Public servants warned Trudeau government about effects of high immigration targets

The records, obtained by the Canadian Press, revealed that the federal immigration department analyzed the negative effects high immigration would have on the economy, housing and services, before the Trudeau government prepared its newcomer targets for 2023 to 2025.

The analysis cautioned that housing construction had long since fallen behind the pace of population growth in 2022.

In Canada, population growth has exceeded the growth in available housing units. As the federal authority charged with managing immigration, IRCC policy-makers must understand the misalignment between population growth and housing supply, and how permanent and temporary immigration shapes population growth.

reads the documents.

The Bank of Canada conducted its own analysis and came to a similar conclusion in December.

The Trudeau government decided to raise the number of annual permanent residents in Canada to 500,000 per year, nearly doubling the targets set in 2015.

#housing #immigration
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Civilian staff for Canadian military bases in Ontario and Quebec on strike over wages

Nearly 500 civilian workers on Canadian military bases in Ontario and Quebec began a strike today over wages and job security.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Union of National Defence Employees say members hit the picket lines as of 6:30 a.m. Eastern time this morning.

The strike will affect Canadian Forces bases in Kingston, Ont., Montreal, Ottawa, and other cities.

PSAC national president Chris Aylward says members are taking job action to get the collective agreement that they deserve.

The union says employees in the Non-Public Funds agency are paid significantly less than workers doing similar jobs in the core federal public service, and they have been without a contract since 2022.

#Ontario #Quebec #strike
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🇨🇦🇨🇳China ‘opposed’ to Canada congratulating Taiwan on its elections

The Chinese embassy in Canada said it was “strongly dissatisfied” and “firmly opposed” to the Canadian foreign ministry congratulating Taiwan on the conclusion of their presidential and parliamentary elections.

The embassy also urged Canada to “recognise the highly sensitive nature of the Taiwan issue ... and immediately stop its ’wrong’ words.”

#China
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Ethics committee to meet this week to discuss probe on Justin Trudeau's latest trip to Jamaica

MPs will meet Wednesday to discuss Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s holiday vacation to Jamaica that was a $84,000 gift from family friends.

Michael Barrett, a Conservative MP and ethics critic, said in a video posted on X that the parliamentary committee on ethics is being recalled this week because “it’s extremely important” that MPs find out if Trudeau has misled Canadians or the ethics commissioner.

If he’s got nothing to hide, there is no reason he cannot release the correspondence he had with the ethics commissioner. There’s no reason why he can’t give Canadians and parliamentarians the truth about this.

said Barrett.

#Trudeau
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Quebec man pleads guilty to setting 14 forest fires

A Quebec man who posted theories online that forest fires were being deliberately set by the government has pleaded guilty to starting a series of fires himself that forced hundreds of people from their homes.

Brian Paré, 38, pleaded guilty Monday to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life at the courthouse in Chibougamau, Que.

Prosecutor Marie-Philippe Charron told the court that two of the 14 fires set by Paré forced the evacuation of around 500 homes in Chapais, Que., a small community located around 425 kilometres northwest of Quebec City.

#Quebec #wildfires
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💰📈Canada's annual inflation rate rose 3.4% in December

Canada's annual inflation rate rose to 3.4 per cent in December.

Statistics Canada released its consumer price index report Tuesday, showing inflation ticked up from 3.1 per cent in November, largely because of a sharper decline in gasoline prices a year ago compared with last month.

Economists were widely expecting this rise due to a base year effect, which refers to how price movement from a year ago affects the calculation of overall inflation.

Grocery prices in December were up 4.7 per cent from a year ago, matching the pace of increase in November.

The Bank of Canada is broadly expected to continue holding its key interest rate at five per cent as most economists are convinced interest rates are high enough to quash inflation.

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🛢Alberta’s record high oil output edges out China’s total production in 2022

Oil production in Alberta rose above four million barrels a day for the first time last November. According to the Alberta Energy Regulator’s website, total oil production shot up by 336,822 barrels per day, bringing it to a total daily of 4.16 million, the highest on record since 2010.

The province even outpaced China’s average output in 2022. Including the other provinces, Canada is now the world’s fourth-largest oil producer.

The expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which runs from Alberta out to B.C.’s Pacific coast is scheduled to begin this year. This has led to a surge in production, as companies prepare for what will now allow them to export an additional 590,000 barrels daily.

#Alberta #energy #China
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🏠📈 Home prices in Greater Montreal have soared 30.6% since 2019: report

Housing affordability in Montreal has deteriorated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report shows.

Residential real-estate prices in the Greater Montreal area soared 30.6 per cent between the fourth quarters of 2019 and 2023.

Although the median price of a single-family detached Montreal-area home dropped 2.5 per cent in the last three months of the year, it nevertheless rose 4.7 per cent from 2022’s final quarter to reach $629,700. Fourth-quarter condominium prices rose 1.1 per cent year-over-year to $450,200.

Despite the higher interest rates, home prices in Montreal have largely held up because of two key factors: a dearth of available homes and a continuing inflow of immigrants.

#Quebec #housing
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⚛️ Alberta’s Capital Power partners with Ontario Power Generation to build province’s first nuclear power reactor

An Alberta power producer aims to build the province’s first nuclear power reactor by 2035.

Capital Power Corp. announced Monday a new partnership with Ontario Power Generation (OPG), operator of a large reactor fleet.

Over the next two years, the companies will jointly assess the viability of building small modular reactors in the Western province. If actually constructed, those SMRs might be jointly owned and operated, OPG says.

The government of Premier Danielle Smith has consistently expressed interest in SMRs, and the province has collaborated with Ontario, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick on a plan to deploy them nationally.

#Alberta #Ontario #energy
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🇨🇦🇺🇸Another Trump presidency will not be easy for Canada - PM Trudeau

If Republican frontrunner Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November, it will be "a step back" that makes life tough for Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday.

Trudeau had rocky relations with Trump during his first four-year White House term. In 2018, Trump accused Trudeau of being weak and dishonest.

It wasn't easy the first time and if there is a second time, it won't be easy either. But we can't imagine a day when it will ever be easy with the Americans. The main responsibility for any prime minister is to represent and defend Canada's interests ... we've been able to do this very well these past few years.

Trudeau said in French during a discussion hosted by the Montreal chamber of commerce.

#US #Trudeau
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💰Tension between Toronto and Trudeau government inflamed by 2024 tax hike

As Toronto continues to gaze inward at its own tax proposals, a local Liberal MP has shared their outrage at the city’s decision to separate a portion of its proposed tax increase to blame the federal government for.

🔹The city’s budget chief warned that if the federal government didn’t commit to addressing the growing issue of shelter costs for refugees and asylum seekers, Toronto would have no choice but to increase taxes by an additional six per cent.

Calling it “the Federal Impacts Levy,” the tax is by design intended to elicit a federal response.

On Tuesday, Etobicoke Centre Liberal MP Yvan Baker responded to the threat angrily, taking a swing at Mayor Olivia Chow and accusing her of failing to find savings elsewhere. Baker said the city has received record funding from the Trudeau Liberals, including funding last summer to help cover the refugee crisis.

🔹Budget chief Shelley Carroll said the issue has been growing since the city first began engaging with the Trudeau government last spring. Hundreds of people continue to arrive at Pearson airport, and Carroll pointed out that Toronto doesn’t have the jurisdiction to manage the influx.

#Ontario #Trudeau
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Jordan Peterson says he's willing to risk licence over social media training after losing court battle

Jordan Peterson says “the war has barely started” after losing his bid to have the courts bar the College of Psychologists of Ontario from ordering him to undergo remedial social media training.

On Tuesday, a panel of three judges with the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed Peterson’s motion for leave to appeal an earlier decision by the Ontario Divisional Court.

A higher court in Canada has ruled that the Ontario College of Psychologists indeed has the right to sentence me to re-education camp. There are no other legal avenues open to me now. It’s capitulate to the petty bureaucrats and the addle-pated woke mob or lose my professional licence.

Peterson wrote on X.

Peterson said that the college had “won this round,” but the war is not over.

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🩺 Montreal doctor suspended for three months after argument over patient's pronouns

A Montreal doctor has been suspended for three months after arguing with a transgender patient about the use of pronouns and whether or not the patient was a woman.

The decision was handed down on Jan. 3 by the disciplinary board of the Collège des Médecins du Québec, the province’s medical college, against Dr. Raymond Brière.

It lists one count of failure to behave irreproachably towards a patient and one count of failure to ensure medical follow-up of a patient. The penalty was determined to be three months suspension for the first count and two months for the second, but they have been imposed concurrently. The doctor entered a plea of guilty on both counts.

#Quebec #healthcare
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🏠Ford government failed to meet its own housing targets in 2023

The Ford government failed to meet its own housing target in 2023, new figures reveal, putting the province further behind in its goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

According to the latest data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, there were a total of 85,770 housing starts in the province in 2023, which is just 78 per cent of the 110,000 target.

The 2023 number represented a seven-per cent drop from 91,885 the year before in 2022.

#Ontario #housing
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🩺🦷New dental care plan leaves out 4.4 million uninsured Canadians

As the federal government's national dental coverage program continues to roll out, a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives argues that the plan leaves too many Canadians without coverage and need an additional $1.45 billion in funding.

In order to qualify for the Canadian Dental Care Plan applicants must have a household income of less than $90,000 and have no existing dental insurance. But in its "Missing Teeth" report released Tuesday, the CCPA says the income criteria is too restrictive.

According to calculations from the CCPA, the new program will provide dental coverage for 8.5 million Canadians, while an additional 1.4 million already benefit from some provincial dental programs but may be improved coverage through the federal dental care plan. However, the $90,000 income cap leaves out 4.4 million.

#healthcare
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🎓Ottawa planning to reduce volume of international students in certain provinces

The federal government is planning to reduce the volume of international students in certain provinces, according to a senior government source.

Ottawa shares jurisdiction over Canada's international student program with the provinces. The federal government issues visas for students while provincial governments are responsible for regulating colleges and universities.

The government is looking at provinces that accept more international students than their housing stock can accommodate. The source specifically pointed to Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia as possible examples.

According to the source, the government has had discussions with some provinces about limiting the number of students in more dense areas and tightening regulations around which institutions can accept international students, but that those discussions have gone nowhere.

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Canada needs immigration reform to escape ‘population trap,’ economists say

In the report published Monday, economists Stéfane Marion and Alexandra Ducharme argue that Canada does not have the infrastructure or “capital stock” to both bring in the amount of people currently planned, while also improving our standard of living.

For the first time in Canadian history in 2023, our capital labour ratio declined. That’s a population trap. Historically, it’s normally associated with emerging markets. We’re the only country that’s ever experienced this. So this is why we have this urgency to deal with this immigration policy, because it is absorption capability that is undermining living standards.

Marion, who is National Bank’s chief economist, said.

A “population trap,” according to Oxford Reference, is defined as a situation where no increase in living standards is possible, because the population is growing so fast that all available savings are needed to maintain the existing capital-labour ratio.

In Monday’s report, Marion and Ducharme, said Canada’s annual total population growth should not exceed 300,000 to 500,000 in order to avoid that “trap.”

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🇨🇦🇺🇦Delays in equipment deliveries to Ukraine caused by negotiations with the U.S.

According to Canadian officials, the NASAMS air defence system, which was supposed to be delivered to Ukraine a year ago, was paid for last March and that delivery has been held up by the requirement of a foreign military sales agreement between the United States and Ukrainian governments, which is still under negotiation.

Defence Minister Bill Blair reportedly met with the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, last week to request that the process be expedited.

#Ukraine
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Legault asks Trudeau to slow influx of asylum seekers

Quebec Premier Francois Legault is asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to slow the influx of asylum seekers entering his province, which he said is nearing a "breaking point."

Legault made his request in an official letter to Trudeau sent Wednesday afternoon.

We are very close to the breaking point due to the excessive number of asylum seekers arriving in Quebec month after month. The situation has become unsustainable.

Legault wrote.

He said that in 2022, Quebec took in more asylum seekers than the rest of the country combined.

Legault is formally asking the prime minister to tighten its policies around granting visas. He's also seeking the "equitable" distribution of asylum seekers across Canada, possibly by busing them to other provinces. He wants Ottawa to reimburse Quebec the $470 million it spent on taking in asylum seekers in 2021 and 2022, and to do the same for subsequent years.

#Trudeau #Legault #immigration #Quebec
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🇨🇦🇨🇳 Canada names 100 Chinese, Russian, Iranian research institutions it says pose a threat to national security

Canadian universities and researchers studying advanced and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, will soon be ineligible for federal grants if they're affiliated with foreign institutions the government says pose a threat to national security.

On Tuesday the federal government named more than 100 institutions in China, Russia and Iran which it says represent the "highest risk to Canada's national security." The government says the listed institutions are connected to those countries' militaries and state security agencies.

The federal government also released what it called a list of "sensitive" research areas — including advanced weapons, quantum technologies, robotics, aerospace, space and satellite technology and medical and health-care technology.

#China #Iran #Russia
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