‼️Our friends have started a channel about the social and cultural agenda. There will be many revelations and disclosures!

Subscribe!

https://news.1rj.ru/str/topicdujour

Trudeau: “I'm not interested in fighting with the Alberta government”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau believes Alberta's Sovereignty Act is not a necessity, but just a tool for Premier Danielle Smith to confront the federal government.

"And I'm not interested in fighting with the Alberta government," Trudeau said Thursday during the Assembly of First Nations special assembly in Ottawa.

Trudeau said his government is also "extremely concerned" about what it represents "in terms of challenges to treaty rights that are fundamental in Canada and need to be respected." Does it mean that Trudeau is losing confidence about the future relationships’ between Ottawa and provinces well-being?

#Alberta

@maplechronicles

🇨🇳 Chinese secret police stations are found in some parts of the world

Beijing has been recently accused of operating “illegal” posts in Europe and Canada to monitor, intimidate, and harass dissidents. The PRC is reported to have closed two “secret police stations” located in Prague on December 8th.
The Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders said in September that 100 such “police stations” had been set up around the world.

Beijing has insisted that the centers provide diplomatic services to Chinese nationals living abroad, such as renewing their driving licenses. But many European countries say the “police stations” have not been officially registered to offer such services.

The NGO says that the “stations” use former military and intelligence officers as employees to encourage up to 230,000 Chinese nationals to return to the country, sometimes to face criminal charges. China's government said the reports were “completely false”.

On the one hand, this can be true because in recent years the PRC has been reported to spy on its citizens studying abroad, for example, in Australia. Anti-China sentiments overtook the country after the scandal, resulting in new security laws. On the other hand, by using this information, the West found another opportunity to show to the world “the very nature” of the Chinese regime, which now oppresses not only its citizens, but also migrants abroad. Currently China is being antagonized more than ever before.

#China

@asianomics

I was really surprised when the information about the Chinese “stations” in Canada pop out, but the story keeps developing. I wonder how many other “stations” are there around the world – not only Chinese – and why the governments and services do not counter them.

Ah yes, the officials are too busy with the stuff like the Sovereignty Act.

Homes are selling way below asking prices all over Toronto and its suburbs

In the City of Toronto, homes are selling 2.53% below the average list price of $1,078,072. The average selling price of $1,050,788 represents an annual decline of 7.2%

At the start of 2022, homes across the Greater Toronto Area were selling far over asking as competition remained fierce and borrowing costs stayed low.

In March, the Bank of Canada began raising interest rates, and downward pressure started to weigh on home prices across the region. Nine months and seven rate hikes later, the overnight rate now sits at 4.25%; in January, it was 0.25%.

In a stark reversal from the spring, many homes are now selling under the listed price as buyers become increasingly hesitant to enter the market.

#Toronto

@maplechronicles

🇨🇳 Chinese hackers crammed into Amnesty Canada's office and set up cyber surveillance

The Canadian branch of Amnesty International became the target of a cyber hack during October. Researchers believe the attack was organized in China.

Cyber experts link the cyber hack to state-backed Chinese hackers because of the "nature of the information that was targeted, as well as the mechanisms and approaches used."

#China

@maplechronicles

More than 2,000 non-Canadians joined the army amid recruitment crisis

The Canadian Armed Forces say they have received hundreds of applications from permanent residents wanting to join the military, but it could take up to two years to provide these potential recruits with military uniforms.

General Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff, officially invited all non-Canadians to the Armed Forces in October, in direct response to an unprecedented personnel crisis that has forced the armed forces to seek new recruits.

The military says more than 2,400 people applied in November, a number the commander of the Canadian Forces recruitment team described as unexpected.

@maplechronicles

Quebec makes mandatory oath to British monarch optional

Quebec province passed a law that ended the requirement for elected officials to take an oath in the name of the corresponding British monarch of the time. The elected officials may now choose not to take an oath to Britain's King Charles III.

Earlier as well, there have been various calls in Quebec to change the oath. However, Queen Elizabeth's death as well as political pressure from the province's two main opposition parties, Party Quebecois and Quebec solidaire, forced the legislative change.

#Quebec

@maplechronicles

🇺🇸🇦🇷🇨🇦 Reduced wheat production in Canada and Argentina made U.S. Department of Agriculture lower forecast for world wheat harvest

The U.S. Agriculture Department left most of its crop production and usage estimates unchanged in its latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

The WASDE report lowered Argentina's wheat production estimates 3 million tons to 12.5 million with reductions in both harvested area and yield due to continued widespread dry conditions. If realized, this would be the lowest production since 2015/16, USDA said. Canada’s production is reduced 1.2 million tons to 33.8 million, based on the latest Statistics Canada estimate, the third largest crop on record. Analysts are also be watching the ongoing weather situation in Argentina, where drought conditions are lowering production.

#US #Argentina

@maplechronicles

Ontario's tourism sector not to fully recover from pandemic until 2025

Ontario's tourism industry is not expected to fully recover from the pandemic until 2025, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the industry say.

Tourism businesses in the province are generating 64 per cent of the revenues they saw in 2019, on average, and seven in 10 report they have taken on debt to stay afloat, according to the OCC and Tourism Industry Association of Ontario report set to be released Tuesday.

Daniel Safayeni, vice-president of policy at the chamber of commerce, said the province will need a broad strategy to address those challenges.

#Ontario

@maplechronicles

Civilian police declined 40 military sexual criminal cases in Armed Forces

Defence Minister Anita Anand announced that she has directed the Canadian Armed Forces to end its jurisdiction over sexual crimes, even as military police say they have faced challenges transferring such cases to civilian counterparts.

The report specifically offered an update on the implementation of 48 recommendations made by retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour following a sweeping review earlier this year, which Anand said are all now being accepted.

Among the recommendations accepted, which Anand had initially resisted: officially transferring responsibility for sexual crimes to civilian authorities.

@maplechronicles

🇨🇦Canadian man has a doctor's approval for euthanasia despite admitting becoming poor is a main reason he's applying to die

Lester Landry has struggled for years with a number of illnesses, none of them fatal. He gets around in a wheelchair. When he turned 65, Canadian authorities stripped him of many of his retirement benefits, took away his service dog and the apartment the government had given him because of his disability.

He now lives in a van and only has $120 to his name. He has applied for euthanasia because he "doesn't want to live in poverty".

In Canada, applying for euthanasia is easy. All you have to do is fill out the form available online and sign it.

@topicdujour

Trudeau says he's not willing to kick health-care reform down the road any longer

The federal and provincial governments appear deadlocked in their negotiations on the future of health care in Canada, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's latest comments suggest he will not be the one to blink first.

In a year-end interview with The Canadian Press on Monday, Trudeau said he's not willing to kick health-care reform down the road any further, even as provincial premiers clamour for more federal funds to bolster their ailing health systems.

@maplechronicles

🇺🇦 Canada to contribute $115 million to repair Ukrainian energy system

Canada will transfer $115 million to repair Kiev's power grid after repeated Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said.

The money will come from tariff payments collected from imports from Russia and Belarus, Freeland said at the Standing with the Ukrainian People conference in Paris.

“Canada's support will help Ukraine secure its energy infrastructure and survive the difficult winter ahead,” she added. On Monday, G7 officials said they would create an interagency platform to coordinate assistance to Ukraine and support its repair, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

#Ukraine

@maplechronicles

Skate Canada changes ice dance rules: now any 2 skaters will be allowed to compete together at domestic events

Skate Canada has updated its policies so that ice dance or pairs teams competing domestically can be composed of any two athletes.

Canada's governing body of figure skating announced that its definition of "team" for athletes training in the Podium Pathway will be revised to consisting of "two skaters."

The previous definition was one woman and one man.

@maplechronicles

⚡️ Plane crashes near airport at Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay, in Labrador

Police and military personnel say a civilian plane has crashed near the Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay airport, in Labrador.

Capt. Nicole Morrison, spokesperson for the base, told that members of the base’s 444 squadron were helping with the “medical transfer” of passengers involved in the crash.

The number of casualties remains unknown.

@maplechronicles

🇬🇧 🇨🇦 Migrants will be encouraged to move to rural areas through a special visa to combat depopulation and replenish ageing communities under plans by Government advisers

Scotland, which is projected to see a significant decline in its rural population, has already proposed such a scheme but the MAC said any pilot would be “of interest to rural communities across the UK”.

A similar scheme in Canada to attract migrants to remote and rural areas along its Atlantic coast succeeded in retaining 94 per cent of them in the first year. Key to the success was a package of integrated settlement support services for newcomers.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/13/migrants-encouraged-move-rural-areas-boost-economies-population

MPs pass bill mandating internet giants pay for news. Meta threatens to block content

The House of Commons passed a Liberal bill designed to require web giants to compensate journalism outfits for reposting their content, and Meta is once again threatening to remove news content from Facebook in Canada.

Federal Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has argued the bill will "enhance fairness" in the digital news marketplace by creating a framework and bargaining process for behemoths such as Google and Meta, which owns social media sites Facebook and Instagram, to pay media outlets.

The bill would create a system overseen by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which would have the power to impose administrative monetary penalties on companies that are not compliant with its provisions.

@maplechronicles

Defence Minister Anita Anand considering multibillion-dollar purchase of U.S.-built surveillance aircraft

Defence Minister Anita Anand is considering an offer from Boeing that could see the purchase for the Royal Canadian Air Force of a multi-billion dollar fleet of P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

The proposal to buy between eight and 12 P-8 Poseidon aircraft from Boeing in the U.S. is being examined, according to industry and defence sources. But whether it moves forward to cabinet still has to be decided.

@maplechronicles

🇭🇹 Trudeau not ruling out military intervention in Haiti

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says while he does not rule out the possibility of the country being part of a military intervention, or even leading one in Haiti, he also wants European countries to join the North American country in sanctioning the elites in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country over alleged ties to the violent gangs.

Speaking during a year-end interview with The Canadian Press, Trudeau noted however that Canada would seek to avoid some of its past mistakes as it responds to a request from Haiti’s Prime Minister Dr Ariel Henry for a foreign military intervention.

#Haiti

@maplechronicles

🇨🇦 Euthanasia deaths in Canada increase each year, and this is alarming

🔹Medical assistance in dying (MAID) program was implemented in Canada in 2016.
Since then, the yearly number of performed euthanasia has risen from 1,018 deaths in 2016 up to 10,064 in 2021. The latter number accounts for 3.3 % of all deaths in Canada that year.

In six years, 31,664 people have chosen to receive medical assistance in death. This number exceeds 30,281 deaths caused by COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. If the increasing rate of MAID continues, euthanasia deaths might surpass total COVID deaths for this year. We will be able to assess it when the MAID data for 2022 is released.

🔹At first MAID was only supposed to end the suffering of the terminally ill. The majority of persons receiving MAID during 2021 had a type of cancer as their main condition (65.6%).

However, over time MAID has become available to a wider group of people. Thus, in March 2022 restrictions were broadened so people with disabilities or people struggling with pain could access MAID, even if not close to death. And in March 2023, according to plans, the procedure will become available to the mentally ill. There is also talk of making MAID available to 'mature minors'.

🔹This raises a fair question: wouldn't using MAID be just an easy solution in difficult but not hopeless cases? Can one be 100% sure that a person has received all the necessary medical, financial and psychological help before resorting to euthanasia?

The case of Christine Gauthier, paraplegic, was recently highlighted in the media. Gauthier has been fighting for home wheelchair ramp installation for five years and eventually was offered MAID "to end her sufferings."

Another case of MAID abuse is 65-year old Lester Landry, who has applied for MAID because of poverty.

🔹A 2020 survey among Canadians shows that 33 % are "Enthusiastic Supporters", 48 % are "Cautious Supporters," and 19 % are "Opposed," meaning, the majority of population is more or less pro-MAID.

However, 2/3 of people are concerned that expanding MAID may lead to people with mental-health issues like depression choosing death rather than dealing with the underlying causes of their condition. Their second concern is that the health-care system will begin to ignore long-term care and chronic disease in the elderly as MAID becomes more available and routine.

As 2021 report shows, the most commonly cited suffering reported by individuals receiving MAID in 2021 was the loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities (86.3%), followed closely by the loss of ability to perform activities of daily living (83.4%).

❓So maybe the focus should shift from expanding the MAID program to helping people with severe health issues live a more fulfilling and purposeful life?

#deepdive

@topicdujour