Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 13, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba TOP NEWS A3 MONDAY JANUARY 13, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS STRIDING FOR PERFECTION Skaters young and old were among those embracing Learn to Winter at The Forks Sunday. Every week- end through February, join in for skating, skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, music and storytelling. MacKinnon won’t join Liberal leadership race O TTAWA — Another minister ru- moured to have been considering a run for the Liberal leadership has decided against it, saying there isn’t enough time for him to mount the kind of campaign he wants. Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said in a social media post Sunday that the leadership race needs diverse, ex- perienced and pragmatic voices in both English and French. And while he feels he could be that voice, the Gatineau MP says the length of the campaign for the leadership doesn’t fit with his plans. The Liberal party has said the new leader will be announced March 9, leaving prospective candidates just eight weeks to make their case and sign up party members to vote for them. The party is working with a tight time frame because opposition parties in- tend to defeat the Liberal government the next chance they get in the House of Commons, which would plunge Canada into an election. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has prorogued Parliament until March 24, so the March 9 date gives the new Lib- eral leader two weeks to prepare for the House’s return and a national cam- paign. MacKinnon said he will focus on his ministerial responsibilities and will lis- ten closely to help make an informed choice around who should replace Tru- deau. “I admire all those who have con- sidered, or are considering, entering the leadership race. Liberals across Canada have big expectations. It has been energizing for me to hear their voices,” MacKinnon wrote. “It is the honour of my life to repre- sent the people of Gatineau in the House of Commons, and I look forward to once again seeking their confidence.” Trudeau announced in early January that he would resign his role as prime minister and Liberal party leader as soon as a replacement is chosen. In an interview that aired Sunday on MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki, Tru- deau said his party’s low popularity relates to a global anti-incumbent senti- ment. “I think now we’re seeing a time in politics where emotions and social media is carrying an awful lot of weight in how people feel about things, but I’m always going to lean back on what are the substantive things that are being done,” Trudeau said. He also blamed the “political right” for contributing to perceptions things are worse than they are, and said people are looking for quick fixes that aren’t necessarily possible outside the medium- and long-term. Once a new leader is chosen, Trudeau said he’s “looking forward to resting.” “My two older kids have about a year and a half left in high school before they go off to university. The idea of being there for them as an active dad, making lunches and being home when they get home from school is something that’s really, really exciting to me.” So far, former Montreal MP Frank Baylis and Nepean, Ont., MP Chandra Arya have joined the race to replace Trudeau, while former Bank of Can- ada governor Mark Carney signalled through his campaign team that he will launch a leadership bid later this week. Other high-profile ministers in Tru- deau’s cabinet who were speculated to seek the leadership have in recent days quashed the idea. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly took herself out of the running Friday, saying she’s not willing to leave her cabinet posting at a “crucial time” for Canada-U.S. relations. “The reality is, I can’t do both,” she told reporters on Parliament Hill on Friday morning. Transport and Internal Trade Minis- ter Anita Anand announced Saturday that she, too, has declined to run and would also not seek reelection. She said the joy of her work in politics delayed a planned return to academia, but now that Trudeau has decided to step aside she says it’s time for her to do so as well. “I sincerely thank Prime Minister Trudeau for welcoming me on the Lib- eral team as a member of Parliament and for entrusting me in key cabinet portfolios,” she wrote in a statement on social media. “I am truly grateful to the people of Oakville for selecting me to represent them in Canada’s House of Commons, and for being such a wonderful, wel- coming community where my husband and I raised our four children over the past 20 years.” Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc also dashed the hopes of many of his caucus supporters last Wednesday by becoming the first potential cabinet aspirant to rule out a leadership bid. Since his announcement, several MPs, including Judy Sgro, have tried to convince him to change his mind, but he has signalled his decision is firm. — The Canadian Press ALESSIA PASSAFIUME Cites lack of time to mount campaign JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said in a social media post Sunday that the leadership race needs diverse, experienced and pragmatic voices in both English and French. Talk of Canada becoming 51st state a distraction: PM OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says talk of Canada becoming the 51st state is a distraction from more pressing threats of U.S tariffs on Can- ada and their likely impact. In an interview that aired Sunday on MSNBC, he said Canada is ready to respond with retaliatory tariffs should president-elect Donald Trump follow through with a threat to impose 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on im- ports from Canada and Mexico when he takes office next week. Trump has also referred to Canada as the “51st state,” a notion federal cab- inet ministers initially played off as a joke but now appear to be taking more seriously. Appearing on Inside with Jen Psaki, Trudeau said Canadians need to take Trump’s expansionist rhetoric serious- ly, and that there is a certain amount of “flattery” in Trump seeing how great the country is. “And I know that, as a successful ne- gotiator, (Trump) likes to keep people a little off-balance. The 51st state, that’s not going to happen. It’s just a non-starter. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian,” said Tru- deau, who taped the appearance while in the United States to attend Thurs- day’s funeral for former president Jimmy Carter. “But people are now talking about that, as opposed to talking about, for example, what the impact (would be) of 25 per cent tariffs on steel and alum- inum coming into the United States, on energy, whether it’s oil and gas or elec- tricity.” Trudeau said he was able to negotiate with Trump in a mutually beneficial Canada-U. S. free trade deal the last time each was in office, despite it being “hard” because of Trump’s negotiation behaviour. “But we got to a good outcome that was win-win for both of us,” Trudeau told Psaki, a former White House press secretary. As for Trump calling Trudeau a “governor,” Trudeau said: “I have been in politics an awfully long time. I tend to focus on the substantive things, not on people choosing nicknames for me. I mean, if I was that thin-skinned, I prob- ably wouldn’t last that long in politics.” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made her own appeal to Trump this weekend, posting on social media that she spent time at his Mar-a-Lago resi- dence and met with him and key allies in the incoming administration. Smith said the pair had a “friendly and constructive” conversation on the importance of the U.S.-Canada energy relationship, and how U.S. jobs are sup- ported by Albertan exports. In one photo she shared online, Smith is seen standing next to Trump and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary. “On behalf of Albertans, I will con- tinue to engage in constructive dia- logue and diplomacy with the incoming administration and elected federal and state officials from both parties, and will do all I can to further Alberta’s and Canada’s interests,” Smith wrote. “We need to preserve our independ- ence while we grow this critical part- nership for the benefit of Canadians and Americans for generations to come.” Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Canadians need to “be ready” for economic threats, say- ing all leaders need to put Canada first and show a united front. “We have to be very realistic, very pragmatic, and we have to be ready, because something we can’t do is not to take president-elect Trump at his word. Because when he says something, he usually does it,” she said Sunday on CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live. She went on to say Ottawa is pursuing a strategy to engage the incoming U.S. administration through measures that include a new border plan, developing military alliances and co-operating on energy issues. “And at the same time, we’re working on a retaliation plan,” said Joly. “I can’t go into the details of that re- taliation plan, because I think it would be a bad strategy. But what I can tell you is everything is on the table.” Former prime minister Jean Chrétien also weighed in on U.S relations over the weekend, spending his 91st birth- day telling Trump to “give (his) head a shake.” In an opinion article published in the Globe and Mail on Saturday, Chrétien said his birthday called for celebration with family and friends, but also a look back at how the country has changed over the years. He made a pitch for Canadian politicians to work together against Trump’s threats. “I can tell you Canadians prize our independence. We love our country. We have built something here that is the envy of the world — when it comes to compassion, understanding, tolerance and finding a way for people of dif- ferent backgrounds and faiths to live together in harmony,” wrote Chrétien, who was prime minister from 1993 to 2003. “We built a nation across the most rugged, challenging geography imagin- able. And we did it against the odds. We may look easygoing. Mild-mannered. But make no mistake, we have spine and toughness.” — The Canadian Press ALESSIA PASSAFIUME JOSE LUIS MAGANA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says U.S. tariffs against Canada are a more pressing threat. Minister says firefighters from Alberta and B.C. to deploy in California OTTAWA — Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan says dozens of firefighters from Alberta and British Columbia will help fight wildfires in California, and the federal government is co-ordinating efforts with the prov- inces to deploy resources. Sajjan says in a social media post that 60 firefighters from the two provinces will be deployed as soon as today, and that Canadian officials are working to identify and prepare more resources to send in the days ahead. He says in the post that, “Our Amer- ican friends have asked for help to fight the wildfires in California and Team Canada is responding,” and he concludes with, “Neighbours helping neighbours.” A spokeswoman for Sajjan confirms in an email that Canada has received and approved an official request for help. Alberta announced last week that it is sending up to 40 wildland firefighters with more personnel, waterbombers and contracted night-vision helicopters ready to deploy. B.C.’s forests minister, meanwhile, has said a crew from the province’s wildfire service left for California on Saturday afternoon to help battle the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area. Quebec said Friday it will send two more firefighting aircraft to Califor- nia, a day after one of the province’s water bombers collided with a drone while battling the wildfires. The Can- adian-made CL-415 was one of the province’s two planes that was already helping in the wildfire. Their crews are sent to California every fall as part of an annual contract that has been in place for more than 30 years. The massive fires have killed 24 people and 150,000 people in Los Angel- es County are under evacuation orders. Alberta’s Forestry and Parks Minis- ter Todd Loewen said on social media on Saturday that the 40 firefighters from Alberta are a “trained and experi- enced” crew of Type 1 wildland fire- fighters. “I have spoken directly to Cal Fire and to the Governor’s Office of Emer- gency Services to assure them that Alberta is prepared to support them in their ongoing efforts,” Loewen said in his post. Loewen said additional Type 1 fire- fighters, incident command personnel, and qualified support staff are ready to go, if requested. He added that Alberta is also pre- paring its water bombers, pilots, and contracted night-vision helicopters to assist in California. — The Canadian Press ;