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.
The chair of Ben & Jerry’s board of directors denies accusations of anti-Semitism in the wake of the company’s decision to stop selling its ice cream in Israeli-occupied territories.
“This action is not anti-Semitic. I am not anti-Semitic. The vile hate that has been thrown at me does [not] intimidate me. Pls work for peace – not hatred!” Anuradha Mittal tweeted on Tuesday.
“I am proud of @benandjerrys for taking a stance to end sale of its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Her comments follow Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid calling the move a “shameful surrender to antisemitism.”
Mittal’s tweet marks her first public comments since Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would no longer sell its products in east Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Their statement attributed the pullout to “the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners.”
Ben & Jerry’s licensing agreement expires in December 2022 and its parent company -- consumer goods conglomerate Unilever -- would not renew it. Unilever highlighted in a separate statement at the time that it remains "fully committed to our presence in Israel, where we have invested in our people, brands and business for several decades."
Ben & Jerry’s will continue selling ice cream in Israel through a different arrangement. But doing so will be harder said than done as major Israeli supermarket chains – the main way the ice cream is distributed -- all operate in the occupied settlements.
Last week, Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett vowed to "act aggressively" against Ben & Jerry's decision, with the country's ambassador to the U.S. urging dozens of state governors to punish the company under anti-boycott laws.
Ben & Jerry’s, founded in Vermont in 1978, has not shied away from social causes in the past.
It has long-supported marriage equality in the U.S. and elsewhere, supported the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, and, in 2018, rebranded one of its flavours to call out the former Trump administration over what it called regressive policies against the environment.
With files from The Associated Press
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.