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Apr 7 2023

ISIS arrests. Grocery scam. Cool Uranus.

Apr 7, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
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Canada
Ottawa might reverse scaling back foreign aid if economy rebounds, Sajjan says
'The stronger our economy, the more we can do around the world,'' International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan said after the budget called for a 15% drop in aid funding. [Global]

Two Ontario women were arrested on terrorism allegations on Thursday after returning to Caanda from camps in Syria for captured ISIS suspects. [Global]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed David Johnston to investigate allegations of foreign interference in the last two federal elections. [Global]
The rebate will be delivered through a one-time payment from the Canada Revenue Agency as soon as possible following the passage of legislation, Ottawa said. [Global]

A new internal report by the Department of National Defence is casting a spotlight on a persistent problem undermining efforts to replace Canada's aging military equipement: a critical shortage of procurement experts. [TorStar]
Committee Report No. 8 - from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. [House of Commons]
From the provinces
Cameron came up short in her run for the New Haven-Rocky Point seat, which was captured by Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker. [SaltWire]

Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood is now the lone riding without a UCP candidate. [Edmonton Journal]
In a tweet on Thursday, the Toronto Public Library said a borrowed record was due back on Oct. 5, 1982, but was just returned to the Spadina Road branch, 40 years late. [Global]
Elsewhere

Months after hundreds of French troops left Burkina Faso, ousted by the ruling military junta, speculation is mounting that the war-torn nation will fill the void with fighters from Russia’s shadowy mercenary outfit, the Wagner Group. In January, Burkina Faso ordered some 400 French special forces to depart, cutting military relations with France amid soaring jihadi violence that’s killed thousands and plunged the once peaceful nation into crisis. Anti-French sentiment in the former colony has grown since junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traore seized power in September. The junta says it has nothing against France, but wants to diversify its military partners in its fight against the extremists. [AP]
Media
The evidence is anecdotal, but it suggets the concept of giving paywalled articles to family members or friends (or your whole feed, although you are technically not supposed to do that) is actually resonating with paying readers.  New data from Hearst Newspapers bears this out. [Nieman Lab]
Tech

Following in the footsteps of the Neptune image released in 2022, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has taken a stunning image of the Solar System’s other ice giant, the planet Uranus. The new image features dramatic rings as well as bright features in the planet’s atmosphere. [Press release/European Space Agency]
Issued this day ...
Issued this day in 2006: Sc #2147: Art Canada: Dorothy Knowles. Design: Hélène L’Heureux.
As part of its ongoing Art Canada series, Canada Post issued a pair of stamps featuring artwork by Dorthy Kowles (1925- ). This stamp featured here, (Scott 2147) features her 1971 watercolour The Field of Rapeseed.  The other one in the pair showed her 1989 oil painting North Saskatchewan River.

At the time of issue, Canada Post noted: “Knowles' work … [has] long been recognized as a unique response to the immensity and richness of life on the prairie. Born in Unity, Saskatchewan, in 1927, Knowles was a farm girl who grew up to study biology and lab technology. After graduation, she attended summer art classes at Emma Lake, SK, studied art in night classes at the University of Saskatchewan, and in 1952 enrolled in an art class at Banff. She was encouraged to further her training in England, and attended Goldsmith's College School of Art in London. Soon, painting became her life's work. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Knowles experimented with abstraction, but in a 1962 workshop, Clement Greenburg encouraged her to return to painting from nature and her love of painting the vast landscapes for which she is renowned was born."
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