The Thursday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Highlights from the news file for Thursday, Nov. 17

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CMHC SOUNDS INTEREST RATE WARNING: Canada’s federal housing agency says stress tests it has performed indicate a sudden rise in interest rates could cause house prices to plummet on average 30 per cent nationally. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says it studied the impact of two interest rate hikes — a one percentage point increase over one quarter this year, followed by a 1.4 percentage point rise during one quarter next year. CMHC said its mortgage insurance business would incur $1.13 billion in losses in such an event but that it could withstand the hit.

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VAUGHAN CALLS INFRASTRUCTURE BANK OPPOSITION IRRESPONSIBLE: One of the architects of the Liberals’ proposed infrastructure bank says opposition to the idea is short-sighted, stupid and irresponsible. Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, says the whole idea of the bank is to make it possible for municipalities to leverage private sector cash to fund crucial projects that would otherwise be unaffordable. Vaughan acknowledges there are some risks involved, but maintains they’re far outweighed by the cost of doing nothing.

SASK VOTES

Saskatchewan Party promises increase in tax credits for persons with disabilities

1h ago

Battlefords North Stars Preview

'Have to ride our confidence': North Stars get ready for Notre Dame and Humboldt

4h ago

ACCREDITED CHAMBER

Battlefords Chamber earns second national accreditation; sees growth in Saskatchewan

6h ago

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TRUDEAU VISITS ARGENTINA: Justin Trudeau took his first steps in South America as prime minister Thursday, landing in Argentina for a two-day stopover in a country that is rapidly opening up its foreign investment rules. After years of populist, nationalistic governments, Argentina is moving towards the political centre as president Mauricio Macri makes changes to currency rules, the tax code and the central statistics office to rebuild credibility and investor interest. Domestic polling figures suggest the majority of Argentines are not pleased with the state of affairs in their country.

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FORMER VALEANT EXECUTIVE CHARGED IN U.S.: Federal prosecutors in the U.S. have arrested former executives of Valeant Pharmaceuticals and a defunct mail-order pharmacy it helped to establish, charging them with running a high-stakes fraud-and-kickback scheme that bilked the company and its shareholders out of millions of dollars. Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, says Thursday’s arrests are part of an ongoing investigation of the scheme. Bharara’s office said it has charged Gary Tanner, a former Valeant executive, and Andrew Davenport, who had been the chief executive of Philidor, the mail-order pharmacy, with two counts of wire fraud, along with money laundering and conspiracy.

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NINE ARRESTED IN HAMILTON CHILD SEX CASE: A six-month investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a seven-year-old girl has led to nine arrests, including the child’s mother and her boyfriend. Acting on a tip from the Catholic Children’s Aid Society in Hamilton, police interviewed the girl and were told she was being sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend. Investigators later discovered an online advertisement allegedly offering the girl to be sexually assaulted. Police also believe the girl’s teenaged sister was also a victim of sexual assault.

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TORONTO PASTOR DENIES SEX ALLEGATIONS: Toronto pastor Brent Hawkes says no sexual activity took place in his home on the day he is accused of gross indecency on a 16-year-old male. Hawkes took the stand at his trial Thursday in Kentville, N.S., and said students and teachers often came by his trailer around that time to say goodbye because he was moving to Toronto. Tuesday, a man testified that Hawkes led him down a hallway naked during a drunken get-together at his Nova Scotia trailer in the mid-1970s and performed sex acts on him in a bedroom.

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B.C. CALLS FOR NATIONAL RESPONSE ON OPIOIDS: B.C.’s premier says Canada’s opioid crisis requires a national response. Christy Clark met with federal health and public safety ministers Thursday ahead of a two-day summit on the matter that begins Friday in Ottawa. Clark says the country’s opioid crisis is a complicated problem, adding a province-by-province model to fight it isn’t working. B.C. was the first province to declare a public health emergency tied to opioid-related deaths.

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SEISMOLOGIST CALLS FOR BETTER FRACKING RULES: A University of Calgary seismologist is hoping new research into fracking-related earthquakes will lead to better regulations. David Eaton says hydraulic fracking can cause tremors months after the activity stops, adding the quakes can persist for months after the fact if fluids are absorbed into the rocks along underground faults. Eaton says he hopes this study will contribute to science-informed regulations, and improve risk assessment and mitigation by industry.

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PENCE CONFIDENT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CAN WORK WITH DEMOCRATS: U.S. vice-president-elect Mike Pence says he’s confident Donald Trump’s administration can find common ground with Democrats. Pence spoke briefly with reporters after a private meeting with incoming Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York. He also met with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California during a busy day in Washington. Pence says he’s looking “forward to finding ways that we can find common ground and move the country forward.”

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FIRE GUTS SITE OF CANADA’S FIRST CINEMA: Fire gutted a 19th-century building in Montreal’s Chinatown district on Thursday that once housed Canada’s first cinema. More than 120 firefighters battled flames leaping out of the historic Robillard building, a heritage property that was constructed around 1885. No injuries were reported and the exact cause of the blaze was not immediately known. In June 1896, Louis Minier used a room in the Robillard to project the first indoor moving picture film in Canada, using the famous Lumiere brothers’ cinematographe.

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The Canadian Press