Quebec public sector unions go on strike, announce 72-hour walkout later this month

Members of four major public sector unions in Quebec walked off the job on Monday and promised another series of strikes later this month if progress isn't made at the bargaining table.

Schools, health-care facilities and social services were disrupted at various points on Monday as the four unions representing a "common front" of some 420,000 workers protested the province's latest contract offer.

The unions announced their members planned to picket again for three days between Nov. 21 and Nov. 23.

The government's latest contract offer was soundly rejected by all labour unions in the province. The offer included a 10.3-per-cent salary increase over five years and a one-time payment of $1,000 to each worker. The unions have said the government's proposal doesn't cover inflation.

#Quebec #strike

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Government documents project Liberals' gun 'buyback' to cost nearly $2B, double minister's estimates

Internal government documents from 2019 put the cost of a government mandatory gun buyback at nearly $2 billion, despite assurances during the last federal election that expropriating so-called “assault rifles” from licensed Canadian firearms owners would only cost between $400 million and $600 million.

In documents published as part of an access-to-information request, an internal presentation prepared in December 2019 by the Department of Justice puts the cost of confiscating what it described as “military-style assault rifles,” with compensation for the owners, at more than double the figure touted by then public safety minister Bill Blair.

Over three years after it was announced, the federal government has yet to release any sound estimates on what the expropriation would cost taxpayers.

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🇨🇦📈Medically assisted deaths set new record in 2022

Statistics for medical assistance in dying in Canada for 2022 were recently released. As data from several provinces has already shown, more and more Canadians are applying for MAID each year.

🔹According to a new Health Canada report for 2022, a new record has been set with 13,241 people receiving medical assistance in dying. This number exceeds the 2021 figures by more than 31%. A total of 16,104 written requests for MAID were submitted.

All provinces except Manitoba and Yukon continue to see steady year-over-year growth in 2022. Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia are in the lead.

🔹The majority of people receiving MAID in 2022 had cancer (63%), cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological conditions. 463 people (3.5%) did not have reasonably foreseeable deaths.

MAID deaths accounted for 4.1% of all deaths in Canada in 2022, up from 3.3% in 2021.

A total of 44,958 people have received medical assistance in dying since the program was introduced in 2016.

🔹The growing demand for MAID has also triggered an increase in end-of-life healthcare workers. There were 1,837 unique practitioners providing MAID in 2022, a 19% increase from the previous year.

🔹The federal government prepares to expand MAID eligibility to those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness. The expansion originally was planned for 2023 but was delayed until March 2024 to provide more time for provinces, territories and doctors to develop guidelines.

#MAID

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1 in 3 Canadians are living in households with financial difficulties: StatCan

One in three Canadians say they are living in a household that is experiencing financial hardship, a new Statistics Canada report has found.

Individuals aged 15 and older reported living in households that found it difficult or very difficult to pay for necessary expenses such as transportation, housing, food and clothing throughout the month of October.

The report found that 41.3 per cent of renters were more likely to struggle financially compared with those living in a residence owned by a household member with a mortgage. Financial pressure eased even more for those living with owners without a mortgage.

Among the largest regions in Canada, the highest proportion of people living in financially strapped households was in southern Ontario.

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🇨🇦🇮🇳 Canada-based Sikh terrorist threatens attack on Air India flight on November 19

It seems we shouldn't expect relations between Canada and India to improve anytime soon. Another scandal involving a Sikh separatist living in Canada is brewing.

Canada-based Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, denominated as terrorist by Indian authorities, made multiple threats, including a video warning Sikhs not to travel on Air India flights later this month, mentioning life-threatening consequences if they do.

Pannun also claimed New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport would be shut down on Nov. 19 calling for its name to be changed to the name of her two assassins. The day was not chosen by accident: India is hosting the final match of the international men’s cricket World Cup on the same date.

Indian officials declared they would discuss the threat with Canadian authorities.

New Delhi has made no less than 26 requests to Ottawa, over the past six years, to extradite Sikh separatists in Canada to India.

#India

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🌱Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said Canada's emmissions reduction plans aren't strong enough to reach government targets by 2030.

"We found that the plan was insufficient to meet Canada's target to reduce emissions by 40 to 45% below the 2005 level by 2030," DeMarco said.

While all G7 countries, including Canada, have shown a decline in emissions since 2005, which is the baseline year for the 2030 target, Canada remains the worst performer on the list.

Emissions in Canada are down about eight per cent compared to 2005, while the reduction in the United Kingdom is about 40 per cent, 30 per cent in Italy, more than 20 per cent in both France and Germany, and about 15 per cent in both Japan and the United States.

#energy

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🏥 Alberta to dismantle current patient-care model, create new health delivery system

The Alberta government will restructure the delivery of health care in the province in a sweeping overhaul that Premier Danielle Smith promises will help solve capacity issues caused by a flawed system.

The changes will dismantle the single service provider model and spread the responsibilities of Alberta's health provider, Alberta Health Services, among a handful of new organizations.

In a news conference Wednesday, Smith announced a myriad of structural changes that will alter how health services are delivered to Albertans.

Four new organizations will deliver health services in primary care, acute care, continuing care and mental health and addiction care. Under the new structure, the primary focus of AHS will be acute care and continuing care.

#Alberta #healthcare

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📈💰CRA penalty rate on overdue taxes will rise to 10 per cent, causing tax advisers to shift strategy

The Canada Revenue Agency’s interest rate on overdue taxes will soon rise to 10 per cent, tax experts say, making paying back the agency more expensive and a greater priority for many individuals and already-stretched small business owners.

Until last year, the interest rate on unpaid taxes was low enough that it was not always a top financial priority. Since 2007, the rate has remained stable at five per cent or six per cent.

But that has changed in recent months. In the second quarter of 2022, the interest rate on unpaid taxes started a steep incline, since then rising to nine per cent.

In the first quarter of 2024, barring any special CRA measures, the rate will climb from nine per cent to 10 per cent, double what it has been for most of the past decade.

#tax

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke out against gender ideology at an event in Richmond Hill.

"Justin Trudeau does not have a right to impose his radical gender ideology on our kids"

#Poilievre #Trudeau

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🏠Feds to convert government-owned properties in Ottawa into 1,600 new homes

The federal government announced it will be converting federal properties in Ottawa into over 1,600 new homes across the city.

Federal properties in the city will be repurposed to 307 homes at Wateridge Village on former CFB Rockcliffe.

Another 600 homes on Carling Avenue and 710 homes on Booth Street will be built, which will include 221 affordable homes.

Six surplus federal properties across Canada will be developed into over 2,800 new homes in Calgary, Edmonton, St. John's and Ottawa.

Freeland said the homes will be developed by the Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation specializing in real estate development and attractions management.

#housing #Ontario

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🇨🇦🇺🇸Republican presidential candidate proposes border wall with Canada

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy raised the idea of building a wall with Canada during the Republican presidential debate.

Ramaswamy said building a wall along the southern border of the U.S. is not enough to fight drug cartels. He said the northern border is not discussed as often as it should be.

"I'm the only candidate on this stage, as far as I'm aware, who has actually visited the northern border"

Ramaswamy said, on the tail end of remarks about border security.

Ramaswamy also said the U.S. should use its military to seal any tunnels constructed by trafficking gangs.

For context, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that two pounds of fentanyl have been seized in the northern border region this year. That represents approximately 0.0074 per cent of the 27,000 pounds seized overall, according to the agency's figures.

#US

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🎁 Canadians plan to scale back on holiday spending amid high living costs

While inflation has slowed in Canada in recent months, Canadians are still paying more for their necessities than they were this time last year.

This is why 78 per cent of consumers said they plan on buying fewer gifts this December, according to data from the BMO index that tracks how consumers feel about their personal finances by sampling adults 18 and over in Canada.

Forty per cent of survey respondents also said they planned to buy less expensive gifts for friends and family.

A little over half of surveyed Canadians reported feeling financial anxiety about the holidays, with 29 per cent saying they feel less financially secure than they did a year ago.

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Trudeau: Canadians are afraid of climate change

What do you think Canadians are actually more afraid of: climate change or not being able to pay their bills?

#Trudeau

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🛢Canada and other fossil fuel producers set to scale up production: report

Canada is among a group of top fossil fuel-producing countries on pace to extract more oil and gas than would be consistent with agreed-upon international targets designed to limit global warming, according to a new analysis.

The report, released on Wednesday by the United Nations in collaboration with a team of international scientists, found that countries still plan to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be required to limit warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.

The report, citing figures from the Canada Energy Regulator, shows Canada — the fourth-largest oil producer in the world — is set to increase production through 2030 if there is no further action to reduce emissions, and by 25 per cent above 2022 levels by 2035.

#energy

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💰Trudeau government unveils plans to cut $500 million in spending

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government unveiled details of its plan to cut $500 million from government spending Thursday.

While some agencies like the Canadian Space Agency and the Invest in Canada Hub will see more than one per cent of their spending frozen and returned to government coffers, 61 departments and agencies don't appear on the list of government bodies taking cuts.

The government said the cost-cutting initiative excluded agents of Parliament and small organizations with budgets under $25 million a year. But many of those not included on the list of organizations affected — such as the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the National Capital Commission — have budgets much higher than $25 million.

Of the government departments that do appear on the list, the Department of Finance is taking the smallest hit, with only $827,000 of its $118 billion budget cut — about 0.0007 percent of its estimates.

the Department of National Defence (DND) is losing the most money — $211.1 million of the total $500 million cut. That works out to roughly 0.76 per cent of its $27.5 billion spending estimate.

The government's supplementary estimates, meanwhile, give DND an additional one-time transfer of $1.5 billion — $500 million of it for military aid to Ukraine.

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Two Jewish schools hit by gunfire in Montreal overnight

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante says “every violent and hateful event” will be investigated by police after two Jewish schools were struck by bullets overnight.

Police say staff members discovered bullet holes on the outside of the two schools located on St-Kevin Avenue and Deacon Road when they arrived in the morning.

No injuries were reported and that both incidents took place at night when the buildings were empty.

No arrests have been made but security perimeters were set up at the two schools. The perimeters were lifted in the afternoon, but officers remained at the scene for the end of the school day.

#Quebec

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🇨🇦🇮🇳 Canadian authorities confirm investigation into possible Air India terror threat

Five days after a video began circulating online warning people not to travel on Air India on Nov. 19, the Canadian government has confirmed it is investigating a possible terror threat.

“Our government takes any threat to aviation extremely seriously. We are investigating recent threats circulating online closely and with our security partners. We will do everything necessary to keep Canadians safe,” said Laura Scaffidi, press secretary to Canada’s transport minister, on Thursday.

The RCMP also confirmed early Thursday that it is investigating but refused to comment further.

#India

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Ontario to ban employers from asking for Canadian work experience

Ontario is hoping to ban employers from asking for Canadian work experience and relax the provincial immigration eligibility so that international graduates from one-year college programs can qualify for permanent residence.

The proposed changes are expected to take effect next year and will be part of legislation the provincial government plans to introduce early next week.

Starting Dec. 1, more than 30 occupational and professional licensing bodies will be prohibited from using Canadian work experience requirements in licensing.

Officials said helping internationally trained newcomers work in the professions they studied for could increase the province’s GDP by as much as $100 billion over the next five years.

#Ontario

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🏦 Canadians should be ready for rates to stay higher in the long run, Bank of Canada senior deputy governor says

Canadians need to be prepared for the growing likelihood that interest rates won’t return to the low levels seen over the past 15 years, Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers warned Thursday.

In a speech in Vancouver, the central bank’s second-in-command said that many of the economic forces that pulled down interest rates in recent decades are going into reverse. That “new normal” creates risks for indebted households, businesses and the broader financial system, which need to be managed proactively, she said.

“It may be tempting to believe the low rates that we all got used to will eventually come back. But there are reasons to think they may not,” Ms. Rogers said.

She pointed to tectonic shifts in the global economy, including a retirement wave among baby boomers and changing patterns of global trade and investment.

The Bank of Canada has raised interest rates 10 times over the past year and a half to fight runaway inflation. That’s brought the bank’s benchmark policy rate to 5 per cent, the highest level since 2001.

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🍞A food bank in Ontario is turning away international students looking for free food

The board president of a food bank in Brampton, Ont., says her facility has become so overrun with international students seeking free food that she has had to put up a sign telling them to stay away.

“Do not enter food bank / No international students!! (Government regulations),” the whiteboard outside the food bank reads.

The “Government regulations” notice on that white board refers to government of Canada rules, which require international students to provide a statement of financial support before they are issued a study permit. Student must have $10,000 per year (not including tuition)for themselves plus $4,000 for an accompanying family member.

What started as one to two students a day in September soon escalated to three or four, board president added. “And now we’re literally seeing five to 10 in groups coming every day. And it’s happening with a lot of the other food banks. And I’m getting calls now not only from food banks, but churches in Brampton, saying that they’re running out of supplies, because they have this influx of students coming.”

#Ontario

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Indigenous groups argue at the Supreme Court of Canada they are owed billions in historical redress

The Supreme Court of Canada is being asked to order financial redress worth as much as $126-billion to First Nations in Northern Ontario over broken treaty promises more than a century old.

On Tuesday, the country’s top court heard a case brought by 21 First Nations that ceded lands roughly the size of France in an 1850 treaty. In return, among other things, their members received an annuity, which was to have been augmented as economic conditions allowed – but which has been stuck at $4 a person per year since 1875.

Two lower courts have said thousands of Anishinaabe people on the northern shores of Lake Superior and Lake Huron are owed compensation. They said the Indigenous communities were left impoverished by the failure of government to increase the annuity, in breach of the 1850 promise.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard a separate case from Southern Alberta about a broken promise from the federal Crown in the 1870s to turn over a certain amount of land based on the population of the Blood Tribe.

In both cases, the governments involved told the Supreme Court that they admit they reneged on their promises. Yet in both, those governments said the court’s role is not to order financial damages, but to issue a declaration guiding the parties in negotiations over the appropriate amount.

#Ontario #Alberta

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