Tougher gun laws are on the way in Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says tougher gun laws are on the way.
Speaking in Saskatoon, Trudeau called Tuesday’s mass shooting at a school in Uvalde (you-VAL-dee), Texas, a “senseless, violent act,” adding his government plans to do “even more” on gun control.
But he won’t say what those measures might be.
Officials in Texas don’t yet know what motivated an 18-year-old resident to open fire in an elementary school, killing 19 students and two teachers, before he was shot and killed by police.
Two years ago, the federal government issued a ban on the possession of more than 15-hundred types of firearms and pledged to help local governments that instituted a ban on handguns.
Battle over symbols could go to Supreme Court
Justice Minister David Lametti says the federal government will join a legal challenge to Quebec’s Bill 21 if it reaches the Supreme Court.
The legislation forbids the wearing of religious symbols by those in a position of public authority, such as police and teachers.
Last year, a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled the law had a cruel and dehumanizing effect on those who wear such symbols but most of the provisions should still stand, because of the Quebec government’s use of the notwithstanding clause in the constitution.
Carpenters’ strike
Some 15-thousand carpenters who work in the industrial, commercial, and institutional sectors will be voting on a tentative agreement tomorrow that would end their two-week-long strike across Ontario.
They’ve already voted down a previous deal reached by their union.
The union president believes this agreement will be approved.
Mike Yorke adds that, in the current affordability crisis, they can’t be on strike for too long.
Zelensky speaks out against proposal
Russian officials say they’re willing to open safe-passage corridors for foreign ships leaving Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, to allow the resumption of grain deliveries to the outside world.
Russia has come under fire in recent days for stifling the export of grain from one of the world’s largest producers, setting off fears of a global food shortage in the coming months.
Meantime, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is sharply rejecting a proposal from former U-S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, that his country will have to give up territory to win a peace agreement.
Zelensky says the proposal disregards the wishes of millions of Ukrainians who would be forced to live under Russian occupation.
Oklahoma brings in tough anti-abortion law
The governor of Oklahoma has signed into law the toughest anti-abortion law in the United States.
The legislation bans abortion from the moment of conception, allowing exceptions only if the mother’s health is threatened, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
It also allows Oklahoma citizens the right to sue those who provide abortions.
The new law, which comes into effect immediately, comes just weeks before the U-S Supreme Court is expected to overthrow the 1973 Roe versus Wade decision, which guaranteed women the right to
choose.
Such a ruling would throw the issue back into the hands of state governments to regulate.