Indonesian lawmakers today (Dec. 6) unanimously passed “a sweeping new criminal code that criminalizes sex outside marriage, a move that threatens human rights and could do serious damage to the Asian country’s tourism economy. The new code, which also applies to foreign residents and tourists, bans people from living together when they’re not married, bans apostasy (the renunciation of religious or political beliefs), and provides punishments for insulting the president or expressing views counter to the national ideology, CNN reports. Many countries around the world have old laws on the books that forbid gay marriage or other activities. But unanimously Read more
politics
The Trudeau government is on pace to reach more than $54 million in spending on the controversial ArriveCAN app; more than double what has been spent so far. The Globe and Mail reports that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) recently submitted documents to the Canadian Parliament that list 27 contracts involving 23 unique companies all working on the app. This was after the CBSA told media outlets over the summer that only five companies had received contracts, the newspaper said. The CBSA originally said it has spent $19.7-million on developing the app and $4.9-million on app maintenance, but reports Read more
The Canadian Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, will have to testify about Canada’s continuing airport congestion and other travel problems in the next ten days or so. The House of Commons Transport Committee held an emergency meeting on Monday to debate Conservative transport critic Melissa Lantsman’s request to have the minister, a key member of the Justin Trudeau Cabinet, appear “for no fewer than two hours and answer questions about flight delays and cancellations at Toronto Pearson and other Canadian airports. The Lantsman motion was approved unanimously. Alghabra also has been asked to talk about the government’s unpopular ArriveCAN app, Read more
Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre says that, if elected Prime Minister, his government would approve a runway expansion at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Island airport, which would allow jets to fly in and out of the downtown. Poilievre said allowing jets at YTZ would increase competition in the aviation sector and provide passengers with an alternative to Toronto Pearson Airport, which has had a chaotic summer filled with crowds and cancellations. “Travel at Pearson is a mess right now,” he said. “There could have been way more flights out of Billy Bishop airport in downtown Toronto, meaning more competition and more Read more
Tourism officials say Canada’s new vaccination rules are a good start, but that the government hasn’t gone nearly far enough to boost the travel industry. The Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO), the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable and the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) put out statements saying more moves are needed. “As the pandemic has evolved and new tools have emerged to control the impact of COVID-19, TIAO has been advocating for government to remove barriers to travel,” officials said. “TIAO welcomes today’s announcement as an important step towards normalizing travel; it will help increase inter-provincial travel Read more
