Archives for November 19, 2018

LONDON — THE Latest on Brexit negotiations (all times local):

1:15 p.m.

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn says another referendum on Britain and the European Union is “an option for the future” — but not today.

The Labour Party leader also panned British Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed Brexit agreement with the EU, calling it a “one-way agreement” in which Brussels “calls all the shots.”

Corbyn told Sky News on Sunday that his party’s lawmakers would vote against the deal. He demanded that May’s government renegotiate the agreement, which outlines the terms of Britain’s departure and future relationship with the EU.

A 2016 referendum to pull Britain out of the EU won narrowly. Some in the Labour Party have called for a second referendum to give the public final say on the Brexit deal.

The country is set to leave the EU on March 29.

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11:45 a.m.

Britain’s besieged Prime Minister Theresa May is warning that a leadership change wouldn’t make Brexit negotiations easier, as opponents in her Conservative Party threaten to unseat her.

May insisted she hasn’t considered quitting as furious Conservative rebels try to gather the numbers to trigger a no-confidence vote. She told Sky News in an interview that “a change of leadership at this point isn’t going to make the negotiations any easier and it isn’t going to change the parliamentary arithmetic.”

She added that the next seven days “are going to be critical” for successful Brexit talks, and that she will be travelling to Brussels to meet with EU leaders before an emergency European Council summit on Nov. 25.

Asked about the abuses hurled at her, she said: “It doesn’t distract me. Politics is a tough business and I’ve been in it for a long time.”

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10:45 a.m.

Britain’s former Brexit secretary has slammed Prime Minister Theresa May for lacking political will and resolve when dealing with the European Union over Brexit negotiations.

Dominic Raab, who resigned Thursday, suggested that May failed to stand up to bullying EU officials. He told the Sunday Times: “If we cannot close this deal on reasonable terms, we need to be very honest with the country that we will not be bribed and blackmailed or bullied and we will walk away.”

Raab added that “there is one thing that is missing and that is political will and resolve.”

May is facing political chaos and open rebellion within her ranks, with Conservative opponents plotting to oust her after Britain struck a divorce agreement with the EU this week.

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Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Sunday he’s donating $1.8 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, to boost financial aid for low- and middle-income students.

The Baltimore university said the contribution — the largest ever to any education institution in the U.S. — will allow Johns Hopkins to eliminate student loans in financial aid packages starting next fall. The university will instead offer scholarships that don’t have to be repaid.

University President Ronald Daniels said Bloomberg’s contribution will also let the institution permanently commit to “need-blind admissions,” or the principle of admitting the highest-achieving students, regardless of their ability to pay for their education.

“Hopkins has received a gift that is unprecedented and transformative,” he said in a statement, noting the prestigious school was founded in 1876 by a $7 million gift from Baltimore merchant Johns Hopkins that was, similarly, the largest gift of its kind at the time.

By way of comparison, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Gates Millennium Scholars program in 1999 with a $1 billion commitment over 20 years. The Chronicle of Higher Education listed it as the largest private donation to a higher-education institution in the U.S. earlier this month.

Bloomberg said he expects the money will allow Hopkins to offer more generous scholarships and ease the debt burden for graduates.

“America is at its best when we reward people based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook,” he said in a statement. “Denying students entry to a college based on their ability to pay undermines equal opportunity.”

The 76-year-old founder of the global finances services and media company, Bloomberg L.P., is among the world’s richest people. He graduated from Hopkins in 1964, served as New York mayor from 2002 to 2013 and has for years weighed running for president — including in 2020.

While holding the award for Canada’s biotech company of the year, BioVectra president Oliver Technow reminded his staff that the award was not for the company but rather for them.

“This award is for you – the BioVectra family,” said Technow, who accepted the BIOTECanada Gold Leaf Award during a ceremony at Holland College Wednesday.

BioVectra Inc. is a biotechnology and pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing company that has headquarters and facilities in Charlottetown and recently announced it was expanding operations to Windsor, N.S.

The company has a total of 325 employees.

Technow acknowledged that as the company grows and expands to realize market opportunities as well as possibilities for employees to work elsewhere, BioVectra’s roots remain in Charlottetown.

“This is a part of who we are. This is part of our identity,” he said.

Technow said the company is “an ambassador” for the Island’s bioscience sector and the P.E.I. BioAlliance. He compared the relationship to the African proverb that “it takes a village to raise a child.”

The P.E.I. BioAlliance has created a “safe and healthy and economically conducive” environment for BioVectra (the child) to grow and succeed, he said.

Rory Francis, executive director of the P.E.I. BioAlliance, said companies like BioVectra are the “anchors” and “unsung heroes” of what it takes to grow the biotech industry in Canada.

“You don’t have to be in Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver, obviously, to be a globally successful company in the biotech sector. And, one of the absolutely best examples in Canada is BioVectra,” he said.

Disagreement over the body that resolves global trade disputes split Asia-Pacific countries at an international economic summit, leaving the annual gathering the victim of a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

The Liberals have been championing changes to the World Trade Organization, which has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, organizing a meeting last month in Ottawa to start crafting a road map for reforms.

The U.S. has openly blocked the appointments of new judges to the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism, known as the appellate body — a tactic that threatens to paralyze the organization and prevent it from making decisions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brought the issue up during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday in Singapore. Trudeau’s office said at the time the two sides agreed to deepen their co-operation through organizations like the WTO.

But on Sunday, it appeared that both China and the United States were part of the reason the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Papua New Guinea ended deadlocked on a path forward for the WTO and trade around the region.

“There was broad agreement on how we need to support our citizens and work forward towards better co-operation,” Trudeau said at his closing press conference.

“But I don’t think it will come as a huge surprise that there are differing visions on particular elements in regards to trade and those prevented there from being full consensus on the communique document.”

When asked specifically which countries were involved, Trudeau said the United States and China were among a larger group.

The outcome seemed destined from the start of the summit as China and the United States used the annual forum to lay out competing visions for trade and investment at the gathering of nations, which combined represent about 60 per cent of the global economy and half of global trade.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence traded barbs Saturday in a battle for global influence. Both left the summit by early Sunday afternoon amid what reports described as tense backroom negotiations on the wording of the final communique from the summit.

Trudeau met Sunday with the leaders of two key trading partners — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison — where there was talk about the summit and the future of a trade deal among 11 Pacific Rim countries.

The deal, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP for short, has been a repeated topic of conversation for Trudeau during his time in the capital of this island nation.

Canada became one of the first six signatories to ratify the CPTPP, bringing it into force in December.

Observers say there is chatter about admitting the United States and China into the CPTPP to create a further-reaching regional trade pact.

Speaking through a translator, Abe said he was ready to work with Trudeau “to expand this trade area, which will have the free and fair rules” and forge a closer relationship “to address various global challenges.”

Morrison noted that the countries who ratified the agreement were “leaving the door open for others to come join, which we would welcome.”