Amnesty International blames Italy, EU for surge in migrant drowning deaths

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TODAY:

• Amnesty International blames Italy and other European countries for the drowning deaths of hundreds of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
• The ongoing spat between Saudi Arabia and Canada shows no signs of letting up, with some questioning what Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is hoping to achieve.  
• Ontario's buck-a-beer announcement makes a splash, but how much cheap beer is too much cheap beer?
• Missed The National last night? Watch it here

Laying blame for migrant deaths

European efforts to stem the flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean have directly contributed to a surge in their drowning deaths at sea, according to a harsh new report from Amnesty International. 

The briefing note released Wednesday attributes at least 721 deaths in June and July to new EU policies, particularly from Italy's populist government, which have made it harder for migrants to land and frustrated the efforts of rescue boats to bring them to a safe port. 

"Despite a drop in the number of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean in recent months, the number of deaths at sea has surged. Responsibility for the mounting death toll falls squarely on European governments who are more concerned with keeping people out than they are with saving lives," Matteo de Bellis, an Amnesty International researcher, told the media.

"In its callous refusal to allow refugees and migrants to disembark in its ports, Italy is using human lives as bargaining chips. Desperate people have been left stranded at sea with insufficient food, water and shelter, while Italy tries to increase political pressure for responsibility sharing on other European states," he added. 

The report is particularly critical of European funding and logistical support for the Libyan Coast Guard, which has been intercepting migrants at sea and returning them detention camps in North Africa, calling it "collusion." Amnesty says there are now 10,000 people, including 2,000 women and children, living in overcrowded and filthy conditions while suffering "horrific abuse" from Libyan authorities. 

The UN's International Organization for Migration reports that 59,271 migrants have successfully made the voyage across the Mediterranean so far this year, with 1,514 more having died or gone missing. Most have landed in Spain, but the majority of drownings has occurred nearer to Italy's coast, along the more perilous central route. 

Amnesty maintains that the surge "cannot be dismissed as an inescapable misfortune," but is instead related to the Italian government's efforts to stymie the work of search and rescue boats operated by NGOs. A charge that has been repeated by other aid and human rights organizations.

Italy's toughened approach to migrants has sparked a new fight with Spain's leftist government, with Josep Borrell, Spain's foreign minister, telling a German newspaper that the policy changes are hurting the European Union. 

"Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is doing politics at the expense of not just Spain, but at the expense of all of Europe," said Borrell. 

Salvini, the leader of the far-right Northern League party, fired back on Italian television, accusing Spain of favouring "out-of-control" immigration. "Our concern is for the security, culture and identity of the European people," he said. 

But it does appear that the EU is moving closer to forging a common front on migration. 

Today, Germany and Spain finalized a deal that will see some migrants turned away at the German border. Under the agreement, which comes into force this weekend, migrants who originally landed in Spain can be returned there within 48 hours of arriving in Germany — satisfying a key demand from an anti-migrant faction inside Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.   

A spokeswoman for the German Interior Ministry told reporters that Spain has asked for nothing in return.   

Saudi Arabia trolls Canada

Saudi Arabia turned its diplomatic spat with Ottawa up another notch today with an announcement that it will halt a program that sends its citizens to Canada for medical treatment and seek to return those already in hospital back home.

The move came amid warnings of further action, including a possible sell-off of Canadian stocks and bonds, unless the Trudeau government apologizes for a Global Affairs Canada tweet on Friday that called on the Saudis to release jailed human rights activists.

"Canada knows what it needs to do," Adel Al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, told a news conference in Riyadh today, rejecting calls for a third country like Britain to mediate the dispute.

The enraged Saudi reaction — which now includes the repatriation of 16,000 students, suspension of direct flights and a halt on Canadian wheat purchases — to what seemed like a minor provocation has left some observers wondering what Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is actually trying to achieve. 

"Have the Saudis gone stark-raving bonkers?" British journalist and Al Jazeera television host Mehdi Hasan wrote in a column for The Intercept, calling it the prince's "latest overreach." 

"MBS is the reverse Midas — everything he touches turns to dust," he wrote.

And certainly there is no indication that the Saudis are willing to let things die down.

Television viewers in the oil-rich kingdom are being treated to a steady diet of anti-Canuck commentary these days as pundits weigh in on Canada's shortcomings. 

One segment earlier this week focused on the plight of Indigenous peoples and the legacy of residential schools.

"They are being dispersed and killed. Canada is a racist country," said Ayed Al-Rashidi, a Saudi journalist.

Al Arabiya, a news channel owned by Saudi broadcaster MBC — a company that the crown prince once coveted — posted a series of bizarre videos calling Canada's human rights record into question. One highlighted "oppressed" figures who have suffered for their beliefs, including Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel and controversial University of Toronto Prof. Jordan Peterson.  

Other dubious claims are being circulated on Twitter by what appear to be pro-Saudi bot accounts. 

Several such accounts have been peppering Canadian media outlets and the federal government with responses that promote Quebec sovereignty. 

Although their actual knowledge about the independence movement seems limited, with several Saudi tweeters mistaking Quebec City's flag for the provincial fleur-de-lis.

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Hot suds time machine 

Back in late November 2008, the most popular song in Canada was Britney Spears's Womanizer, American Idol was the top-rated show on television and people were flocking to movie theatres to see the first instalment of the Twilight saga. 

Which is to say that it has been an awfully long time since beer cost $1 a bottle. 

Yesterday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled his plan to roll back the clock and lower the minimum price brewers can charge for a two-four of beer to $24. 

The Progressive Conservatives aren't actually mandating lower prices, but rather issuing a "challenge" to beermakers, and offering "non-financial incentives" like better placement in LCBO stores and more promotion for those who comply.

The cheapest 24-pack in Ontario retails for $34.95, or about $1.46 a bottle. But the province's beer prices are still comparatively cheap. People in New Brunswick pay at least $36 a case, while all the Prairie provinces charge in excess of $40. The Northwest Territories has the most expensive beer at almost $57 a case, while Quebec offers the cheapest at $26.99.

Ontario has had a minimum floor price for beer since 2003 — the last time the Tories were in provincial power. It was introduced to help guard against irresponsible drinking, working on the premise that cheaper alcohol led to more health and social problems. 

It was the Liberals, under Dalton McGuinty, who raised the floor price from $24 to $25.60 in the fall of 2008. 

But as The Canadian Press later discovered via a freedom of information request it was Canada's big brewers who lobbied for the increase, eager to see prices rise in line with inflation.

(If inflation was the only factor at play, the current price of a 24-pack would be $29.64 in Ontario, $5.31 below the current cheapest brands.) 

Presuming that the price of beer actually does drop — and that you enjoy drinking the kind of mass-produced, discount barley juice that is likely to be offered on the cheap — it would be a welcome savings. 

In June, Statistics Canada released its annual survey of wages, finding that the average full-time Canadian worker earned $27.60 an hour in 2017, 10 cents lower than the year before. In fact, the salaries of most Canadians have hardly budged since the mid-1970s, when adjusting for inflation, the average minimum wage was $11 and the average hourly one was close to $24.

Ontario politicians have been enduring their own wage freeze since 2008, although they still make far more than the median family income of $76,000 a year in Canada, with MPPs taking home $116,550 and the premier's salary set at $208,974.

Assuming that they work the 37.5 hours a week required for most full-time employees, that works out to $59.77 an hour for the members of the legislative assembly and $107.16 an hour for the boss. 

Which would permit them to purchase far more cheap beer than anyone really wants, or needs.

A few words on …

A little girl's big league dreams. 

Quote of the moment

"It is very clear that the language that Boris Johnson used to describe people's appearance has caused offence. It's not language I would have used and I think he was wrong to have used that language."

-British Prime Minister Theresa May calls out her former foreign secretary and leadership rival for a controversial newspaper column in which he wrote that women who wear burkas look "like letter boxes."

What The National is reading​

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• Tesla's board says Musk started go-private talks last week (Reuters)
• Canadian start-up to test hyperloop train in France (RFI)
• Why GDP figures include illegal drugs (BBC)
• Walrus bones provide DNA clue to collapse of Vikings (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Brady Bunch' house bought by HGTV for new 70s-themed reno show (Bloomberg)

Today in history

Aug 8, 1960: CBC's Close-Up interviews Jimmy Hoffa

Jimmy Hoffa was three years into his tenure as president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — the largest and richest union in the world — and already up to his ears in Congressional investigations when he sat down with CBC's Close-Up for a feature interview. He estimates that he spends about 40 per cent of his time dealing with lawyers. "I know this is a crazy question, but how tough are you, anyway?" asks interviewer Robert Hoyt. "I have the physical stamina to be able to withstand anything that threatens this international union," Hoffa answers with a sly grin. 

Close-Up: Jimmy Hoffa

64 years ago

Duration 29:15

In 1960, Close-Up interviews Jimmy Hoffa, a "tough guy" who runs the powerful Teamsters union.

That's all for today.

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