Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 21, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A5 NEWS I CANADA Freeland moving to U.K. for job at prestigious Rhodes Trust OTTAWA — Liberal MP Chrystia Free- land will move to Oxford, England, to take on a new position next summer ad- ministering the Rhodes Trust, the edu- cational charity confirmed Thursday. The charity is famous for its presti- gious Rhodes Scholarship, which offers students from around the world the chance to study at the University of Ox- ford. It announced Wednesday evening that Freeland has been appointed CEO of the Rhodes Trust and Warden of Rhodes House, a building on the uni- versity’s campus, starting July 1, 2026. Spokesperson Babette Littlemore confirmed by phone Freeland will move to Oxford for the role. But Freeland herself has not an- nounced plans to resign as a member of Parliament. Freeland’s office did not respond to calls or emails Thursday. Her local Liberal riding association for University—Rosedale did not have information related to her new role, presumed departure or preparations for an eventual candidate nomination race for a byelection. Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the House of Commons Speaker’s office had further information. The Rhodes Trust press release that announced her appointment includes a quote from Freeland saying she’s hon- oured to take on the role with her alma mater. “Having personally benefited from a Rhodes Scholarship, I know how deeply transformative and influential it can be on the lives and futures of our scholars. The experience helped shape my inter- national outlook and played a defining role in guiding my subsequent career,” she said. Freeland earned a degree in Slavonic Studies at the University of Oxford in the early 1990s. The former finance minister and dep- uty prime minister was in the running for the Liberal party leadership earlier this year and ran a scrappy campaign that positioned her early on as the can- didate who would bring the most ag- gressive fight to U.S. President Donald Trump in his trade war against Canada. She ultimately lost to Mark Carney, who became prime minister in March. Freeland served dual roles in Carney’s cabinet as internal trade minister and transport minister, and led a push to re- duce internal trade barriers in Canada. She abruptly stepped down from cab- inet in September to take on a special role representing the Carney govern- ment on matters dealing with the re- construction of Ukraine. Freeland developed a reputation as one of the staunchest defenders of Ukraine in its war against Russia, and led an international push to seize Rus- sian assets for the purpose of rebuild- ing Ukraine. She had posted a letter on social media mid-September that stated she would leave cabinet and would not seek re-election. Since then, she has kept a low profile and largely remained out of the news. Freeland worked as a journalist in Kyiv and Moscow for the Financial Times, the Economist and the Wash- ington Post, and speaks Ukrainian and Russian. She returned to Canada and worked as an editor for The Globe and Mail in the late 1990s, and eventually for Reuters. She authored books about income dis- parity and the rise of oligarchs in post- Soviet countries. The five-time MP was first elected to the House of Commons in 2013, two years before Justin Trudeau became prime minister when he won a majority mandate in 2015. Freeland entered cabinet immedi- ately, first in trade and then in foreign affairs, and was a driving force in Can- adian politics throughout the past dec- ade. She helped save an endangered trade deal with the European Union and steered Canada through the renegotia- tion of the continental trade pact during Trump’s first term in the White House. Trudeau named her deputy prime minister in late 2019, and she became the first woman appointed as federal fi- nance minister in 2020. In that role she oversaw historic emergency spending during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the day she was set to present a major fiscal update in December 2024, Freeland instead resigned and public- ly attacked Trudeau on fiscal policy measures — a key event that led to Tru- deau’s resignation on Jan. 6 at the start of this year. She is married to New York Times journalist Graham Bowley. The couple has two daughters and a son. — The Canadian Press KYLE DUGGAN Conservative critic plans to ‘amend the heck’ out of government’s border security bill OTTAWA — Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner said Thursday she plans to try and “amend the heck” out of the government’s bor- der security bill, Bill C-12, with a host of measures targeting the asylum sys- tem. Her proposed changes include disal- lowing asylum claims from people who transited through Europe or another G7 country on their way to Canada and denying access to social benefits, ex- cept emergency medical treatment, for those with a failed asylum claim. “I think Canadians want some change in this regard. Canada’s system for al- lowing and accepting asylum claims is pretty generous,” Rempel Garner said at a press conference on Parliament Hill. “So somebody who’s failed a review, I think it’s fair that the only federal benefits that they receive is emergency health care and I think a lot of Can- adians would agree.” Rempel Garner said she also plans to propose changes to speed up the deportation of non-citizens if they are convicted of a crime or if their pre-re- moval risk assessment isn’t successful. This includes clarifying the defin- ition of “serious criminality” in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to be a conviction of an indictable offence, or a hybrid offence where the Crown proceeded with an indictable charge. Rempel Garner also said she will pro- pose a ban on repeat pre-removal risk assessments if the initial one fails un- less new evidence of changed circum- stances is presented. She said increased rates of perma- nent and temporary immigration, in addition to increased asylum claims, have “broken” Canada’s system and contributed to declining support for im- migration. “I think everybody in Canada, (of) every political stripe, should be deeply concerned with public polling data that shows that Canadians are losing faith in the immigration system,” Rempel Gar- ner said. “I’m encouraged that in Canada that debate hasn’t devolved towards point- ing fingers at immigrants themselves — and nor should it. The finger should be squarely pointed at the Liberal gov- ernment.” As it stands, Bill C-12 proposes re- strictions on eligibility to make an asylum claim if the person has been in Canada for more than a year, among other measures. Rempel Garner said she plans to formally introduce these amendments when the bill goes through clause-by- clause analysis at a House of Commons committee meeting next week. The committee’s voting membership is made up of four Liberals, four Con- servatives and one Bloc Québécois MP — the latter of whom typically holds the balance of power when votes go down party lines. — The Canadian Press DAVID BAXTER ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS MP Michelle Rempel Garner says higher rates of permanent and temporary immigration, in addition to increased asylum claims, have contributed to declining support for immigration. ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS Children First Canada youth adviser Zachary Fathally, 12, says despite a 2021 election campaign promise by the Liberals, people are still waiting for legislation targeting online harms. Ottawa urged to bring back legislation introduced by Trudeau government Coalition calls for action against online dangers faced by children O TTAWA — The dangers chil- dren face online constitute a national emergency, a coali- tion of child advocates and medical organizations said Thursday as they called for the federal government to take action. “Unlike every other industry that affects children, from cars to phar- maceuticals to toys to food safety, the tech industry has been allowed to self-regulate with tragic conse- quences,” said Andrea Chrysanthou, chair of the board for Children First Canada, at a press conference on Parliament Hill. The advocates say children are being exploited, extorted, bullied — and in some cases, kids have died as a result of online harms. Dr. Margot Burnell, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said doctors see the negative health impacts of social media use first- hand. “Increasingly, online harms are contributing to a public health crisis among youth with devastating ef- fects on their mental health, self-es- teem, and even their physical safe- ty,” she said. In recent months, the growing availability of artificial intelligence chatbots has led to new concerns about their effect on children, in- cluding cases involving suicide. Children First Canada CEO Sara Austin said Thursday there has been a “rapid escalation of AI harms in particular.” The coalition has called on the government to bring back the on- line harms bill that was introduced by former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government but never be- came law. The Online Harms Act would have required social media companies to explain how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, and imposed on them a duty to pro- tect children. It would have also imposed a 24- hour takedown provision for content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor, or for intim- ate content shared without consent, including deepfakes. The Liberals have signalled they will not bring the bill back in the same form, but will instead tackle aspects of online harms in other legislation. Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters in early November that “components of that bill are finding their way into other pieces of legis- lation, but I wouldn’t expect it to be copied and pasted in substantially the same form.” He noted Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault and Artificial Intelli- gence Minister Evan Solomon will also play a role on the file. Solomon said in late October his upcoming privacy bill could include age restrictions on access to AI chat- bots to protect children. A spokes- person for Solomon said Thursday that bill will be introduced in early December. A spokesperson for Fraser said in an emailed statement the govern- ment will move forward with legis- lation that will include measures “to protect children from online sex- ual exploitation and extortion” and tighten child-luring laws. “This is a priority for us, and the work is ongoing as we continue con- sultations to get it right.” Advocates say things have already taken too long. The previous Liberal government promised to introduce online harms legislation in the 2021 election. “Back then I was only eight years old, and they said it would happen in their first 100 days,” said Zach- ary Fathally, Children First Canada youth adviser. “Now I’m 12 and more than 1,460 days have gone by. That’s a third of my childhood so far, and we’re still waiting.” Austin said the government shouldn’t be taking a fragmented approach. “We can’t just carve out little pieces of this. We need comprehen- sive legislation that deals with all of the digital harms that our children are exposed to every single day,” she said. — The Canadian Press ANJA KARADEGLIJA ;