In The News for Jan. 24: Will Rogers’ takeover of Shaw get scuttled in court?

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 …

What we are watching in Canada …

The fate of Rogers Communications Inc.’s proposed takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. goes before the Federal Court of Appeal today as the Competition Bureau seeks to overturn the Competition Tribunal’s decision approving the deal.

In its appeal filings the Competition Bureau alleges the Tribunal made four legal errors, centred largely around how the proposed sale of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile to Videotron was factored into the decision.

The bureau argues that the Tribunal erred in how it assessed the proposed sale of Freedom Mobile, a deal it says would make Videotron dependent on Rogers for support, and also erred in relying on unenforceable commitments around the deal.

In its response, Rogers says that the bureau has relied on indirect attacks on the Tribunal’s assessment of the evidence that it is presenting as core questions of law.

Rogers says the claims of profound legal error and calamitous policy implications are “unhelpful rhetoric,” and that the tribunal’s decision is “quintessentially fact-based and manifestly serves the public interest.”

The hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa is set to run a single day, with a decision date on the appeal not yet set as the extended Jan. 31 closing date of the deal approaches.

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Also this …

The Liberal cabinet will head into the second of a three-day retreat in Hamilton today with a lengthy to-do list, including tackling inflation and making the country more competitive.

Later today, however, they intend to show proof of one thing mostly ticked off the list: passports.

Families Minister Karina Gould is set to update the situation in passport offices, which were snowed under by passport renewal applications as COVID-19 restrictions eased last year.

The months-long waiting periods for passports led critics to accuse the Liberals of being unable to deliver even basic services to Canadians.

The Liberals are trailing the Conservatives in most polls of late and the choice of Hamilton for the retreat is electorally strategic as it is in one of the most competitive regions in the country, and one the Liberals must win big in if they want to stay in power.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

A shootout at an Oakland gas station killed one person and wounded seven others in the second shooting Monday night in the San Francisco Bay Area, police said.

Officers were sent to the scene on Macarthur Boulevard just after 6 p.m. and learned there had been a shooting between several people, a police statement said.

The officers found shell casings at the Valero gas station but no victims. However, dispatchers learned several victims had taken themselves to local hospitals for treatment of gunshot wounds.

One person died and the others were in stable condition, police said.

No arrests were made and other details weren’t immediately released.

The shootout took place only a few hours after a gunman killed seven people at two locations on the outskirts of Half Moon Bay, about 48 kilometres south of San Francisco. Officers arrested a suspect, 67-year-old Chunli Zhao, after they found him in his car in the parking lot of a sheriff’s substation, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

Finland’s top diplomat appeared to suggest Tuesday that the country may have to join NATO without Sweden after Turkey’s president cast doubt on the expansion of the military alliance.

“We still have to evaluate the situation if it turns out that Sweden’s application is stalling for a long time to come,” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told Finnish broadcaster YLE.

His comment came a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden not to expect support for its bid for NATO membership following weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups.

Sweden and Finland’s historic bid to join the alliance needs the approval of all existing NATO members, including Turkey, which has so far blocked the expansion, saying Sweden in particular needs to crack down on exiled Kurdish militants and their sympathizers.

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On this day in 1903 …

The boundary between Alaska and Canada was settled by an international commission. The decision, largely in favour of American interests, enraged the Canadian public.

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In entertainment …

A year after a streaming service won Hollywood’s top honour for the first time, big-screen spectacles are poised to dominate nominations to the 95th Academy Awards on Tuesday.

Nominations will be announced at 8:30 a.m. Eastern from the academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California. They will air live on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and be live-streamed on Oscars.org, Oscars.com and on several of the academy’s social media platforms. Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”) and Allison Williams (“M3gan”) will read the nominees.

If things go as expected, “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Elvis” could all rack up somewhere between six and nine nominations. If last year’s Oscars were dominated by streaming — Apple TV+’s “CODA” won best picture and Netflix landed 27 nominations — movies that drew moviegoers to multiplexes make up many of this year’s top contenders.

That includes “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the A24 sci-fi indie hit. Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan’s multiverse-skipping tale could walk away with the most nominations Tuesday, including nods for Michelle Yeoh and comeback kid Ke Huy Quan.

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Did you see this?

The Northwest Territories is considering whether to end seasonal time changes after a survey suggested there’s interest in the move.

More than 87 per cent of 3,545 respondents said they are in favour of adopting a permanent time standard in the territory.

Of those, more than half said they preferred mountain daylight time. That would mean the territory would not turn its clocks back an hour to mountain standard time on the first Sunday in November.

Many in favour of that option said they want more sunlight hours during the day. Some also highlighted that extra sunlight in the evening would be beneficial for trapping, snowshoeing and after-school sports.

Some people, however, shared concerns about the territory having a different time standard than Alberta and how that could affect emergency management and flights. —

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan.24, 2023