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Canadians say they are concerned political strife in the United States will undermine security and economic growth at home, according to a new poll, as an anti-vaccine mandate protest praised by former US President Donald Trump gripped the capital and affected the border, Reuters reported.

The anxiety captured in the Angus Reid Institute survey provides a backdrop to protests across the country, at the international border, and especially in Ottawa, the capital, where police say Americans have provided a “significant” amount of money and organizational support.

The Ottawa protest, now in its 13th day, has been marred by the appearance of hateful symbols, like the Confederate flag, associated with the aggressive populism embraced by Trump supporters and some protesters say their goal is not only to roll back vaccine mandates, but also to overthrow the government.

“The success or failure of the United States will have a profound impact on Canada,” said Bruce Heyman, former American ambassador to Canada from 2014-2017. “Part of the more extreme nature of our politics over the last few years has now moved to occupy some part of Canada today.”

In the poll, 78% of Canadians said they were worried America’s democratic discord will affect their country’s economy and security. The survey of 1,620 Canadians was conducted between Jan. 27 and Jan. 31, the days in which the Ottawa protest began.

Two-thirds of Canada’s 38 million people live within 100 km (62 miles) of the US border, and the two countries are each other’s top trading partners.

The trade relationship with the United States is of existential importance to Canada, with 75% of all exports going to the southern neighbor. Half of Canada’s imports come from the United States, including 60% of all imported fresh vegetables.

The Jan. 6 anniversary of the storming of Capitol Hill in Washington last year led to a series of articles in Canadian newspapers that sounded an alarm about the resiliency of American democracy in coming years, and in particular after the 2024 election.

Until recently, politics in Canada has been less polarized than in the United States. One example is the adoption of vaccines with nearly 80% of Canadians having had two shots of a COVID-19 vaccine in contrast to 64% in the United States.

However, last week’s ouster of Conservative opposition leader Erin O’Toole in part for failing to embrace the protest suggests the political landscape is shifting.

“Canadians have generally looked to the United States and felt like, ‘Whatever is going on there, it’s not as bad in Canada,'” said Shachi Kurl, Angus Reid president.

“We like to think of ourselves as… a country of circumspection and compromise and friendliness, yet two in five people don’t feel that way anymore,” she said. Some 37% of Canadians say there is no room for political compromise in their country, the poll shows.

Ottawa police said on Tuesday they had worked with Ohio police to track down and arrest a man there for calling in fake threats “designed to deceive and distract our emergency resources,” deputy police chief Steve Bell told reporters.

On Monday, Canada’s federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the government would be “very vigilant about external forces, about foreign interference”.

‘A WAKE UP CALL’

Trump last weekend spoke out in support of the truckers and called Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “far-left lunatic”.

According to Angus Reid poll, 68% of Canadians believe U.S. democracy cannot survive another Trump presidency, and 47% said the United States is on its way to becoming an authoritarian state.

“The United States used to be a beacon of democracy, and now it’s exporting right-wing sedition to other democratic countries,” said Roland Paris, Trudeau’s former foreign policy adviser and professor of international affairs at University of Ottawa.

“The worse things get in the United States, the more dangerous it will be for Canada,” Paris said, calling the Ottawa protest a “wake-up call”.

Gerry Butts, Vice Chairman of Eurasia Group and formerly Trudeau’s top advisor, says “Canadians are astute observers of what’s happening in the United States, and they’re rightly anxious about it”.

“In the long term, Canada will be like everyone else… badly damaged if the United States becomes a democracy in name only,” he said.

Nepal logged 2, 401new Covid-19 cases and 14 deaths on Wednesday. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 10,368 swab samples were tested today, of which 2,401 tested positive. 

The Ministry said that 7,777 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Valley reported 1, 017 new cases today.

According to the Ministry, 890 cases are reported in Kathmandu, 102 in Lalitpur and 25 in Bhaktapur.

The Milan Pandey faction filed a case at the Supreme Court against Bibeksheel Party Coordinator Rabindra Mishra and the Election Commission on Wednesday. 

The Pandey faction filed the case at the apex court against Mishra and the poll body saying that the party took action against them for no reasons. 

Former party coordinator Pandey said that they moved the court alleging that the party took action against them at the direction of Mishra.

The party had expelled Pandey on December 21.

Earlier, Pandey had announced a 201-member Central Committee in the name of strengthening the party. The establishment faction, however, expelled Pandey taking this as an attempt to split the party.

Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and Finance Minister Janardan Sharma today held a meeting to discuss the budget in view of the upcoming elections. 

During the meeting that took place at the Ministry of Home Affairs, the two primarily discussed the budget for transport and logistics management for security bodies (Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force) in the election, according to Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division chief, joint-secretary Dr Bhisma Kumar Bhusal. As said by Bhusal, the Home Ministry is expected to estimate the budget towards current expenditures also till Thursday and send it to the Finance Ministry.  

Home Secretary Teknarayan Pandey, Finance Secretary Madhu Marasini and Chief of Security and Coordination Division, Ministry of Home, Joint Secretary Mukunda Niraula were present in the discussions.  

On the occasion, the Finance Minister apprised the Home Minister about pressure on the Ministry with the announcement of the local-level poll for upcoming May 13.  In response, the Home Minister said the Ministry was aware of the work pressure on the Finance Minister before the election and it would appraise it of essential issues in the days ahead.

The meeting followed the Nepal Police and the APF’s demands for vehicles and required election logistics from the government in view of the election. RSS

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE), the sole secondary market of the country, plunged by 22.06 points to close at 2,813.52 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index fell 3.51 points to reach 528.99 points.

A total of 6,520,628 units of shares of 223 companies were traded for Rs 3.47 billion.

In today’s market, all sub-indices saw red except with Non Life Insurance leading the table with 198.75 points. 

Meanwhile, Liberty Energy Company Limited was the top gainer for today, with its price surging by 3.08 percent. Buddha Bhumi Nepal Hydropower Company Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 6.64 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3.97 trillion.

The Democratic Socialist Party has demanded that the government hold the local level elections in Madhesh in September.

The government has decided to hold the local level elections in all the 753 federal units in a single phase on May 13.

Democratic Socialist Party Madhesh Pradhesh Chairman Jitendra Sonal said that the representatives of Madhesh will be deprived of their rights if the elections are held in May.

“I would like to draw the attention of the Nepal government, Election Commission and concerned stakeholders that the elections should be held in September as the five-year term of the elected representatives will expire only in September,” read a statement issued on Wednesday.

The European Union is pushing for a global deal aimed at preventing new pandemics that could include a ban on wildlife markets and incentives for countries to report new viruses or variants, an EU official told Reuters, Reuters reported.

International negotiators will meet for the first time on Wednesday to prepare talks for a potential treaty, said the official, who is not authorised to speak to media and so declined to be named.

The aim is to reach a preliminary agreement by August.

However, Brussels has so far struggled to get full backing for a new treaty from the United States and other major countries, some of which want any agreement to be non-binding.

A spokesperson for Charles Michel, the president of the European Council who in November 2020 proposed a new treaty on pandemics, said he had no fresh comment on the matter.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the most widely accepted theory, the COVID-19 pandemic began with the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from an animal to humans in a wildlife market in China.

Although Beijing was initially praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) for notifying it quickly of the new virus, the United States in particular has accused China of holding back information about the likely origins of the outbreak.

Among measures the EU wants to be included in the treaty is a gradual shutdown of wildlife markets, the EU official said.

Incentives for countries to report new viruses are also seen as crucial to help with speedy detection and avoid cover-ups.

Last year, southern African nations were hit with punishing flight restrictions after they identified the Omicron coronavirus variant, which some fear could deter reporting of future outbreaks if incentives are not attractive enough.

VACCINES FOR VIRUS ALERTS

The official said incentives could include guaranteed access to medicines and vaccines developed against new viruses, which poorer nations have struggled to obtain quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic as wealthier states rushed to secure supplies.

States that detect and report a new virus could also receive immediate support, which might involve shipments of medical equipment from a global stockpile.

Talks will involve delegates from six countries, representing the world’s main regions – Japan, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt and Thailand, officials said.

Brazil, which will represent northern and southern American countries, favours a non-binding treaty.

The EU, which will be represented by the Netherlands, wants to introduce legally-binding obligations to prevent and report new virus outbreaks, an EU document seen by Reuters says.

If an agreement is reached, the treaty is expected to be signed in May 2024.

As part of an overhaul of global health rules, countries are also negotiating tweaks to the International Health Regulations, a set of global rules to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

The United States wants to strengthen rules to boost transparency and grant the WHO quick access to outbreak sites, two sources following the discussions told Reuters.

As many as 16 cameras installed for the tiger census have reportedly been stolen from the Banke and Bardiya National Parks.

Similarly, six have been damaged by elephants, according to the National Trust for Nature Conservation, Bardiya Chief Rabin Kadariya.

This has affected the census. Nine cameras were stolen from Block ‘1’ followed by four each from Block 2' and ‘3’, he said. The cost of cameras is Rs 40,000 each.

The first and second blocks entirely stretch through the Bardiya National Park while the third block covers parts of both national parks and the fourth block totally lies in the Banke National Park.  Tentatively, the cameras were installed for around 15 months at certain locations to track the possible movement of wild animals.

Kadariya said those visiting the park areas to collect fodder and poachers might have taken away the census gadgets.

So far, the census has been over at the first and second blocks and it is underway at the third and fourth blocks, Banke National Park Chief Conservation Officer Shyam Kumar Shah said. 

The census based on camera trapping methods began some two months ago (December 15, 2021). “While assessing the recorded movements of tigers, we expect a rise in its population this time,” Shah added.  RSS