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UK Parliament gets new chance to offer options on Brexit

LONDON — Britain’s Parliament gets another chance Monday to offer a way forward on Britain’s stalled divorce from the European Union, holding a series of votes on Brexit alternatives in an attempt to find the elusive idea that can command a majority.
With just 12 days until the U.K. must come up with a new plan or crash out of the bloc, the House of Commons was considering a variety of alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May’s unpopular Brexit deal. Two ideas — staying in the EU customs union or holding a second referendum on Brexit — have emerged as the most likely plans to succeed.
May has ruled out both those ideas. But the divorce deal she negotiated with the EU has been rejected by Parliament three times, leaving Britain less than two weeks from a no-deal Brexit that could cause turmoil for people and businesses on both sides of the Channel.
The chief executive of industrial manufacturer Siemens U.K. implored British lawmakers to unite around a compromise Brexit deal, saying the country’s political chaos was making the U.K. a “laughing stock.”
Juergen Maier urged lawmakers to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU, saying that would allow frictionless trade to continue. In a letter published by the Politico
May’s spokesman, James Slack, said the prime minister understood that “business wants certainty,” and urged lawmakers to support May’s thrice-rejected Brexit deal.
May could try to bring her Brexit agreement back for a fourth time later this week. Slack said the prime minister “believes there is a majority in the House for leaving in an orderly way with a deal,” and her agreement was the best on offer.
Slack rejected speculation that the government could take drastic action, such as asking Queen Elizabeth II to suspend Parliament or getting her to refuse to sign legislation.
“We don’t have any intention of involving the queen,” he said.
Monday’s votes in Parliament follow an earlier round last week in which none of the eight Brexit options on offer secured a majority.
Staying in the EU customs union or holding a new Brexit referendum were on the table Monday, along with other “soft Brexit” alternatives and a call for a no-deal Brexit in which Britain leaves the EU without a deal on April 12.
The range of choices, and lack of consensus, reflect a Parliament and a government deeply divided over how — and whether — to leave the EU.
Justice Secretary David Gauke said leaving the bloc without a deal was “not the responsible thing for a government to do.”
But his Cabinet colleague Liz Truss said it would be better than a soft Brexit.
“I think that we are well prepared for no deal,” Truss, who is chief secretary to the Treasury, told the BBC. “I don’t have any fear of no deal.”
The divisions within May’s government over what to do next have left many Britons exasperated — including Conservative Party lawmakers.
Chief Whip Julian Smith, whose job is to ensure that Conservative legislators vote for government-backed policies, called the public Cabinet squabbling “the “worst example of ill-discipline in British political history.”
May has less than two weeks to bridge the hostile divide that separates those in her government who want to sever links with the EU and those who want to keep the ties that have bound Britain to the bloc for almost 50 years.
EU leaders will hold a special summit on April 10 to consider any request from Britain for a longer delay to Brexit — or to make last-minute preparations for Britain’s departure without a deal two days later.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Monday that it was time for the British Parliament to spell out what it wanted on Brexit.
“A sphinx is an open book in direct comparison with the British Parliament,” he told the Saarland state legislature in Saarbruecken, Germany. “We must get the sphinx to talk now. Enough of the long silence.”
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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story.
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Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
Danica Kirka And Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
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Kananaskis G7 meeting the right setting for U.S. and Canada to reassert energy ties

Energy security, resilience and affordability have long been protected by a continentally integrated energy sector.
The G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, offers a key platform to reassert how North American energy cooperation has made the U.S. and Canada stronger, according to a joint statement from The Heritage Foundation, the foremost American conservative think tank, and MEI, a pan-Canadian research and educational policy organization.
“Energy cooperation between Canada, Mexico and the United States is vital for the Western World’s energy security,” says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and one of America’s most prominent energy experts. “Both President Trump and Prime Minister Carney share energy as a key priority for their respective administrations.
She added, “The G7 should embrace energy abundance by cooperating and committing to a rapid expansion of energy infrastructure. Members should commit to streamlined permitting, including a one-stop shop permitting and environmental review process, to unleash the capital investment necessary to make energy abundance a reality.”
North America’s energy industry is continentally integrated, benefitting from a blend of U.S. light crude oil and Mexican and Canadian heavy crude oil that keeps the continent’s refineries running smoothly.
Each day, Canada exports 2.8 million barrels of oil to the United States.
These get refined into gasoline, diesel and other higher value-added products that furnish the U.S. market with reliable and affordable energy, as well as exported to other countries, including some 780,000 barrels per day of finished products that get exported to Canada and 1.08 million barrels per day to Mexico.
A similar situation occurs with natural gas, where Canada ships 8.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the United States through a continental network of pipelines.
This gets consumed by U.S. households, as well as transformed into liquefied natural gas products, of which the United States exports 11.5 billion cubic feet per day, mostly from ports in Louisiana, Texas and Maryland.
“The abundance and complementarity of Canada and the United States’ energy resources have made both nations more prosperous and more secure in their supply,” says Daniel Dufort, president and CEO of the MEI. “Both countries stand to reduce dependence on Chinese and Russian energy by expanding their pipeline networks – the United States to the East and Canada to the West – to supply their European and Asian allies in an increasingly turbulent world.”
Under this scenario, Europe would buy more high-value light oil from the U.S., whose domestic needs would be back-stopped by lower-priced heavy oil imports from Canada, whereas Asia would consume more LNG from Canada, diminishing China and Russia’s economic and strategic leverage over it.
* * *
The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.
As the nation’s largest, most broadly supported conservative research and educational institution, The Heritage Foundation has been leading the American conservative movement since our founding in 1973. The Heritage Foundation reaches more than 10 million members, advocates, and concerned Americans every day with information on critical issues facing America.
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Poilievre on 2025 Election Interference – Carney sill hasn’t fired Liberal MP in Chinese election interference scandal

From Conservative Party Communications
“Yes. He must be disqualified. I find it incredible that Mark Carney would allow someone to run for his party that called for a Canadian citizen to be handed over to a foreign government on a bounty, a foreign government that would almost certainly execute that Canadian citizen.
“Think about that for a second. We have a Liberal MP saying that a Canadian citizen should be handed over to a foreign dictatorship to get a bounty so that that citizen could be murdered. And Mark Carney says he should stay on as a candidate. What does that say about whether Mark Carney would protect Canadians?
“Mark Carney is deeply conflicted. Just in November, he went to Beijing and secured a quarter-billion-dollar loan for his company from a state-owned Chinese bank. He’s deeply compromised, and he will never stand up for Canada against any foreign regime. It is another reason why Mr. Carney must show us all his assets, all the money he owes, all the money that his companies owe to foreign hostile regimes. And this story might not be entirely the story of the bounty, and a Liberal MP calling for a Canadian to be handed over for execution to a foreign government might not be something that the everyday Canadian can relate to because it’s so outrageous. But I ask you this, if Mark Carney would allow his Liberal MP to make a comment like this, when would he ever protect Canada or Canadians against foreign hostility?
“He has never put Canada first, and that’s why we cannot have a fourth Liberal term. After the Lost Liberal Decade, our country is a playground for foreign interference. Our economy is weaker than ever before. Our people more divided. We need a change to put Canada first with a new government that will stand up for the security and economy of our citizens and take back control of our destiny. Let’s bring it home.”
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