The Tuesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, June 21:

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WYNNE CREDITS ONTARIO FOR NATIONAL CPP DEAL: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne took credit Tuesday for the agreement reached by the country’s finance ministers to enhance the Canada Pension Plan. It was Ontario’s constant demand to ensure people have an adequate retirement income and its decision to pass legislation creating a provincial pension plan that prevented the issue from languishing on the back burner, Wynne said. “Quite frankly, I was a thorn in the side of many of my colleagues,” she said. Ontario decided to create its own pension plan only after the previous federal Conservative government refused to consider anything that would increase premiums paid by employers, but always considered an enhanced CPP its preferred option, added Wynne.

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COMMONS DEALT WITH 10 HARASSMENT CASES: A new report says the administrative arm of the House of Commons has processed 10 cases of alleged harassment, sexual harassment and abuse of authority since its new policy came into effect more than a year ago. That includes five cases involving the conduct of MPs, but the report does not divulge their names, their political parties or the nature of the allegations. The report says seven of the cases were inquiries only, meaning that someone might only have asked for more information about their options; the three remaining complaints were all informal and did not lead to an investigation.

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FIRST NATIONS DEEPLY INVOLVED IN RESOURCES, SAYS STUDY: New research is laying out the growing involvement of First Nations in resource development and concludes aboriginal people will likely call more of the industry’s shots in the future. The report by Ken Coates of the University of Saskatchewan acknowledges the deep splits among indigenous people over energy or mineral projects on their lands. But it totes up the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue many First Nations now receive from those projects and points out much of it is generated by companies owned by aboriginals.Coates says their growing economic clout, backed up by a series of legal decisions, will eventually give them the kind of influence they seek over how projects are designed and built.

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ANTARCTIC RESCUE PLANE DISPATCHED TO SOUTH POLE: A plane was dispatched to the South Pole to pick up a sick worker at a research station. The National Science Foundation says one of two Twin Otters owned by Calgary-based Kenn Borek Air left Tuesday morning on the 10-hour flight. The flight is necessary because a worker at the research station requires hospitalization and needs to be evacuated. Foundation spokesman Peter West says there’s another patient who may also need to be taken out, but that decision has yet to be made.

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U.S. CITY GETS OK TO DRAW FROM GREAT LAKES: Representatives of eight U.S. states have approved a Wisconsin city’s precedent-setting request to draw water from the Great Lakes. The City of Waukesha had asked to divert water from Lake Michigan because its own aquifer is running low and the water is contaminated with high levels of naturally occurring, cancer-causing radium. Canadian and American opponents of Waukesha’s plan warned that, if approved, the city’s request could set a risky precedent for other communities facing water shortages.But after making a series of amendments to the original request, the representatives of eight states adjoining the Great Lakes — who had final say on the matter after input from Ontario and Quebec— gave Waukesha the green light

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QUEBEC POLICE SEARCH FOR CLUES: Up to 35 Quebec provincial police officers and judicial laboratory specialists searched a wooded area Tuesday hoping to find more clues in the case of a young girl whose remains were found last December. Cedrika Provencher was nine years old when she went missing in 2007 from her hometown of Trois-Rivieres, about 130 kilometres northeast of Montreal. Police received fresh information which led to the new search, said Capt. Guy Lapointe. “I can’t say when it will end, whether it will be today (Tuesday) or tomorrow (Wednesday),” he said. “What I can say is that it will end when all of our verifications tied to the information we received are complete.”

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WOMAN IN HIJAB ATTACKED IN LONDON, ONT: Police are looking for a female suspect after a woman was punched, spat on and had her hijab pulled in a London, Ont., supermarket. Investigators say the alleged victim was shopping with her four-month-old son late Monday afternoon when they were approached by a woman who began yelling at them. They say the unidentified woman then spat on the woman, and punched her several times. Police say the assailant then grabbed the woman’s hijab and attempted to pull it off her head before pulling her hair. They say woman suffered minor injuries in the incident.

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TORONTO COPS TO APOLOGIZE FOR 1981 RAIDS TARGETING GAYS: Toronto’s police chief is set to apologize for raids on local bathhouses thattargeted the city’s gay community more than three decades ago. Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook says Mark Saunders plans to deliver the apology on Wednesday, but did not have further details. Douglas-Cook says Saunders will directly tackle a series of raids that took place in 1981, in which officers barged into four bathhouses and rounded up the people inside. Nearly 300 people were arrested and charged with owning or being found in a common bawdy house.More than 90 per cent of the charges were dropped in years to come, and the raids galvanized Toronto’s LGBTQ community to fight for their rights and find a political voice.

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NO ‘MAGIC BULLET’ AGAINST JIHADIST PROPOGANDA: The Orlando massacre at a popular gay nightclub underscores the challenges faced by the U.S. government in countering the narrative of radical extremism, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday. Lynch told The Associated Press in an interview that no one yet has “found the magic bullet” to prevent individuals from being inspired to violence by jihadist propaganda they read on the Internet. As officials investigate the June 12 attack at the Pulse nightclub, Lynch said there’s no doubt that Omar Mateen had read and been interested in extremist propaganda. In a 911 call made from the club, he also pledged solidarity with the Islamic State.But she said investigators haven’t ruled out the possibility of other motives for the carnage.

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BRITISH PRIME MINISTER URGES PRO-EU VOTE: From the prime minister to sports and pop icons David and Victoria Beckham, supporters of Britain staying in the European Union urged voters Tuesday to think about future generations when they cast ballots in a referendum that has divided the nation. With the black door of 10 Downing St. offering a statesman’s backdrop, Prime Minister David Cameron appealed directly to EU-wary older voters, saying that leaving the bloc would risk the country’s economic security — and younger generations would have to live with the consequences. “Do think about the hopes and dreams of your children and grandchildren,” he said. “They can’t undo the decision we take,” he said. “If we vote out, that’s it. It’s irreversible.” The plea came as the already heated campaign moved into its tense final days.

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GOATS FOR WEED CONTROL IN CALGARY: They’re lean, mean, eating machines. Calgary has introduced 106 goats to a city park in an experimental effort to wipe out noxious weeds —most notably the Canada thistle. Three goatherders will monitor the herd 24 hours a day over the next three weeks as Calgary looks for a more environmentally friendly way to control weeds. Chief goatherder Jeannette Hall says the bottomless pits are an ideal solution because the seeds do not survive the goat’s digestive tract. Chris Manderson, the urban conservation lead for Calgary Parks, says the goats are a good alternative to herbicides and cost considerably less.

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