By Canadian Press

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

Jun 13, 2017 | 2:30 PM

Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, June 13

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FEDS SET TO MEET WITH FIGHTER JET MAKERS: Federal officials are expected to sit down with different fighter jet manufacturers in Paris next week. The meetings are being billed as the first step towards the eventual launch of a competition in 2019 to replace Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet with 88 new fighters. But they also come as uncertainty remains over the Liberals’ plan to buy 18 Super Hornets from U.S. aerospace giant Boeing in the meantime. The government has threatened to scrap that plan in retaliation for Boeing’s trade dispute with Canadian rival Bombardier. That sets the stage for Boeing’s competitors to use the Paris meetings as an opportunity to pitch their own aircraft should the government follow through on its threat. For its part, Boeing says it continues to work with the U.S. government to sell the Super Hornets to Canada.

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HATE CRIMES IN CANADA UP IN 2015, STATSCAN SAYS: Statistics Canada says hate crimes in Canada rose by five per cent in 2015. The agency says the rise is largely due to an increase in incidents targeting certain groups, specifically the Muslim population and Arabs or West Asians. In 2015, police reported 1,362 criminal incidents motivated by hate, 67 more than the previous year, according to the data published Tuesday. Police-reported hate crimes targeting the Muslim population rose from 99 incidents in 2014 to 159 incidents in 2015, while crimes targeting the Jewish population declined from 213 in 2014 to 178 in 2015. StatsCan says eight of 10 provinces reported an increase in the number of police-reported hate crimes from 2014 to 2015. The increase was most pronounced in Alberta, which the agency notes reported an overall increase in their 2015 crime statistics.

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‘SIGNIFICANT DOUBT’ FOR FUTURE OF SEARS CANADA: Sears Canada, known for its catalogues that were a household staple for generations, said Tuesday there is “significant doubt” about its future and it could sell or restructure itself. The struggling retailer, which tried to reinvent itself last year with a new corporate logo, said it doesn’t expect to have enough cash flow over the next 12 months to meet its obligations. It’s the latest sign of how the retail sector is being upended by numerous factors, including the rise of online shopping. Its shares tanked, down 22 per cent to 89 cents in midday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company’s executive leadership has been a veritable revolving door, having gone through several changes over the last four years. Last week, rival Hudson’s Bay Co. said it is cutting about 2,000 jobs across North America in an effort to help it compete in an increasingly tough retail environment, partly due to the rise of e-commerce.

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POLOZ SAYS LOW INTEREST RATES HAVE DONE THEIR JOB: The Bank of Canada is sending out more signals that it’s moving closer to a hike in its benchmark interest rate as the economy continues to strengthen. Governor Stephen Poloz told the CBC in an interview broadcast Tuesday that rate cuts introduced by the bank amid the oil-price slump have done their job. The bank reduced its trend-setting rate twice in 2015 to the very low level of 0.5 per cent to help the economy as it struggled with the effects of the oil-price shock. Poloz’s remarks come a day after the bank’s second-highest ranking official indicated the governing council is assessing whether the considerable stimulus from the low rates is still required. Senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins said in recent months the economy has registered impressive, broad-based gains not seen since before the oil-price collapse nearly three years ago. Analysts say these types of comments suggest the bank is beginning to assess when, not if, the bank might introduce its first rate increase in nearly seven years.

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CANADA CONSULTED ALLIES OVER CHINESE TAKEOVER OF NORSAT: Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains says the security review done on the Chinese takeover of a Vancouver tech firm included consultations with Canadian allies. His comments come as some warning flags about the deal are popping up in the United States, whose military is one of the biggest customers of Norsat International, maker of satellite receivers for security and military use. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense told The Canadian Press today the Pentagon couldn’t comment on the matter specifically. But they emphasized that transfers of sensitive technologies should be vetted carefully for security risks to the United States. Canada’s opposition parties accuse the Liberal government of approving the deal without a full security review, a move they say was meant to appease China ahead of possible free trade negotiations. Bains says the review that was done was thorough and insists there are no risks to national security from the plan.

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NEW MILITARY HELICOPTERS BACK IN SERVICE: The Royal Canadian Air Force has resumed limited flights on its new Cyclone helicopters after a software problem grounded the aircraft for nine weeks and created delays in training air crew. Col. Peter Allan, wing commander of the Shearwater base in Halifax, said Tuesday the fleet of three CH-148 helicopters resumed training flights on May 15 after ceasing flying on March 12. The Sikorsky-built Cyclones are the much-delayed replacements for the Sea King helicopters, which remain in service after more than a half-century but are scheduled to be retired next year. Allan said it will take about six months to fix the software glitch that caused a computerized flight control system to momentarily restart and sent the aircraft into a sudden and brief loss of altitude on March 9. Described originally as a “severe bump,” the problem corrected itself and the pilot safely landed the plane. Allan says while the software redesign is underway there are some limits on operations of the Cyclones, but he adds they won’t affect the ability of air crew to continue most training requirements.

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NO CLEAR MOTIVE FOR LA LOCHE SHOOTING, HEARING TOLD: A child psychiatrist says it’s not clear why a teen killed four people and injured seven in a shooting that devastated the northern Saskatchewan community of La Loche in January 2016. Dr. Declan Quinn, who met with the teen four times, testified for the Crown as a court hearing resumed Tuesday to determine whether the teen will be sentenced as an adult or a youth. “I’m as puzzled now as I was the first day I met him,” Quinn said. The teen pleaded guilty earlier this year to killing two brothers in a home in La Loche before shooting up the school where a teacher and an aide died. Quinn said he was concerned that the teen was preoccupied with school shootings in the United States, specifically in Columbine, but the youth didn’t want to talk about those shootings or his own. The teen’s lawyer, Aaron Fox, has said there isn’t a simple explanation for what happened, but added his client does have cognitive, social and developmental issues.

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RESEARCHERS TO STUDY DUST AFTER FORT MCMURRAY FIRE: Ontario researchers are going to Alberta next month to study dust left in homes from the forest fire that ravaged Fort McMurray last year. University of Toronto engineering professor Arthur Chan says his team will look for heavy metals and carcinogens in dust that has collected in homes in the area. He says he has received overwhelming interest from concerned homeowners who have offered their places to be tested. Chan says his team was hoping to collect samples from 40 homes, but residents of 220 homes say they’ll open doors to the researchers. Chan says they’ll use a modified vacuum and swabs to collect the samples. The team’s work is among several studies that are being conducted on the health effects of the ferocious blaze that forced more than 80,000 people to flee.

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WAYWARD WHALE TO BE MOVED FROM NEW BRUNSWICK RIVER: Animal rescuers hope to capture and relocate an endangered beluga whale that has been making its home in a northern New Brunswick river for several weeks. Tonya Wimmer of the Marine Animal Response Society says they hope to relocate the juvenile whale from the Nepisiguit River to the St. Lawrence Estuary near Cacouna, Que. She says that’s where other beluga whales usually spend their summer months. Wimmer says it’s unknown why this whale went off on its own and decided to stay in the fresh water river. She says the whale — about two metres long — appears healthy for now, but shows no indication it plans to leave the river on its own. Wimmer says capturing, moving and releasing the whale will be risky, but officials have determined it is the best option. The whale will be equipped with a tracking device so scientists can observe where it goes.

The Canadian Press