The Wednesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

U.S., RUSSIA AT ‘LOW POINT’ AFTER MEETING IN MOSCOW: The United States and Russia laid bare their deep and dangerous divides on Syria and other matters Wednesday, as America’s top diplomat left an almost two-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin with the sense the countries have reached a “low point” in relations. That candid assessment by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reflected the former Cold War foes’ inability to forge greater co-operation, as U.S. President Donald Trump until recently has advocated. Even the one significant agreement Moscow suggested had been reached — to investigate last week’s chemical weapons attack in Syria — was quickly rejected by Washington. “There is a low level of trust between our two countries,” Tillerson told reporters in Moscow. Only minutes earlier, his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, had claimed the two countries agreed work together on a probe of the April 4 chemical weapons attack in northern Syria that prompted retaliatory American missile strikes. Washington blames Russia’s ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Moscow says Syrian rebels are responsible. But R.C. Hammond, a senior Tillerson aide, said flatly: “No agreements were reached.” And shortly afterward, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have demanded Syrian co-operation on the investigation.

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BANK OF CANADA SAYS NO RATE CUT ON THE TABLE: The head of the Bank of Canada said an interest rate cut was not on the table during the central bank’s latest policy decision, but also warned of persistent risks that suggest it will not hike the rate any time soon. The central bank held its trendsetting rate unchanged on Wednesday following an early-2017 run of data that exceeded its expectations. In January, Poloz had left the door open to a possible rate cut, citing the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. trade agenda and the lacklustre state of the Canadian economy. But following the string of solid numbers, the bank acknowledged the improvements Wednesday. It’s now predicting real gross domestic product to expand at an annual rate of 2.6 per cent this year, up from its January forecast of 2.1 per cent. A change in the bank’s outlook also suggested a rate hike could come sooner than the market had expected earlier this year. The positive momentum prompted the Bank of Canada to speed up its timetable for the economy to return to full capacity, which is now projected for early next year.

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POLOZ SAYS EVIDENCE OF SPECULATION IN GTA HOUSING: The Bank of Canada’s governor says there is increasing evidence of speculation in Toronto’s hot housing market, where the average price of a detached house has surpassed the $1.5-million mark. Stephen Poloz says demand is being driven more by speculators or investors, rather than by people buying a home for themselves. He says the market fundamentals can’t explain recent data that showed the average selling price for all properties in the Greater Toronto Area in March jumped 33 per cent from the same month last year. Poloz says when that happens. the rate of price increase is very unlikely to be sustainable, and he is reminding home owners and buyers that prices can go down as well as up. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has said her government is very close to bringing forward a package of measures to address housing affordability. Wynne is meeting with mayors from the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area today to discuss issues around housing. Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa has indicated a housing package will be in his spring budget, expected in the next couple of weeks. He has floated a number of possible measures, including implementing a tax on foreign buyers, speculators or vacant homes.

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CEO SAYS UNITED AIRLINES WON’T USE POLICE TO REMOVE PASSENGERS: The chief executive of United Airlines said the carrier will no longer ask police to remove passengers from full flights after the uproar over a man who was dragged off a plane by airport officers in Chicago. In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” aired Wednesday, Oscar Munoz said he felt “ashamed” watching video of the man being forced off the jet. He has promised to review the airline’s passenger-removal policy. Munoz, who leads United’s parent company, apologized again to Kentucky physician David Dao, his family and the other passengers who witnessed him being taken off the flight. “That is not who our family at United is,” he said. “This will never happen again on a United flight. That’s my promise.” In the future, law enforcement will not be involved in removing a “booked, paid, seated passenger,” Munoz said. “We can’t do that.” Munoz called the embarrassment a “system failure” and said United would reassess its procedures for seeking volunteers to give up their seats when a flight is full. United was trying to find seats for four employees, meaning four passengers had to deplane.

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MANY DRIVERS FACING RISING GAS PRICES: Drivers facing sticker shock from rising gas prices in many parts of Canada should expect to dig even deeper into their wallets as the summer approaches, says a leading expert on gas prices. The average price for regular unleaded in the country was about $1.15 per litre as of Wednesday afternoon, according to gas price tracking firm GasBuddy. That’s up almost five cents a litre in one day and 20 per cent from a year ago. The combination of higher ingredient costs for summer fuel, growing U.S. demand and the lower value of the loonie have caused prices in Eastern Canada to hit their highest level since October 2014, he said. The seasonal switch from winter fuel involves the replacement of butane with more expensive alkylates in blended summer gasoline. The growing use of premium fuels for new cars requiring turbo-charged power is also a factor, McTeague added. Pump prices in the Greater Toronto Area hovered around $1.16, while in Montreal they were $1.25, according to GasBuddy’s website. The highest average gas prices in Canada, aside from the Far North, were in Vancouver at $1.39, and the lowest were in Stonewall, Man., north of Winnipeg, at 99.5 cents.

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LAC-MEGANTIC NEGLIGENCE TRIAL TO BE BILINGUAL: The trial later this year for three ex-railway employees charged criminally in the Lac-Megantic train disaster will be heard by a bilingual jury in another town. A spokesman for the Crown says Quebec Superior Court Justice Gaetan Dumas ruled on the venue and language on Monday as lawyers argue several motions on the case this week. The July 2013 disaster killed 47 people in the small Quebec town and forced thousands from their homes as fire from a derailed train engulfed and destroyed most of the downtown core. Three ex-railway employees — train driver Thomas Harding, railway traffic controller Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre, the manager of train operations — have pleaded not guilty to 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death. Their bilingual trial is to be held in Sherbrooke instead of Lac-Megantic and is set to last from Sept. 11 to Dec. 21. Conviction on a charge of criminal negligence causing death carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. The bankrupt former railway company, Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway, was charged along with the three men and has pleaded not guilty to similar charges. It will face a separate trial at a later date.

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FORMER MOUNTIE GETS 15 YEARS FOR ABUSE OF SON: Police investigators watched and tearfully celebrated Wednesday as a former RCMP counter-terrorism officer who tortured and starved his son in the basement of his family’s suburban Ottawa home was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The sentence marked the end of what Justice Robert Maranger called a “horrific” case involving “the worst kind of abuse” inflicted on a boy who was 11 years old when he was found by a neighbour after having escaped his captivity in February 2013. The man, who cannot be identified under a court order protecting his son’s identity, was convicted in November of two counts of aggravated assault, one each of sexual assault causing bodily harm, unlawful confinement, assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life, and a range of firearms offences. After time already served, the 45-year-old faces 13 years and two months in prison. But he could be paroled sooner.

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POLICE CHIEF WINS COURT BATTLE BUT PROBE CONTINUES: A British Columbia Supreme Court ruling has narrowed the scope of a police complaint commission investigation into the actions of a suspended Victoria police chief, but a judge says the probe will proceed. The ruling has found that an internal investigation by the Victoria Police Board initially reprimanded Frank Elsner for discreditable conduct and misuse of his department’s devices after he sent sexually charged tweets to the wife of a subordinate officer. Justice Christopher Hinkson says those issues can’t be revisited by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, but it can examine whether Elsner contacted witnesses and if he gave misleading information to the subordinate officer and an independent investigator. Hinkson did not rule on Elsner’s request that the contents of the Twitter messages be banned from publication, saying the decision is up to the commissioner. Elsner had asked the courts to set aside the external investigation, arguing the commissioner did not have the authority to order another review after the completion of an internal probe. Elsner has been suspended with pay since April 2016 from his role as chief constable of the Victoria Police Department.

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FREDERICTON SUBURB WAS ONCE INDIGENOUS CAMP: The New Brunswick government says testing has revealed that a Fredericton suburb was once home to an indigenous encampment that is one of the oldest sites in northeastern North America. The site in Marysville, N.B., was uncovered during road construction. To confirm the site’s estimated age, charcoal samples from a firepit were sent for radiocarbon dating. The province says the resulting dates were slightly older than expected, indicating the site was occupied about 12,700 years ago. The area was once on the shoreline of a large glacial lake at the end of the last ice age. Archeological excavations last summer uncovered evidence of a small indigenous encampment, with thousands of fragments of stone tools, charcoal and animal-bone fragments. The province says the intact firepit was a rare find for an archeological site of this age. “The results of the radiocarbon testing are significant as the site will provide new insights into the lives of some of the first inhabitants of what is now New Brunswick,” Heritage Minister John Ames said in a statement. “These new radiocarbon dates not only confirm the antiquity of the site but also that central New Brunswick was occupied by indigenous peoples within a millennia of the melting of the last ice sheets.”

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

The Wednesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

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