Politics
Ottawa urged to stop weapons flow to Sudan as Carney prepares UAE visit – National TenX News
As Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to visit the United Arab Emirates, human rights advocates are calling on his government to do more to stop the flow of weapons from the UAE to a militia in Sudan committing atrocious acts of ethnic violence.
While the UAE insists it isn’t arming the Rapid Support Forces militia, numerous human rights groups say they believe planes meant to carry humanitarian aid from the UAE to Sudan are regularly delivering weapons instead.
Some groups say they believe these shipments include Canadian-made arms.
“Governments like Canada have both an opportunity to show what the values that we speak of these days so loudly, what they actually mean when they’re put to test,” said World Vision Canada’s policy director Martin Fischer.
“Canadian-made weapons and components are fuelling conflict in Sudan. And it really isn’t sufficient for the government to say that the existing arms-export regime is world-class, when reality shows that it’s very different.”
Carney said on Oct. 16 that he “will be travelling to the UAE on the way to the G20” summit, which takes place Nov. 22.
Civil war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023. The paramilitary RSF succeeded the Janjaweed militia which undertook the first Darfur genocide between 2003 and 2005.
Both warring parties have blocked the entry of humanitarian aid. The war has put more than 30 million people in desperate need of aid, including 16 million children.
“That’s more than a quarter of Canada’s population, in terms of kids requiring some form of assistance,” Fischer said.
It’s also created the world’s largest displacement crisis, counting those moving within Sudan and refugees in neighbouring countries.
The UAE government has been accused repeatedly of arming the RSF — claims it has strenuously denied, despite the UN Panel of Experts on the Sudan deeming these reports “credible.”
In its last days in office this January, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden said the RSF was committing a new genocide in the Darfur region. Canada has not described the violence as a genocide.
The U.S. imposed sanctions on parties in Sudan and on companies in the United Arab Emirates accused of providing arms to the militants with government support.
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Atrocious violence has taken place within the past month. The World Health Organization reported that the RSF attacked a hospital in the Sudanese city of el-Fasher on Oct. 28, killing hundreds of patients and kidnapping multiple health workers.
Videos posted online showed hospital rooms pocked with bullet holes.
Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab reported last week on satellite images that it says show pools of blood in el-Fasher, suggesting mass killings at multiple sites. Online videos show dozens being murdered by militia members.
“Canada is horrified by the attacks in el Fasher and condemns the reported mass killing of over 2,000 civilians,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted Oct. 28 on the platform X.
“We urge all parties to uphold international law, protect civilians, and allow the unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid immediately.”
Anand has said she plans to visit the Gulf region in early 2026.
Fischer said the ethnic violence is producing horrifying stories.
“They’re facing armed checkpoints, extortion, looting and really concerning and alarming reports of sexual violence along the escape routes, if they can escape,” he said.
He argues Ottawa should work with allies to pressure both sides to allow aid in, and consider boosting its own aid contribution.
Ottawa has already pledged $103 million in aid to Sudan since the conflict started.
Fischer also said Canada should tighten its laws to make sure export permits don’t allow Canadian arms to be diverted to Sudan. Canadian firms exported $7 million in arms to the UAE last year.
“There is room, and need really, to clean up our own house,” he said.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East has called on Ottawa to halt all arms exports to the UAE to prevent their diversion to Sudan, and to investigate whether that is already happening.
The group notes numerous reports that arms deployed in the conflict were supplied by the Streit Group, a company founded in Canada that appears to have relocated to the UAE. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Sudanese Canadian groups have been calling on Canada for months to impose more sanctions and consider a terrorism listing for the RSF. Some cited those calls in testimony Monday before the House subcommittee on international human rights.
McGill University professor Jon Unruh also testified that the UAE is getting “conflict gold” from Darfur in exchange for arming the RSF, and could eventually be seeking land for agriculture.
“There’s a very large economic aspect to this,” he said, adding Canada could leverage its membership in the OECD group of mostly rich countries to push the UAE to comply with the group’s 2016 policy on minerals that come from conflict zones.
“Canada can employ coercive pressure to the UAE … to try to pinch off the gold supply from Darfur to the UAE, thus supplying the RSF with weaponry,” he said.
Other committee witnesses testified that the Sudanese Armed Forces is also committing human rights abuses and may be receiving arms from Iran and affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Doctors Without Borders says it’s seeing both infants and adults with acute malnutrition. The group’s representative in Canada, Michael Lawson, testified that is rare and indicates a widespread siege.
Lawson said shocking cases of sexual violence and torture have been reported by patients at the group’s hospital in the town of Tawila.
NDP MP Heather McPherson last week urged Canada to pressure the UAE to stop supporting the RSF and support international investigations.
“Canada’s inaction has helped to fuel these war crimes — and it must stop now,” she wrote in a media statement. “The blood is on our hands — and Canada must take immediate action that it has so far refused to take.”
The federal government has frequently described the UAE as a possible investment partner in artificial intelligence.
When asked this past Thursday, Anand would not say whether she had raised concerns about Sudan with her UAE counterparts. Instead, she touted the strength of Canada’s arms export controls.
“That process is run under legislation that is world-renowned … and I will say that any violation of that statute is closely monitored and enforced,” she said on Parliament Hill.
“We take it extremely seriously, and that is the work that I’ve asked my department to do,” she said.
Anand’s office said that work includes examining claims about Canadian arms reaching Sudan.
A trip to the world’s most-visited museum is about to cost Canadians significantly more.
France has hiked ticket prices at the Louvre by 45 per cent for visitors from outside the European Union, a move that is fuelling debate over so-called dual pricing and the growing backlash against overtourism.
Starting this week, adult visitors from non-EU countries, including Canada, must pay €32 to enter the Paris landmark, up from €22. That’s an increase from about $35 to $52 Canadian.
Visitors from EU countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, will continue to pay the lower rate.
The price hike comes as the Louvre grapples with repeated labour strikes, a high-profile daylight jewel heist last October that prompted a costly security overhaul, and years of chronic overcrowding. The museum attracts roughly nine million visitors annually.
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Some Canadian tourists told Global News they feel unfairly targeted.
“We didn’t cause the robberies or some of the other issues that happened and we are paying the consequences,” said Allison Moore, visiting Paris from Newfoundland with her daughter. “[In] Canada we don’t discriminate over pricing like that.”
Others argue tourists already shoulder higher costs simply by travelling long distances.
“In general for tourists, I think things should be a little cheaper than for local people, because we have to travel to come all the way here,” said Darla Daniela Quiroz, another Canadian visitor. “It should be equal pricing, or a little bit cheaper.”
Even some Europeans question the two-tiered system. A French tourist interviewed outside the museum said there was “no reason” to charge non-Europeans more and that the fee should be the same for everyone.
Tourism experts say the Louvre’s financial pressures help explain the decision.
“The Louvre is really cash-strapped right now and needs to do something,” said Marion Joppe, a professor at the University of Guelph. “It can’t really look to the government, which is already struggling with its own budget.”
The move also reflects a broader global pushback against mass tourism. Anti-tourism protests have spread across parts of Spain, New Zealand has increased its entry tax, and the United States recently raised national park fees for foreign visitors.
“You take Paris — it gets about 50 million tourists a year,” said Julian Karaguesian, an economist at McGill University. “That’s roughly a million a week. The city simply wasn’t built for those kinds of numbers.”
Despite the higher price, many visitors say they will still line up to see the Mona Lisa and other of the museum’s famous artworks.
“It’s one of the main attractions. It’s on everybody’s list,” Moore said. “We’re still going to go, and hopefully it will be worth it in the end.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Politics
Trump calls Canada-China deal ‘good thing’ as U.S. officials voice concern – National TenX News
Canada’s new trade deal with China is getting a mixed reaction in Washington, with U.S. President Donald Trump voicing support as administration officials warned Ottawa could regret allowing Chinese EVs into the Canadian market.
The deal signed with Beijing on Friday reverses course on 100 per cent tariffs Canada slapped on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024, which aligned with similar U.S. duties. Canada and China also agreed to reduce tariffs on canola and other products.
Asked about the deal by reporters at the White House, Trump said Prime Minister Mark Carney was doing the right thing.
“That’s what he should be doing. It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If you can get a deal with China, you should do that,” Trump said.
However, members of Trump’s cabinet expressed concern.
“I think they’ll look back at this decision and surely regret it to bring Chinese cars into their market,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at an event with other U.S. government officials at a Ford factory in Ohio to tout efforts to make vehicles more affordable.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters the limited number of vehicles would not impact American car companies exporting cars to Canada.
“I don’t expect that to disrupt American supply into Canada,” he said.
“Canada is so dependent on the United States for their GDP. Their entire population is crowded around our border for that reason. I’ll tell you one thing: if those cars are coming into Canada, they’re not coming here. That’s for sure.”
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Carney has said it’s necessary for Canada to improve trade ties and cooperation with China in light of Trump’s trade war and threats to let the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade expire.
The trade pact is up for review this summer, and Greer reiterated that the Trump administration wants to bring more auto manufacturing back to the U.S. and incentivize companies to do so.
Under the new deal with Beijing, Carney said he expects China will lower tariffs on its canola seed by March 1 to a combined rate of about 15 per cent.
Greer questioned that agreement in a separate CNBC interview.
“I think in the long run, they’re not going to like having made that deal,” he said.
He called the decision to allow Chinese EVs into Canada “problematic” and added: “There’s a reason why we don’t sell a lot of Chinese cars in the United States. It’s because we have tariffs to protect American auto workers and Americans from those vehicles.”
Greer said rules adopted last January on vehicles that are connected to the internet and navigation systems are a significant impediment to Chinese vehicles in the U.S. market.
“I think it would be hard for them to operate here,” Greer said. “There are rules and regulations in place in America about the cybersecurity of our vehicles and the systems that go into those, so I think it might be hard for the Chinese to comply with those kind of rules.”
Trump and officials like Greer have taken aim at Chinese attempts to enter the North American car market through Mexico by bypassing rules of origin under CUSMA.
The CUSMA review set for July is expected to address those loopholes that American and Canadian officials have said are being exploited by China.
Those concerns, which were also raised by the Biden administration, in part helped spur the steep tariffs on Chinese EVs, which are heavily subsidized by Beijing.
Trump, however, has also said he would like Chinese automakers to come to the United States to build vehicles.
Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers in the U.S. have expressed strong opposition to Chinese vehicles as major U.S. automakers warn China poses a threat to the U.S. auto sector.
Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican, said at Friday’s event at the Ford plant that he was opposed to Chinese vehicles coming into the United States, and drew applause from the other government officials.
“As long as I have air in my body, there will not be Chinese vehicles sold the United States of America — period,” Moreno said.
—with files from Reuters
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trade mission to China is being framed as a win for British Columbia’s economy.
Carney announced a new deal with Beijing on electric vehicles and canola at the end of a high-profile trip on Friday.
“The inroads Canada has made this week are a sign that the government gets it and is showing Canadians and the world that we are open for business,” Alexa Young with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said.
The trade deal would allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada yearly at a tariff rate of 6.1 per cent.
An expanded auto terminal on Annacis Island will be able to handle the additional volume of cars that could be more affordable than what is currently on the market, with prices expected to be under $40,000.
The New Car Dealers Association said in a statement to Global News that, “We look forward to reviewing the full details of this announcement and engaging constructively with governments to ensure that affordability, competition, and long-term market stability remain central considerations.”
In British Columbia, the overall reaction to the news on Friday is positive.
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“China’s economy is important,” Alex McMillan with the B.C. Chamber of Commerce said.
“Having trade deals like this — and diversifying our markets — is important. Providing certainty is important.”
There are concerns with the agreement, including privacy issues and China’s human rights record. But Ottawa’s goal is to double trade with partners outside the United States, which is a goal that would be impossible without China.
“We do want to see more trade and more diversification of our markets and know that China is an important nation and important economy, so having better trade relationships with them, I think overall is going to be good,” McMillan said.
–with files from The Canadian Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Louvre raises ticket prices for non-Europeans, hitting Canadian visitors TenX News
Trump calls Canada-China deal ‘good thing’ as U.S. officials voice concern – National TenX News
Canada-China trade deal framed as a win for B.C.’s economy TenX News
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