a protest to Russia over the missile exercise, said Tasuku Matsuki, Japanese Foreign Ministry official in charge of Russia, noting that its location _ Peter the Great Bay _ is considered Russian coast, though it is facing the water between the two countries.

“On the whole, Japan is concerned about Russia’s increasing military activities around the Japanese coasts and watching them with great interest,” Matsuki said.

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On this day in 1928 …

Ottawa’s first automatic street light system began operation.

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In entertainment …

Gwyneth Paltrow’s attorneys are expected to call a series of experts and read depositions from her two teenage children on Tuesday in the first full day of the movie star’s trial that they have to call witnesses to make their case.

Due to the trial’s judge-imposed eight-day clock, Paltrow’s defense team is expected to face tough time management decisions much like Sanderson’s did throughout last week as they attempt to juggle family members, ski instructors and experts in skiing and brain science.

Paltrow is in court fighting a lawsuit from Terry Sanderson, the 76-year-old retired optometrist suing her for more than $300,000 over a 2016 ski collision that he says left him with broken ribs and years of lasting concussion symptoms. The actor and Goop founder-CEO has denied Sanderson’s claims that she crashed into him, countersuing for $1 and contending that he, in fact, skied into her.

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Did you see this?

The booming population of Canada geese is “wreaking havoc” on Vancouver’s green spaces, and the park board is asking for help in keeping their numbers in check.

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation wants the public to report a nest sighting so staff can replace the eggs with ones that have been frozen to help control the population.

Vancouver is an ideal habitat for the birds, with few natural predators and plenty of newly seeded fields and lawns.

However, the board says the birds have an inefficient digestive system, prompting them to defecate about every 12 minutes, presenting “a significant challenge” to clean.

It says their growing population causes damage to parks, pollutes outdoor swimming pools and beaches, and destroys juvenile salmon habitat, in addition to their aggressive behaviour during mating season.

The board says replacing eggs, in a process known as addling, is one of the most humane ways to control the birds’ population, and staff have federal government approval for the practice.

The board says in a statement that in the last decade, thousands of goose eggs have been addled.

“Ultimately, the success of the program is dependent upon the public’s support in reporting nests. Geese have adapted to the urban landscape by nesting in spaces far above ground, typically balconies, ledges and rooftops.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 28, 2023.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Freeland set to table federal budget : In The News for Mar. 28

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