Emergency Act inquiry continues and U.S. midterms looming: In The News for Oct. 18

Testimony is then expected from outgoing councillor Diane Deans, who chaired the local police services board during the crisis and was ousted from the role just after the federal emergency was declared.

High-ranking officers from the Ottawa Police Service and Ontario Provincial Police are also slated to speak at the public inquiry this week.

The commission is examining the circumstances that led to the emergency declaration Feb. 14 and the measures taken to deal with the protest, which saw the occupation of an area of downtown Ottawa next to Parliament Hill.

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Also this …

A high-profile ally of former U.S. president Donald Trump is at the centre of an academic controversy at the University of New Brunswick, where the administration has promised an independent review of how he received a Ph.D. in 2013.

Doug Mastriano, a retired U.S. army colonel, was a little-known state senator in Pennsylvania until he took an active role in the movement to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat. In May, with Trump’s support, he won the Republican nomination to run for state governor, catapulting his far-right campaign into the national spotlight.

On Sept. 9, Mastriano’s academic credentials from UNB were called into question when The Associated Press reported allegations from scholars asserting that his doctoral dissertation was plagued by factual errors and amateurish archeology.

Mastriano has yet to publicly respond to the allegations. Calls to his Pennsylvania offices — in Chambersburg and Gettysburg — were not returned.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

The U.S. midterm elections are fast approaching, with a potential for plenty of surprises.

Election Day in 2018 saw Democrats flip more than 40 seats to regain the House majority. Anxiety over Donald Trump’s presidency was a major reason for the strong Democratic showing.

But those Democrats elected four years ago are campaigning in a much different political environment this year, with Trump out of office and voters concerned about the economy and crime.

Plus, many districts that were once competitive have been redrawn by Republican-dominated state legislatures to become more friendly to the GOP.

Those changes are leaving several Democrats in the Class of 2018 facing tough reelections.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

An Iranian female competitive climber left South Korea on Tuesday after competing at an event in which she climbed without her nation’s mandatory headscarf covering, authorities said.

Farsi-language media outside of Iran warned she may have been forced
to leave early by Iranian officials and could face arrest back home, which Tehran quickly denied. Iran’s Embassy in Seoul denied “all the fake, false news and disinformation” about Rekabi, but posted an image of her from Moscow wearing the hijab.

The decision by climber Elnaz Rekabi comes as protests sparked by the September death of a 22-year-old woman detained by the country’s morality police have entered a fifth week.

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On this day in 1919 …

Pierre Elliot Trudeau was born in Montreal. Well-educated and wealthy, he taught law in Montreal before entering Parliament as a Liberal MP in 1965.

He became justice minister in 1967 and succeeded Lester B. Pearson as Liberal leader and prime minister the following year. Trudeau was Canada’s first prime minister born in the 20th century.

His government’s legacy includes the 1969 Official Languages Act, and the 1982 patriation of the Constitution with the addition of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Trudeau remained in office until his 1984 retirement, except for a brief period when the Conservatives held power in 1979-80.

He died of cancer in Montreal on Sept. 28, 2000.

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In entertainment …

Danny Masterson, former star of the long-running sitcom “That ’70s Show,” is about to face three women in court who say he raped them two decades ago at a trial whose key figures are all current or former members of the Church of Scientology.

Opening statements could begin as early as Tuesday in the Los Angeles trial of the 46-year-old Masterson, and while a judge has expressed her determination not to have the church become the centre of the proceedings, it will inevitably loom large.

Masterson is charged with raping the women between 2001 and 2003 in his home, which functioned as a social hub when he was at the height of his fame. Masterson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

One of the women had been Masterson’s longtime girlfriend. Another was a longtime friend, and the third a newer acquaintance. All three were members of the Church of Scientology, as Masterson still is. All three accusers have since left, and they said the church’s insistence that it deal internally with problems between members made them hesitant at first to go to authorities.

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Did you see this?

Donald Trump’s private company arranged for the Secret Service to pay for rooms at his properties in excess of government-approved rates at least 40 times; including two charges for more than $1,100 per room, per night.

That is according to documents released Monday by a congressional committee investigating the former president.

The House Oversight Committee said the Secret Service was charged more than $800 per night at least 11 times by his properties.

The Trump Organization denied anything improper. It said it provided rooms to the Secret Service at cost or a deep discount, adding that its business did not profit at all from the presidency.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2022

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Emergency Act inquiry continues and U.S. midterms looming: In The News for Oct. 18

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