In the news today: Gun-control group says feds watering down key promise

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Feds watering down key promise: gun-control group

A leading gun-control group is accusing the Liberal government of watering down a promise to ensure firearms are properly scrutinized before entering the Canadian market.

Read More:

• Sask. gun community frustrated as Ottawa outlaws 324 more firearms
• 31 guns found at a home, rural yard in Lafleche, two charged
• New rules allow Canada Post to ship restricted guns returned in buyback

The government recently published proposed regulations aimed at ensuring all gun makes and models for sale in Canada are known to the federal firearms registrar.

There is currently no obligation for businesses that import or manufacture firearms to share technical specifications with authorities, meaning guns could go on the market without being fully assessed.

The proposed regulations would require businesses to provide certain data to the registrar before importing or manufacturing a batch of firearms.

The information would include details such as make, model, shot capacity, gauge or calibre, barrel length, stock type and whether the firearm can accept a detachable magazine.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

What’s at stake as Canada leads the G7 this year

Canada is set to take over the presidency of the G7 in 2025, leading a forum of seven of the world’s most advanced economies at a time of political instability at home and around the world.

The G7 includes the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada, as well as the European Union. For five decades, the group’s governments have co-ordinated how liberal democracies respond to economic and societal challenges.

The G7 has no charter, offices or permanent administration. It makes decisions based on consensus, without formal votes.

The rotating presidency involves a series of meetings across the hosting country for senior officials of G7 countries, who co-ordinate policies ranging from defence to digital regulation. Some meetings involve civil society groups, business leaders and organized labour.

Hosting culminates in a leaders’ summit, where heads of government gather to take stock of the world’s main challenges. That often ends with a communiqué that sets the tone for other industrialized democracies, and can shape global policies at the United Nations.

Highest-paid CEOs earned $13.2M average in 2023

Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs earned $13.2 million on average in 2023 from salaries, bonuses and other compensation, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

It was the third biggest year for CEO pay since the CCPA began tracking the data in 2007, but a decline after 2021 and 2022 broke records.

“It’s still well up from where it has stood historically,” said David Macdonald, report author and senior economist at the CCPA.

Factors leading to the decline included lower profits in 2023 and workers making wage gains after the most recent bout of inflation, he said.

The CCPA calculates that by 10:54 a.m. on Jan. 2, the average CEO on the list had made $62,661 — the average annual income for a Canadian worker.

Syrian family reflects on near decade in Canada

When asked about her life in Syria a decade ago, Amani Shamseddin struggles to find the words.

Sitting on the couch in her Edmonton home as her children clamour for her attention, she pauses to think.

“It wasn’t safe, we had so many incidents,” the 33-year-old says after a moment. “I don’t want to bring it back.”

In the fall of 2015, the newly elected Liberal federal government embarked on its pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrians fleeing the country’s brutal civil war in just 100 days.

Since then, Canada has welcomed more than 100,000 Syrian refugees.

Among them were Shamseddin, her husband Mahmoud and their children Ahmad and Ghena, who were eight and four when the family fled Damascus in April 2016. The family briefly stayed in Lebanon before securing asylum in Canada.

Allan Hawco on the case again with ‘Saint-Pierre’

After CBC’s “Republic of Doyle” wrapped in 2014, Allan Hawco spent years searching for the next show to create.

The star and co-creator of the St. John’s, N.L.-set crime drama, which ran for six seasons, had several ideas but couldn’t land on a concept that resonated with him.

He knew he wanted to make another procedural because it’s a genre he feels at home in as a writer.

But he didn’t want to rehash old ideas.

It wasn’t until Hawco scouted Saint Pierre and Miquelon for an episode of CBC comedy “Son of a Critch,” which he executive produces, that he found that spark.

“I had forgotten what the magic of Saint Pierre was,” says Hawco of the French archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean near Newfoundland, where he filmed his first leading role in the 2004 drama “Making Love in St. Pierre.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2024.

The Canadian Press