Local news
Canada will host 13 countries for discussions about reforming the World Trade Organization. The United States is excluded from the talks because it has different views on trade reforms than the other like-minded countries.
Canada’s newly appointed international trade diversification minister thinks that America should not be involved in this decision.
The U.S is a threat to paralyzing the WTO as it is preventing the organization from making decisions.
Canada’s preserved dispute resolution mechanisms in the newly renegotiated continental free trade pact (named as United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) made it possible to persuade the Americans to understand the point of them being not invited.
According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, independent dispute resolution mechanisms, which the U.S. wanted to scrap, needed to be preserved because Trump “doesn’t always follow the rules as they’re laid out.”
National news
Quebec’s new government is banning religious symbols worn by people at work places. Otherwise they will be removed from their existing positions or will be assigned alternative jobs.
The new coalition act bans the minority religious groups and immigrants from wearing religious symbols.
In addition, the coalition aims at reducing immigration levels by 20 per cent from next year with the condition for immigrants to pass French-language and values tests within three years of their stay in Quebec. The coalition is has become an “anti-immigrant” phrase by the far-right groups.
Anti-racism groups are criticizing the coalition and planning to protest against it.
International news
Russian intelligence officers were charged for committing a suspected activity against Canadian-based doping agencies and an international chemical weapon organization in Canada.
Seven Russian military intelligence officers are convicted of involvement in the cyber-attacks spreading information using it for their own advantage.
Four of the officers were charged for cyber-targeting the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) network while it was investigating the poisoning of a former Russian intelligence official in Salisbury, U.K., as well as looking into chemical weapons used in Syria.
The Russians also targeted a Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy company, according to the U.S. officials.
Among the charges the spies are facing: aggravated identity theft, and wire fraud.