Trudeau acknowledges charges in Nijjar killing, calls for commitment to democracy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
"We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you."
It's an old tongue-in-cheek promise from a bar in Anchorage, Alaska, but that slogan leaps to mind now at a Republican Party rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
As the beat of ’80s rock and the cheers of the faithful fill a country club banquet room, the Republicans seeking state-wide office make some of the usual political promises.
They are running, they say, for an Arizona that "loves everyone."
But talk of wrapping all people in their benevolent embrace is accompanied by a long list of the people they see as enemies.
It starts with Democrats of course, who are portrayed as "communists" and "perverts" and who are accused of everything from collaborating with drug cartels to deliberately sabotaging the economy. Then attention turns to other Republicans.
To be sure, Democrats have plenty of vilifying words for Republicans too. But they rarely attack their own. That's the stark difference between them and the 2022 version of the GOP.
The U.S. is a nation split almost evenly between two parties, where – in the normal course of politics – each side claims to represent a majority. But on this night in Phoenix, these new Republicans are unapologetic about not even representing all of their own side.
A candidate for the state legislature thanks the crowd for weeding out "RINOs" during the primaries. That acronym – for “Republicans in Name Only” – has become a standard pejorative for party members who commit the sin of seeming too moderate.
A mention of the name Liz Cheney draws some of the loudest booing of the night. Cheney is the once powerful congressional Republican, now reviled by her party for being a thorn in the side of Donald Trump.
By contrast, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is a full-throated election denier who has been called "Trump in a dress." She makes a point of saying that "the new Republican party is not the party of Mitch McConnell."
It's a seemingly unprovoked sideswipe of her own party's leader in the Senate and it raises a question: How far to the right does one have to go for Mitch McConnell to look like a closet liberal?
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, here to lend support, offers an unconventional endorsement of Arizona's Republican senate candidate, Blake Masters.
"The D.C. politicians absolutely hate Blake Masters,” he says. “It's the best thing. They hate him. By the way, both parties. The D.C. politicians; both parties. They talk bad about him. They won't help him. They run him down. And the more they do it, the more I love him. The more they do it, the more I say ‘that is the guy for Arizona.’"
The crowd roars in approval, as if all that matters about the candidate is whether electing him would send a satisfying bird flip to other politicians – Republicans included.
Clearly, it's a measure of how extreme the prevailing views of Republicans have become that so many in the party are not considered extreme enough. But infighting aside, the real question is what message this sends to the electorate.
Donald Trump's events to support midterm candidates are billed as "Save America" rallies. Lake, in the same fashion, calls out to "save Arizona." But for whom?
As they prepare to vote on Tuesday, even some Republicans must be wondering whether any of that "saving" will be for their benefit. Or are they just "the other guy?"
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
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.
Princess Anne paid tribute to veterans buried at a cemetery in British Columbia today, laying a wreath to honour the more than 2,500 military personnel and family members buried there.
Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a photo finish, edging out Forever Young and Sierra Leone for the upset victory.
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.
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.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
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.