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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🚫Canadian border workers vote in favour of possible strike

Border workers have voted in favour of a strike mandate which could lead to "significant disruptions" to the flow of goods, services and people through Canadian ports of entry, their union said Friday morning.

Members voted 96 per cent in favour of the mandate, clearing the way for a possible strike over the summer.

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Canadian military's ability to battle forest fires will be limited this year, top general warns

The Canadian military’s ability to help battle forest fires will be limited this year because of reduced readiness and the need to send troops to Latvia, warns the country’s top general.

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre also complained that the use of military personnel in fighting wildfires in Canada has become, in some cases, “wickedly wasteful.”

#wildfires
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🌱🔌🚙 Canada considers Chinese EV tariff following U.S. move but is not committing to it

Canada is looking at the massive new U.S. import tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles imposed by President Joe Biden earlier this month, but is not making any commitment to following suit north of the border.

Chinese brands are not a major player in Canada’s EV market at the moment but imports from China have exploded in the last year as Tesla switched from U.S. factories for its Canadian sales to its manufacturing plant in Shanghai.

And the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association says Chinese EV makers have already made big inroads in Europe and are looking to North America next.

#US #China
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🚫Premier says sex education group will be banned from giving school presentations

Premier Blaine Higgs says he will ban a Quebec-based sex education group from presenting at schools in New Brunswick after a presentation he believes was "clearly inappropriate."

To say I am furious would be a gross understatement. This presentation was not part of the New Brunswick curriculum and the content was not flagged for parents in advance. The fact that this was shared shows either improper vetting was done, the group misrepresented the content they would share ... or both.

Premier Higgs said.

#NewBrunswick
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Conservatives, Bloc investigating Ottawa’s refusal to share foreign-interference documents

The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois have forced a meeting of a House of Commons committee to investigate the federal government’s refusal to turn over all cabinet documents on foreign interference to a public inquiry into foreign meddling in Canadian democracy.

Ottawa is facing pushback from Justice Marie-Josée Hogue for citing cabinet confidentiality in redacting records provided to the public inquiry investigating interference by China and other hostile states in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

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🇨🇦🇵🇸 Canada pledges more visas for Gazans

Canada said on Monday it will issue visas to 5,000 Gazans, more than it originally pledged.

The visas for Canadians' relatives living in the enclave represent a five-fold increase from the 1,000 temporary resident visas allotted under a special program that Canada announced in December.

Trudeau wants them all.

#Palestine
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🪖Soldiers leaving Canadian Forces over ‘toxic leadership’, top adviser warns

Canadian Forces Chief Warrant Officer Bob McCann highlighted his warning April 23 during an appeal for changes in how leaders dealt with lower ranks.

Job dissatisfaction, repeated moves to new locations across the country and toxic leadership have been cited in past military reports as the top reasons that Canadian Forces personnel leave.

No wonder. Who would want to serve in a woke army with the possibility of being sent to Latvia to teach Ukrainians how to waste NATO equipment?

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