Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has reserved her decision in the extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, saying only she'll set a date for her ruling later.
The end of the extradition hearing is the culmination of nearly three years of legal arguments, as her lawyers tried to prevent Meng's removal to the United States to face fraud charges that both she and Huawei deny.
Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said the next hearing will be on Oct. 21, when she will likely indicate a date for her decision on both the extradition to the United States and the abuse of process arguments made by Meng's lawyers.
Even if the judge commits Meng for surrender, the final decision on extradition lies with Canada's justice minister.
Earlier Wednesday, a lawyer for Canada's attorney general said Meng's legal team is giving an "alternative narrative" in the extradition case against her, while ignoring important features.
Robert Frater told the court that Meng's presentation to international bank HSBC about Huawei's connection to a company doing business in Iran was partially true.
"There was some truth but we say not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," he said. "And there was certainly not sufficient disclosure."
Meng's defence team has argued there was no risk to HSBC and the bank was entirely responsible for its own decision to clear a financial transaction through the United States, putting it at risk of violating American sanctions.
Frater said that "HSBC is, after all, a bank, which is bound to be concerned about financial transactions" and they needed information on whether a dealing would be legal or illegal.
Meng is accused of lying to HSBC about Huawei's control of subsidiary Skycom during a 2013 PowerPoint presentation, putting the bank at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.
You should have no difficulty "finding dishonesty sufficient" enough to make a cause of fraud, Frater told Holmes.
Frater told the court as he opened the extradition case last week that Meng was not completely truthful and not forthcoming by leaving a lot unsaid during the 2013 meeting in a Hong Kong tea room with a senior HSBC banker. She failed to tell HSBC that Skycom was controlled by Huawei, which was the subject of HSBC's concern, he added.
"And you should also be aware, if you are not already, that Huawei wholly owns Skycom," he told the court.
This put the bank at risk of reputational damage, financial losses and violating sanctions because it was given incomplete information, he had told the court earlier.
Frater wrapped up his arguments rebutting Meng's lawyers' claims that the United States has given "manifestly unreliable" evidence and cherry-picked information to bolster their case against the executive.
The court heard that the job of the extradition judge is to assess if the requesting country has presented enough evidence to support a possible guilty verdict. It is not to determine if Meng is guilty or innocent, it heard.
Before the extradition hearing, Meng's lawyers made four abuse of process claims, including that the Huawei executive was unlawfully detained when she was arrested at the airport, that there was political interference by then-U.S. president Donald Trump and that the American government summarized evidence and omitted other information in an effort to establish a case of fraud.
A statement from Huawei said the company is confident that Meng is innocent and trusts the Canadian judicial system.
"Accordingly, Huawei has been supporting Ms. Meng's pursuit of justice and freedom," it said. "We continue to do so today."
Meng's arrest placed Canada in the middle of a bitter dispute between China and the United States, and the arrests of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are widely seen as retaliation for Meng's detention.
Last Wednesday, Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in prison on national security charges by a Chinese court. The government released few details other than to accuse Spavor of passing along sensitive information to Kovrig. Both have been held in isolation and have had little contact with Canadian diplomats.
At the same time that Meng's lawyers were making abuse of process arguments, a Chinese court handed out the death penalty to Canadian Robert Schellenberg after rejecting his appeal. He was originally given a 15-year sentence, but was handed the death penalty a month after Meng's arrest.
The federal government called Schellenberg's ruling arbitrary, and the penalty "cruel and inhumane."
Meng has been under house arrest in a multimillion-dollar home in Vancouver.
The Huawei executive's lawyers got in a short rebuttal before the hearing ended on Wednesday.
Mark Sandler told the court that the attorney general had not proved the exact link between Meng's PowerPoint presentation and the subsequent decision by HSBC to clear the transaction, which resulted in a violation of an American sanction.
The fact that Meng's lawyers were allowed the one final argument didn't escape Frater's notice.
"No one has received a fairer extradition hearing in this country than Ms. Meng even to the point of getting the last word."
-- With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2021.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.