Canadians mark Victory in Europe Day in downtown ceremonies

An ambassador, a petition and 213,000 signatures

You have to admit, they have a point.

As of 7 a.m. on Monday, 209,909 Canadians had signed it. By 9:41 a.m., that number had reached 211,846. By 10:54 a.m., 213,124. And there are months left to sign.

It is an electronic petition to have the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, ousted and sent back to Trump’s America.

The reasons? Well, ambassadors are meant to represent the national positions of their governments and you could argue that Hoekstra is doing exactly that: his blunt pronouncements on things such as Canadian sovereignty sound very much like the words of one Donald Trump, President of the United States.

Carney touts ‘substantial progress’ after Trump delays tariffs for three days

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump announced late Tuesday a last-minute deal to delay new tariffs from slamming an array of Canadian products for three days.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said in response there’s still important work to do.

"Over the last number of weeks, Canada has engaged in intensive discussions with the United States to address outstanding trade issues and deliver greater certainty and real benefits for Canadian businesses, workers, farmers and families," Carney said in a statement.

He said "substantial progress" has been made and Canada is focused on "building a stronger, more independent and more competitive economy at home."

Pharmacist who failed to disclose addiction, couldn’t account for ‘staggering’ amount of drugs fined $100K by disciplinary panel

A June 9 disciplinary decision found more than 39,000 doses went unaccounted for while Glen Pauch, who worked at a Portage la Prairie pharmacy, was consuming drugs and improperly dispensing controlled substances — including opioids oxycodone and hydromorphone, and Concerta, a stimulant prescribed for ADHD — to 11 patients.

Rural Manitoba homeowner charged with shooting at accused thieves

A homeowner in southern Manitoba has been charged after he fired shots at a group of people accused of stealing from his property, police say.

Officers were sent to the Rural Municipality of Dufferin Saturday after a report of a theft in progress. RCMP said four people went to the property, located about 95 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, and returned later the same day driving two vehicles stolen from Watrous, Sask.

The owner of the property, a 66-year-old man, saw the suspects on a motion-activated camera and saw someone transferring fuel from a portable container into one of the stolen vehicles. The man confronted the group and fired shots towards the vehicles, police said.

Three people stayed at the scene until officers arrived and took them into custody, RCMP said. Various items believed to have been stolen from the property were found in the back of a truck. A fourth suspect fled in the other vehicle.

Working together in a trade war

In the Second World War, a grand coalition, held together politically by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, succeeded in defeating Nazi Germany, after many bumps in the road. The rich history of this period reinforces the truism that coalitions — bringing together parties of divergent strength and interests to face together a common challenge — are fraught with many points of potential fracture.

Canada was not only a partner in the great international war effort but also fashioned a national coalition — presided over by Prime Minister Mackenzie King — necessitated by the federalist nature of our government. It worked after a fashion — conscription notwithstanding — and we emerged as a trusted friend and ally of our southern neighbour.

Oh, how times have changed. We are again faced with an existential threat; not to be compared to a world war, but serious enough given it’s posed not by a distant foe on another continent, but by the most powerful country in the world, with whom we share 8,800 kilometres of heretofore undefended border.

The unprovoked attack on Canada has been economic; tariffs, threats of tariffs, scrapped trade agreements and so forth — measures that have already had significant impact and promise to escalate. How does a country of 10 quasi-independent provinces with a national government constitutionally pre-eminent in international relations respond?