The Wednesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories
Highlights from the news file for Wednesday, Dec. 14
DOCUMENTS SHOW OTTAWA WATCHED U.S. CAMPAIGN WARILY: Canadian diplomats in Washington warned Ottawa earlier this year that a Donald Trump presidency would affect how the two countries co-operated on fighting climate change. They also levelled criticism at Trump’s protectionist trade policy, at one point branding it ill-informed. And less than two months before the Nov. 8 election, they said that a Trump victory seemed unlikely, given Hillary Clinton’s strong showing in polls. The findings are contained in a series of campaign monitoring reports prepared by the Canadian embassy in Washington for Global Affairs Canada. Copies of the reports were released under the Access to Information Act.
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PTSD TOP DIAGNOSIS FOR TROOPS FACING RELEASE: Internal Defence Department records show post-traumatic stress as the top diagnosis for hundreds of troops at risk of being forced out of the military because they are too sick or injured for duty. The documents were obtained by The Canadian Press through the access to information law. Military personnel are required to be physically able to perform their duties and deploy on missions at any given time as a condition for continued employment in the Forces. Anyone who is unable to meet this so-called Universality of Service principle for medical reasons is given time to recover. If recovery is not possible, they are released from the military. According to the records, more than 1,300 troops assessed between June 2014 and July 2015 were “at high risk” of never returning to duty. Of those, PTSD was by far the most common diagnosis, with 290 cases, or about one in every four. That compared to 150 military personnel with back injuries and 124 with knee injuries.