Afternoon front page: ‘Gaps’ in government security; prof sues Lethbridge university for $3M; and more

It’s Monday, Oct. 5. Here are the top stories we’re following today.

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Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree conceded there are “gaps” in the government’s security clearance process in the wake of the arrest of a Canadian woman of Chinese origin charged with spying at NATO headquarters. “I think there’s over 200,000 screenings that are undertaken every year,” he said during the Commons public safety committee on Monday. “By and large, it is an unimpeachable record. Of course, there are gaps here, and I recognize that there are gaps, and that’s what I think we need to improve on.”

Frances Widdowson, professor, “academic provocateur” and an increasing terror to higher education administrators because of her skepticism toward some reconciliation narratives, is suing the University of Lethbridge for defamation claiming she was accused of spreading prejudice, hate, disinformation and lies. Widdowson, who is claiming $3 million in damages, also alleges that she was defamed when the university sent out a notice that it would be holding a sacred smudging ceremony to “dissipate the negative atmosphere brought by this individual to our community.”

More details are emerging about a Flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing the plane’s captain mid-flight in an attempted hijacking while the aircraft was en route to Israel. The suspect, identified as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, 29, by media outlets such as CNN and Reuters, was targeting Ben Gurion Airport, just southeast of Tel Aviv, according to the Times of Israel. Al-Hammami attended RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, but did not complete his studies, according to a statement on Monday. “The individual was enrolled at RMIT between 2015 and 2017 but did not successfully complete an engineering qualification,” the university said.

An anti-Israel event intended to “honour martyrs” at the University of Toronto on Oct. 7 will no longer be permitted. A spokesperson for the university told National Post that it has told the recognized student groups involved in organizing the event — one of several planned on Canadian campuses — that it “cannot proceed because of significant safety and operational concerns.” Oct. 7 marks the third anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered. It was the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. Canadian leaders and Jewish advocacy groups called on U of T and other universities to shut down anti-Israel Oct. 7 events.

It’s another announcement from Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. And it’s about the same West Coast pipeline they’ve announced before. This time it’s been designated a project of “national interest.” Still undetermined is whether it’s of interest to investors and shippers. Joining Brian Lilley are Chris Varcoe, Postmedia’s western business columnist, and Lorne Gunter, political columnist. They discuss the likelihood of this pipeline ever happening, the battles yet to fight, the eye-watering costs and the dismaying timeline before it gets done. They also discuss Smith’s feat in pushing the Liberals to overturn the last prime minister’s anti-oil dogmas. But given Carney’s costly carbon-capture conditions and other roadblocks, simply declaring a “national interest” won’t be enough to make Alberta’s oilpatch great again.

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