In Canada, bodies go unclaimed as costs put funerals out of reach

Some provinces have logged a jump in unclaimed dead bodies in recent years, with next of kin citing funeral costs as a growing reason for not collecting loved ones' remains.

The phenomenon has prompted at least one province to build a new storage facility. Demand for memorial fundraisers has surged. The overall cost of a funeral in Canada at the top end has increased to about $8,800 from about $6,000 in 1998, according to industry trade group estimates.

In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, the number of unclaimed dead bodies rose to 1,183 in 2023 from 242 in 2013.

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🏳️‍🌈🚫Alberta premier, UCP banned from 2024 Pride events

A group representing 14 Pride societies in Alberta has banned the United Conservative Party and Premier Danielle Smith from 2024 Pride events.

It's like banning meat eaters from vegan fests.

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🇨🇦🇮🇳Hundreds of Indian students in Canada face deportation, protest against new rule

Hundreds of Indian students are facing deportation after Prince Edward Island changed its provincial immigration rules. Around 300 students are protesting and have threatened to go on a hunger strike if the province doesn't review its latest immigration policy.

They forget that studying in Canada as a foreign student is a privilege, not a right.

#Canada #India
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📉 Inflation cooled to 2.7% in April as food price growth slowed

Canada's consumer price index cooled to 2.7 per cent in April, down from 2.9 per cent in March, led by the slower growth of food prices, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

Though food prices still rose in April, they did so at a slower pace of 1.4 per cent compared to 1.9 per cent in March.

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💸Ottawa borrowed heavily without locking in at low rates

This year $414 billion in debt will be refinanced at higher interest rates.

Canada has just over $1.4 trillion in debt — more than double the $619 billion owed in the Liberal government’s first year — borrowed using bonds ranging between two and 30 years.

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Conservatives call for Speaker to resign over planned partisan event

Speaker Greg Fergus is facing criticism over anti-Conservative language in an ad for an upcoming partisan event in his riding — and the Conservatives are calling again for him to resign from his position as a neutral arbiter of House of Commons proceedings.

Conservative MP Chris Warkentin says an online posting for "A Summer Evening with the Honourable Greg Fergus" includes a line that takes aim at leader Pierre Poilievre — accusing him of pursuing Conservative policies "that would risk our health, safety and pocketbooks" while promoting a Liberal plan to "grow an economy that works for everyone."

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More Canadian businesses implementing 4-day workweeks, study says

There has been a 34 per cent increase in the number of Canadian businesses implementing four-day schedules in the past year alone.

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Alberta drug deaths hit record high in 2023

A total of 2,052 Albertans died from January to December of drug poisoning. Deaths jumped nearly 17 per cent over 2022, and are nearly 9 per cent over 2021's previous high of 1,885 deaths.

#Alberta
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✏️ Just over half (52%) of Canadians agree that foreign governments have interfered significantly in recent elections.

Only 44% express confidence that the inquiry led by Justice Hogue into foreign government interference will get to the bottom of what has been going on.

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🚶‍♀️Young people in Canada are trading Toronto for cheaper suburbs and cities

Every major city in Ontario recorded a net loss from interprovincial migration for the second year in a row, according to Statistics Canada data.

Toronto lost some 93,000 people to satellite cities and other parts of the province in a year. More than 16,000 moved to other provinces.

Not at all surprising.

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Ottawa to make pathway for newcomers who lack official status, speed up deportations

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says some immigrants to Canada who lack official status need a pathway to help them stay, while in other cases Ottawa must speed up deportation procedures.

People who aren’t here regularly need to be supported and taken care of. There needs to be either a pathway towards regularization and citizenship, which I know the (immigration) minister is working on. In some cases, we need to accelerate deportation proceedings.

Trudeau told reporters.

#immigration
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💰Military's former head of HR sues government, others for millions over handling of misconduct claim

Claiming they destroyed his career to score political points after he was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan is suing his accuser, the federal government, Canada's top soldier and other military officials for $10 million in damages.

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🏠📈Bank regulator warns of housing-payment shock by 2026

The “payment shock” faced by some borrowers is among the most important risks currently in the financial system, according to the latest risk outlook from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

The regulator said that 76% of outstanding residential mortgages as of February will be coming up for renewal by the end of 2026. Most worrisome are the 15% of mortgages that have variable rates with fixed payments. Some of those loans are negatively amortizing — that is, the regular payments no longer cover the full interest costs because rates have gone up so quickly, so the principal balance is increasing.

#housing
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Trudeau's deputy accuses Pierre Poilievre of wearing more makeup than she does

When Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre asked in Tuesday’s Question Period whether the Liberal government would support an Opposition motion to “permanently ban hard drugs” in Canada, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Poilievere was wearing too much makeup.

Today we have a motion that will be voted in the House [of Commons] to permanently ban hard drugs. Will this government vote for that motion? Or will they admit that they plan to vote to legalize drugs again after the next election?

Pierre Poilievre.

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader is wearing more makeup than I am.

Freeland responded.

What a circus.

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📈 Calgary population surges by staggering 6%, Edmonton by 4.2% in latest StatsCan estimates

Calgary's metro-area population grew by nearly 96,000 people last year. Edmonton, meanwhile, added more than 63,000 people.

That's the largest year-over-year increase for both cities in the modern Statistics Canada records, which date back to 2001.

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🇨🇦7 in 10 Quebecers say they’re proud to be Canadian

🔹Residents of Quebec have more pride in being Canadian than those those in Alberta and Saskatchewan. 69% of Quebecers say they are proud to live in Canada, compared to just 58% in Alberta and 49% in Saskatchewan.

🔹Ontario and the Atlantic provinces rank among the provinces with the most Canadian pride, alongside Quebec, at 69%. Overall, 67% of Canadians say they are proud to live in Canada.

And will these figures match those of the next referendum? That's the question.

#Quebec #Ontario #Alberta #Saskatchewan
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📈 Homelessness increased by 20 per cent despite $443 million Liberal plan

Despite $443 million in new annual spending aimed to reduce homelessness the number of people without a roof over their head has grown by 20 per cent in Canada, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

The number of homeless people had increased by 20 per cent relative to 2018 reaching 34,270, and we estimate that the number of chronically homeless people had increased by 38 per cent relative to 2018.

But according to Trudeau, Canadians are extremely concerned about the climate crisis.

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🇨🇦🇺🇸🪖U.S. senators write to Trudeau asking him to meet 2% GDP defence spending commitment

A bipartisan group of 23 U.S. senators have written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging Canada to live up to its commitment to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence amid concerns that key members of the NATO alliance are not pulling their weight.

As we approach the 2024 NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., we are concerned and profoundly disappointed that Canada’s most recent projection indicated that it will not reach its two percent commitment this decade. In 2029, Canada’s defence spending is estimated to rise to just 1.7 percent, five years after the agreed upon deadline of 2024 and still below the spending baseline.

#US
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🌎🇺🇦Canada 7th in foreign aid spending, but a fifth goes to refugees inside the country

Canada spent just over US$8 billion in aid last year, of which $1.5 billion went to supporting refugees, asylum claimants and Ukrainians.

The tabulation includes provincial and federal spending in this area, and it folds in Ukrainians who came to Canada on an emergency visa to wait out the war, but who are not technically refugees.

The spending accounts for 19 per cent of Canada's foreign aid, compared to an average of 13.8 per cent among other OECD countries.

#Ukraine
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Trudeau cabinet withholding documents on foreign interference from inquiry

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc had initially promised that the Commission into Foreign Interference would have full access to secret documents, including “all relevant cabinet documents” even if some of that sensitive information can’t be made available to Canadians.

But a dispute has arisen after the government invoked cabinet confidence to redact some cabinet records and to deny the Justice Marie-Josée Hogue inquiry access to an unknown number of documents involving foreign interference.

Justice Hogue said there were redactions in some of the cabinet documents handed over to the inquiry and added “discussions as to the applications of these privileges is ongoing.”

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💸📈Canada to spend more on debt after rate forecasts edge higher

Canada will spend $1.9 billion more on public debt charges in the 2024-25 fiscal year than it had planned in last month’s budget, according to new expenditure estimates submitted to lawmakers on Thursday.

That would lift total debt payments to $56 billion this year, a 3.5% increase compared to the forecasts outlined in April by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Getting poorer by the day.

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