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Enjoy full digital access while vacation. $ 15 HOME DELIVERY SUBSCRIBERS WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A5 NEWS I CANADA / WORLD TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2024 Quebec Liberal Party proposing province adopt its own constitution MONTREAL — The Quebec Liberal Party is proposing that the province adopt its own consti- tution, a project it says will be “unifying.” On Monday, members of the party’s policy commission — Julie White and Antoine Dionne Charest, son of former Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest — announced the idea in a video released on social media. “A constitution allows us to affirm who we truly are, with our language, our civil law and the powers of the Quebec government,” White says in the video. Quebec refused to sign the Canadian Constitu- tion, which was patriated from the United King- dom in 1982. Since then, political leaders in the province have offered various ideas about Que- bec’s place in the federation, some campaigning for sovereignty, and others advocating closer ties to Canada. In 2017, former Liberal premier Philippe Couillard called for a “dialogue” with the feder- al government and the other provinces, with the goal of reopening the Constitution for an eventu- al signature from Quebec. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swiftly said no. “You know my opinion on the Constitution,” Trudeau said at the time. “We’re not reopening the Constitution.” With polls showing support from the franco- phone majority in the single digits, the Liberals are once again calling for a constitutional debate. In the video, Dionne Charest says the proposal is in response to polices of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec that he says divide Quebecers, and to the Parti Québécois plan to “separate us from Canada.” A constitution, he said, is “what unites us against the PQ, for whom immigrants and Can- ada are the source of all problems. It’s what pro- tects us against the CAQ, especially against its laws that stigmatize Quebecers who speak a lan- guage other than French.” The proposal for a constitution was introduced last year by a Liberal committee seeking to re- launch the party, which hasn’t recovered from the 2018 election, when Couillard’s Liberals lost to the CAQ led by Premier François Legault. In 2022, the Liberals fell to 21 seats from 31 but re- mained the official Opposition to the CAQ. Recent polls put the PQ in first place, and lead- er Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is promising to hold a referendum on sovereignty if the party wins the next election, scheduled for October 2026. Before then, the Liberals are to choose a new leader in June. Denis Coderre, former Montreal mayor and ex-federal Liberal cabinet minister, has officially entered the race, as has Charles Milliard, who recently stepped down as the head of the federation of Quebec’s chambers of com- merce. Federal Liberal Transport Minister Pab- lo Rodriguez has said he has been courted by the Quebec party. — The Canadian Press Sentencing hearing set for Coutts protesters convicted of mischief, weapons charges LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Two men convicted of mischief at the Coutts, Alta., border blockade are to learn their sentences later this month. On Aug. 2, a jury also found Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert guilty of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and Olienick was con- victed of possessing a pipe bomb. But they were acquitted of the more serious charge of conspir- ing to murder police officers. In Lethbridge Court of King’s Bench on Mon- day, Crown prosecutor Steven Johnston and de- fence lawyer Katherin Beyak agreed the senten- cing hearing would begin Aug. 26. Four days were set aside. Court heard the first two days would involve a finding of facts heard in the case. After a one day break, it resumes Aug. 29. “It’s our understanding that the sentencing submissions are one day and the decision on sen- tence the following day,” Johnston said. Two other protesters had been charged with conspiracy to commit murder at Coutts in early 2022. In February, Christopher Lysak and Jerry Morin pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Lysak was sentenced to three years for posses- sion of a restricted firearm in an unauthorized place, and Morin was sentenced to 3 ½ years for conspiracy to traffic firearms. Both sentences amounted to the time the men had already served in pretrial custody. RCMP found the guns, ammunition and body armour in trailers near the blockade at the key Canada-U. S. border crossing and more guns, ammunition and two pipe bombs at Olienick’s home in Claresholm, Alta. The blockade was one of several held across the country to protest COVID-19 rules and vac- cine mandates. The trial heard statements and text messages from the men warning that the blockade was also a last stand against a tyrannical federal government. — The Canadian Press BILL GRAVELAND Israel anticipates direct attack from Iran T EL AVIV — The United States has deployed more vessels to the east- ern Mediterranean Sea, including a submarine and several destroyers, as concerns grow in the region about a po- tential Iranian attack on Israel. On Monday, a U.S. official said an- other U.S. destroyer had moved into the eastern Mediterranean, bolstering offensive and defensive missile capabil- ities in the region. The USS Laboon arrived in the area after making its way from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal, a defence offi- cial said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The destroyers USS Roosevelt and USS Bulkeley and a three-ship amphib- ious task force that includes the USS Wasp, the USS Oak Hill and the USS New York are already in the region. Sailors and Marines in that task force train to handle evacuation operations and could be called upon if U.S. offi- cials determine one is necessary. Iran has blamed Israel for the assas- sination last month of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh and is promising revenge. Israel has not commented on the killing but told U.S. officials im- mediately afterward that it was respon- sible. Speaking on the condition of ano- nymity to discuss sensitive security matters, an Israeli official, citing con- versations with security officials, said Monday that the country’s updated as- sessments indicate that Iran has decid- ed to directly attack Israel in response. On Sunday, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the guided-missile sub- marine USS Georgia to the Middle East and told the USS Abraham Lincoln air- craft carrier strike group to speed up its voyage to the region. The U.S. deployment was announced by the Defence Department after talks between Austin and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The pair dis- cussed efforts to “deter aggression” by Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to a readout of the call. Israel has communicated to Iran and Hezbollah that targeting civilian popu- lation centres would be considered a red line for Israel, which is preparing for a spectrum of scenarios, including one in which Hezbollah attacks first and is joined by Iran afterward, said Yoel Guzansky, a former official on Is- rael’s National Security Council who is now a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. Guzansky also said that Israel was considering a pre-emptive attack against Hezbollah, but that such a de- cision would be conditional on approval from the United States, which has re- cently established a “robust American presence in the region, coupled with an enormous U.S. pressure, not seen in re- cent years, on Iran to de-escalate.” “Our readiness level is at its peak,” an Israel Defence Forces spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Mon- day, adding that Israel, along with the United States, was “following the situa- tion around-the-clock.” In a statement, acting Iranian foreign minister Ali Bagheri said Sunday that “Iran will make the aggressions of the … Israeli regime costly in a legitimate and firm action.” Haniyeh was killed in a guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying ahead of the inauguration of Iran’s new president, in what has been seen as a humiliating security failure. Israeli officials fear Iran could co- ordinate its attack with Hezbollah, which has vowed its own retaliation for Israel’s killing last month of Fuad Sha- kur, a top commander. Yaakov Amid- ror, a former national security adviser, said Israel expects that Hezbollah will retaliate for the “hard hit, operational- ly,” the group experienced. Amid the spiralling tensions, the United States is bolstering its pres- ence in the region because, in the case of escalation, it “will want to be on the ground to help Israel to defend itself, to prevent damage and then ensure that Israel does not respond,” Amidror said. Israel is also under growing inter- national pressure to agree to a cease- fire deal that would bring an end to the bloody war in Gaza and free Israeli hostages in addition to calming ten- sions with its regional adversaries. On Thursday, Israel will send a delegation to Doha, Qatar, to discuss the U.S.- backed ceasefire proposal made public by President Joe Biden in May, the Is- raeli official told The Washington Post. “Israel will be as flexible as needed,” the official said. They added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has refused to sign a deal during previous rounds of negotiations, “now understands that he needs a deal, that the country is in favour of a deal, that leaving the hostages behind would be a traumatic wound that Israel may not recover from.” “This week, it will be possible to close a deal and bring the hostages home,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Saturday in a social media post from the weekly hostage rally in Tel Aviv. “All the officials are saying it, the Americans are convinced of it, an abso- lute majority of Israeli citizens support a deal. Let’s do it.” In one of the deadliest bombings of the 10-month conflict, an Israeli strike Saturday on a school sheltering dis- placed Palestinians killed nearly 100 people, according to Gazan health of- ficials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The Israel Defence Forces said Hamas fighters had been operating in the school in Gaza City, accusing the militant group of using civilians as human shields. The IDF said Monday that at least 31 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad had been killed in Saturday’s strike on the school. In their phone call Sunday night, Aus- tin and Gallant talked about “the im- portance of mitigating civilian harm,” the U.S. readout said, and discussed progress toward a ceasefire deal. Gal- lant said Monday in a statement that he viewed the finalization of a hostage re- lease as a matter of “urgency.” In the meantime, Hamas said it was investigating after two incidents in which guards shot hostages, including one in which a man died. Two women were also injured in the incidents, a spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas wrote on Telegram on Mon- day, adding that Israel was ultimately responsible. The Israeli military said that it did not have any intelligence “that allows us to refute or confirm” the claims, but that it was trying to ver- ify the report. The statement did not include details about the incidents, in- cluding who the hostages were. France, Germany and Britain issued a joint statement Monday urging Iran and its allies to refrain from attacks that would escalate tensions in the re- gion, backing U.S., Qatari and Egyptian calls for the immediate resumption of ceasefire negotiations. In a phone call, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz ap- pealed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to end the “spiral of vio- lence” in the region, the German gov- ernment said Monday. — The Washington Post SHIRA RUBIN, RACHEL PANNETT, DAN LAMOTHE, LEO SANDS, LIOR SOROKA, JENNIFER HASSAN U.S. deploys more vessels to region VAHID SALEMI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Vehicles drive past a banner showing the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (left), who was killed in an assassination, joining hands with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Aug. 5. ;