Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Martina Navratilova said Australian Open organizers were cowardly to prevent fans from wearing shirts bearing messages of support for Chinese doubles player Peng Shuai at the Grand Slam.
After video emerged of security officials and police instructing fans on Saturday to remove shirts with the slogan, "Where is Peng Shuai?" on them, Tennis Australia (TA) defended its stance by saying the tournament does not allow political statements.
TA's position dismayed 18-times Grand Slam winner Navratilova, who said the national governing body was giving in to China and placing sponsorship money ahead of human rights concerns.
"I find it really, really cowardly," she said on the U.S.-based Tennis Channel. "I think they are wrong on this. This is not a political statement, this is a human rights statement.
"(Tennis Australia is) just really capitulating on this issue ... letting the Chinese really dictate what they do at their own Slam. I just find it really weak."
Tennis Australia reiterated its stance on Monday, adding that Peng's safety remained its "primary concern."
"We continue to work with the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) and the global tennis community to do everything we can to ensure (Peng's) well-being. Our work is ongoing and through the appropriate channels," a spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.
Peng's situation became a matter of concern in November when she alleged that a former Chinese vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her in the past. After that post, she was absent from public view for nearly three weeks.
Last month she said she had never accused anyone of sexually assaulting her, and that a social media post she had made had been misunderstood.
The WTA suspended tournaments in China due to its concerns over Peng's safety.
Zhang has not commented on the matter. China has not directly commented on Peng's initial post, but said after the WTA's move that it is against making sport political.
"China has always opposed the politicization of sports, such behavior is unpopular and will not succeed," China's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian reiterated on Monday, referring to the Peng shirts at Melbourne Park.
French player Nicolas Mahut slammed TA's response on Twitter: "What lack of courage! What if you did not have Chinese sponsors."
Baijiu distillery Luzhu Laojiao and Chinese mattress company De Rucci are sponsors of the year's first Grand Slam.
On Monday, Peng supporters in Australia said they were planning to hand out 1,000 "Where is Peng Shuai?" T-shirts at Melbourne Park this week after raising more than US$10,000 on a GoFundMe page.
"We can see how many match-goers that they can stop," activist Max Mok told Australian ABC Radio.
TA said security officials will continue to enforce its policy at Melbourne Park.
"The policy will continue to be applied in relation to any items that compromise the safety and comfort of AO fans," the organizers said.
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.