BREAKING Board orders deportation for trucker in horrific Humboldt Broncos crash
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
The leaders of five European Union countries urged their neighbours and allies Wednesday to ramp up military support for Ukraine, while the bloc's defence ministers debated ways to help meet the war-ravaged country's ammunition shortfall.
In their appeal, the leaders of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany and the Netherlands warned that Europe's security is tied to the fighting that started almost two years ago with Russia's invasion of its neighbour.
"Our ability to continue to support and sustain Ukraine's defence, both during the winter and in the longer term, is decisive," they wrote in the Financial Times newspaper. "In fact, it is a matter of our common European security."
With neither Russian nor Ukrainian troops demonstrating an advantage in the drawn-out conflict, fears are growing that public support for Ukraine's war effort is waning. EU and NATO leaders, who are among Ukraine's main backers, have shifted from praising the country's battlefield gains to celebrating its ability to survive against a more powerful enemy.
The prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House after the U.S. presidential election in November is also driving leaders and military officers to demand that Europe must do more to defend itself. During his last term, Trump undermined confidence among NATO allies that the U.S. would back them in a security crisis.
In the Financial Times, the five leaders said it was vital to speed up arms deliveries up given that the war was unlikely to end soon.
"Russia doesn't wait for anybody, and we need to act now. If Ukraine loses, the long-term consequences and costs will be much higher for all of us," they wrote. "We Europeans have a special responsibility. Therefore, we must act. Europe's future depends on it."
According to EU estimates, Ukraine was firing around 4,000 to 7,000 artillery shells each day last summer, while Russia was launching more than 20,000 shells a day in its neighbour's territory. Russia's arms industry far outweighs Ukraine's, and Kyiv has relied on Western help to match Moscow's firepower.
Yet the 27-nation EU's plans to produce 1 million artillery rounds for Ukraine have fallen short, with only about a third of the target met. Senior EU officials have said they now expect the European defence industry to be capable of producing around 1 million shells annually by the end of this year.
But the shells will not arrive quickly. NATO's procurement agency said last week that delivery of ammunition orders can take anywhere from 24 to 36 months. Even the five leaders conceded that deliveries could take a year.
"What is urgent today is to provide the ammunition and weapon systems, including howitzers, tanks, UAVs and air defence, that Ukraine so urgently needs on the ground. Now," they wrote.
EU defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Wednesday discussed ways to further boost production.
While not targeted by the five leaders, France has been accused of failing to provide sufficient support given its size and military weight. Still, on Jan. 18, France announced more planned deliveries of its Caesar artillery system to Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron is due to travel to Ukraine in coming weeks.
Asked Tuesday about doubts over future U.S. support for Ukraine, Macron said, "I am convinced that the next few months are decisive." He stressed that he thinks Ukraine is mainly a European issue.
"Ukraine is on European soil. It is a European country. And if we want a peaceful and stable Europe, we need to be credible in terms of our own security and defence vis-a-vis all our neighbours," the French leader said during a trip to Sweden.
EU leaders are set to gather over dinner later Wednesday to discuss their support for Ukraine. They have a Thursday summit scheduled on overcoming Hungary's veto of a long-term financial aid package worth 50-billion-euro ($54 billion) to help prop-up the Ukrainian economy.
Political infighting also is holding up additional U.S. support for Ukraine.
------
Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
Pope Francis paved the way for the canonization of the first saint of the millennial generation on Thursday, attributing a second miracle to a 15-year-old Italian computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006.
As avian flu spreads south of the border, Canadian officials are now testing samples of milk sold in grocery stores across the country.
Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar-nominee who made food and American diets his life's work, famously eating only at McDonald's for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died. He was 53.
It began last month with the arrest of a Russian deputy defense minister. Then the head of the ministry’s personnel directorate was hauled into court. This week, two more senior military officials were detained. All face charges of corruption, which they have denied.
A toddler has died after being struck by a recycling truck in a Barrie, Ont. neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon.
Friday's warrant for prison inmate Yacine Zouaoui, 32, is the latest in hundreds of reported prison breaks in Quebec. Sometimes, they just walked away; sometimes they went through a fence, and twice they used a helicopter.
Border workers have voted in favour of a strike mandate which could lead to 'significant disruptions' to the flow of goods, services and people through Canadian ports of entry, their union said Friday morning.
Lynx Air is selling off everything from life jackets to oxygen masks as it tries to recoup a portion of the losses it suffered before filing for creditor protection earlier this year.
The proprietors of Regina's sole discount theatre are aware they're carrying on a significant legacy.
When Jujhar Mann said he wanted to be a pastry chef on a grade school career project, he didn't imagine that pursuing his dream would land him on a popular Netflix baking competition.
A city known for its history, ties to outer space and southern barbecue, is also home to a Winnipeg chef dishing out dozens of perogies.
A Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.