Sinclair Broadcast stock hits 52-week high at $18.21
The Last Laugh: No, Virginia, there ain't no Santa ClausVCA Animal Hospitals and Antech Advocate for More Comprehensive Pet Data in Public Health Reporting, Recommend Six-Step Framework for One Health Collaboration
ADC Therapeutics Makes Grants to New Employees Under Inducement Plan
Article content OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s latest attempt to topple the minority Liberal government in a non-confidence vote failed on Monday, thanks to the New Democrats. Recommended Videos The Conservatives’ motion quoted NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s criticism of the Liberals over labour issues, and called on the House to agree with Singh and vote non-confidence in the government. The New Democrat leader said last week he would not be supporting Poilievre in bringing down the government. There were jeers from the Conservative benches as NDP MPs cast their votes against the motion on Monday afternoon. Singh was not in the House chamber during the vote because of a meeting, and cast his vote remotely. “We’re not going to vote in favour of any of their games because that’s what (the Conservatives are) doing. They’re playing games,” Singh told reporters after the vote was tallied. MPs also voted Monday on an NDP opposition motion calling on the government to permanently remove GST from what the New Democrats call essentials. That motion also called on the Liberals to expand their planned $250 “working Canadians rebate” to include vulnerable adults like fully retired seniors and people who rely on disability benefits. Those payments are expected to be issued this spring, if the required legislation is approved. The NDP and Greens were the only parties to vote in favour of this motion, resulting in its defeat. Hamilton East_Stoney Creek Liberal MP Chad Collins was the lone government member to support the NDP motion. The Liberals initially announced plans for the federal sales tax holiday and the rebate together, but they introduced the GST measure in a separate bill after the NDP said it would not support the rebate unless it was expanded. The Liberals need the support of one other party in the House of Commons to passed that measure into law, and Singh said Monday he is open to negotiation. “So I want to see it improved. How that’s done, we’re very flexible, but it has to be improved. Seniors have to get it, people living with disabilities have to get it, a mom trying to raise her kid should get it,” Singh said. The proposed payments would go to all working Canadians who had an income of less that $150,000 in the last year. The government estimates this would include some 18.7 million people and cost nearly $4.7 billion. The Conservatives will introduce their final opposition motion of the sitting on Tuesday, with a vote scheduled to happen after question period. The Tories introduced another motion earlier on Monday that calls for the GST to be removed on the sale of new homes valued at under $1 million, and calls on premiers to enact the same policy for their portion of the sales tax. That motion will also be up for a vote after question period on Tuesday. The marathon voting session is set to run late Tuesday, with a separate vote scheduled on the government’s supplementary estimates. Treasury Board President Anita Anand has asked Parliament for approval of $21.6 billion to fund programs including housing, dental care and the national school food program. If that does not pass, some programs could face a cash shortfall, including veteran benefits and natural disaster assistance.
GRAHAM GRANT: Soft-touch justice is the SNP's stock in trade - but these risky early release plans must be thrown out immediately Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport By GRAHAM GRANT FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL Published: 20:48, 25 November 2024 | Updated: 20:50, 25 November 2024 e-mail View comments In a recent moment of self-delusion worthy of The Office’s David Brent, Angela Constance described herself as a ‘fixer’. It was the sort of misguided comment, bereft of any shred of humility, that blundering manager Brent would have made in the BBC sitcom. Yet the real joke is that the Justice Secretary hasn’t fixed anything in her time in office – and the system over which she presides is in perpetual crisis. Now she has devised emergency legislation in a bid to free up space in crowded jails by letting out short-term prisoners at an even earlier point in their sentences. The Bill is being rushed through with the help of the docile Greens – the SNP ’s former partners in government – with minimal debate or scrutiny. In February next year, up to 390 prisoners including dangerous and violent criminals will be let out – but the free-for-all doesn’t stop there. The reduction in the threshold for automatic early release for those serving less than four years – from 50 to 40 per cent of their jail terms – is intended to be permanent, so that the prison population will be cut by about five per cent a year. There are also power-grab plans for ministers to allow prisoners serving longer sentences for more serious crimes to be freed early in the future. In a moment of self-delusion worthy of David Brent, Justice Secretary Angela Constance described herself as a 'fixer’ The cost to the public purse of the first batch of releases in the New Year is estimated at up to £2million. Se we will pay through the nose for the privilege of being put at even greater risk from criminals roaming the streets. It’s not as if we haven’t been down this road before. During the summer, nearly 500 criminals were freed because of overcrowding, and one in eight of them were sent back to the cells after reoffending. More than a third of those locked up again had committed violent crimes despite ministers claiming public safety had been ‘paramount’ during the early release process. Back then, jail bosses had a veto over who would be let out but that won’t apply this time, leading to warnings from campaigners that this reckless exercise will create even more victims. Of course it will – but Ms Constance isn’t listening and shows no sign of retreating as her Bill is accelerated through the Scottish parliament this week. In an extraordinary newspaper column yesterday, Teresa Medhurst, boss of the Scottish Prison Service, defended the liberation plans – under the perverse headline: ‘Why releasing prisoners early to ease overcrowding will make Scotland a safer place.’ She said no one wants former prisoners to reoffend when they’re out of jail for ‘perfectly understandable, selfish reasons’. Read More Dangerous criminals could be freed from jail without approval of prison bosses under 'appalling' SNP plans She added: ‘These are our communities that they will return to, and we want to live in peaceful environments with neighbours we can get along with.’ Is it really ‘selfish’ to want to be protected from violent thugs – or is that a right we should all have according to the terms of the ‘social contract’ the SNP talks about so much (usually when trying to justify a tax hike)? It does provide valuable insight into the mindset of the hand-wringers running the failing penal system – the same people who insist that prisoners should be called ‘people in our care’ to avoid stigmatising them. The argument is that rehabilitation will be easier when the numbers are more manageable, but that ignores the fact that a large proportion of those freed will be back in jail before long anyway. And is there really any hope of rehabilitation when inmates are allowed to lie in their beds playing game consoles, when they’re not too busy using mobile phones to keep in touch with family and friends (and criminal associates?) Dishing out mobiles was a big idea of the SNP government when Ms Constance’s predecessor, a certain Humza Yousaf, was in charge of the justice brief. That was supposed to help with rehabilitating them by making it easier to contact relatives – but to the surprise of no one (apart from the SNP) the handsets were used to commit further crimes and the entire scheme was abandoned, costing taxpayers £6million. The last people who should be lecturing us about public safety are the ministers and jail bosses who were in charge during that costly fiasco, and yet they presume to do so again – taking us all for fools. There should be complete candour and openness from Ms Constance – the self-styled ‘fixer’ of Scottish politics – about the real reason for the stepping-up of early release (but don’t expect it anytime soon). The truth is poor planning and incompetent management mean we don’t have enough prisons, so we should build more – something which the SNP has ruled out. Where it has attempted to expand the estate, it’s no great shock to learn that it has gone badly wrong. The cost of building a new prison for the Highlands and Islands is expected to exceed £200million, which is four times more than originally estimated. It should be completed by 2026 – a mere six years later than originally planned – and is billed as Scotland’s first ‘net zero’ jail. As it replaces Inverness Prison, which is more than 120 years old, rather than creating extra capacity, it’s unlikely to help tackle the overcrowding crisis – assuming it ever materialises. The SNP’s track record of building jails is about as impressive as its performance on ferries. But when it comes to prisons it’s plain there’s no appetite for constructing more of them anyway, unless it’s necessary to replace one that’s falling apart. Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport Advertisement Now the consequences of this institutional aversion to new prisons are clear – criminals including violent thugs will be getting out earlier than anticipated, with jail bosses having no say in whether they are actually safe to be released. Given the cushy conditions in some holiday camp jails, net zero or otherwise, quite a few of those about to regain their freedom might be keen to stay in their cells. It’s ‘selfish’ to consider your own safety, as we know, but it will be hard not to do so in February when hundreds more criminals walk out of prison gates. As for Ms Constance, she pays lip service to the concerns of victims – but they are very far down the list of priorities. Victim Support Scotland said fewer than 20 people were informed that offenders in their cases were being freed early over the summer. This time round, we’re told greater efforts will be made to tell victims what’s going on – but many of them won’t be holding their breath. Soft-touch justice is the SNP’s stock-in-trade – but this is a breathtakingly risky proposal, and one that any sane MSP should throw out without hesitation. But this is Holyrood and sanity left the building some time ago, so the likelihood is that the prison-emptying will commence within weeks. It is a disgraceful abdication of responsibility from a party which has always prized the rights of offenders over victims. The proposed mass liberation of prisoners demonstrates once more that the SNP simply isn’t fit for office – though it might well win the votes of the criminals who are about to benefit from its largesse. BBC SNP Share or comment on this article: GRAHAM GRANT: Soft-touch justice is the SNP's stock in trade - but these risky early release plans must be thrown out immediately e-mail Add commentWho is Mark Levy? Ray Hadley's 2GB replacement revealed READ MORE: Knives out at Sky News Australia over controversial new hire By STEVE JACKSON and CAMERON CARPENTER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA Published: 22:14, 9 December 2024 | Updated: 22:38, 9 December 2024 e-mail View comments Mark Levy has been announced as Ray Hadley's replacement on 2GB. Levy, who has worked at 2GB for for more than 17 years, currently hosts the Wide World of Sports program, and has also filled in for Hadley over the summer break. Levy won plaudits - and an award - for his live, rolling coverage of the tragic Westfield Bondi Junction stabbings earlier this year, proving he is more than capable to tackling breaking news . Levy has long been considered Hadley's right-hand man, with the two having a close friendship that extends beyond their professional relationship, with Levy attending Hadley's wedding in 2021. In July, Levy, along with a friend experienced in the hospitality industry, opened a restaurant called Pronto Sylvania in Sydney 's southern suburbs. 'I just want to create a little community hub, it's like a safe place for people to come along and have a coffee, have a chat and also get an affordable meal because you know, in the midst of a cost of living crisis people are doing it tough, so we want to make sure they come in and get value for money,' he told Nine at the time. Levy made headlines after trying to stop an altercation at a pub involving his mate, footy legend Paul Gallen. Mark Levy has been announced as Ray Hadley's replacement Mark Levy is pictured alongside Ray Hadley Gallen was filmed being restrained by up to four men at a time during a late-night confrontation on October 28 last year at the Shoalhaven Heads Hotel on the NSW south coast. Levy could be heard in the background of the brawl footage shouting: 'Stop it. Enough, enough. Gal, stop' as a group of men struggled to contain Gallen and shocked drinkers watched on. Gallen told Daily Mail Australia he had been involved in an 'altercation' after being struck first and denying he had thrown any punches 'in retaliation'. Hadley will sign off from his top-rating morning show for the final time on December 13 despite having about two years left to run on his multimillion-dollar deal at Nine. Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed the veteran broadcaster met with executives at Sky News Australia within hours of announcing his retirement from 2GB. Sources said Hadley arrived at news channel's Sydney HQ for the covert chat after most of the broadcaster's staffers had already headed home for the day. He then spent more than an hour in deep conversation with the News Corp-owned network's chief executive, Paul Whittaker, and head of programs, Mark Calvert. Sky News Australia insiders said the network was determined to lure the award-winning broadcaster - and his loyal audience - to the political news channel, with Whittaker personally rolling at the red carpet for the potential marquee signing. Although it is understood Hadley's contract precludes him from appearing on a rival radio network, sources said he could be free to join Sky News Australia under the terms of the agreement as the television channel does not directly compete with Nine Radio. Any deal between Hadley and the network would likely see him taking a break over the summer to spend time with his family before commencing on-air duties in the new year. Sources said Hadley's strong political views actually meant he had long been more in step with Sky News Australia's sensibilities than those of Nine and would be a natural fit for the network. There are suggestions the potential deal could also see the rugby league commentating great continue calling football games for Fox Sports. Sydney Share or comment on this article: Who is Mark Levy? Ray Hadley's 2GB replacement revealed e-mail Add comment
