www.theasianstar.com Vol 17 - Issue 5
Highlights from the 2018 federal budget
H
ighlights from the federal Liberal budget tabled Tuesday by Finance Minister Bill Morneau: “Proactive” pay equity legislation, as well as $3 million over five years for a “pay transparency” measure, to close the wage gap among federal workers and in federally regulated sectors, impacting some 1.2 million people. The “Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare,” to be headed by former Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins, which will explore ways to establish a national drug program. $3.2 billion over five years for Canadian science and research, including money for granting councils and Canada Research Chairs, upgrading outdated laboratory facilities and harnessing the power of “Big Data.” $2.6 billion over five years for a wide array of measures to encourage and foster scientific innovation and gender equality in the field, including encouraging female entrepreneurs and business leaders, revamping procurement and expanding access to broadband internet. The federal Liberal budget was tabled Tuesday by Finance Minister Bill Morneau. The Liberals will spend millions to close the wage gap. A federal deficit of $18.1 billion, including a $3-billion “risk adjustment,” down from $19.3 billion last year, that’s projected to decline slowly over the next several years, reaching $12.3 billion ($9.3
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Saturday, March 3, 2018
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India slams Canadian PM Justin Trudeau for Atwal visa slur India slammed as “baseless and unacceptable” on Wednesday a comment by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggesting that former Khalistani terrorist Jaspal Atwal was given a visa as a section of the Indian government wanted to embarrass his government. Opposition MPs questioned Trudeau in parliament on Tuesday about invitations issued to Atwal - convicted of attempting to assassinate a Punjab minister in 1986 - to attend two events with him in India. National security adviser Daniel Jean’s “anonymous” media briefing last week suggested that Atwal’s presence was
arranged by “factions within the Indian government who want to prevent PM Narendra Modi from getting too cosy with a foreign government they believe is not committed to a united India”. “Does the PM agree with those allegations?” asked opposition leader Andrew Scheer. Canadian opposition MPs demanded “proof ” from Prime Minister Trudeau to back up his government’s allegations. New Democrat MP Charlie Angus accused Trudeau of using a senior civil servant to “spin a conspiracy theory that somehow the Indian Continued on page 7
Randeep Sarai resigns as Liberal regional caucus chair
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Liberal MP who took responsibility for inviting a man convicted of the attempted murder of an Indian cabinet minister to an event with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stepped down from his role as chair of the party’s Pacific Caucus. Randeep Sarai, the MP for Surrey Centre, announced he was stepping down from the role on Tuesday. I want to again apologize for my role in recent unfortunate events. Moving forward, I will be exercising better judgment. As I don’t want to distract from the good work of the Pacific Caucus, I will be stepping down as caucus chair.
PMO has made Trudeau look really, really bad Umendra Singh The Prime Minister was made to look bad on his recent trip to India and someone has to pay the price. Justin Trudeau needs to fire some of his closest advisors and friends who run the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). Trudeau was made to look beyond bad, beyond silly and shallow as he pranced about in exotic Indian suits, family in tow. It looked so bad that former Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was forced to tweet “Is it just me or is this choreographed cuteness all just a bit Continued on page 4
The party has numerous caucuses for regions such as Quebec and Toronto. Sarai chaired a caucus of MPs from British Columbia. Voted into the job in October 2016, Sarai is stepping down after Jaspal Atwal, allegedly a former member of terrorist organization the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), was invited to an event hosted by the Canadian High Commissioner in India. Sarai later took responsibility for Atwal’s name having appeared on a guest
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Cross-border people smuggler loses battle to stay in Canada A B.C. man caught driving a van full of undocumented Indian nationals into Washington state has lost his battle to remain in Canada. In a decision released last month, a federal court judge upheld a decision to declare Karamdeep Singh Bagri inadmissible to Canada because he was involved in people smuggling. The court documents detail a scheme that began in a Sikh temple parking lot in 2014 when Bagri met a shadowy figure named “Babba” — culminating in his pursuit by U.S. Continued on page 4