TORONTO – Illegal immigration, protectionism, industry and commerce… there are many topics on the plate at the meeting between the so-called “Three Amigos”: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden and Canadian President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will meet during the next week for a trilateral summit in Mexico City and will discuss a series of hot topics, some burning ones such as the worsening of the migration crisis that Biden has to face on the border between the United States and Mexico and which, in some way, also involves Canada. →
VATICAN CITY – Tomorrow is the day of last farewell to Benedetto XVI, Pope Emeritus Joseph Ratzinger, who passed away on December 31st: at 9.30am Italian time (3.30am in Ontario), the funeral will take place in St. Peter’s Square, presided over by Pope Francis who today, during the general audience, recalled Ratzinger as a “great teacher of catechesis” with “sharp and polite” thinking, then invoking his help to “rediscover in Christ the joy of believing and the hope of living”. Applause and choirs: ‘Benedetto santo subito’ (saint immediately), chanted some of the faithful present. →
TORONTO – The battle is preparing for the expansion of MAID (Medical assistance in dying), the program for assisted suicide, to Canadians suffering from mental illness. Opposition parties and experts are calling for the expansion to be delayed, but the Liberals have given no indication that they will. And time is running out. →
TORONTO – The Premier of Quebec, Francois Legault, sitting at 17% points ahead of his nearest [non]rival in the National Assembly, still “characterizes” him as an ‘enemy of the State’ – the Nation of Quebecois. In an article reported by Francesco Veronesi last week, Pollster Angus Reid, in its first poll following the Quebec election, found the Premier to be so far ahead of “mainstream” Parties recognizable to Canadians that they are barely captured by the proverbial margin of error.
TORONTO – An absolute “first” for Super-Tory, today, in the City Council for the assembly that inaugurated the new mandate after the last municipal elections. John Tory once again occupies the Mayor’s seat, but this time with the new powers assigned to him by legislation wanted by the provincial government to speed up the construction of new houses. →