Opponents of France National Rally The National Democratic Party (RN) stepped up its efforts to block the far-right party from gaining power on Tuesday, as more candidates agreed to withdraw from this weekend’s runoff election to avoid splitting the anti-RN vote. More than 200 candidates have confirmed they will not run in Sunday’s second round of parliamentary elections, according to local media estimates. The others have until 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) to make their choice. Marine Le Pen’s RN came out on top in Sunday’s first round, after President Emmanuel Macron’s gamble on early elections failed, leaving her centrist camp in a modest third place behind the RN and a hastily formed left-wing alliance. But even before the maneuvers of the last 24 hours to create a “republican front” to block the anti-immigrant and eurosceptic party, it was far from obvious that the RN could win the 289 seats needed for a majority. The story continues below the advertisement 2:16 French legislative elections: far-right National Rally in the lead in first round Pollsters have calculated that the RN could win between 250 and 300 seats in the first round. But that was before tactical withdrawals and cross-party calls for voters to back the candidate best placed to defeat their local RN rival. “The game is not over. We must mobilize all our forces,” declared the socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, on France 2. The RN is hostile to deeper integration with the European Union and would cut EU funding. Human rights groups have raised concerns about how its “national preference” and anti-migrant policies could apply to ethnic minorities, while economists question whether its big spending plans are fully funded. The email you need for the day the main news from Canada and around the world. In Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on pro-EU parties to do more to address the concerns of ordinary voters and counter rising nationalism, after talks with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz. The story continues below the advertisement Financial markets rose on Monday, relieved that the far right had not fared better, but the reaction was muted by the knowledge that a parliament without an absolute majority would also risk paralyzing Macron’s policies until 2027. There was some initial confusion over whether Macron’s allies would withdraw from local elections in favour of better-placed rival candidates if they came from Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) party. Macron, however, said on Monday, during a closed-door meeting of ministers at the Elysée Palace, that the top priority was to prevent the RN from coming to power and that LFI candidates could be supported if necessary. The “republican front” has worked before, as in 2002, when voters from all sides rallied behind Jacques Chirac to defeat Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, in a presidential election. The story continues below the advertisement It is not clear, however, that today’s voters are prepared to follow political leaders’ advice on where to vote, given that Marine Le Pen’s efforts to soften her party’s image have made it less of a pariah to millions. Fashionable now Elon Musk Announces Birth of 12th Child, Third with Neuralink Executive Five more suspected Iranian regime members face deportation from Canada A poll by the Ifop institute shows that a small majority of those who voted conservative in the first round would support the left-wing candidate best placed to beat an RN rival in the second round – unless that candidate comes from Mélenchon’s LFI party. On Tuesday, Le Pen reiterated her assertion that the RN would not attempt to form a government if it did not have a viable majority in parliament, but added that this could also involve reaching out to allies if the RN itself failed to secure 289 seats. “We cannot agree to form a government if we are not capable of acting. That would be the worst betrayal of our voters,” she said on France Inter radio. 2:03 France braces for snap elections after Macron’s defeat in European elections Assuming no group has a clear majority after Sunday, politicians of all stripes have proposed various ways to proceed with the remainder of Macron’s presidency. The story continues below the advertisement Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has suggested that the main parties of the right, left and centre could form ad hoc alliances to vote on individual bills in the new parliament. Xavier Bertrand, a leader of the centre-right Les Républicains (LR) party, called on Tuesday for the formation of a “provisional government” to lead France until the next presidential election. In a foretaste of the sour mood that would prevail if Macron were to “cohabit” in power with an RN-led government, Le Pen referred to media speculation that he was considering making key public sector appointments aimed at preventing the RN from implementing its policies. Without saying she had any evidence of what was happening, Marine Le Pen said such a move would amount to an “administrative coup.” In a statement, Macron’s office said only that discussions about such appointments had taken place at weekly cabinet meetings for 66 years and that there were no plans to change the arrangement. Source link

Calls have intensified for Justin Trudeau to resign as leader of the party he almost single-handedly pulled back from the brink after a crushing election defeat in 2011. Despite this, Trudeau remained firm in his intention to lead the party in the next election. But even if several former Liberal elected officials, party loyalists and strategists say it is time for the Prime Minister to step down for fear of dragging the party down with his personal results in the polls, many also admit that a Running for the leadership of the Liberal Party would be a risky and complicated affair. . The party has not chosen a new leader since 2013, when the Liberals changed the rules to give ordinary citizens more say over who would take the reins of the party. This was part of the board’s “road map to renewal” plan to rebuild the party. The story continues below the advertisement The changes allowed a political movement to form behind Trudeau, who won the race easily and reinvigorated the party after a period of crisis. 5:01 p.m. St. Paul’s by-election: NDP withdrawal of Liberal support ‘not a decision’ for today, says Singh “I don’t care if you’re a Chrétien Liberal, a Turner Liberal, a Martin Liberal or any other kind of Liberal,” Trudeau told the cheering crowd after he was elected. “The era of the hyphenated liberals ends here, now, tonight.” His leadership ushered in a new era of Liberal unity, but conservative strategist Ginny Roth said the party had also been remade in his image. “The Liberal Party was sort of rebuilt around Trudeau as a sort of cult of personality, and it worked when he was popular,” said Roth, who served as Pierre Poilievre’s communications director during his leadership race. Story continues below advertisement Now that this is no longer true, the very identity of the party is at stake. 1:21 Trudeau discusses Liberal defeat in Toronto riding while in Vancouver for announcement “I think a lot of Liberals are worried about what a leadership race might mean because there’s no real establishment.” The email you need for the day the main news from Canada and around the world. If Trudeau were to step down before the next election, the party would not only have to find a new leader before the next election, but also redefine what it means to be a Liberal. “Today, the Liberal Party brand has become synonymous with Justin Trudeau,” said Andrew Perez, a longtime Liberal and strategist at Perez Strategies. He recently called on Trudeau to resign, but he admits it’s a difficult task with the next election less than a year and a half away. It’s a risk, he said, especially given the rules that brought Trudeau to power. The story continues below the advertisement The aim was to make it easier for people to vote for the Liberal leader by allowing them to join the party as a “supporter”, so they could vote without having to pay for a membership. In 2016, they went even further by completely eliminating party membership fees. At the time, the party said it was intended to make the Liberals more “open and accessible.” But some strategists say it also makes the next leadership race susceptible to inference by special interest groups. “It is obvious that the system could be exploited in a party leadership race,” Mr. Perez said. He is particularly concerned about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the divisive effect it is having on Canadian politics. 0:38 St. Paul by-election: “I hear people’s concerns and frustrations,” says Trudeau “I am concerned about the role of special interests, which can mobilize around an issue and decide, on the basis of a single issue, who will lead the party.” The story continues below the advertisement While some decisions regarding a leadership race could be made by the party’s board of directors, more significant changes to the party’s membership would require an amendment to the party’s bylaws. This would have to go through a vote of the membership. Talks are underway to hold a party congress next spring – too late to change the rules in the event of an early leadership race. The timetable would be strict enough to appoint a new leader before Canadians go to the polls, although several Liberals – including Perez – say the crisis is not insurmountable. In fashion now New airline rivalries: Air Canada vs. Porter, WestJet vs. Flair More WestJet flight cancellations as strike hits tens of thousands of travellers Leadership races typically last at least months. Officially, the leadership race won by Trudeau lasted only five months, but the candidates had been preparing for it for almost two years. It also took the Conservatives two years to elect a new leader after Stephen Harper resigned after the 2015 election. The race that brought Pierre Poilievre to lead the Conservatives lasted eight months. All these people had the luxury of time, which is currently rare. The next elections will take place in fifteen months at most. Any elected leader would be propelled into almost immediate elections. In Ottawa, many have cited former Prime Minister Kim Campbell as a warning. She replaced the highly unpopular Brian Mulroney as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and Prime Minister in June 1993 and served only six months in the role. The story continues below the advertisement 3:09 St. Paul by-election: Freeland calls Liberal loss to Conservatives ‘disappointing’ She was soundly defeated in the 1993 election and the party was left with just two seats in the House of Commons. Scott Reid, who worked as former prime minister Paul Martin’s communications director, said people had drawn false conclusions from the story. “People think Kim Campbell was doomed. She wasn’t,” he said. Campbell’s poll numbers jumped after her leadership bid, but she simply wasn’t able to sustain people’s imagination once she captured it, he said. “There’s no precluding the possibility that a…

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says emergency crews are nearing the final stages of restoring full water use after a massive water main break impacted the city’s water lines for nearly a month. At a news conference Saturday, Gondek said crews took preliminary samples during the pipe flushing process to send to Alberta Health Services for analysis. “This means that we are very soon approaching the final stages of restoring water supply throughout the city,” she told reporters. 1:52 Calgary water emergency: City awaits sample results before stabilization process begins “The preliminary tests appear encouraging and the final stabilization step is to gradually restore the main power supply to regular service. This is excellent news for all of us. The story continues below the advertisement A massive water main, a critical pipeline that carries water from the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant to about 60 per cent of the city, ruptured June 5 in the Montgomery neighbourhood of northwest Calgary. The city relies on water from the South Glenmore Water Treatment Plant, which also supplies water to the remaining 40 percent of the city. Emergency crews have continually encouraged Calgarians to stop using water outdoors and minimize their water usage indoors by taking shorter showers, limiting laundry loads and reducing the number of flush toilets. 1:53 Calgary mayor calls for more water conservation efforts as consumption rises On Thursday, Gondek said Calgarians used 500 million litres of water, about 20 million litres more than the daily limit needed to ensure enough water is available for firefighting and health services. The latest health and medical news sent by email every Sunday. She said Calgarians need to continue to reduce their water use by 25 per cent to keep supplies from running out. The story continues below the advertisement In Saturday’s update, she said residents had turned the tide. “You have redoubled your efforts to conserve water and yesterday’s figures reached 460 million liters,” Gondek said on Saturday. “I was confident that you would rise to the occasion, as you have done a remarkable job in recent weeks to reduce your water consumption.” François Bouchard, Calgary’s director of infrastructure, said crews have continued to make good progress toward restoring water service. The teams followed a four-step restoration process that included filling, flushing, testing and stabilization, he said. “Yesterday we finished filling the main around 6 p.m. and last night we started flushing the line,” Bouchard said Saturday. “This involves pushing the water through the system and releasing it back into the river.” Once the flushing is complete, preliminary samples will be taken to test water quality, he said. So far, the results have been encouraging, he said. “If the tests show that the water is clean and safe, and we have confirmed that with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and Alberta Health Services, we will move to the final stage of stabilizing the system,” Bouchard said. 0:59 Calgary water emergency: Pipeline flushing to begin, says Mayor Gondek Gondek said many people, including Premier Danielle Smith, are seeking answers about what caused the initial break and how to strengthen the city’s water system in the future. The story continues below the advertisement Speaking on his province-wide radio show, Your province. Your premier.Smith said developers told him water leaks in Calgary were “very high,” citing a report done in the spring. “We need to address the issues surrounding the high rates of water leaks in Calgary’s piped system and what can be done to address them,” she said. She also expressed concern about whether Calgary’s water infrastructure will be able to withstand the stress of building additional apartment complexes under the planned blanket rezoning. “Just before the pipe burst, we had a joint meeting of council and my Calgary caucus and I asked, ‘Are you sure that with a blanket rezoning, all of your old infrastructure is going to be able to withstand this?’” Smith said. “When you have 12 single-family homes and purpose-built infrastructure, it’s very different than having multi-family homes and multiple multi-family homes.” Gondek said the report Smith referred to was presented to the city council, where it was debated “quite extensively.” Thompson added that the city is actively working with industry on how it can reduce water leaks throughout the system. “The City of Calgary’s water leaks are comparable to other municipalities around Calgary… but we know we need to reduce the amount of water that’s leaking from our system,” he said. The story continues below the advertisement 1:15 Water emergency in Calgary: repairs enter critical phase Gondek confirmed that the framework for an independent third-party review of the incidents will be presented at a city council committee meeting on Wednesday. “This framework will include engagement from an advisory group of respected leaders and industry experts,” Gondek said. “The investigation will look into what happened to the pipeline, the city’s response and how Calgarians were kept informed during the repair and restoration work. » Gondek also said the city’s Emergency Operations Center is monitoring the cost of restoring water service. Transactions will be accounted for once water is fully restored, she said. &copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc. Source link

Large numbers of French nationals are expected to travel to Montreal on Saturday for the first round of French legislative elections, driven to the polls by the threat of a rising far-right party and its allies leading in polls at home. Quebec has 260,000 French citizens, 200,000 of whom live in Montreal. They constitute the largest population of French people outside mainland France and more than a quarter of registered voters in North America, according to the French government. French President Emmanuel Macron, left, meets with a resident, Tuesday, June 18, 2024, on the island of Sein, Brittany. The snap legislative elections on June 30 and July 7 were triggered by Emmanuel Macron’s decision last Sunday to dissolve the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, after his centrist party suffered a crushing defeat to the National Rally in the European Parliament elections. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Christophe Ena The French electoral system allows citizens living abroad, in 11 different constituencies, to each elect one member of the National Assembly, which has 577 seats. The French in Montreal belong to the same constituency as French people living in the United States, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. On Saturday, they will have to choose between nine candidates, from French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party to the anti-immigrant National Rally, which is poised to win the most seats. The story continues below the advertisement Marie Lapierre, consul general of France in Montreal, estimates that the participation rate in the city in these elections will be double that of 2022. 2:03 France prepares for early elections after Macron’s defeat in European elections “During the last legislative elections in 2022, we recorded a participation of around 25% of voters. This time we have prepared for more… we are ready to accommodate around 50% participation,” she said. Latest news from Canada and around the world sent to your email address, in this case. “There was a very strong mobilization of the French community who were really ready to help us organize the vote,” said Mr. Lapierre. Yan Niesing, president of the Union française de Montréal, an organization that helps French nationals settle in the city, called the election “historic.” “Everyone wants to have a say,” he said. Frédéric Mérand, a professor of political science at the Montreal Centre for International Studies at the University of Montreal, said the level of engagement in the city is unusual for a French election. Story continues below advertisement 2:42 ‘Europe could die’: Macron calls for stronger defenses and presence on the global stage “We see signs, posters and people distributing leaflets in the streets of Montreal for an election taking place in France, so it is significant in that sense,” he said. These elections constitute an exceptional moment in French political history. Macron called early elections earlier this month after his party’s crushing defeat by the far right in European Parliament elections. The first round, which takes place on Saturday, could see the country form the first far-right government since the Nazi occupation of World War II, or see no majority emerge at all. The outcome of the vote, after the second round of July 7 and an exceptionally brief campaign, remains very uncertain as three large political blocs clash: the far-right National Rally, Macron’s centrist alliance and the coalition of New Popular Front which includes the center-left, the greens and far-left forces. Mérand says the main contenders with Montreal voters are the centrist and left-wing parties. The story continues below the advertisement 2:05 Macron suspends New Caledonia voting reform amid unrest Fashionable now Flight cancellations rise as WestJet mechanics hit picket lines The Canadian team buys air conditioners for athletes at the Paris Olympics. For what ? “All the other candidates are expected to be very, very far behind,” he said. In 2022, a left-wing alliance won the prize among French-speaking voters in Montreal. Macron’s party came in second with 25% of the vote from the city’s French-speaking residents, and the National Rally received 2%. However, thanks to votes from Americans and elsewhere in the district, Macron’s candidate won the seat. Chedly Belkhodja, a professor at Concordia University’s School of Public and Community Affairs, attributes the rise in voter interest to a historic competition in polarized French society. “This election will perhaps show a side of France that has not been seen for many, many years, namely the rise of the far right,” he said, adding that parties that were once on the fringes of politics have become more normalized and common in recent years. The story continues below the advertisement One candidate Franco-Montrealers can choose from is Washington-based Olivier Piton, who is a member of Les Républicains, the center-right party to which former President Nicolas Sarkozy belonged. Mr. Piton says he is best placed to represent his constituents in North America, whose concerns differ from those of French citizens on the continent. “Now we have to focus on what is really important to us… how can we defend our rights as French nationals, as residents of Canada or the United States,” he said. Elias Forneris, Une Nouvelle Energie pour la France candidate, also resides in the American capital and has spent much of his life in the United States and the United Kingdom. With little time to prepare for Macron’s announcement to dissolve Parliament, he focused most of his campaign on the Internet. “I think there is something that unites French people living in Canada and the United States. It’s common for us to be forgotten by the State in France even though we are citizens just like them, so what I would like to do is be able to represent the voice of the French here,” he said. -he declares. . 2:01 “We must defend freedom”: French demonstrators demonstrate against the far right in Paris Previous video Next video The story continues below the advertisement &copy 2024 The Canadian Press Source link