 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | More Canadian funding for Ukraine announced as U.S. House considers walking away | | |  | A F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off from an airbase in South Korea in 2017. (Carlos Jimenez/U.S. Marine Corps/Reuters) | | | Canada is cutting another cheque for $60 million to help train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16, Defence Minister Bill Blair announced Wednesday as U.S. Republicans bicker over whether to fund Ukraine's fight at all.
The Canadian contribution follows the federal government's announcement last month of a $15-million donation to pay for civilian pilot instructors from Montreal-based Top Aces Inc. The F-16s are being donated by Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Blair said Wednesday the new funds will help Ukraine pay for critical F-16 supplies and equipment such as spare parts, weapons stations, avionics and ammunition. Canada continues to provide aid to Ukraine, with over $2.4 billion in military support alone since the beginning of the war, according to the federal government.
Of course, that's peanuts compared to the tens of billions the U.S. has sent. But whether Republicans will allow any new funding for Ukraine is still up in the air. The imminent struggle in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will reveal whether enough of the pre-Trump Republican Party still exists to push the legislation through.
Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will not allow a vote on the bill in its current form, which leaves one of two potential paths, neither guaranteed to succeed. The first path is a negotiated deal between the parties, perhaps including new U.S. border-security measures. A similar effort collapsed spectacularly in the Senate.
A second path involves a procedural longshot called a discharge position that has forced a vote only twice in the past three decades. It allows members of both parties to gather signatures when a bill has been stuck at committee for 30 days; if the petition gets a House majority (218 members) it can force a vote.
Such an effort would face severe opposition, though. Lawmakers who sign their name would face blowback from the left on Israel, which is also part of the funding bill, and from the right on Ukraine.
"If it actually gets to the floor of the House, it'll pass overwhelmingly … I'm confident it'll eventually get there," Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told CBC News. "[But] there are a lot of twists and turns that could take place." | | | | | Sky's the limit | | |  | (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters) | | | | Canada's Molly Carlson participates in women's 20-metre high diving at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday. Get all your aquatics news at CBC Sports. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | A Vancouver non-profit says Lululemon is misleading consumers about its environmental practices — and wants Canada's competition regulator to investigate. The complaint, which was filed by the organization Stand.earth last Thursday, says Lululemon's Be Planet sustainability campaign from 2020, in which the company said it would work to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, is contradicted by a 2022 impact report that outlined Lululemon's progress in reaching its climate goals. "We think in this case, Lululemon is telling its customers a bunch of things about the products, that they are environmentally friendly, climate friendly, restorative to the Earth — and that none of those things are true," said Todd Paglia, executive director of Stand.earth. "That's what the Competition Bureau is set up to crack down on, and we're asking them to do so in this case." A spokesperson for Lululemon told CBC News the company is focused on helping create an industry that is "more sustainable and addresses the serious impacts of climate change," including achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Read more about the complaint here.
She was shot 13 times in an attack that killed both her parents. Now she's speaking out. On Nov. 20, 2023, Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, 28, says a man broke into her family's Caledon, Ont., rental home and started shooting. Her father was pronounced dead at the scene, while her mother died later in hospital. Speaking from the hospital room where she's spent months recovering, Sidhu told CBC Toronto that her father was a "saint" and her mother was a kind woman who fed everyone who came to visit and treated her children's "friends like [her] own sons and daughters." As she copes with her losses, Sidhu says she is focusing on joining her brother Gurdit's ongoing fight for justice. Gurdit, who was at work on the night of the shooting, has spent the last few months emailing politicians at all levels. He wants them to prioritize this case and push the police for answers. Police say they can't confirm whether the shooting was targeted or a case of misidentification. Read more about the shooting here.
A city councillor from Sudbury, Ont., who had been missing since Jan. 27 was found dead yesterday at a seasonal cottage west of the city. Michael Vagnini's body was found in Atikameksheng Anishnawbek after a resident discovered Vagnini's truck. The coroner's office will now conduct an investigation to learn more about the circumstances surrounding his death, but police say there is nothing to suggest foul play. The news of Vagnini's death broke shortly after city council began one of its regular bi-monthly meetings on Tuesday. "We are all very saddened by this tragic news, which is why I felt it was so important to take a moment this evening to come together and beginning the process of grieving the loss of our colleague after more than two weeks of uncertainty," said Mayor Paul Lefebvre. Read more about Vagnini here.
Winter weather is walloping parts of Atlantic Canada. Schools and services are shut down in parts of Newfoundland, including the St. John's area. About 20 to 30 centimetres of snow is expected Wednesday, before switching to drizzle or freezing drizzle overnight. In Nova Scotia, many schools were cancelled and transit was being pulled off the road. Police also warned motorists of poor visibility. Follow the latest storm news from Newfoundland here and from Nova Scotia here.
Now here's some Grim news to start your Wednesday: A U.K. gallery owner has been offering "penis amnesty" in an attempt to restore an oft-vandalized statue's genitalia. Dale Wells of Turntable Gallery in Grimsby, England, says the statue of Grim and Havelock, characters from 13th century Middle English literature, has been a target for vandals since it was first erected outside Grimsby Academy in the '70s. Grim's penis has been stolen at least four times. Amidst the amnesty, Wells received six apparently clay penises in the mail with a note that said: "Picked these up after cleaning Grandad's house. Think they are what you're looking for." Alas, the statue is made of fibreglass, not clay. Wells says Grim and Havelock are key figures in Grimsby's local lore. "It sounds like a bit of a silly way of putting it, but almost it's the townspeople taking it into their ownership," he told CBC Radio's As It Happens. "If you can, I don't know, break its willy off and keep it in your drawer or something, it's a part of that founder statue that is with you forever." See the statue here. | | | FIRST PERSON | As lighthouse keepers, we've kept our love alive through endless storms | Caroline Woodward worked as a lighthouse keeper on the Pacific Coast for many years. The lessons she and her husband learned from that experience have carried them through retirement. Read her First Person piece here. | | | | | | |  | As assault looms, Palestinians are trapped in Rafah | | As 1.4 million Gazans crowd into the tiny border city of Rafah, we trace the path of destruction that led them there, and examine the potential consequences of a looming Israeli ground invasion. Listen to today's episode | | | Today in history: Feb. 14 | | | 1876: Inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray apply separately for American patents related to the telephone. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that Bell — who moved to Canada from his native Scotland — was the rightful inventor.
1929: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre takes place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang are gunned down.
1986: Wayne Gretzky had seven assists as the Edmonton Oilers posted an 8-2 victory over the Quebec Nordiques.
1989: Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill author Salman Rushdie and the publishers of his book The Satanic Verses. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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