Trudeau’s 2001 ‘brown face’ and moving Beyond Meat; In-The-News for Sept. 19

Trudeau apologized profusely for having indulged in what he acknowledged to be a racist act during an “Arabian Nights”-themed party at a Vancouver private school where he once taught.

He conceded it will take some doing to restore his image as a champion of diversity and tolerance.

“I’m asking Canadians to forgive me for what I did,” he said during an emergency news conference aboard the Liberal campaign plane before taking off from Nova Scotia for Winnipeg, where he is scheduled to have events today.

“I shouldn’t have done that. It was a dumb thing to do. I’m disappointed in myself. I’m pissed off at myself for having done it. I apologize for it.”

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Also this …

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — It’s a long running case that has attracted attention across Canada.

A judge is to rule today whether an Alberta couple who treated their sick son with herbal remedies rather than seek medical attention should be held responsible in his death.

David and Collet Stephan are charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life to 19-month-old Ezekiel, who died in March 2012.

They were found guilty by a jury in 2016, but the Supreme Court of Canada set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial.

The medical examiner who did the autopsy said Ezekiel died of bacterial meningitis, but a defence pathologist said he died from a lack of oxygen because the ambulance did not have the right equipment for a child.

Over the course of the trial, the Stephans testified that they initially thought Ezekiel had croup and they treated him with natural remedies including a smoothie with garlic, onion and horseradish.

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ICYMI (In case you missed it) …

EDMONTON — An Alberta soldier who works at CFB Edmonton has been charged with the attempted murder of her three children.

Cpl. Chantal Jadwiga Condie, 41, also faces arson charges, and is to enter a plea today.

In a separate civil lawsuit, her ex-husband, Drew Condie, alleges the children were in their mother’s care on July 20, 2015, when a fire broke out in the basement of their home.

He alleges Chantal Condie treated the children at West Edmonton Mall in the days before the fire and then gave them a sleeping aid that night.

The suit also alleges that she took three smoke detectors in the home and put them in the basement before starting a fire and closing the door.

None of the allegations has been proven in court and Chantal Condie denies all of them in her statement of defence.

She suggests it was her former husband or one of the children who started the fire, something the husband’s lawyer denies.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations an “act of war” against the kingdom by Iran, as the Saudis displayed missile and drone wreckage and cited other evidence they said shows the raid was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran.”

Iran, which has denied involvement in the attack, warned the U.S. it will retaliate immediately if it is targeted.

U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said Wednesday he is moving to increase financial sanctions on Tehran over the attack. He was non-committal on whether he would order U.S. military retaliation.

At a news conference, Saudi military spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki said the attack Saturday that did heavy damage to the heart of the Saudi oil industry was “launched from the north and was unquestionably sponsored by Iran.” Yemen is south of Saudi Arabia, while Iran and Iraq lie to the north.

Al-Malki stopped short of accusing Iran of actually firing the weapons itself or launching them from Iranian territory.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

Israelis were contending with the prospect of a third election on Thursday, two days after an unprecedented repeat election left the country’s two main political parties deadlocked, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his rivals holding a clear path to a coalition government.

While weeks of negotiations to form a coalition government lay ahead, conditions set by the parties could hobble the task within the allotted time, prompting a never-before held third election.

With nearly all votes counted Thursday, the centrist Blue and White party stood at 33 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud stood at 31 seats.

Neither party can form a government without the support of the election’s apparent kingmaker, Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beitenu party. His insistence on a secular government would force out Netanyahu’s traditional allies, the country’s two ultra-Orthodox parties and another nationalist-religious party.

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On this day in 1654 …

In the first Canadian marriage on record, 11-year-old Marguerite Sedilot married 20-year-old Jean Aubuchon in Trois-Rivieres, Que.

The couple had 16 children together.

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Weird and wild …

OAKVILLE, Ont. — This would put a crimp in your afternoon commute.

A 29-year-old man from Brantford faces dozens of charges after allegedly stealing tires and rims off vehicles parked at commuter train stations in Ontario.

Halton Regional Police say the string of alleged thefts took place between Aug. 21 and Sept. 11 at GO train stations.

They say the suspect allegedly removed the tires and rims from parked vehicles, leaving them on cement blocks.

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Your health …

Marijuana and alcohol have been identified as the most common substances leading to hospitalization of youth aged 10 to 24 across the country in a report that highlights the prevalence of mental-health conditions as contributing factors.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information says 23,500 people in that age group were hospitalized for harm caused by substance use, amounting to an average of 65 hospitalizations every day between April 2017 and March 2018.

Cannabis was documented in almost 40 per cent of hospitalizations overall and alcohol was associated with 26 per cent of hospital stays.

The report says of the youth who stayed in hospital for cannabis use, 81 per cent received care for a mental-health issue such as anxiety and 49 per cent of opioid-related stays also involved care for mental-health treatment.

It shows Saskatchewan had the highest rate of hospitalizations at 667 per 100,000 population, mostly due to cannabis, followed by alcohol and stimulants that could include methamphetamine and Ritalin, prescribed for ADHD.

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Music news …

TORONTO — The Canadian Music Hall of Fame has the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s covered with this year’s nominees.

Pop singer Andy Kim, best known as the co-writer of infectious 1969 radio hit “Sugar, Sugar,” is going into the hall as well as Vancouver-based rockers Chilliwack, who rose to popularity in the 1970s.

The Cowboy Junkies, founded in Toronto in the mid-eighties, are being honoured, and teen idol Bobby Curtola is also being posthumously inducted. He died in 2016.

The induction ceremony takes place at Calgary’s Studio Bell on Oct. 27

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Food for thought …

Tim Hortons is moving beyond Beyond Meat.

The coffee chain says it’s dropping the alternative protein products at thousands of Canadian locations, just three months after introducing them.

The vegetable-based Beyond Burgers are being taken off menus nationally, while Beyond Meat breakfast sandwiches will be removed from all locations except in B.C. and Ontario, where there has been a “positive reaction,” the company said.

The Tim Hortons’ decision, apparently made based on sales volumes, might indicate that Beyond Meat is reaching a saturation level in Canada after being embraced by A&W, said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2019.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Trudeau’s 2001 ‘brown face’ and moving Beyond Meat; In-The-News for Sept. 19

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