Interest rate announcement and a moose’s ‘Garden of Eden’: In The News for March 10

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of March 10 …

What we are watching in Canada …

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada will provide a window into its thinking on the economy as it makes an announcement about its trendsetting rate.

The key policy rate has been at 0.25 per cent almost exactly one year after the central bank cut rates three times last March at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing it to the lowest it can go.

Governor Tiff Macklem has said the rate won’t move from the lower effective bound until an economic recovery is well underway, which the bank doesn’t expect to happen until 2023.

That has taken much of the drama out of today’s announcement.

Instead, experts will be looking closely at the wording the bank’s senior decision-makers put into the statement announcing the decision for clues on the bank’s outlook for the rate and its quantitative easing program.

The central bank is scheduled to release its updated economic outlook late next month as part of its quarterly monetary policy report. 

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Also this …

OTTAWA — A Manitoba man who rammed a gate at Rideau Hall before arming himself and heading on foot toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s home last July is expected to be sentenced today.

Corey Hurren, a 46-year-old sausage-maker and military reservist, had faced 21 weapons charges and one of threatening the prime minister.

He pleaded guilty last month to seven weapons charges related to possession of prohibited or restricted firearms “for a purpose contrary to the public peace” and one charge of mischief by wilfully causing $100,000 worth of damage to the Rideau Hall gate.

Crown prosecutors are seeking a six-year sentence, saying that Hurren’s actions posed a serious threat to public safety, and have asked that he be banned from owning any weapons for life.

Hurren’s lawyer says his client made a series of bad decisions and one correct one — to put the guns down.

Michael Davies is seeking a lesser sentence for his client, describing him as a hardworking member of society who suffered financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic that put him into a state of depression.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

WASHINGTON — Congress is poised to approve a landmark $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, placing President Joe Biden on the cusp of an early triumph that advances Democratic priorities and showcases the unity his party will need to forge future victories.

The House was expected to give final congressional approval today to the package, which aims to fulfil Democrats’ campaign promises to beat the pandemic and revive the enfeebled economy. House and Senate Republicans have unanimously opposed the package as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the dual crises are easing.  

For Biden and Democrats, the bill is essentially a canvas on which they’ve painted their core beliefs — that government programs can be a benefit, not a bane, to millions of people and that spending huge sums on such efforts can be a cure, not a curse. The measure so closely tracks Democrats’ priorities that several rank it with the top achievements of their careers, and despite their slender congressional majorities there was never real suspense over its fate.  

They were also empowered by three dynamics: their unfettered control of the White House and Congress, polls showing robust support for Biden’s approach, and a moment when most voters care little that the national debt is soaring toward a stratospheric $22 trillion. Neither party seems much troubled by surging red ink, either, except when the other is using it to finance its priorities, be they Democratic spending or GOP tax cuts.  

A dominant feature of the bill is initiatives making it one of the biggest federal thrusts in years to assist lower- and middle-income families. Included are expanded tax credits over the next year for children, child care and family leave plus spending for renters, feeding programs and people’s utility bills.  

The measure provides up to $1,400 direct payments to most Americans, extended emergency unemployment benefits and hundreds of billions for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, schools, state and local governments and ailing industries from airlines to concert halls. 

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

In countries with historic ties to Britain, allegations by Prince Harry and Meghan that an unnamed member of the Royal Family had “concerns” over the colour of their unborn baby’s skin have raised a thorny question: Do those nations really want to be so closely connected to Britain and its Royal Family anymore? 

It was expected the interview would expose more rifts in the Royal Family. Now it seems to be risking divisions within the “family” of the Commonwealth. 

After the TV interview, shown in the U.S. on the eve of Commonwealth Day, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cited it as another reason for the country to sever its constitutional ties to the British monarchy.  

The value of the Commonwealth has been debated before, with critics questioning if countries and people once colonized — and even oppressed — should remain in such an association with a former colonizer. Its stated aim is to improve international relations, but Britain’s relationship with the members has been clouded by diplomatic missteps and the legacy of empire. In a speech to mark Commonwealth Day on Monday, the Queen spoke of “the spirit of unity.”  

Charismatic royals like Harry and Meghan have been deployed in the past to Commonwealth-related events with young people, businesses and volunteer groups.  

But their interview this week “opens our eyes further” on the merits of the Commonwealth, wrote Nicholas Sengoba, a newspaper columnist in the former colony of Uganda.  

He cited “unresolved issues” in his country relating to the abuses of colonialism and questioned whether the heads of Commonwealth countries should still be “proud to eat dinner” with members of the British Royal Family, considering the accusations.  

Meghan, who is biracial, had said in the interview that an unidentified member of the Royal Family had raised “concerns” about the colour of her baby with Harry when she was pregnant with her son, Archie, and that the palace failed to help her when she had suicidal thoughts. Buckingham Palace said Tuesday the allegations of racism by Harry and Meghan were “concerning” and would be addressed privately by the Royal Family.

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On this day in 1947 …

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King announced that the Canadian garrison was withdrawing from Germany.

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News news …

BuzzFeed is closing HuffPost Canada’s operations and laying off 23 workers as part of a broad restructuring plan for the company, the U.S. digital media company said Tuesday. 

The decision follows the recent completion of BuzzFeed’s deal to buy HuffPost from wireless giant Verizon.

BuzzFeed said in a statement it is also laying off 47 HuffPost employees in the U.S. and beginning consultations in Australia and the U.K. to propose “slimming operations” in both places.

The New York-based company said the restructuring of HuffPost is not a short-term cost-cutting exercise.

“We are shifting to a model that will enable HuffPost to break even this year and eventually be profitable, and that requires both cost management through restructuring, along with revenue acceleration, which will be managed by BuzzFeed’s business organization,” the company said in an emailed statement. 

“As part of these changes, we have made the difficult decision to close HuffPost’s Canada and Quebec operations.”

HuffPost Canada said on a message posted to its website that it will no longer be publishing content.

It said existing content will be maintained as an online archive, but that certain site features will be permanently disabled as of March 12.

CWA Canada said about two dozen workers at HuffPost Canada had filed for union certification in February. 

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ICYMI …

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — A bull moose that mysteriously arrived inside the fenced perimeter at the airport in Prince George, B.C., ended up staying for weeks after finding itself alone in what an animal researcher says was an untouched “Garden of Eden.”

It took a joint effort involving conservation officers, airport rescue crews and university scientists to coax the moose through an open gate after the animal spent several weeks at the airport feasting on fresh tree growth, said Roy Rea, a University of Northern B.C. ecosystem science researcher.

The young bull never came near the airport runway, but it had to be moved out for the safety of airport operations and the animal itself, Rea said in a recent interview.

“He was hanging out along the fence line over by the bush,” he said. “We kept an eye on him and made sure he wasn’t going to create a danger. If that was going to happen, we were going to have to destroy him, but he wasn’t, so we worked to try and figure out a solution.”

The Prince George Airport is located about five kilometres southeast of the city and includes a forested area within its fenced perimeter of about 10 hectares.

Rea said it is not known how the moose got onto the airport grounds, but it’s suspected a recent storm blew open an unlocked gate and the moose walked through.

Once inside the fence, the moose found itself in a forested area of newly grown trees it would consider a “Garden of Eden,” he said.

“Nothing’s been eaten in there for a while, so it was a real cornucopia of things for him to eat,” said Rea.

However, Rea said there were signs the moose wanted to leave.

“While there was plenty of food to eat and he was safe from the wolves, I think he probably wanted to get back out because you could see his tracks up and down the fence line trying to figure out how to get out.”

The animal was spotted in late November and wasn’t convinced to leave until January, but it was only this month that the researchers revealed their wrangling success.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2021

The Canadian Press